The Minecraft cycle

I Feel It Coming

I think it’s that time again. I’m fully prepared to play Minecraft religiously for three weeks, only to spend the following month desperately nagging my friends to log back on long after the "feeling" has died for everyone else.

But that’s not really the point. The point is that I'm looking forward to twenty-one days of pure dumbassery and total disconnection from the real world. Honestly, I think I need it.

It doesn’t matter how many times you spawn into a fresh world; it still feels like the very first time. It’s remarkable what that kind of "free" game design can achieve. Even if the magic only lasts a few weeks before I’m left grinding away on a solo server, the day this game finally becomes truly stale is a day I genuinely dread.

Bossman Said Yes, Then Said No

I’m not entirely in the loop regarding what happened with Notch and his proposed "Minecraft 2," but part of me really wants it to happen. Minecraft feels stuck in a cycle of small, safe iterations, and the cracks are starting to show.

New blocks and colors are fun for a minute, but there hasn't been a fundamental shift in how the game actually plays in forever. We need new systems, but I don’t think retrofitting them into the current engine will work and it would probably just result in a wave of complaints. Maybe a clean slate is exactly what the "bossman" should have gone for.