To be truly great, one must often come from humble beginnings. Some of the greatest and most influential minds of our time had barely anything growing up and still managed to do amazing things with their lives. Similarly, some of the most incredible inventions ever created by mankind began with a few constituent components and ended up changing the world. It’s a testament to human ingenuity that our species continues to find new ways to innovate despite the mounting challenges and pressures of our modern world.
To see this in action, one need look no further than the world of video games. From Super Mario Bros to Pac-Man, from The Legend of Zelda to Pikmin, many of our favorite video games have come from a single idea, a spark in the darkness. Such is the case with Mojang’s Minecraft. This game really needs no introduction; it’s one of the most famous and celebrated games of all time, with over 74 million players worldwide each month. Those are some truly impressive numbers, but let it never be said that Mojang and Microsoft are not generous with their games.
That’s right – it’s now entirely possible to play Minecraft Classic in the browser. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. This is Minecraft as it was back when Obama had not long been sworn in, the first episode of Glee had recently aired, and Facebook was yet to launch FarmVille. Needless to say, it’s a cultural moment well worth talking about, even if you don’t enjoy Minecraft.
First, it’s important to say that Minecraft Classic is completely free. In essence, any criticism that one might be able to level at the game is negated by that simple fact; it’s free, and it won’t cost you anything but your time to check it out. It’s also literally Minecraft from 2009. That means a fairly horrible user interface with very few design concessions. It means a set of 32 (and only 32) blocks to play with, and no chance of ever obtaining any more than that. It means one single biome and no geographical variation whatsoever.
All of that means there’s a simple, unabashed honesty to Minecraft Classic that makes it quite refreshing to play in 2019. Our gaming industry is besieged by incredibly long and involved triple-A titles that, while often wonderful, undeniably take a very long time indeed to finish. By our estimate, we’ve spent around 150 hours on the last two Assassin’s Creed games put together, and we’re not done yet. Compare and contrast this with Minecraft Classic, which only vies for your time by providing a simple, distracting pastime.
In Minecraft Classic, the essential objective is this: put blocks together in fun ways. That’s pretty much it. That’s all you can do. You can attack blocks in the world to destroy them, and you can build blocks with a quick flick of a button, but you can’t do much more than that. As such, the ability to build impressive structures is still very much part of Minecraft, but the chance to alter the landscape in more meaningful ways is not part of Minecraft Classic. There’s no combat here and no survival; just you, existing peacefully in tandem with Minecraft’s simplistic version of nature.
You can, of course, still establish a home for yourself. You can even bring some buddies along if you’d like (using a very, very primitive form of server sharing via an in-game link). If you don’t like the look of the world you’re in, you can randomly generate another one, with a whole three different sizes to choose from. If you’re looking for more options, or more to do once you’ve exhausted the fun this offers, then you’re going to have to look to modern Minecraft. Classic isn’t here to impress you; it’s just here to show you itself, no adornments, no shame.
And yet, there’s still something compelling about Minecraft Classic’s world. It’s probably got something to do with the fact that the game wants nothing to do with overt instruction. You’re simply left to your own devices, and the joy of exploration is all the more overwhelming and awe-inspiring when there’s no sense of hand-holding to diminish it for you. Finding a set of subterranean caves and exploring them, only to come back up above water in a different part of the world, makes you feel like a true pioneer, even if there’s strictly speaking nothing to be found.
the original game was one man’s vision and the drive to make it happen. To truly understand the mighty oak, you must know the seed it once was, and Minecraft Classic is certainly a very interesting acorn indeed.
