I Don't Even Like Minecraft, And Yet I Keep Playing It

Minecraft. Every time I think I'm out, eventually I come crawling back. It's like a drug addiction, or a rocky relationship.

Minecraft's stupendous popularity seems mystifying at first for some observers, but I think it just comes down to the incredible potential that the game seems to offer as a creative platform. From in-game builds, to user skins, resource packs and mods, there's so many aspects that are open to the user for creative expression. The bare-bones graphics and gameplay seem like a blocky canvas that one can paint their blocky vision on.

Or so it feels to me, for about a week. Then stagnation, frustration and boredom set in. I lose inspiration and will to continue a playthrough, with half-finished builds, aborted expeditions, personal goals left hanging. I quit, swearing that this time I have learned the error of my ways, that Minecraft is just not the game for me. Then some time passes, memories fade, and I start feeling the pull. The sense of freedom, the creative inspiration. The cycle starts anew.

When I do come back, most times I want a fresh start. A new adventure, a new modlist. The Minecraft modding community is large and prolific, with new and exciting creations popping up all the time.

It's also a giant burning tire fire of rumors, drama, politics, and terrible fragmentation. I've never seen a community so split between different versions of the same game. Since Minecraft is still being updated, and each update tends to break compatibility between mods, a cycle has developed where many people stay on the old version while authors update their mods; at some point, a critical mass is reached where enough mods are ported that a large chunk of users adopt the new version. By this point, the next official update is in development, and just when everyone's getting comfortable the update is released, and here we go again.

For every update there are some mods that never get ported and new ones making their debut. Authors appear and disappear, or pass the mod along to a succession of maintainers. Some people never bother to upgrade, not wanting to lose their current playthroughs and favorite mods. The majority, though, move on, and some really innovative, fun mods get left in the dust.

So the first question facing me as I look into building a new modlist is- what version am I going to be playing? In this case, I'm thinking about the current update, 1.12. As it is- for now- the bleeding edge, a lot of mods I'm interested in aren't ported yet. But there are others I've never used before, and am eager to try out. I'm still feeling out the theme of the modlist; I prefer more focused playthroughs over giant "kitchen sink" packs that attempt to fit in as many mods as possible. But, in the next post, I'll try and spotlight some of the ones I've currently got my eye on.