Timeline on Minecraft

Minecraft Notes

What are the main ways Minecraft attracts audiences?

- Sandbox construction game - endless
- Community
- Different platforms
- Social media - Twitter
- YouTube - Inspiration
- Adverts on Apps / Pop ups
- Unique game - Limited competition
- Buy and play within communities on realms
- Pay to have access to the game
- create and support fan clubs
- Buy add ons for the game such as skins
- Subscribing to magazine
- Watching online videos
- Fans influence how it is updated
- Attend Minecon
- Buy merchandise, toys and clothes

Marketing: How are video games traditionally marketed and what franchising takes place?

- Adverts
- Merchandise - LEGO, Action figures etc.
- Social media
- Platform store
- Game trailers
- Books - Annuals, Manual

Without the commercial backing of a mainstream publisher, and no money spent on advertising revenue, due to the independent nature of Mojang, the game relied on word of mouth between gamers and features on sites such as the Penny Arcade Web Comic to generate interest amongst gamers.
A LEGO set based on Minecraft called Lego Minecraft was released on 6th June 2012.
2 more sets based on the Nether and village areas of the game were released.
Mojang collaborates with Jinx, an online game merchandise store. includes clothing, foam pickaxes, and toys of creations in the game.
Mojang signed a deal with Egmont group, a Childrens book Publisher.
In 2019, a joint venture with Warner Brothers releases Minecraft the movie.

How is the industry regulated and by whom?
- PEGI regulates video game industry. They regulate the industry by; using intellectual property rights and licenses, age ratings/classifications, advertising laws, data protection, gambling legislation and responsibility of staff.

Who regulates content and how?
- PEGI (Pan European Game Information) regulates content by giving video games, age ratings - 3,7,12,16,18 and giving content warnings of what is including such as; Bad language, Discrimination, Drugs, fear, gambling, sex, violence and online. These are given symbols to show the feature.

What are some of the effects video games are seen to have on players?
- Problem solving and logics
- Hand eye coordination
- Planning resource management and legistics
- Situational awareness
- Mapping skills
- memory and concentration

How is Minecraft regulated?
- Minecraft is family friendly and the initial minecraft series was rated PEGI 7 but later introduction stories were classified higher because narratives and dialogue were being introduced.

Minecraft Production, Distribution, Technology and Circulation

Video Game Key Words

Minecraft Highlighted Article

Minecraft Introduction

Video game: A game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a monitor or other display.

Types of Video games: 
- RPG
-Sports
-Strategy
-Action/adventure
-Puzzle solving
-Construction
-FPS
-Simulation
-Horror
-Children's

Examples:

- Fortnite                                        -Cooking Mama                      -Sims

-Nintendogs                                   -Dinner Dash                           -Far Cry
-Fifa                                               -Big Brain academy                 -Rainbow 6 Siege
-GTA                                             -Sky Rim                                  -Fable
-NBA                                             -Mario Sonic                            -WWE
-UFC                                              -F1                                           -Assassin's Creed
-Wii Fit                                          -Just Dance                              -Wii Sports resort
-Crash Bandicoot                           -Rachet and Clank                   -We Sing
-Moshi Monsters                            -Guitar Hero                            -Monkey Ball
-Call of Duty                                  -Watch Dogs                            -Battlefield

Terminology:
-Games Consoles - A unit accommodating a set of controls for electronic or mechanical equipment.
-Sandbox Game - Construction; building from scratch. Changing roles of the 'look down generation.' Collaboration through gaming; multi-player
-Microsoft - Institution which owns videogames; Xbox and Minecraft
-Platforms - Different levels of gaming. Online Vs Moving images Vs Audio. Ways you can play (App, physically etc.). Multi-Platform - More than one way of playing; more platforms = wider variety.
-Servers - How the games run, where info is kept, enables games to be played.

Intro to Minecraft...
- Minecraft development - from 'online Lego'
- Multi - platform =  more available
- Open Sandbox - no limit
- Started as an 'indie'
- Critically and commercially successful
- From independent to mainstream - 125 million copies sold.

-Minecraft was created by Marcus 'Notch' Persson and developed by Mojang.

-These were independent, separate to and not financed by a big commercial company.
-But, as small independent products become successful, it is usual for larger organisations/owners to want to buy them.

6 reasons why Minecraft is successful...
- Infinite replayability - Sandbox (No limits)
-Strong community - creations are the marketing campaign
-Platform agnostic - Released on everything
-Co-opted by children - Household name
-Not limited by genre
-Fulfils human instinct to bring order to chaotic wilderness

Introductory Minecraft Essay

Minecraft is a successful and independent computer game designed in 2009 by self-taught Swedish programmer Markus Persson, who now claims he has approximately around 100 million users. It is described by many as a first-person 'sandbox game'. This means people can create their own experience, although in other terms, it is amazingly just a virtual landscape where people dig holes to collect blocks. It is an open structure where the player is free to play without specific objectives. Players in sandbox games are free to explore an environment, to choose which tasks they do, and often they have the ability to express themselves creatively within the game.

The whole aim of the game is for players to build structures out of textured cubes in a 3D world. They key activities are mining and crafting which lead to other activities in the game like exploration and combats. These millions of children who play minecraft usually play it online but the most popular methods of using it are Microsoft Windows, Mac, Xbox 360, some mobile phones and PlayStation 3. With all this access it makes it very easy for children and adults to find the game and get involved.

The game includes several different models of play, which allows players to customize the way they experience each world. They can play by single player or multiplayer. There are two game modes to choose from, the creative (where players have an unlimited number of blocks and items to build with and can't die) or survival (players must find and build all of the things and need to avoid death by hunger, injury or attack from hostile creatures). There are also different levels of difficulty, each with its own unique features and challenges. A lot of people describe the game as like building something out of Lego. The difference is that after you have built it you can mould the plastic and dye plants that you grow yourself. It then takes you on to an adventure inside guiding you through forests and deserts with mythical creatures/ monsters chasing you.

Adults seem to feel positively towards this game due to the fact there are a huge amount of outcomes that come with this game. It opens children’s minds and them to think creatively. There are only a few limits to what the game can do and vey little negatives on kids. This game shows kids that not all video games are about war and fighting but creating and using your brain. For example, parents would much rather have their kids play this than a war video game like ‘COD’. Because of the influence of the audience the game received millions of dollars in merchandise from T-shirts to toys and now events like minecon.

As the platform increased and more people heard about minecraft, versions of the game can now be purchased over the internet using Playstation Networks or Xbox Live Arcade. Recent additions include the Nintendo platform, which was excluded from the initial Minecraft releases. They are available to download from December 2015 with physical copies from June 2016 and most recently for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS.

Minecrafts commercial success did not come easily. In the year 2011 they released various versions of Minecraft and that’s when things started to turn. The first version to be released was Minecraft Pocket Edition was released on Sony Xperia Play, available on Sony Xperia smartphones. The official release was in November the same year and the game went ahead to win 5 awards Innovation Award, Best Downloadable Game, Best Debut Game, Audience Award and Seusmas McNally Grand Prize at three different conferences. The same year saw Minecraft become available on Android and iOS devices.

By 2012, Minecraft was available for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. In 2013, Minecraft Pi Edition, which was allowed for educational purposes for novice programmers and players, was also released. In 2014 Microsoft acquired Minecraft intellectual property for $2.5 billion. In 2015, it reached 30 million copies sold. To date, over 121 official copies of the game have been sold across a variety of formats and platforms.

As a result of this on its release minecraft will continue to improve and increase the amount of players.