Minecraft

Minecraft started out as an indie sand box game that has grown far beyond it's original intent. The Minecraft website actually sums up the phenomenon quite nicely: "Minecraft is a game about breaking and placing blocks. At first, people built structures to protect against nocturnal monsters, but as the game grew players worked together to create wonderful, imaginative things" (Minecraft). These imaginative things range from works of art built in game to unique educational tools. Minecraft's gameplay encouraging creativity and team work has allowed for a unique community to form that now exists across many platforms. This post will look at why the community is so unique and where and how it exists.

Minecraft is a game that is never truly finished. Mojang, the Swedish company that created it, updates the game frequently with new features for players to explore. Because players feed back and suggestions are taken into consideration and often implemented into the next version of the game, players feel like they are included. Dedicated players can take their building even further by 
programming modifications and texture packs to add to the game. While Notch and Mojang encourage this kind of creativity, they don't allow any modifications to their idea to make a profit - so the creators make them available for free. Some of these mods just add a few items while others create whole new mechanics such as Galctifraft or Thaumcraft. Who'd have thought that the simple concept of 'building' could be taken so far. Users of Minecraft are constantly causing the game to evolve by being active in it's creation and discussion. Now there are even educational versions of Minecraft, such as Minecraft Edu and Google's qCraft, which teaches quantum physics.

Minecraft doesn't have an in-game tutorial like most video games. Instead, the player is encouraged to seek the help of other more senior players, so because of this the Minecraft Wiki was created with extensive information on everything Minecraft. With in the wiki there is also a forum where players can ask questions and interact. The bigger mod packs like Feed the Beast have their own wiki's. Another contributor to Minecrafts community is the multiplayer aspect. People can create servers where many people can play at once with endless possibilities for game play since there is no story line for them to follow. Of course, the Minecraft community crosses into social media and other art forms. Thousands of people watch YouTubers such as Achievment Hunter, Direwolf, and Yogscast play Minecraft Lets Plays. There are also Machinima series based in Minecraft, meaning the creators use the in-game camera to 'film' a story with in the world of Minecraft. All of these forms of community connection and Minecrafts success wouldn't be possible with out technology as we know it today.  

Resources
Minecraft. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://minecraft.net/

MaceMadunusus. (Artist). (2013, February ). Clock Tower [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from http://macemadunusus.deviantart.com/art/Minecraft-Clock-Tower-352075897

Hoopes, H. (2013, October 13). Google's qcraft brings quantum mechanics fun to minecraft. Retrieved from http://www.gizmag.com/google-qcraft-quantum-mechanics-minecraft/29505

Bristow, E. (2013, November 21). Gaming in education-minecraft in schools? Retrieved from http://theedublogger.com/2013/11/21/gaming-in-education-minecraft-in-schools/

The Evolution of Youtube

Former Paypal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim started Youtube in 2005 (Fitpatrick, 2010). What started with a few second video of founder Karim at the zoo has since evolved into a force of nature in popular culture with hours upon hours of video uploaded every second. With that much content at once, it can be hard to know what is worth your time and what isn’t, but since 2005 Youtube has grown a unique and ever evolving community that has used technology to stop the vertical integration of media by big entertainment companies and blur the lines between professionals and amateurs. However, as YouTube has become more influential, the community has become more dissipated and the changes to the website it’s self are partially to blame.

In the beginning, the YouTube community was very tight knit and popularity wasn’t actually all that hard to gain popularity. New genres of entertainment like vlogging blossomed while YouTube also created a more accessible outlet for short films and web series. Now there are many different sub-communities and cross-platform communities on YouTube, and many creators literally make their living off of their videos. But, as short form online video has become more mainstreamed into media, Google has implemented many changes on the website that encourage a more corporate or branded approach to YouTubing and - in some users opinions- made the community worse. In the final episode of Becoming YouTube, a web series that simultaneously gives clever commentary and supportive discussion on YouTube, Benjamin Cook tackles the subject of how YouTube and it's communities have changed. He prefaced the episode "Everything Changes" by summarizing many of the complaints heard in the community:  “Youtube’s too corporate now… there’s no sense of community” and then posing the question “has YouTube really changed or is it us who’s changed?” (Cook, 2014). The many different opinions on change can be seen in his video through the interviews conducted with big name European YouTubers.

Whether it's us or YouTube that's causing it, change certainly is happening fast. It's clear that online video is becoming seen as a serious contender in the entertainment industry. Just this week Disney bought Maker Studios, a very successful YouTube production company, for $500 million (Spangler, 2014). Is this selling out? How will Disney ownership affect the content created by those who are a member of Maker? Will they be able to maintain creative freedom? Is the ever increasing presence of big corporations on YouTube going to continue to make it harder for the typical users voice to be heard?

                                                                                                                                       

Resources:

Cook, B. (Director) (2014). Everything changed | becoming youtube | episode 12 [Web]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/8dKrTkDhGt4

Fitzpatrick, L. (2012, May 31). Retrieved from http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1990787,00.html

Spangler, T. (2014, March 24). Disney buys maker studios in deal worth at least $500 million. Retrieved from http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/disney-buys-maker-studios-in-deal-worth-at-least-500-million-1201145068/

Culture Under the Rocks

What and Why

Many well-meaning adults talk to us young-people about how technology is ruining society, how social media is at best frivolous and worst stupid, and all around discrediting a huge part of society today. What people who aren’t involved in anything online don’t realize is that there is an entire complex world of culture and subculture that exists within the circuitry they are so afraid of. Sure, the internet-verse is silly, and has plenty of offensive things, but it’s also a place where communities can form that could not exist without the technology. Not only do these communities exist, they change lives, make art, and give the underrepresented a voice.

This blog will talk about various different online communities, analyze how they use the technology that is relevant for them, how they change that technology, and showcase things they are doing that contributes to culture. Instead of just talking about vague groups like “the Tumblr community” or the “YouTube community”, we will focus on communities that exist beyond the platform they choose to use. What I mean by that is I’m particularly interested in sub groups that have used social media to band together and form communities in new ways. For instance, YouTube is much more diverse than just sketch comedies and cat videos, and each niche has it’s own unique community. On Tumblr, smaller fandoms and marginalized groups can be heard where they can’t in mainstream media. I’m also interested in discussing the way online media as whole is different than traditional mainstream media. Over all, the internet is a diverse place with many different kinds of cultures that are all accomplishing amazing things that are worth being discussed and showcased.

About the Author

I’m Katie, an 18 year old college student studying arts and technology. In recent years, online communities have become a big part of my life, and I feel that is the case for many people. I have YouTube channel, and I really love online video. As I became more involved in the YouTube community and saw the flourishing of many other communities online, I became more interested in what makes them tick and how they affect people’s lives.