Top Ten Greatest Video Games of All Time: #8

Minecraft

Go ahead. Insult me. Give me your worst. Call me a nerd. Call me a child. Call me a baby who actually likes Minecraft. Call me a disgrace and a waste of oxygen for even playing this video game. You can call me whatever you want. I’ve heard it all.

Truth is, Minecraft is undeniably one of the most relaxing but cruel, adaptable but expansive, and simple but intricate sandbox/survival video games. No matter how cringe-inducing the community may be, Minecraft deserves a spot on this list.

It was initially released on May 17, 2009 (approaching its 10 year anniversary!) on PC by Mojang. The rights have since been purchased by Microsoft.

According to Wikipedia, it is currently the second-best-selling PC game with 30 million copies sold, only behind the intolerable battle royale, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (with 50 million copies sold). Minecraft has since expanded to several more platforms and still receives frequent updates.

The simple, iconic block design stands out unlike any other sandbox game. It made building incredibly easy to adapt to and experimentally fun. Minecraft creative mode block building has practically become a form of art thanks to the media and pop culture.

As for its survival mode, Minecraft is ingeniously programmed to place the player in a random seed for every new world they create, which means each world will be different from the last every time you want to start over (unless of course you deliberately insert the same one every time).

Why is this ingenious? It means exploration is unlimited. Starting a new world means fresh possibilities: a new place to build a house, or a new area to gather resources.

Similar to the last entry, Minecraft never holds your hand because the developers do not underestimate their players. Later versions added instructions and explanations, but the raw feeling of loneliness and survival was very much present when it initially hit the internet by storm.

Showing instead of telling works well for a game like The Witness where only one button dictates how the entire game plays out, but Minecraft leaves you in the dark and lacks basic instruction on what you’re even supposed to be doing. It places you in a world with no guidance and no objective. This is disappointing if you have never once seen how the game is to be played, especially for just how vast it really is.

After learning the basics and maybe beyond them, there really is no other flaw with Minecraft. It’s an enjoyable experience in both survival and creative modes, and really hard to get bored with because of its sheer amount of content.

Come back Wednesday when I present the seventh entry: possibly the most addicting video game of all time.