Minecraft

***Minecraft*** is a sandbox independent video game originally created by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson and later developed and published by the Swedish company Mojang. The creative and building aspects of *Minecraft* enable players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generated
 world. Other activities in the game include exploration, resource
gathering, crafting, and combat. Multiple gameplay modes are available,
including survival mode where the player must acquire resources to build the world and maintain health, a creative mode where players have unlimited resources to build with and the ability to fly, an adventure mode where players play custom maps created by other players and a spectator mode. The PC version of the game is renowned for its third-party mods, which add various new items, characters and quests to the game.

## Some attributes

### Third

*Unknown*

The alpha version was publicly released for PC on May 17, 2009, and after gradual updates, the full version was released on November 18, 2011. A version for Android was released a month earlier on October 7, and an iOS version was released on November 17, 2011. The game was released on the Xbox 360 as an Xbox Live Arcade game on May 9, 2012; on the PlayStation 3 on December 17, 2013; on the PlayStation 4 on September 4, 2014; on the Xbox One the next day; and on the PlayStation Vita on October 14, 2014. On December 10, 2014, a Windows Phone version was released.[14] All versions of *Minecraft* receive periodic updates, with the console editions being co-developed by 4J Studios.

*Minecraft* received five awards during the 2011 Game Developers Conference. Of the Game Developers Choice Awards, it won the Innovation Award, Best Downloadable Game Award, and Best Debut Game Award; from the Independent Games Festival, it won the Audience Award and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. In 2012, *Minecraft* was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the category Best Downloadable Game. As of June 2015, over 70 million copies had been sold, including 20 million between the Xbox 360 and Xbox One and 20 million on PC,[15] making it the best-selling PC game to date and the third best-selling video game of all time. On September 15, 2014, Microsoft announced a deal to buy Mojang and the ownership of the *Minecraft* intellectual property for US$2.5 billion; the acquisition was completed on November 6, 2014.[16][17][18][19]

## Gameplay

*Minecraft* is an open world
 game that has no specific goals for the player to accomplish, allowing
players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game.[20] However, there is an achievement system.[21] Gameplay by default is first person, but players have the option to play in third person mode.[22]
 The core gameplay revolves around breaking and placing blocks. The game
 world is composed of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes—arranged in a fixed
grid pattern and representing different materials, such as dirt, stone,
various ores, water, lava, tree trunks, etc. While players can move
freely across the world, objects can only be placed at fixed locations
on the grid. Players can gather these material blocks and place them
elsewhere, thus allowing for various constructions.[23]

At the start of the game, the player is placed on the surface of a procedurally generated and virtually infinite game world.[24] The world is divided into biomes ranging from deserts to jungles to snowfields.[25][26] Players can walk across the terrain consisting of plains, mountains, forests, caves, and various water bodies.[24] The in-game time system
 follows a day and night cycle, with one full cycle lasting 20 real-time
 minutes. Throughout the course of the game, players encounter various non-player characters known as mobs, including animals, villagers and hostile creatures.[27] Non-hostile animals—such as cows, pigs, and chickens—can be hunted for food and crafting materials, and spawn in the daytime. By contrast, hostile mobs—such as large spiders, skeletons, and zombies—spawn during nighttime or in dark places, such as caves.[24] Some *Minecraft*-unique
 creatures have been noted by reviewers, such as the Creeper, an
exploding creature that sneaks up on the player; and the Enderman, a
creature with the ability to teleport and pick up blocks.[28]

The game world is procedurally generated as players explore it, using a seed which is obtained from the system clock at the time of world creation unless manually specified by the player.[29][30] Although there are limits on movement up and down, *Minecraft*
 allows for an infinitely large game world to be generated on the
horizontal plane, only running into technical problems when extremely
distant locations are reached.[nb 1]
 The game achieves this by splitting the game world data into smaller
sections called "chunks", which are only created or loaded into memory
when players are nearby.[29]

The game's physics system has often been described by commentators as unrealistic.[31]
 Most solid blocks are not affected by gravity. Liquids flow from a
source block, which can be removed by placing a solid block in its
place, or by scooping it into a bucket. Complex systems can be built
using primitive mechanical devices, electrical circuits, and logic gates
 built with an in-game material known as redstone.[32]

*Minecraft* features two alternate dimensions besides the main world—the Nether and the End.[28] The Nether is a hell-like
 dimension accessed via player-built portals that contains many unique
resources and can be used to travel great distances in the overworld.[33] The End is a barren land in which a boss dragon called the Ender Dragon dwells.[34] Killing the dragon cues the game's ending credits, written by Irish author Julian Gough.[35]
 Players are then allowed to teleport back to their original spawn point
 in the overworld, and will receive "The End" achievement. There is also
 a second boss called "The Wither", which upon defeat drops a specific
material needed to build a placeable beacon that can enhance certain
abilities of all nearby players.

The game primarily consists of four game modes: survival, creative,
adventure, and spectator. It also has a changeable difficulty system of
four levels; the easiest difficulty (peaceful) removes any hostile
creatures that spawn.[36]

### Survival mode

in this mode, players have to gather natural resources (such as wood and stone) found in the environment in order to craft certain blocks and items.[24]
 Depending on the difficulty, monsters spawn in darker areas in a
certain radius of the character, requiring the player to build a shelter
 at night.[24] The mode also features a health bar
 which is depleted by attacks from monsters, falls, drowning, falling
into lava, suffocation, starvation, and other events. Players also have a
 hunger bar, which must be periodically refilled by eating food in-game,
 except in "Peaceful" difficulty, in which the hunger bar does not
drain. If the hunger bar is depleted, automatic healing will stop and
eventually health will deplete. Health replenishes when players have a
nearly full hunger bar, and also regenerates regardless of fullness if
players play on the easiest difficulty.

There are a wide variety of items that players can craft in *Minecraft*.[37]
 Players can craft armor, which can help mitigate damage from attacks,
while weapons such as swords can be crafted to kill enemies and other
animals more easily. Players may acquire resources to craft tools, such
as axes, shovels, or pickaxes, used to chop down trees, dig soil, and
mine ores, respectively; tools made of iron perform their tasks more
quickly than tools made of stone or wood and can be used more heavily
before they break. Players may also trade goods with villager mobs
through a bartering system involving trading emeralds for different goods.[38] Villagers often trade with emeralds, wheat or other materials.[27][38]

The game has an inventory system, and players can carry a limited
number of items. Upon dying, items in the players' inventories are
dropped, and players re-spawn at the current spawn point, which is set by default where players begin the game, but can be reset if players sleep in a bed.[39] Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they despawn. Players may acquire experience points by killing mobs and other players, mining, smelting ores, breeding animals, and cooking food. Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools, armor and weapons.[36] Enchanted items are generally more powerful, last longer, or have other special effects.[36]

Players may also play in hardcore mode, this being a variant of
survival mode that differs primarily in the game being locked to the
hardest gameplay setting as well as featuring permadeath; upon players' death, their world is deleted.[40]

### Creative mode

In creative mode, players have access to all of the resources and
items in the game through the inventory menu, and can place or remove
them instantly.[41]
 Players, who are able to fly freely around the game world, do not take
environmental or mob damage, and are not affected by hunger.[42][43] The game mode helps players focus on building and creating large projects.[41]

### Adventure mode

Adventure mode was added to *Minecraft* in version 1.3; it was designed specifically so that players could experience user crafted custom maps and adventures.[44][45][46]
 Gameplay is similar to survival mode but introduces various player
restrictions, which can be applied to the game world by the creator of
the map. This is so that players can obtain the required items and
experience adventures in the way that the mapmaker intended.[46]
 Another addition designed for custom maps is the command block; this
block allows mapmakers to expand interactions with players through
certain server commands.[47]

### Spectator mode

Spectator mode allows players to fly around through blocks and watch
game play without interacting. In this mode, the inventory becomes a
menu that allows the player to teleport to players in the world. It is
also possible to view from the point of view of another player or
creature. Some things may look different from another creature's point
of view.[48]

### Multiplayer

Multiplayer on *Minecraft* is available through player-hosted
servers and enables multiple players to interact and communicate with
each other on a single world.[49] Players can run their own servers or use a hosting provider. Single-player worlds have local area network support, allowing players to join worlds on locally interconnected computers without a server setup.[50] *Minecraft*
 multiplayer servers are guided by server operators, who have access to
server commands such as setting the time of day and teleporting players
around. Operators can also set up restrictions concerning which
usernames or IP addresses are allowed to enter the server.[49]
 Multiplayer servers offer players a wide range of activities, with some
 servers having their own unique rules and customs. A stand-alone server
 called CraftBukkit[51]
 has been developed by the community to facilitate development of
server-side plugins enabling otherwise impossible gameplay elements such
 as permissions, ranks, virtual currency, and chat formatting.
Craftbukkit however, was taken down due to legal issues, and was
succeeded by spigot, a stand-alone server very similar to Craftbukkit.
The content on a server varies heavily from server to server. Player versus player (PvP) can also be enabled to allow fighting between players.[52]
 In 2013 Mojang announced Minecraft Realms, a server hosting service
intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and
safely without the hassle of setting up their own.[53]
 Realms varies from a standard server in that only invited players can
join the server, and do not use an IP. Realm servers can only have 10
people online at a time, and do not support user-made plugins.

## Development

Markus "Notch" Persson began developing the game as an independent project while working for King.com and later jAlbum.[54][55] He was inspired to create *Minecraft* by several other games such as *Dwarf Fortress*, *Dungeon Keeper*, and later *Infiniminer*.
 At the time, he had visualized an isometric 3D building game that would
 be a cross between his inspirations and had made some early prototypes.[54] *Infiniminer*
 heavily influenced the style of gameplay, including the first-person
aspect of the game, the "blocky" visual style and the block-building
fundamentals.[55] However, unlike *Infiniminer*, Persson wanted *Minecraft* to have RPG elements.[56]

*Minecraft* was first released to the public on May 17, 2009, as a developmental release on *TIGSource* forums,[57] later becoming known as the *Classic* version. Further milestones dubbed as *Survival Test*, *Indev* and *Infdev*
 were released between September 2009 and February 2010, although the
game saw updates in-between. The first major update, dubbed alpha
 version, was released on June 28, 2010. Although Persson maintained a
day job with Jalbum.net at first, he later quit in order to work on *Minecraft* full-time as sales of the alpha version of the game expanded.[58]
 Persson continued to update the game with releases distributed to users
 automatically. These updates included features such as new items, new
blocks, new mobs, survival mode, and changes to the game's behavior
(e.g., how water flows).[58]

To back the development of *Minecraft*, Persson set up a video game company, Mojang, with the money earned from the game.[59][60][61] On December 11, 2010, Persson announced that *Minecraft* was entering its beta testing phase on December 20, 2010.[62]
 He further stated that users who bought the game after this date would
no longer be guaranteed to receive all future content free of charge as
it "scared both the lawyers and the board." However, bug fixes and all
updates leading up to and including the release would still be free.
Over the course of the development, Mojang hired several new employees
to work on the project.[63]

Mojang moved the game out of beta and released the full version on November 18, 2011.[64] The game has been continuously updated since the release, with changes ranging from new game content to new server hosts.[65] On December 1, 2011, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten took full creative control over *Minecraft*, replacing Persson as lead developer.[66] On February 28, 2012, Mojang announced that they had hired the developers of the popular server platform "CraftBukkit"[51] to improve *Minecraft*‍ '​s support of server and client modifications.[67] This acquisition also included Mojang apparently taking full ownership of the CraftBukkit modification,[68] although the validity of this claim was questioned due to its status as an open-source project with many contributors, licensed under the GNU General Public License and Lesser General Public License.[69] On September 15, 2014, Microsoft announced a $2.5 billion deal to buy Mojang, along with the ownership of the *Minecraft* intellectual property.
 The deal was suggested by Persson when he posted a tweet asking a
corporation to buy his share of the game after receiving criticism for
"trying to do the right thing." It was completed on November 6, 2014,
and led to Persson becoming one of *Forbes*‍ '​ "World's Billionaires".[16][17][18][70]

### Audio

*Minecraft*‍ '​s music and sound effects are produced by German sound designer Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld.[71] The background music in *Minecraft* is non-lyrical ambient music. On March 4, 2011, Rosenfeld released a soundtrack, titled *Minecraft – Volume Alpha*; it includes most of the tracks featured in *Minecraft*, as well as other music not featured in the game.[72] The video game blog Kotaku chose the music in *Minecraft* as one of the best video game soundtracks of 2011.[73] On November 9, 2013, Rosenfeld released the second official soundtrack, titled *Minecraft – Volume Beta*, which includes the music that was added in later versions of the game.[74][75] A physical release of *Volume Alpha*,
 consisting of CDs, black vinyl, and limited edition transparent green
vinyl LPs, is set to be issued by acclaimed indie electronic label Ghostly International on August 21, 2015.[76][77]

## Platforms

### Personal computer versions

The PC was the original platform for *Minecraft*; the game runs on multiple operating systems including Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux.[49][78] Apart from the main version, there are other versions of *Minecraft* available for PC, including *Minecraft Classic* and *Minecraft 4k*.

*Minecraft Classic* is an older version of *Minecraft*, available online for players. Unlike newer versions of *Minecraft*,
 the classic version is free to play, though it is no longer updated. It
 functions much the same as creative mode, allowing players to build and
 destroy any and all parts of the world either alone or in a multiplayer
 server. There are no computer creatures in this mode, and environmental
 hazards such as lava will not damage players. Some blocks function
differently since their behavior was later changed during development.

*Minecraft 4k* is a simplified version of *Minecraft* similar to the classic version that was developed for the Java 4K game programming contest "in way less than 4 kilobytes".[79]
 The map itself is finite—composed of 64×64×64 blocks—and the same world
 is generated every time. Players are restricted to placing or
destroying blocks, which consist of grass, dirt, stone, wood, leaves,
and brick.[80]

*Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition* is a version exclusive to Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system. The beta for it launched on the Windows Store on July 29, 2015.[81] This version features the ability to play with Xbox Live friends (but not with those who have the Xbox One version), and to play local multiplayer with owners of the *Pocket Edition*.
 Other features include the ability to use multiple control schemes,
such as a controller (preferably an Xbox controller), keyboard, or
touchscreen (for Windows Phone and Microsoft Surface), and to record and take screenshots in-game via the built-in GameDVR.[82]

### Console versions

The Xbox 360 version of the game, developed by 4J Studios, was released on May 9, 2012.[83][84] On March 22, 2012, it was announced that *Minecraft* would be the flagship game in a new Xbox Live promotion called *Arcade NEXT*.[84]
 The game differs from the home computer versions in a number of ways,
including a newly designed crafting system, the control interface,
in-game tutorials, split-screen multiplayer, and the ability to play
with friends via Xbox Live.[85]
 The version's crafting interface does not require players to place
items in the correct place in a crafting menu, however, this option was
added in a later update. The interface shows the blocks required to
craft the selected item, and crafts it if the players have enough
blocks.[86] The worlds in the Xbox 360 version are also not "infinite", and are essentially barricaded by invisible walls.[86]
 The Xbox 360 version was originally similar in content to older PC
versions, but is being gradually updated to bring it closer to the
current PC version.[83][87][88]

At Gamescom 2013, Sony announced that *Minecraft* would be released as a PlayStation 4 launch title, and would later be released as for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3.[89] However, the game was later delayed and the PlayStation 4 version did not launch alongside the console.[90] It was released on the PlayStation 3 on December 17, 2013, on the PlayStation 4 on September 4, 2014,[8] and on the PlayStation Vita on October 14, 2014 in North America, and in Europe the next day.[91]
 Like the Xbox versions, the PlayStation versions were developed by 4J
Studios, and are nearly identical to the Xbox 360 version.[92]

During their E3 2013 press conference Microsoft showed a trailer for *Minecraft: Xbox One Edition*.[93] It is similar to *Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition* but features larger worlds, expanded multiplayer features, and other enhancements. This version released on September 5, 2014.[94]

### *Pocket Edition*

On August 16, 2011, *Minecraft: Pocket Edition* was released for the Xperia Play on the Android Market as an early alpha version. It was then released for several other compatible devices on October 8, 2011.[95][96] An iOS version of *Minecraft* was released on November 17, 2011.[97] A port was also made available for Windows Phones shortly after Microsoft acquired Mojang.[98]
 The port concentrates on the creative building and the primitive
survival aspect of the game, and does not contain all the features of
the PC release. On his Twitter account, Jens Bergensten noted that the *Pocket Edition* of *Minecraft* is written in C++ and not Java, due to iOS not being able to support Java.[99] Gradual updates are periodically released to bring the port closer to the PC version.[100] On December 10, 2014, in observance of Mojang's acquisition by Microsoft, a port of *Pocket Edition* was released for Windows Phone 8.1.[101]

On April 2, 2014, a version of *Minecraft* based on the *Pocket Edition* was released for the Amazon Fire TV.[102]

### Raspberry Pi

A version of *Minecraft* for the Raspberry Pi was officially revealed at MineCon 2012. Mojang stated that the Pi Edition is similar to the *Pocket Edition*
 except that it is downgraded to an older version, and with the added
ability of using text commands to edit the game world. Players can open
the game code and use programming language to manipulate things in the
game world.[103] The game was leaked on December 20, 2012, but was quickly pulled off.[104] It was officially released on February 11, 2013.[105]

## User-generated and downloadable content

A wide variety of user-generated content for *Minecraft*, such as modifications, texture packs and custom maps, is available for download from the Internet. Modifications of the *Minecraft*
 code, called mods, add a variety of gameplay changes, ranging from new
blocks, new items, new mobs to entire arrays of mechanisms to craft.[106][107] The modding community is responsible for a substantial supply of mods from ones that enhance gameplay, such as minimaps, waypoints, and durability counters, to ones that add to the game elements from *Pokémon*, *Portal*, and *The Hunger Games*. To make mods easier to create and install, Mojang announced in November 2012 that it plans to add an official modding API.[52] As of 2015, Mojang has yet to reveal more about their modding API and some[*who?*] believe the project has been abandoned.

Texture packs that customize the game's graphics are also available.[108]
 In version 1.6, texture packs were replaced with "resource packs".
These play the same role as texture packs, but allow custom sounds as
well.[109]
 Custom maps have become popular as well. Players can create their own
maps, which often contain rules, challenges, puzzles and quests, and
share them for others to play.[44] In version 1.3, Mojang added adventure mode[45] for custom maps and in 1.4, Mojang added command blocks,[47] which were created specially for custom maps.

The *Xbox 360 Edition* supports downloadable content, which is available to purchase via the Xbox Games Store; these content packs usually contain additional character skins.[110]
 It later received support for texture packs in its twelfth title update
 while introducing "mash-up packs", which combines texture packs with
skin packs and changes to the game's sounds, music and user interface.[111] The first mash-up pack (and by extension, the first texture pack) for the *Xbox 360 Edition* was released on September 4, 2013, and is themed after the *Mass Effect* franchise.[112] Unlike the PC version, however, the *Xbox 360 Edition* does not support player-made mods or custom maps.[113]

## Reception

### Commercial

On January 12, 2011, *Minecraft* passed 1 million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase.[114][115] At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth,[116] and various unpaid references in popular media such as the *Penny Arcade* webcomic.[117] By April 2011, Persson estimated that *Minecraft*
 had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of
the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta
version.[118] In November 2011, prior to the game's full release, *Minecraft* beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases.[119] By March 2012, *Minecraft* had become the 6th best-selling PC game of all time.[120] As of October 10, 2014, the game has sold 17 million copies on PC, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time.[121] As of October 10, 2014, the game has sold approximately 60 million copies across all platforms, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time.[121][122] On February 25, 2014, the game reached 100 million registered users.[123]

The Xbox 360 version of *Minecraft* became profitable within the
 first 24 hours of the game's release in 2012, when the game broke the
Xbox Live sales records with 400,000 players online.[124] Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, *Minecraft* sold upwards of 1 million copies.[125] GameSpot announced in December 2012 that *Minecraft* sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012.[126] In 2012, *Minecraft* was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day.[127] As of April 4, 2014, the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies.[128] In addition, *Minecraft: Pocket Edition* has reached a figure of 21 million in sales.[129] The PlayStation 3 version sold one million copies in five weeks.[130] The release of the game's PlayStation Vita version boosted *Minecraft* sales by 79%, outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest *Minecraft* launch on a PlayStation console.[131]
 The PS Vita version sold 100,000 digital copies in Japan within the
first two months of release, according to an announcement by SCE Japan
Asia.[132] By January 2015, 500,000 digital copies of *Minecraft* were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms, with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version.[133] *Minecraft* helped improve Microsoft's total first-party revenue by $63 million for the 2015 second quarter.[134]

### Critical reception

*Minecraft* has been praised for the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay.[156][157][158] Critics have praised *Minecraft*‍ '​s complex crafting system, commenting that it is an important aspect of the game's open-ended gameplay.[148] Most publications were impressed by the game's "blocky" graphics, with IGN describing them as "instantly memorable".[20] Reviewers also liked the game's adventure elements, noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building.[148]
 The game's multiplayer feature has been generally received favorably,
with IGN commenting that "adventuring is always better with friends."[20] Jaz McDougall of *PC Gamer* commended *Minecraft*,
 deeming it "intuitively interesting and contagiously fun, with an
unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences".[155]

Reviewers have criticized the game's lack of in-game tutorials and
instructions, making it difficult for new players to learn how to play
the game. IGN was disappointed about the troublesome steps needed to set
 up multiplayer servers, calling it a "hassle".[20] Critics also noted visual glitches that occur periodically.[148] In 2009, GameSpot
 maintained that the game has an "unfinished feel", adding that "some
game elements seem incomplete or thrown together in haste."[148]

A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the *Daily Record*, called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it.[159] Jim Rossignol of Rock, Paper, Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego *Stalker*".[160] On September 17, 2010, gaming webcomic *Penny Arcade* began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game.[161]

The Xbox 360 version was generally received positively by critics,
but did not receive as much praise as the PC version. Although reviewers
 were disappointed by the lack of features such as mod support and
content from the PC version, they acclaimed the port's addition of a
tutorial and in-game tips and crafting recipes, saying that they make
the game more user-friendly.[113]

*Minecraft: Pocket Edition* initially received mixed reviews
from critics. Although reviewers appreciated the game's intuitive
controls, they were disappointed by the lack of content. The inability
in the game to collect resources and craft items, as well as the game's
lack of hostile mobs and limited types of blocks, were especially
criticized.[150][162][163] Recently,[*when?*]
 though, it has started receiving positive reviews, due to the game's
updates adding more content. In addition to the controls, reviewers have
 complimented the graphics, though still note the lack of content.[150] Recently,[*when?*] the *Pocket Edition* received an update with an unlimited world size, alleviating some of the reviewer's concerns.

### Awards

In July 2010, *PC Gamer* listed *Minecraft* as the fourth-best game to play at work.[164] In December of that year, Good Game selected *Minecraft* as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010,[165] Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year,[166][167] and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the "game of the year".[168] Indie DB
 awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters,
in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for Most
Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie.[169] It was also awarded Game of the Year by *PC Gamer UK*.[170]
 The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Technical
Excellence, and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize along with community-voted Audience Award.[171][172] At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, *Minecraft*
 won awards in the categories for Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable
Game and Innovation Award, winning every award for which it was
nominated.[173][174] It has also won GameCity's videogame arts prize.[175] On May 5, 2011, *Minecraft* was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on March 16, 2012.[176][177] At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, *Minecraft* won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category.[178][179] In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, *Minecraft* was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Notch received The Special Award.[180] In 2012, *Minecraft* XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category,[181] and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category.[182] In 2013 it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards.[183] Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014.[184] In 2015, the game placed 6th on *USgamer*‍ '​s The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list.[185]

*Minecraft* was nominated for the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite App, but lost to *Temple Run*. It was nominated for the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game, but lost to *Just Dance 2014*. *Minecraft* won the prize for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards.

## MineCon

Main article: MineCon

MineCon is an official *Minecraft* convention. The first one was held on November 18–19, 2011, at Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. All 4,500 tickets for MineCon 2011 were sold out by October 31.[186] The event included the official launch of *Minecraft*; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; *Minecraft*-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and *Minecraft*-related
 companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times
with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the *Minecraft* community.[187] After MineCon, there was an *Into The Nether* after-party with electronic musician deadmau5.[188] Free codes were given to every attendee of MineCon that unlocked alpha versions of Mojang's other upcoming game, *Scrolls*, as well as an additional non-Mojang game, *Cobalt*, developed by Oxeye Game Studios.[189] Similar events occurred in MineCon 2012, which took place in Disneyland Paris from November 24–25.[190] The tickets for the 2012 event sold out in less than two hours.[191] The 2013 MineCon was held in Orlando, Florida, in the United States, on November 2–3.[192][193] MineCon 2015 was held in London, Great Britain, from July 4–5.[194]

## Spin-off game

Main article: Minecraft: Story Mode

*Minecraft: Story Mode*, an episodic spin-off game developed by Telltale Games
 in collaboration with Mojang, was announced in December 2014.
Consisting of five episodes, the standalone game will be narrative and
player choice-driven, and it was released on Microsoft Windows, OS X,
iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One via download on
 October 13, 2015.[195][196][197] A physical disc that grants access to all episodes was released for the aforementioned four consoles on October 27.[197] A Wii U version was also confirmed in an August 2015 interview with *The Verge*.[198] The first trailer for the game was shown at MineCon on July 4, 2015, revealing some of the game's features. In *Minecraft: Story Mode*, players control Jesse (voiced by Patton Oswalt and Catherine Taber),[197]
 who sets out on a journey with his or her friends to find The Order of
the Stone—four adventurers who slayed an Ender Dragon—in order to save
their world. Brian Posehn, Ashley Johnson, Scott Porter, Martha Plimpton, Dave Fennoy, Corey Feldman, Billy West and Paul Reubens portray the rest of the cast.[199]

## Merchandise

See also: Lego Minecraft

A Lego set based on *Minecraft* called Lego *Minecraft* was released on June 6, 2012.[200] The set, called "Micro World", centers around the game's default player character and a Creeper.[201] Mojang submitted the concept of *Minecraft* merchandise to Lego in December 2011 for the Lego Cuusoo program, from which it quickly received 10,000 votes by users, prompting Lego to review the concept.[202] Lego Cuusoo approved the concept in January 2012 and began developing sets based on *Minecraft*.[202]
 Two more sets based on the Nether and village areas of the game were
released on September 1, 2013. A fourth Micro World set, the End, was
released in June 2014. Six more sets will be available November 2014.[203]
Mojang collaborates with Jinx, an online game merchandise store, to sell *Minecraft* merchandise, such as clothing, foam pickaxes, and toys of creatures in the game.[59] By May 2012, over 1 million dollars were made from *Minecraft* merchandise sales. T-shirts and socks were the most popular products.[204] In March 2013 Mojang signed a deal with the children's book publisher The Egmont Group to create *Minecraft* handbooks, annuals, poster books, and magazines.[205][206][207]

Scholastic has released *Minecraft* Essential Handbooks.

## Popular culture and social media

See also: Category:Minecraft clones

Social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit played a significant role in popularizing *Minecraft*.[208] Research conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communication showed that one-third of *Minecraft* players learned about the game via Internet videos.[209] In 2010, *Minecraft*-related
 videos began to gain affluence on YouTube, often made by commentators.
The videos usually contain screen-capture footage of the game and
voice-overs.[210] Common coverage in the videos includes creations made by players, walkthroughs of various tasks, and parodies of works in popular culture. By May 2012, over 4 million *Minecraft*-related YouTube videos had been uploaded.[204] Some popular commentators have received employment at Machinima, a gaming video company that owns a highly watched entertainment channel on YouTube.[210] The Yogscast is a British organisation that regularly produces *Minecraft* videos; their YouTube channel has attained billions of views, and their panel at MineCon 2011 had the highest attendance.[210][211] Other well known YouTube personnel include Jordan Maron, who has created many *Minecraft* parodies, including "Minecraft Style", a parody of the internationally successful single "Gangnam Style" by South Korean rapper PSY.[212] Herobrine is a major community icon of *Minecraft*, who first appeared as a single image on 4chan's /v/ board. According to rumors, Herobrine appears in players' worlds and builds strange constructions.[213] However, Mojang has confirmed that Herobrine has never existed in *Minecraft*, and there are no plans to add Herobrine.[214]
*Minecraft* has been referenced by other video games, such as *RuneScape*, *Torchlight II*, *Borderlands 2*, *Choplifter HD*, *Super Meat Boy*, *The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim*, *The Binding of Isaac*, *Team Fortress 2*, and *FTL: Faster Than Light*.[215] It was also referenced by musician deadmau5 in his performances.[216] A simulation of the game was featured in Lady Gaga's "G.U.Y." music video, along with the command "/gamemode *ARTPOP*".[217] After the release of *Minecraft*, some video games were released with various similarities with *Minecraft*, and some have been called "clones" of the game. There have been a few *Minecraft*-like and *Minecraft*-inspired games across various gaming platforms since the game became popular. Examples include *Ace of Spades*, *CastleMiner*, *CraftWorld*, *FortressCraft*, *Terraria*, and *Total Miner*.[218] David Frampton, designer of *The Blockheads*, reported that one failure of his 2D game was the "low resolution pixel art" that too closely resembled the art in *Minecraft* which resulted in "some resistance" from fans.[219]

Additionally, in response to Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang and their *Minecraft*
 IP, various developers suddenly announced even further clone titles
that are being developed specifically for Nintendo's consoles, as they
are the only major platforms to not officially receive *Minecraft*, despite early rumours that the game was in development for the Wii U.[220] These clone titles are either in development for Wii U, such as *UCraft* (Nexis Games)[221] and *Cube Life: Island Survival* (Cypronia),[222] the Nintendo 3DS, such as *Battleminer* (Wobbly Tooth Games)[223] and *Cube Creator 3D* (Big John Games),[224] or for both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, such as *Stone Shire* (Finger Gun Games).[225] In an interview *Kotaku* had with Shigeru Miyamoto and Shinya Takahashi in regards to *Minecraft* coming to Nintendo's platforms, Miyamoto stated that the Wii U GamePad is a "good fit" for the title, and Nintendo could have popularized the game in Japan.[226] In a July 2015 interview with Mojang COO
 Vu Bui, it was revealed that the company is still interested in
releasing the game on more platforms, including Nintendo's, and declared
 that even Microsoft's acquisition would not hinder that prospect.
According to Bui, he has "never heard a reason why [they] haven't ended
up on Wii U or 3DS. It just hasn't happened yet."[227] In August 2015, Telltale Games confirmed to *The Verge* that the spin-off title *Minecraft: Story Mode* is coming to Wii U, making it the first game in the franchise on a Nintendo console.[198]

In 2012, Mojang received offers from Hollywood producers who want to produce *Minecraft*-related TV shows; however, Mojang stated that they would engage in such projects when "the right idea comes along."[204] A documentary about the development of Mojang and *Minecraft* was released in December 2012. Titled *Minecraft: The Story of Mojang*, the film was produced by 2 Player Productions.[228] The second episode of the seventeenth season of the animated television series *South Park* titled "Informative Murder Porn", features the boys distracting their parents from fighting each other with *Minecraft*.[229] In the *South Park* episode, gruff character Corey Lanskin explained the *Minecraft* game by noting, "Minecraft, it don't got no winner, it don't got no objective. You're just f\*\*\*\*in' buildin' s\*\*\*!"[230] On February 27, 2014, Notch revealed that Mojang is in talks with Warner Bros. regarding a Minecraft film to be produced by Roy Lee and Jill Messick.[231][232]
 On October 8, 2014, Mojang COO Vu Bui stated that the movie was "in its
 early days of development", saying that it was a "large-budget"
production, and also said that it might not be released until 2018.[233][234] On October 16, 2014, the studio announced that it had hired Shawn Levy to direct the film.[235] In July 2015, it was announced the studio had hired Rob McElhenney to direct the film.[236]

## Applications

The possible applications of *Minecraft* have been discussed extensively, especially in the fields of computer-aided design and education.
 In a panel at MineCon 2011, a Swedish developer discussed the
possibility of using the game to redesign public buildings and parks,
stating that rendering using *Minecraft* was much more user-friendly for the community, making it easier to envision the functionality of new buildings and parks.[210] In 2012, a member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab, Cody Sumter, said that "Notch hasn't just built a game. He's tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program." Various software has been developed to allow virtual designs to be printed using professional 3D printers or personal printers such as MakerBot and RepRap.[237]

In September 2012, Mojang began the *Block By Block* project in cooperation with UN Habitat to create real-world environments in *Minecraft*.[238]
 The project allows young people who live in those environments to
participate in designing the changes they would like to see. Using *Minecraft*, the community has helped reconstruct the areas of concern, and citizens are invited to enter the *Minecraft*
 servers and modify their own neighborhood. Carl Manneh, Mojang's
managing director, called the game "the perfect tool to facilitate this
process," adding that "the three-year partnership will support
UN-Habitat's Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016." Mojang signed *Minecraft* building community, *FyreUK*, to help render the environments into *Minecraft*. The first pilot project began in Kibera, one of Nairobi's informal settlements, and is in the planning phase. The *Block By Block* project is based on an earlier initiative started in October 2011, *Mina Kvarter*
 (My Block), which gave young people in Swedish communities a tool to
visualize how they wanted to change their part of town. According to
Manneh, the project was a helpful way to visualize urban planning ideas
without necessarily having a training in architecture. The ideas
presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions.[239]

In April 2014 the Danish Geodata Agency generated all of Denmark in a scale of 1:1 in *Minecraft* based on their own free geodata.[240]
 This is possible because Denmark is one of the most flat countries with
 the highest point at 171 meters where the limit in default *Minecraft* is about 192 meters above in-game sea level.

*Minecraft* has also been used in educational settings.[241] In 2011, an educational organization named MinecraftEdu was formed with the goal of introducing *Minecraft*
 into schools. The group works with Mojang to make the game affordable
and accessible to schools. In September 2012, MinecraftEdu said that
approximately 250,000 students around the world have access to *Minecraft* through the company.[242]
 A wide variety of educational activities involving the game have been
developed to teach students various subjects, including history,
language arts and science. For an example, one teacher built a world
consisting of various historical landmarks for students to learn and
explore.[242]

In September 2014, the British Museum in London announced plans to recreate its building along with all exhibits in *Minecraft* in conjunction with members of the public.[243]