Minecraft- Institutions
How is the production, distribution and circulation of Minecraft affected by it being part of a specialised and niche industry?
The industry is part and parcel of the technology world and so is fast moving and developing possibly more than any other. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYJoaVMzQYc
But ironically, it is the simplistic, “ruleless” and primitive nature of Minecraft which seems to have maximum appeal across a range of audiences. It has become a globally successful phenomenon across all consoles and hand-held devices; Minecraft is now a multiplatform game which is not only just for PC gamers but those who own smartphones, Microsoft and Nintendo consoles – all of which opens up new markets of profitability and increased exposure to new and existing audiences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg9NdOzlebU
However, modern versions of the game, notably Minecraft: Story Mode, follow more of the recognisable institutional conventions of game development including tutorials on how to play the game, something the original Minecraft series never had.
What is the relationship between technological change and the production, distribution and circulation of Minecraft?
Due to the original nature of the game, most players simply logged in to play Minecraft and didn’t need a physical copy of the game.
When the Xbox and PlayStation versions were created there was often a chance to offer digital versions of the same game across the Windows 10 operating system to promote the Microsoft brand across home computers, a form of synergy.
Users were often encouraged to download the game through the cloud servers rather than a physical copy of the game which would incur more of a cost for the institution. The pattern of release for Minecraft shows that physical copies are often released six months after the downloadable version, most likely as a way to limit the impact of piracy, hacking and file sharing.
The introduction of Minecraft Realms (2013) has tried to give the producers more control over the distribution and circulation of the game since some pro-am consumers were creating their own virtual spaces and hacks across illegitimate servers eg wizardhax.
When the Xbox and PlayStation versions were created there was often a chance to offer digital versions of the same game across the Windows 10 operating system to promote the Microsoft brand across home computers, a form of synergy.
Users were often encouraged to download the game through the cloud servers rather than a physical copy of the game which would incur more of a cost for the institution. The pattern of release for Minecraft shows that physical copies are often released six months after the downloadable version, most likely as a way to limit the impact of piracy, hacking and file sharing.
The introduction of Minecraft Realms (2013) has tried to give the producers more control over the distribution and circulation of the game since some pro-am consumers were creating their own virtual spaces and hacks across illegitimate servers eg wizardhax.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdANZtSEOZ8 start at around 5 mins to see the “superpowers” given by the hacks. (poor sound)
How has ownership affected Minecraft?
How has ownership affected Minecraft?
Mojang Studios is now owned by Microsoft Studios, a division of the parent company, Microsoft. Given the nature of the parent company and the loyal fan base of PC gamers, it was in the company’s interest to invest US$2.5 billion to purchase Mojang for long term revenue.
Other collaborations with games developers includes Telltale Games who helped develop the Minecraft: Story Mode in 2015. The Playstation versions were developed by 4J Studios.
When Facebook bought Oculus in March 2014, Markus Persson was quick to vocalise that he would not be developing a version of Minecraft with Oculus because Facebook was not owned by a group of ‘grassroots’ game developers. However, when Microsoft bought out Mojang and the intellectual property rights of Minecraft in November 2014 of that year, plans to work on a virtual reality version of Minecraft were renewed.
So, the ideology of the game developer can often suerrender their creative license to conglomerate interests to maximise profits.
A history of Mojang
Other collaborations with games developers includes Telltale Games who helped develop the Minecraft: Story Mode in 2015. The Playstation versions were developed by 4J Studios.
When Facebook bought Oculus in March 2014, Markus Persson was quick to vocalise that he would not be developing a version of Minecraft with Oculus because Facebook was not owned by a group of ‘grassroots’ game developers. However, when Microsoft bought out Mojang and the intellectual property rights of Minecraft in November 2014 of that year, plans to work on a virtual reality version of Minecraft were renewed.
So, the ideology of the game developer can often suerrender their creative license to conglomerate interests to maximise profits.
A history of Mojang
How have economic factors affected Minecraft’s development?
The marketing campaigns for games often have worldwide and simultaneous releases across each video game market.
Budgets for games vary and Minecraft is a good example of a game that was made and developed using readily available open source software within the gaming community; creating the original Minecraft using Java gave it the advantage of being cross-platform: it will run on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Some other mainstream games require entire teams of programmers, artists and engineers to make video games that have budgets equal or exceeding that of mainstream films. Minecraft has also been linked to non-profit projects such as the UNs Block by Block project, which encourages communities around the world to redesign their neighbourhoods using Minecraft. An educational version has also been developed, MinecraftEdu (2012), which has several applications to help teach subject and develop a culture of computer programming amongst digital natives.
The marketing campaigns for games often have worldwide and simultaneous releases across each video game market.
Budgets for games vary and Minecraft is a good example of a game that was made and developed using readily available open source software within the gaming community; creating the original Minecraft using Java gave it the advantage of being cross-platform: it will run on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Some other mainstream games require entire teams of programmers, artists and engineers to make video games that have budgets equal or exceeding that of mainstream films. Minecraft has also been linked to non-profit projects such as the UNs Block by Block project, which encourages communities around the world to redesign their neighbourhoods using Minecraft. An educational version has also been developed, MinecraftEdu (2012), which has several applications to help teach subject and develop a culture of computer programming amongst digital natives.
How has Minecraft reached and maintained varieties of audiences nationally and globally?
The cultural impact of Minecraft is significant with much of its success was due to word of mouth and audiences sharing their own mods and game footage across web forums and video sharing sites such as YouTube.
Different versions of Minecraft were released to entice different audiences, moving away from creation only narratives to include story modes, spectator modes and multi-player functionality across Minecraft Realms. Further developments included the introduction of a physical Lego set to encourage younger audiences as well as merchandise opportunities and bonus content for buying more than one version of the franchise across platforms.
Culturally, other developers and games studios have made intertextual references to Minecraft across games such as Runescape and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to name but a few; Lady Gaga, South Park and The Simpsons have also parodied Minecraft. All of this benefits the game by heightening its exposure to audiences.
In 2019 there will be a joint venture with Warner Brothers to release Minecraft the movie, this will be anticipated as having as much commercial success as The Lego Movie, also a Warner Brothers Movie. No doubt, there will be several spin-offs as a result of this.
The cultural impact of Minecraft is significant with much of its success was due to word of mouth and audiences sharing their own mods and game footage across web forums and video sharing sites such as YouTube.
Different versions of Minecraft were released to entice different audiences, moving away from creation only narratives to include story modes, spectator modes and multi-player functionality across Minecraft Realms. Further developments included the introduction of a physical Lego set to encourage younger audiences as well as merchandise opportunities and bonus content for buying more than one version of the franchise across platforms.
Culturally, other developers and games studios have made intertextual references to Minecraft across games such as Runescape and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to name but a few; Lady Gaga, South Park and The Simpsons have also parodied Minecraft. All of this benefits the game by heightening its exposure to audiences.
In 2019 there will be a joint venture with Warner Brothers to release Minecraft the movie, this will be anticipated as having as much commercial success as The Lego Movie, also a Warner Brothers Movie. No doubt, there will be several spin-offs as a result of this.
How is Minecraft regulated and governed or monitored?
Minecraft is regarded as being family friendly and the initial Minecraft series was rated a “PEGI 7” but the later introduction of Minecraft Stories were classified higher because narratives and dialogue were being introduced.
Minecraft is regarded as being family friendly and the initial Minecraft series was rated a “PEGI 7” but the later introduction of Minecraft Stories were classified higher because narratives and dialogue were being introduced.
Minecraft Realms are hosted on specialised servers by Mojang. The terms and conditions are extensive and show how ownership of intellectual content does not necessarily lie with the creator ie the player. Most interestingly, there are stipulations by the company that they own everything created using blocks within these virtual worlds and that accreditation for worlds and structures created by fans is not guaranteed. In 2016 a marketplace was created for communities to trade in maps, skins and texture packs.
https://padlet-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/206836037/73a203c41a473492e922c832cbf54973/422763_video_games_minecraft_factsheet.pdf
https://padlet-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/206836037/73a203c41a473492e922c832cbf54973/422763_video_games_minecraft_factsheet.pdf
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