Minecraft shouldnt ever Feel Clingy Mojang Says

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Minecraft shouldn't ever be a clingy feeling, Mojang says



Mojang continues to be attentive to the success of other survival games.



Mojang asked me what the future of Minecraft looked like just before the latest Minecraft 1.19 (opens new tab) update was released. Game director Agnes Larsson and developer Nir "Ulraf" Vaknin weren't willing to discuss specific features for the next major update. No surprise, they'll likely save this for the next Minecraft Live showcase. Instead, we talked about how they're still learning from other crafting competitors and how they want to "keep the magic of Minecraft" for the next 10 years or more.



Minecraft's beta launch in 2010 put survival and crafting on the map. There have been a myriad of other crafting games, a lot of which were created using voxels, however Minecraft remains the benchmark for sandbox creativity. It would be easy enough to Mojang to become smug after having worn the crown for many years, I can imagine, becoming insular and sourcing ideas only from its own developers and players.



Both Larsson and Vaknin insist that they don't think Minecraft any better than the other players. (I would, though. I don't want to sound like a boastful person, but it doesn't hurt. However, they do say that knowing what makes Minecraft distinct is a way to maintain it.



Larsson said it was intrinsic motivation. Larsson described it as intrinsic motivation.



Vaknin agreed that asking players to be self-motivated is where Minecraft excels: "A lot of games tend to stray from this because a lot of players really desire to be more oriented, and that's fine."



I've played a variety of crafting games for survival throughout the years. Recently, it was viking crafting in Valheim that enticed me for a couple months, session-based survival in Icarus for a couple weeks and crafting with vampires in V Rising for a couple days. Even Valheim, which I was obsessed with for over 100 hours and was a part of the lobbying for as our game of the year (opens in a new tab) in 2021, hasn't kept me returning the way Minecraft has.



Vaknin said he's been keeping up with the competition, too. He was also interested in how food and hunger in Valheim work. It made me rethink how I treated food. In Minecraft for instance I was not allowed to avoid food systems or treat all food items equally. "I think about it and wondering if we can learn from that," he says.



Vaknin said that V Rising has a very unique goal and boss tracking system. Info He also mentioned the need to find bosses throughout the map in order to find them. It reminded me of how you locate the End stronghold in Minecraft with the eyes ender.



Vaknin hopes Minecraft won't chase its players even though it can learn from Minecraft.



"Minecraft isn't really clingy," is how he put it later in our conversation and compared it to an old friend who will be there for you no matter when you decide to leave and return months later.



Vaknin described a common experience in the Minecraft community: playing a lot for a long time , then returning to it on a regular basis when the mood strikes. This is how I've dealt with it for years and I'm glad that it's a habit that Mojang is confident in to cultivate.



"So many other games that you play and you feel that they try to pull you a bit too much and then when you've finished playing, you're not going to want to come back. It's amazing that Minecraft doesn't do this. It's important to me to maintain that."



"One thing that has been added to our guiding principles is that you play Minecraft because you want to not because you feel pressured to," Larsson added.



As I begin to look ahead to the announcement of Minecraft version 1.20, it's good to know that the folks in charge are confident enough to keep up with the latest trends in survival and crafting without having to chase them.