Kateri McColl's review of Minecraft

Date last edited: 10-19-2023 at 08:17AM

   
Rating: Everyone 10+

Review:
Title: Minecraft
Developer: Mojang Studios
Genre: survival, sandbox
ESRB rating: E10+
Your rating on a 5 star scale: 4.5/5
Primary audience: children and adolescents
Year of release: 2009
Platform: available everywhere
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Minecraft is a blend of a sandbox and survival game that was created by Mojang Studios in 2009. The individual playing has many possibilities while playing. They can enter into the “creative” mode and build whatever they would like with ease or they can play the “survival” mode and attempt to complete the game by journeying to fight the “Ender Dragon”, the final monster. The game has gained massive popularity over the past fourteen years and continues to be relevant today.


The First Media Key: Balance
The first media key from Dr. Gan’s book, Infinite Bandwidth, is “balance.” Balance helps us to “keep an open mind” and “take all things into consideration” (Gan, pg. 23). Without balance “we run the risk of bias, narrow-mindedness, and ultimately, ignorance” (Gan, pg. 22).
Minecraft maintains a good balance that many games do not have. It walks the line between a creative building game and a monster-fighting survival game, opening the game to a wide variety of gameplay. In comparison to other “fighting” games, Minecraft is also extremely mild and great for younger kids, specifically lacking in gore.


The Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness
The second media key is “attitude awareness” from Infinite Bandwidth. Dr Gan explains this “helps us cultivate an awareness of the attitudes underlying the media we view and use.” He continues, “It enables us to more clearly recognize messages, both subtle and not so subtle, coming at us through media, so we don’t allow visible lies to override invisible truths” (Gan, pg. 40).
Minecraft has a multiplayer option but it only allows children to play with people they know, having to intentionally send the link to a Minecraft “world.” This means that random people cannot log on and influence any child playing. The child is locked into their world with their friends, allowing their imaginations to run wild. Minecraft, therefore, allows kids to participate in media while also maintaining good and healthy attitude awareness.


The Third Media Key: The Dignity of the Human Person
The third media key from Infinite Bandwidth is “the dignity of the human person.” Gan writes “When the failings and quirks of actual people are used as grist for viewer entertainment, persons- who are supposed to be subjects- are turned into objects. And that’s never a transformation that reflects the dignity of the human person” (Gan, pg. 56).
Minecraft has very minimal violence in comparison to plenty of other popular video games. The violence only consists of fighting monsters and within that, only “health” is taken away. There is no explicit gore that could impact a child and their understanding of human dignity.


The Fourth Media Key: Truth-Filled
Dr. Gan explains the fourth media key, “truth-filled.” He explains that “we… know both good and evil exist in this world… We know that what we do in this life matters: every action and every choice has a consequence… And we know there is purpose, there is a plan, there is love, and there is hope” (Gan, pg. 70).
Minecraft as a whole is an extremely wholesome game. It creates community between one and their friends, allows someone’s imagination to go wild, and has objectives that lead to fun gameplay that many people play over and over again. It has a simplicity to it that is full of truth. Community, creativity, and adventure are all things that are fundamentally rooted in basic human truth.


The Fifth Media Key: Inspiring
The fifth media key is “inspiring” from Dr. Gan’s book, Infinite Bandwidth. Gan writes that “the fifth media key encourages us to expect the best from media” (Gan, pg. 94). He continues, “it draws a clear line in the sand between media being used for its true purpose- to direct us to all that’s good, true, and beautiful- and media that either misdirects us or wastes its potential by directing us nowhere” (Gan, pg. 94).
Because of the different and endless building possibilities in the game, Minecraft inspires children to create whatever their hearts desire and on whatever scale they want. They can make a simple home, a huge castle, or a pirate ship. Children have such active, fantastical, and infinite imaginations and Minecraft creates an outlet for them.


The Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed
The sixth media key, “skillfully developed,” from Infinite Bandwidth, is described as “a necessary ingredient for good media” (Gan, pg. 100). Gan writes that “ we have ‘a duty in conscience to make [our]selves competent in the art of social communication…’” (Gan, pg. 110).
Minecraft has been skillfully developed, especially considering the multitude of updates that have occurred since the release of the game in 2009. Each update contains improvements and aspects to further the enjoyment of the game. The game has also become incredibly popular and often involves individuals playing with others. The influx of people onto the game displays Minecraft’s merit as an incredibly well-made game.


The Seventh Media Key: Motivated By and Relevant to Experience
The seventh media key, from Infinite Bandwidth, is “motivated by and relevant to experience.” Gan writes that media is supposed to “create a sensory experience- an experience that appeals to our senses- in order to move our emotions, shape our thoughts, and inspire us to action” (Gan, pg. 117).
One would think a game that consists of the same thing over and over again would become tiresome and boring but due to the endless creative possibilities of the nature of Minecraft, it has managed to remain relevant for over a decade. The ability to create whatever the user would like to, all while trying to survive monster attacks on ten hearts, is quite compelling, particularly for young audiences.


Minecraft is a timeless video game and I believe will continue to be played for years to come. Mixing the thrill of survival games and the creative fun of artistic games, Minecraft is a unique and exciting gaming experience that has been a pivotal part of many lives and will continue to be.




Seven Keys:
Balanced:
Attitude:
Personal:
Truth-filled:
Inspired:
Skillfully Made:
Experienced:

Overall Rating: 29/35

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