How Has Minecraft Endured All These Years?

[Zombie]

Hey guys!

I am working on a project unrelated to the server, and the big question I want to answer is: How has this game endured all these years? I want to know your guys' opinion;s and see what people think.

Some questions to consider when answering:

-What has kept you personally playing Minecraft?
-How does Minecraft appeal across multiple generations?
-Is there any single element that gives Minecraft a timeless feeling?
-Why do your friends play Minecraft/How many of your friends own a copy of this game?
-Do you think that this game will ever fully die out?
-When will minecraft reach peak popularity (at what point do you think the game will start to decline in profit)?
-Finally, how does this game differ from other games?

If you answer, I'd also like to ask if I could use your responses.

 

[Berend]

Feel free to use this response.

-What has kept you personally playing Minecraft?

There are a lot of things you can do on Minecraft. Modification of the game through mods or plugins can turn Minecraft into almost any existing game. After buying the game, joining server is completely free. The content is almost endless and even regular survival can be fun on a new server.
I think the world generation that happens for every new world plays a big part in keeping every experience unique.

-How does Minecraft appeal across multiple generations?

I think the answer to this is similar to the last question. The game can be quick paced with pvp games which I feel is appealing to younger people. I feel like building things and creating servers is fun for older people (of course there are lots of exceptions, both of these are just examples). There are also parents who play this game with their kids. I feel like Minecraft can be a safe place for every generation (if the right server is used).

-Is there any single element that gives Minecraft a timeless feeling?

I think mainly the graphics part of Minecraft. Lots of blocks stay more or less the same in texture, and other features stay the same over time.

-Why do your friends play Minecraft/How many of your friends own a copy of this game?

I currently don't know a lot of people with Minecraft. I think an important aspect to playing this game is that you can work together on things without being online at the same time. With a lot of shooters, you can play a game with your friends and have a moment together. If someone is offline, they don't play and have no contribution to a game. With Minecraft, you can build a house or a wall and it will be there when they get online.

-Do you think that this game will ever fully die out?

I think that fully depends on whoever owns Minecraft by then. If they decide to shut down the servers, there won't really be a future to (online) Minecraft. I doubt that the playerbase will drop to the point where the game really dies out.

-When will minecraft reach peak popularity (at what point do you think the game will start to decline in profit)?

Minecraft has already had a peak popularity, but I don't think it will really decline in profit. It mostly depends on what servers stay available, as the amount of unique servers influences the diversity in content that Minecraft has to offer directly.

-Finally, how does this game differ from other games?

The game can be anything. It can be the least competitive game or a very competitive game. I think that appeals to lots of people who want peace from competitive gaming or want to battle with their friends to be the best. I think the part of playing together while not always online at the same time makes a big difference too.

So to answer the question: how has this game endured all these years?

The game appeals to lots of players, and new content is added rapidly. Content is added through updates, but mostly through new servers with new ideas and new games. There is something for everyone in Minecraft.

 

[KittyCatElite]

Can use this response

-What has kept you personally playing Minecraft?

I think it's amazing how I never manage to get tired of the game. The endless possibilities and diversity on servers make it possible to play a single server for hundreds of hours, and occasional hosted events are really fun to participate in. A big factor is that the game itself doesn't change all that much. It's the players that change it. A lot of big games with frequent updates are always at risk of losing popularity due to an update being underwhelming. I also like that the players challenge themselves with stuff like speedrunning parkour maps, because it adds a whole new layer to the content.

-How does Minecraft appeal across multiple generations?

Minecraft has something to do for everyone. There are multiple gamemodes (survival, creative, multiplayer servers, modded Minecraft...) that all have their own playerbase. I think every single person who plays video games can find something enjoyable in Minecraft. Younger people often prefer more action-packed games, while older people may enjoy mods or other calmer gamemodes.

-Is there any single element that gives Minecraft a timeless feeling?

It all comes down to the game never changing too much. We have created a stable set of commonly known servers that people play on, while also having smaller servers for everyone to try out. Singleplayer still feels similar to when I started playing Minecraft. Everything gets updated from time to time so nothing gets stale, but us players can keep doing what we love. It's just a very nostalgic game to me.

-Why do your friends play Minecraft/How many of your friends own a copy of this game?

I know dozens of people online in the communities I'm in. So many of them still play on the servers I know them from or join the events that they have been playing in for years. Minecraft is a very refreshing game. Only playing Minecraft without ever playing other games can get boring, but you'll always want to come back to it. It's like any other hobby that you enjoy doing.

-Do you think that this game will ever fully die out?

The game will never die out if it's up to the players. If they decide to shut down the game, then so be it. But like any other popular game, it won't die out because people will always come back and play the game. It's a continuous cycle that will never let the game die like that.

-When will Minecraft reach peak popularity (at what point do you think the game will start to decline in profit)?

I think the peak growth is in the past, but there will always be a steady source of income and players. As children grow up, they may see the game on the internet or hear about it from their friends, and buy the game. As long as the population keeps growing, the game should too.

-Finally, how does this game differ from other games?

Although a lot of games have potential for the creative side of players, I think Minecraft is the one game where people actually utilize everything properly. The players have created huge builds in creative, have made servers with amazing maps and games, have made mods with cool new things, have made different texture packs for the game, the list goes on. And best of all, there are always people creating new player-made content for it and people are willing to try it out

 

[Hex]

I suppose you can use this response

-What has kept you personally playing Minecraft?
This server. I probably wouldn't still be playing if not for this server and the community and friends I've found here. I got tired of main survival many years ago, but the beauty of this game is that there's so much more to do with it. Modpacks are the only other thing in this game that I've put any significant amount of time to in the last 4 years, and I find that the experience I get from modded Skyblock and other large modpacks with interactions between hundreds of different systems is extremely unique and there's not much out there that scratches the same itch for me (I'm pretty sure Factorio and Satisfactory take major inspiration from that type of thing, I should probably look into those).
-How does Minecraft appeal across multiple generations?
I feel that everyone that plays the game has the same shared experience of punching their first tree, building their first house, mining their first diamonds. They're iconic experiences, and they bring me a lot of nostalgia. I think the core experience is iconic and engaging, and something that feels timeless. As well, there's so much to do in the game that you can find new communities and almost entire new games if at any point you get bored of singleplayer. It's versatile and satisfying.
-Is there any single element that gives Minecraft a timeless feeling?
Probably not a single element. I'd say the game feels old but new. The graphics are not cutting edge but still unique and very iconic. Everything feels familiar but new. People are having similar types of fun with the game to the ones they were having when it was still in Alpha or Beta, and that says something about its ability to perpetuate. It gives a framework for creativity.
-Why do your friends play Minecraft/How many of your friends own a copy of this game?
Most of my friends own the game, though most of my friends that are gamers are ones I've met through this server, so that's a bit of an unfair question.
-Do you think that this game will ever fully die out?
Probably not. Its popularity will go down, but it will stay alive so long as people find new experiences to have inside of it, and it's such a blank canvas that it's unlikely that will ever stop.
-When will minecraft reach peak popularity (at what point do you think the game will start to decline in profit)?
It's probably going to be hard to get a true popularity peak like what happened in 2013, and it's likely it will never have as as strong as a peak as it has in the past, but it's still going very strong.
-Finally, how does this game differ from other games?
Its crafting system was pretty unique for when it was created. The freedom it affords is something few other games gave when it was created. It's a forerunner for the idea of a limitless sandbox, and though I feel some similar games have cropped up in recent years Minecraft has a quality of being player driven, of getting your satisfaction from doing what you want to do and setting parameters around what you can do while still allowing your mind to flourish. If the game had some kind of Chisels and Bits voxel editor I feel it probably wouldn't have taken off as it did.