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Minecraft

1
Created by Markus Persson (1979—)

Summary

Minecraft, created by Markus Persson, is one of the most popular games today. Its over 100 million registered users and more than 1 billion hours played is evidence of the game's success. Minecraft is a pixelated video game that allows players to express their creativity through digital landscapes. It throws users into an automatically generated "world" which resembles a block-y version of our reality. There are two versions of the game that players can select: creative or survival. This page focuses on the survival version, which requires players to forage for materials and craft items. The end goal of the survival game mode is to travel into another dimension (The End) and defeat a dragon. One of the most important resources that players must obtain to complete the game is coal.

Mining is a large aspect of the game. Players must use crafted pickaxes to collect different ores, one of them being coal. Around 55% of ore spawned is coal ore, making it the most common. When players mine the ore, they obtain both coal and something called experience. The experience can be used to make tools, armor, and weapons more powerful by enchanting them. Without coal, it is very difficult for players to progress in the game, making it an extremely important resource. One of the main uses of coal is to craft torches. In order to make torches in the game, the player must use a piece of coal and a stick. These torches illuminate the dark caves, allowing for further exploration and the discovery of rare materials. The second main use of coal is as fuel for furnaces. Furnaces are used mainly for cooking and smelting ores into a purer form, and coal is the most effective fuel source; one piece of coal can smelt eight items. This smelting allows players to obtain resources for higher-level crafting and better-quality equipment. 

Analysis

Progression in Minecraft relies heavily on coal. Coal is an easily obtained resource that players can use to help them explore their blocky world and improve their tools and armor. It is essential to the player's success in the game. The key role that coal plays in Minecraft reflects modern society's reliance on it as a fuel source. Civilization relies heavily on fossil fuels, one of the biggest being coal. Coal provides around 40% of the world's electricity (World Energy Resources). It is also used for iron and steel production, cement manufacturing, and as liquid fuel. Minecraft reflects this dependency on coal by making it such an important aspect of the game. Minecraft is a game about survival. It challenges players to juggle health, hunger, and progress, and coal plays a role in all three of these elements. Coal allows players access to better armor which conserves health. It is used as fuel to cook food which reduces hunger. It opens opportunities for higher quality tools which assists progression. Similarly, society has as much of a dependency on coal, if not more. Modern communities use massive amounts of coal every year. Coal covers 30% of global primary energy consumption, and the United States alone produced 23 Btu of coal in 2000 (Miller 35). Coal is such an important part of the game because it is what countries rely on in real life. 

The game also provides players with experience when coal is mined, emphasizing its importance. Not only is coal extremely multifaceted but it also allows for enchanting. It serves as both a resource and a key that unlocks better weaponry. Minecraft speaks to how much coal expands people's opportunities. Coal is so involved in the game, because it is so essential in real life. As it gives players experience in the game, coal gives humans power and electricity. Said electricity powers lights, phones, laptops, machines, and more. Our modern society is built off of what coal provides us, and this idea is reflected in every aspect of Minecraft. It is reflected when a player uses coal to heat food, it is conveyed when coal is used to smelt ore, and it is demonstrated when players gain experience from mining coal ore. Although experience does not exist in reality, its relationship with coal in the game symbolizes all of what coal gives humanity in real life. Experience gives players enchantments. Coal gives humans electricity. This parallel in the game was made to emphasize our reliance on coal.

Coal is one of the many fossil fuels that humanity uses to generate electricity. Oil, nuclear, and gas also make up a large percentage of primary energy consumption (World Energy Resources). However, these resources do not appear in Minecraft. The only sources of fuel in the game are coal, wood, and charcoal; the game doesn't include oil, gas, or nuclear energy. This could be because coal became a popular fuel source before the others or because it is seen as a more traditional means of obtaining energy. Either way, the fact that it is the only main source of energy consumption present in the game speaks to its importance. The exclusion of oil, nuclear, and gas demonstrates that these fuel sources are less widely used and/or influential than coal in the real world. The game emphasizes that life and technology work as they do today because of coal.

Conclusion 

Coal is present in every part of modern life. It powers everything that society is built upon. The popular game Minecraft reflects this society's reliance on coal by making coal a necessary aspect of progression. Coal is the main source of fuel in the game. It is the most effective and easiest to obtain. All other sources are extremely ineffective or extremely hard to find, and other sources that exist in real life are not present in the game. Society is now attempting to discover alternate ways to generate power. This includes using solar energy, nuclear energy, and hydropower. Minecraft currently speaks to our reliance on coal as an energy source and excludes these other power sources. Perhaps, in the future, it can incorporate these alternate ways of generating power as well. 

Works Cited

Cornell, Kari. Minecraft Creator Markus “Notch” Persson. Millbrook Press, 1 Aug. 2018.
Ellison, Tisha, et al. “Minecraft, Teachers, Parents, and Learning: What They Need to Know and Understand.” School Community Journal, vol. 26, no. 2, 2016, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1123979.pdf.
“Experience | Minecraft 101.” www.minecraft101.net, www.minecraft101.net/r/experience.html. Accessed 28 July 2024.
Geese, Duncan. “Block of the Week: Coal Ore.” Minecraft.net, 8 Dec. 2017, www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/block-week-coal-ore. Accessed 28 July 2024.
Gutierrez, Luis Joshua, et al. “Coal - Minecraft Guide.” IGN, 12 Nov. 2011, www.ign.com/wikis/minecraft/Coal. Accessed 28 July 2024.
Miller, Bruce G. Coal Energy Systems. Amsterdam, Elsevier.
Schmidbauer, Alexander. Ore Distribution in Minecraft. 2017. World Energy Resources | 2016.

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