I think it's a lot about the fact that those who like Minecraft have, you know, stories to tell about it and thus are more present on the face of the internet. As for me, I know about as many people who dislike the game as I know people who like it.
Minecraft and the Escapist
- Thread starter New Troll
- Start date
Holy shit! Someone else who's stuck here in Oklahoma!
Anyways, I would say that some of Minecraft's popularity could certainly be attributed to The Escapist, but it's not due exclusively to the Escapist. I've talked to some big fans of the game who never heard of the Escapist. Now maybe they heard of it from someone who was here, but I don't think that was the case. I kind of get the feeling that after the game started showing up on the radar of the gaming world The Escapist staff as well as many of their readers really latched onto it because it's a game changer in so many ways. Apart from proving that one single man could make something huge, it brought with it a play style that (while borrowed from infiniminer) was new to most of us. It emphasized creativity, and didn't require high end graphics or crazy action to be a great game, just a simple mechanic that gave control of the game to the gamer. Features like that are really rare in the gaming world, and since The Escapist is a place that really likes to look at gaming as an artform, something that broke the mold in the way that the game did was really worth latching onto. Since then, yeah, we've probably helped it a lot, but I don't think we're strictly responsible for its having gotten big.
Anyways, I would say that some of Minecraft's popularity could certainly be attributed to The Escapist, but it's not due exclusively to the Escapist. I've talked to some big fans of the game who never heard of the Escapist. Now maybe they heard of it from someone who was here, but I don't think that was the case. I kind of get the feeling that after the game started showing up on the radar of the gaming world The Escapist staff as well as many of their readers really latched onto it because it's a game changer in so many ways. Apart from proving that one single man could make something huge, it brought with it a play style that (while borrowed from infiniminer) was new to most of us. It emphasized creativity, and didn't require high end graphics or crazy action to be a great game, just a simple mechanic that gave control of the game to the gamer. Features like that are really rare in the gaming world, and since The Escapist is a place that really likes to look at gaming as an artform, something that broke the mold in the way that the game did was really worth latching onto. Since then, yeah, we've probably helped it a lot, but I don't think we're strictly responsible for its having gotten big.
I work as a highschool basketball coach. My entire team and all their friends play it. My aunties colleague brings his son to work sometimes, he plays it and so do all of his friends.
My friends at uni aren't gamers, I had to introduce one of my good mates to XBL because he'd never played any online games. He now plays reach more than I play all my other games combined.
My friends at uni aren't gamers, I had to introduce one of my good mates to XBL because he'd never played any online games. He now plays reach more than I play all my other games combined.
Ahem, ripped off? You mean inspired then created his own, completely different game, which is more complex and generally better in every way? Then yes he did "rip off" it.SteewpidZombie said:
Also, no The Escapsit didn't spread it as much as, say Seananners or other famous Youtubers.
I remember that. No doubt his followers would have jumped on the bandwagon too. I heard about it from a friend before I read it here...MiracleOfSound said:
Most, if not all of my gamer friends know about it. None plays it though.
Considering the fact that most of us look up new games as soon as they show up and read a lot of reviews, it's somewhat hard not to know of it. It got its fame by being a rather unique computer game and I think most people who actively look for stuff on the internet would know about it. I've never seen it in stores, however to the point where I wonder if a physical copy was ever made.
Considering the fact that most of us look up new games as soon as they show up and read a lot of reviews, it's somewhat hard not to know of it. It got its fame by being a rather unique computer game and I think most people who actively look for stuff on the internet would know about it. I've never seen it in stores, however to the point where I wonder if a physical copy was ever made.
None of my gamer friends had heard of it but they are kind of triple A and FPS guys anyhoo. They tend to leave the indie news to me.
Word of the internet is to be underestimated even less.Rayne870 said:
Do you know how many people talk about it on the internet? How many Minecraft wallpaper threads there are on /wg/ and threads just for talking about it on /v/? There are a hell of a lot of them, I'll tell you that. The Escapist actually came a little late to the party, with a handful of players knowing about it when it was still indev mode and alpha and most joining when it hit beta.
Minecraft owes nothing to the Escapist for it's popularity, it owes everything to the millions of people on the internet mentioning it here and there.
When I watched the documentry on Mojang, they claimed they never spent a dime on marketing. All advertisement has been from fans, talking to others and posting videos and debating it on forums.
The Escapist, eh, I guess it may have helped, but Minecraft pretty popular.
The Escapist, eh, I guess it may have helped, but Minecraft pretty popular.
I havent realised..
Does seem like alot of people on The Escapist can't shut the f*** up about the bloody game though, where other gaming forums politly highlited it once and never said anything more about it again.
But as for Popularity or Trend or whatever, only takes a small community to pass on the word and you have a full scale spread of it..
Does seem like alot of people on The Escapist can't shut the f*** up about the bloody game though, where other gaming forums politly highlited it once and never said anything more about it again.
But as for Popularity or Trend or whatever, only takes a small community to pass on the word and you have a full scale spread of it..
I never heard of it before it was first mentioned on this site, and I'm not oblivious to the internet by any means, though I'm also not an internet junkie either. More of a time killer while food is cooking sort of thing. Figured a bunch of peops would be in the same boat as I. And yet again I ask, it's very popular, especially on this site, yet I haven't found a single person outside of this site who actually plays it. So... what's up with that?tthor said:
Correct. Just the galaxy, not the universe.
I actually discovered Minecraft before the Escapist xD I purchased it just before it went Beta for 10 euros...and since then it has boomed in my school. In the last 4 months I have to say that the number of people playing it has multiplied greatly.
People keep creating Minecraft WTF? why is Mojang winning? Who the hell is voting for them? threads. But if it is, surely this obviously states that the majority of people on the Escapist who are voting in March Madness are voting for Mojang? OR they hate Valve.
I haven't voted for Bioware, It's Elder Scrolls all the way for me and I played Mass Effect (didn't give it as much of a chance as I should've done) and I didn't like it. While I do like Portal and TF2...they've been out for a while, and I feel for an indie game to be so successful? That Mojang should have some praise.
Plus; wolves. They are so cute!
Edit: I kinda reinforced the point that everyone on the Escapist loves Minecraft, I didn't mean to push that...although I have noticed everyone seems to love Minecraft and Firefly too much.
There is so much Minecraft on youtube, especially on Machinima (which is like 10th most subscribed? something like that.)
People keep creating Minecraft WTF? why is Mojang winning? Who the hell is voting for them? threads. But if it is, surely this obviously states that the majority of people on the Escapist who are voting in March Madness are voting for Mojang? OR they hate Valve.
I haven't voted for Bioware, It's Elder Scrolls all the way for me and I played Mass Effect (didn't give it as much of a chance as I should've done) and I didn't like it. While I do like Portal and TF2...they've been out for a while, and I feel for an indie game to be so successful? That Mojang should have some praise.
Plus; wolves. They are so cute!
Edit: I kinda reinforced the point that everyone on the Escapist loves Minecraft, I didn't mean to push that...although I have noticed everyone seems to love Minecraft and Firefly too much.
There is so much Minecraft on youtube, especially on Machinima (which is like 10th most subscribed? something like that.)
I'd never heard of Minecraft for a long time. Saw the VGCats comic [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=292] about it... but what really caught my attention was Zero Punctuation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2680-Minecraft]. Interesting, to say the least...
What finally sold me was stumbling across our old friend Rob Moran and his Super Minecraft [http://www.urealms.com/content.php?132-Super-Minecraft&s=09eff705d15c8f96e0a9e670c7df121a&page=2] "lets play" bit. Yeah, it's a special mod that ramps up the action to crazy levels, but dang did that make it look fun.
What finally sold me was stumbling across our old friend Rob Moran and his Super Minecraft [http://www.urealms.com/content.php?132-Super-Minecraft&s=09eff705d15c8f96e0a9e670c7df121a&page=2] "lets play" bit. Yeah, it's a special mod that ramps up the action to crazy levels, but dang did that make it look fun.
But god, the male shepherd voice was awwwwwwwwful: It got to the point where I was forced to spend 12 hours roleplaying as a woman to avoid it lolSteewpidZombie said:
But for the most part, I agree, Mojang has made ONE game. One very good game, but still, one game.
I don't think Bioware deserve to win particularly, but they are more worthy of the top-spot than Mojang.