Minecraft Is Dead, Long Live Minecraft

Minecraft is dead.We hear that a lot, but each time we check the morgue Minecraft has refused to die. Why? What makes minecraft so different from every game out there? Surely all the great games have their moment and then are resigned to a nostalgic moment in gaming history, or a giant landfill, to nestle next to ET. I doubt anyone would argue that minecraft is as popular as it once was, but like Bitcoin, 80's tracks, cables on peripherals, and paper back books, Minecraft ignores the advances of its competitors and holds onto its place in the mainstream.

Why?

Because it is not a game, it's a medium, a format, an art form. A means of expression that is accessable by all. I read one comment on a forum by a youngster that was meant to be derogatory, but what I consider to be the reason for Minecrafts resliance: "I only play minecraft when I'm bored of my other games". When was the last time you went back and played the first iterations of Sonic, or Mario? Perhaps if you are a niche nostalgia nerd like me, but the average player? Very few go back to their old games in today's throwaway society. Minecraft is different. It has no end, and like a pad of paper will never go out of fashion as it is a medium for expression used by all, not just a game.

It's also ageless, genderless, and due to it's roots in nostalgic low detail graphics has no pressure to improve. It's an 80's classic made in the 21st century. It's simple, and it's constraints are a feature. I'm well beyond my teens and am tossing up the idea of buying a motor bike, an old Porsche, and chucking in my job to follow my missed dreams, yet Minecraft still is the game I come back to, the game I play to relax, to create, to socialise in; a game that is as far from a mid life crisis as a game can be.

Minecraft will still by dying ten years from now, whilst robustly puffing on a cigar and eating a donut.