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Minecraft and Microsoft What's next for Microsoft And Minecraft?

Minecraft and Microsoft What's next? By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News



If you're interested in understanding why Minecraft maker Mojang is being bought by Microsoft simply play the game.



The single-player version revolves around a lone individual surviving in a harsh world with only their creativity to ensure their safety. Their very survival depends on their building a home and fighting monsters with only weapons and tools they can make by hand.



It's easy to interpret this as a metaphor about Markus "Notch" who was the game's creator in the event that computer games were subjected to the same analysis as novels. In the past, he has been open about his childhood, how he was "relatively poor", his ability to create his own entertainment, and whether he'll have to get over the same "demonsthat plagued his father.
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The success of Notch in the harsh world was due to his family friends, his family, and the popularity of the items he made by hand. However, that success has also led to different challenges. These are even more difficult to overcome.



At Minecon 2012, Notch was unable to walk more than one or two steps before being grabbed by a second fan, eager to shake his hand and take a photo of him, or even sign their foam sword.



People are the source of power



The transformation from a humble programmer with only responsibility for his own code to leader of an entire movement was one which he was not thrilled with. His sincere explanation of the reason he decided to leave Mojang - "it’s about my mental health" shows that.



He is aware that Minecraft is now about managing a community - much more than maintaining and creating a codebase.



Microsoft could face a problem in this regard.



It has a long history of managing massive computer infrastructures which serve millions of customers. This is evident with Xbox Live and other cloud services. It will be essential when it begins running the systems behind the scenes that keep Minecraft running.



However, Microsoft is likely to alienate this community if it doesn't realise how personal the game is not just for Notch, but for many of the players who use it. It's where they make friends and make new ones, where they exhibit themselves, where they show off their technical and creative prowess and where they are.



I have seen that with my own children who play it in very different ways. One is a big fan of modified versions that involve arena battles or capture-the-flag-type competitions. The other spends hours creating intricate homes around the swooping tracks of minecarts. He often builds treehouses that span entire forests. They usually go on adventures with friends to find treasure, avoid creepers and fight spiders, zombies, and skeletons.



They, and millions of others like them, are able to achieve this due to the openness and freedom of Minecraft. It is possible to alter the game according to their preferences because of its flexibility. This is because it gives people access to a level of control that Microsoft has not granted in its business software. This is the reason why the millions of players on Minecraft concerned. They don't want Microsoft to mess with their freedom to tinker with the game as they wish. They feel a deep sense of ownership about the things they create in the game.



There's no doubt that this will be a difficult task for Microsoft to accomplish given how critical that community can be.



It will have to work hard to battle those sworn enemies of all gamers - downtime and lag (aka delay). Microsoft is likely to be held accountable for any issues that arise with the game's future availability regardless of whether or not it's their fault.



If it is not handled properly If handled poorly, it could result in an entire community turning against Microsoft by making more radical changes to the way the game is running, like limiting the ways that people can modify it, or charging them for items they don't have.



This is a bad issue, given that the majority of its users are kids and may one day become gamers. It is likely that Microsoft hopes to impress them with the way it handles Minecraft. If it gets it wrong it could end up becoming one of the monsters people want to battle and defeat.


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