Wednesday 15 May 2013

Minecraft Tournaments And Why They Exist

By Jennie Sandoval


When most people think of video games, they think of something that has a definite goal. Whether it is to save a princess or to take down all of the bad guys, there is always an ending in sight. Minecraft is a game that does not follow that particular structure, which is why Minecraft tournaments are something of an odd idea.

Minecraft is a game about blocks. Everything you encounter as a player is made of them, and they are your only way of interacting with the game world. It is very different from many other modern video games, which tend to be far more concerned with realism and detail in their graphics.

No specific objectives are given to players, who must instead make up their own minds about what path to follow and what goals to set. By experimenting with the block-filled landscape, you will soon learn that your surroundings can be broken, collected, and reused in order to create basically anything you want. From the simplest structures to the most complex masterpieces, you truly are only limited by what you can imagine.

Throughout the whole course of play, though, you are never given a specific task to pursue. You are never told where to go, what you should be accomplishing, or how well or poorly you are doing. In short, you are left to create your own goals, much like playing with building blocks.

You might wonder how this could possibly fit with the concept of a tournament. It does seem quite difficult to determine how a game with no metrics and no actual scores could provide a good environment for competition and ranking. Many people, however, have found a way by setting their own goals.

There is no official end to Minecraft, and so it is impossible for players to race to that. They can, however, race to accomplish goals agreed upon among themselves, which is how many tournaments are put together. The best competition comes when a relatively difficult task is chosen, then sought after by individuals or groups who all want to get there first and win the day.

For example, some tournaments challenge their competitors to be the first to find gold or diamonds, both of which are relatively rare types of blocks in the game. This tests the skill and strategy of players, although there can be a fair amount of luck involved. Since everyone starts out with the same materials and the same chances, however, it is mostly about how they go about accomplishing the task given using the relatively minimal initial tools provided by the game itself.

Even though it may not be exactly what you might expect when thinking about video games, Minecraft provides a fascinating open world that millions of people continue to enjoy. Minecraft tournaments are part of that, and allow the biggest fans of the game to spend as much time and energy on their favorite pastime as they like. No matter what the goal is, it is sure to have fans for many years to come.




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