In Minecraft, there are A LOT of hot debates
about all sorts of Minecraft-y topics. The
best ways to play the game, features that
should or shouldn’t be added, your most
disliked mobs, or if keeping ‘auto-jump’
enabled is enough to get you declared clinically
insane.
It’s time we rip off the band-aid and see
both sides of some of Minecraft’s most divisive
questions!
I’ll be your host, SimplySarc and let’s
begin!
Today we’ll be asking 10 questions and looking
at both points of view, in support… and
in opposition. You may agree with one, disagree
with another or have a different view entirely.
Feel free to share your 2 cents and if you
have your own burning question, lemme know
on Twitter (@SimplySarc) and we might just
talk about it in the future!
Debate #1 - The Aether belongs in Vanilla?
For: The Minecraft aether is one of the game’s
oldest and most beloved mods, it was created
to act as an ‘opposite’ to the nether
dimension. It was executed so well that many
a naive Minecraft noobs actually thought it
WAS part of the game when they saw YouTubers
using the mod in their videos. That’s gotta
be quite the compliment to the creator, Kingbdogz,
who is now actually working on Minecraft itself
as a dev! Surely with all these stars aligning,
the aether mod has one of the best shots of
any mods to actually get added to the vanilla
game?
Against: The aether is still, at the end of
the day, a third party modification that was
developed separately from the actual game.
It’s values and principles may be quite
different internally to the vanilla game and
trying to mix the two may never work well
for either. Additionally, while Kingbdogz
is now working on the game itself, that does
not necessarily mean they’re even interested
in merging the two! There can be all sorts
of issues trying to implement other people’s
intellectual properties and even still, many
people like to keep their work, hobbies and
passions separate from one another, being
able to work on things in their own way, their
own rules and own pace.
Debate #2 - Spawners should be movable?
For: Monster spawners have become one of the
most sought after blocks in the game. They
generate infinite loot, a good source of XP
and are fun to build a mechanism around. If
you are lucky enough to find a spawner, you
should be able to move it wherever you please.
If you find multiple spawners, you as the
player, should be allowed to harvest these
blocks for all they’re worth. You went through
all the trouble of finding them, if you want
a 20 block mega spawner, that should be up
to you, the player.
Against: A game has rules and limits and you
should have to work within their confines
and adapt YOURSELF around them. Spawners being
immobile means you must explore and develop
parts of your Minecraft world you may well
never have touched. If everything can be consolidated
into a small area, you may find yourself not
bothering with building much beyond the bare
essentials. Monster spawners are already generous
enough, if they gave even more loot and experience
everything might become too easy and accessible.
Debate #3 - Symmetrical… is better?
For: The human brain loves seeing patterns
in the world and the very same can be said
for the Minecraft world. Being able to create
a mirror image of part of a build shows thought,
planning and consideration was put into it.
Measurements were made and double, even triple
checked. All details perfected and accounted
for, a true display of your mastery of the
craft. Not only do you know what you’re
doing, you’re in complete and utter control.
At this level, you’re toying with 3D space.
Against: Asymmetry is where the true masters
reside. Symmetry and patterns are for the
wary and unambitious, those too afraid to
break the rules and venture off the beaten
path. Toying with 3D space is making that
unorthodox curve and understanding how the
next 10 steps are going to make this work
even when things are looking dire right now.
Symmetry is robotic and unnatural. The Minecraft
world is chaos, true symmetry and perfection
are fantasies, you may create small imitations
of symmetry, but you’ll never, ever achieve
it. Asymmetry is the secret to great builds.
Debate #4 - Diamonds appear near gravel
Against: Diamonds spawning near gravel is
a complete and utter myth from eons ago. There
has never been a single line of code in the
game that has made diamond generation and
gravel generation interact in any way at all.
The ores generate between a certain y level,
in a certain volume over various chunks. There
is no mention in the code that diamonds should
appear next to or close to gravel mounds underground.
It’s a total fabrication!
For: While there is no specific code that
mentions it, our human brain can still sense
there’s something astray here. The point
is, if you’re looking for diamonds, the
more exposed air there is in a cave, the more
likely uncovered diamonds are going to be
found. Because gravel cascades and rapidly
exposes more air, it makes total sense that,
by proxy, these huge gravel pockets are more
likely to have diamonds hiding behind them.
Maybe there’s diamonds hiding behind that
random patch of stone over there, but because
the gravel’s *in the way* we’re much more
likely to clear the gravel patch instead of
the stone patch. It’s true, diamonds are
never far from gravel.
Debate #5 - Java… is better than bedrock?
For: Java is for many, the quintessential
version of Minecraft. It’s the original,
where the game was born and where it truly
belongs. The platform means heavy modding
is possible in ways bedrock will never be.
It’s the wild west, adaptable and forever
versatile. Bedrock is just an imitation for
mass appeal, it will never have the fine-tuned
quirkiness that we’ve come to love from
Java.
Against: Bedrock is so optimized, it at times
makes Java seem like a bad joke. It’s designed
for all sorts of devices and runs well on
them all. Without bedrock (and earlier iterations
like Pocket Edition and Xbox Editions), Minecraft
never would have grown as large as it has;
the bedrock user base is much, much bigger
than Java’s. Bedrock made Minecraft accessible
to all and with crossplay, more people can
play together and connect than ever before.
Java is mostly about nostalgia and if you
joined the game in more recent times, you
likely won’t be too fussed about it’s
history.
Debate #6 - We need vertical slabs?
For: Vertical slabs and stairs have gotta
be one of the most talked about topics of
all time in the Minecraft community. They
come up so much, it’d be absurd to say the
community isn’t extremely interested in
them. People have built so many amazing things
with the limits of today, it’s crazy to
imagine what beautiful creations people might
make with something like a vertical slab.
There are now so many blocks that don’t
fit the 1:1 block scale that it’s getting
harder and harder to justify not finally adding
them in. Some might even say they’re an
essential piece of our blockset that we’ve
been deprived of for too long!
Against: This is a slippery slope. Some say
slabs and half blocks were a mistake that
should never have been added in the first
place, totally against Minecraft’s style-guide.
It’s hard to deny vertical slabs wouldn’t
not look good, but once we have them, will
we be satisfied? Because do you know what
else would look great? Quarter blocks. Imagine
the level of detail we could achieve with
quarter blocks! We’ve got all the half slabs
now, isn’t it time to go smaller? And where
do you stop? Because even smaller fragments
would be fantastic too.
Minecraft is great in its simplicity and straying
too far might overcomplicate things. You need
to put your foot down somewhere and maybe
right here is where it should be.
Debate #7 - Is… this word (MOJANG) pronounced,
“Mo-yang” or “Mo-Jang”
For: In fairness, this word, the name of the
company that makes Minecraft, originated in
Sweden. In Swedish, this word is apparently
pronounced “Mo-yang” with a Y. There are
many soundbites of people like Notch and devs
pronouncing it this way. And typically, when
exporting a word from one language to another,
it’s customary to keep the original pronunciation.
We English and American guys would by default
say “Mo-Jang”, but if the Swedes say it’s
Y, then it’s Y.
Against: On the other hand, a lot of things
have changed about Minecraft’s parent company
over the years and it would be disingenuous
to say it’s the same small Swedish indie
company it was back in the day. They have
offices both sides of the atlantic and as
the company has changed, perhaps so too has
it’s identity and culture. Minecraft is
much more global nowadays, so perhaps the
old Swedish pronunciation is just that; an
old relic from yesteryear.
Debate #8 - Everything should be farmable?
For: What a beautiful sight, when you finally
finish a machine that does everything completely
by itself. You’ve taken a bunch of mechanics,
thrown them together and made something that
doesn’t need any input. You did all of it
yourself and don’t need to lift a finger
anymore. The game itself should be like that.
Every aspect, if you want to, should be automatable
completely. You should be able to advance
so far that you can finally put your feet
up and marvel at your genius.
Against: Minecraft has probably stood for
so long because there is *always* something
to do. The game thrives off new jobs and goals
and should forever and always require at least
a little bit of player input. We have some
machines that run entirely by themselves and
that’s great, but we should always be kept
on our toes and have something to maintain
and add to. If we didn’t, the game would
soon become stale, repetitive and unchallenging.
Automation is a great pass-time, but games
are made to be played, not be played for you.
Debate #9 - Underground bases are better than
overground bases.
For: The great thing about building underground
is the more you expand, the more resources
you gain, which then can in turn be used to
expand even more. A lot of the game is played
beneath the surface so it makes a lot of sense
to become one with the earth and live there
too. When you build underground, you don’t
have to deal with an exterior, you can just
focus on what looks good inside. Not to mention
if you’re trying to keep a low profile,
underground is much, much easier to keep hidden.
Against: Underground bases are a crutch to
avoid having to make something functional
AND good looking. Overground means you need
to actually build! An underground base can
only be appreciated when inside, but an external
base can be observed inside, outside and from
afar! It’s much more challenging having
to balance internal and external aesthetics
and when you build outside, you can expand
much faster than having to dig up the ground.
Overground bases are real bases.
Debate #10 - /keepInventory true… is cheating
For: It’s true! Minecraft is not that punishing
of a game, it doesn’t scold you much for
messing up and you only lose progress in the
most dangerous of situations. Losing your
items is a core part of the game, if you’ve
made a mistake, you need to deal with the
consequences. Without that threat, there’s
no challenge to the game and no incentive
to avoid scenarios that were designed to make
you think twice.
Against: You’re allowed to play Minecraft
however you like. If you want pressure, you
play hardcore, if you want a chilled, relaxed
time, you play peaceful. If you want to change
the rules to your playstyle, that’s your
choice and you should be allowed to decide.
Minecraft is a very buggy and odd game at
times and losing your items and progress to
an unfair glitch doesn’t feel fun in the
slightest. If watching hours of mining go
down the drain because of sticky fingers is
some people’s idea of fun, that’s great.
They can play how they play, you can play
how you play.
Honestly though, these are just some of the
Minecraft debates I’ve seen floating around.
There are tons more that I’d love to have
a look at in the future. As mentioned, if
there are any hot topics you’d like to see
talked about, you can hit me up on Twitter
(@SimplySarc). And lemme know where you fall
on the debates we talked about today, I’d
love to see what everyone thinks.
Either way, I really hope you enjoyed guys,
it’s been great! I’ve been your host,
SimplySarc and I’ll catch you in the next one!
