#Minecraft is 15

[jetra4ivor]

I saw a video talking about why Minecraft seems to have stagnated a bit lately and doesn’t have the same appeal as it once did. It talked about the usual complaints, such as inventory bloat, new blocks, structures, quality of life advancements… but the one aspect I didn’t see them talking about was ABSTRACTION.

I think that as Minecraft has been pushed closer towards reality, we’ve lost the inherent FEAR that comes from the abstract in the old video games Minecraft was emulating its style from.

Maybe it’s because I grew up with Atari as my first console, but there was a level of unnerving fear that was created through the hardware limitations and graphics during that era. Because everything was so abstracted, you let your imagination fill in the blanks. This blocky room with goofy eyeballs became a darkly lit haunted house where monsters could appear around every corner.

And Minecraft is clearly going for this level of abstraction. The entire world is just low resolution pixelated blocks, but there’s JUST enough definition that if you squint your eyes the world seems to mimic our own. It produces an uncanny valley effect that, coupled with survival elements, makes the game absolutely TERRIFYING at times.

And a perfect example of this is the creeper. What a horrifying monster! But the details of what it actually is are obscured through abstraction and pixel limitations. What exactly IS the creeper made of? Some people have interpreted the green blotches to be leaves, others see a wrinkly leather-like texture, others see fur. How do you interpret that grimace? Is is a permanent scowl? A sad mourning? There’s JUST enough detail to make the creature recognizable, but not enough detail to make it perfectly clear to everyone what it’s made of. That’s terrifying!

That so many artists can have such wildly different interpretations of the creeper is a testament to its intentionally unnerving design.

But over the years those terrifying edges have been smoothed out. Textures have been refined to be less garish and harsh. New more recognizable animals have been added. A parrot, for example, looks like a parrot. And just with the colors alone you can tell what kind of parrot it’s meant to be. There no ambiguity. No unsettling interpretation.

And even the enviroment has been smoothed out and changed to reflect reality.

So I think that the reason Minecraft today doesn’t feel like Minecraft of 10 years ago is because too much emphasis has been placed on mimicking reality. Even in the more recent additions these things have real world equivalence which reduce the inherent terror and unease that abstracted environments would evoke. The Nether today is far less scary than the Nether of 10 years ago, even if it’s still as dangerous.

There’s just something really unsettling about a perfectly square house in high contrast mossy cobblestone that you won’t get from a village of friendly NPC’s bathed in soft ambient lighting, you know?

I genuinely believe that Minecraft has leaned too far into realism. If they want people to keep playing longer, it’s not to add MORE structures, it’s to add back in some of the abstracted nature of the original game. Don’t make things inherently clear what they are. Allow people to interpret things in different ways. Stop trying to emulate realistic environments when the trees you cut down don’t even fall over. This is Minecraft! Minecraft is meant to be WEIRD and CREEPY almost like an alien’s failed interpretation of our word.

[dryya-doesnt]

Heirloom and Honor:

In which we feel the weight of our history and bear the burdens of our responsibilities.

This took… way too long… here’s the background only version w all the little Easter eggs and such.

Some progress images! From layout to finish.

This is my most ambitious piece to date…maybe my last fanart for a while haha 😞😞

Some lore thoughts going into this illustration — feel free to ignore:

I was thinking this takes place in S2 in the Zianna Ro’Meave rescue arc, where Garroth returns to O’Khasis after many years to rescue his mother…He comes across their oldest (historically, the first in Ru’aun) cathedral and finds it in a wrecked and pillaged state.

The pious folk have pretty much abandoned the cathedral following Zane’s disappearance for 15 years and the Tu’la invasion was the nail on the coffin. The cathedral is completely barren of life except for the few intact stained glass windows that recount the history of the Divine Warriors.

Around this time it’s revealed that Garroth is the current holder of Esmund’s relic— is he anxious? Lost? Jumpstarting his quarter-life existential crisis?

I hope that everything here in this illustration captures my vision and conveys it to you. This is pretty much a love letter MCD HAHAHAHA

[harvestmoth]

mind crab but. again

[redwinterroses]

Genuinely love that my dad calls me to ask questions about Minecraft. "Honey, my nether portal is being weird what did I do wrong?" "Sunshine, your brother and I found a map for buried treasure but we can't find it, how can we breathe underwater without potions?" (they play peaceful mode)

Like. I'm an adult woman living almost an hour away with a full time job and bills and everything and my dad calls me for help with the block game because, in his words, I'm "the resident expert."

Feels good.

[alleyesony0u]

evbo wakes up in pvp civilization remembering only three things — his name, his age, and his birthday. he knows it’s some… vague date. he tries to keep track of his days in his home. he is turning fifteen in a few months, after all. wouldn’t want to miss the big one five.

he tries to keep track of the days in his cell too. markings scraped on the walls that tell him time has passed. too much time. one day he wakes up with a horrible feeling of dread deep in his gut. like a black hole. when he goes to mark the day on the wall, it takes him a moment to register the fact that it’s his birthday. congrats kid. you’re fifteen now. do you like chocolate or vanilla? buttercream or fondant? a year from now you can get that car you wanted. for now, how about that exciting new video game or a pair of new kicks?

happy birthday, kid. they’re opening up the door now with shiny blades and prayers. or shiny blades and looks of cruel glee. do you really think they care? do you think when your blood stains the crevices of all the tiny markings on your wall they look at it and think, happy birthday kid, you’re fifteen?

happy birthday, kid. you’re still waking up with a gasp and a new scar, morphing into all the old ones on your skin. that pillow is comfortable, maybe you lay there for a while and dream. not the best present in the world but it’s better than nothing, no?

happy birthday, kid. the guard coming to collect you is the better one, even with all his sneers and insults. he leads you to the red gate and wishes you luck and when you turn to look at him and say “it’s my birthday today. i’m fifteen.” his mask will slip and he will look upon the wobbly kneed calf in horror as the stone door grinds shut behind you.

happy birthday, kid. you’ve died again and the guard coming to collect you is the worse one. he shoves you forward and his patience is tick tick ticking. you could tell him it’s your birthday today, but that wouldn’t change much. birthdays don’t divert destinies.

happy birthday, kid. you’re sitting in your own gore but you’ve managed to snatch a flint and steel at one of your respawns and a twig from one of the trees you pass by on your way down. you light the twig with the flame and it is warm. and it is light. and your cell is so very cold and dark. you close your eyes and make a wish. or two. or three. i want to save tabi. i want to go home. i don’t want to die.

you blow out your makeshift candle and the cell is cold and dark again. not for long though, because the door opens again and your blood spatters on the walls and floors. again. happy birthday, kid. you’re fifteen. remember what you were born for.

and as the day dwindles to its close, a man adorning a golden crown, dressed in yellow opens the door. he says, “fifteen, huh?”

and you ask, “you know my birthday?”

and he says, “of course i do. it’s just practical.”

[copepods]

found a lonely little mushroom island in my survival world. the ocean is so small i can see the shore go all the way around from here. it's a wonder the island managed to spawn at all!

[salpho]

OC I MADE IN 0.5 SECONDS he's called Wildcard and he's a trivia bot who got a little bit conscious and "broken" technically and is sent by the watchers with the rest of the bots to quiz everyone. He's a bit mischievous and asks players really hard and impossible to answer questions on purpose, sometimes lying to them if they do get the answer right somehow. The only way to avoid this guy screwing you over is if you provide actual evidence behind a your answer and then he accepts and floats away all sad. Ant with bindle style.

[popcornsupernova]

You ever stumble into a fandom that’s being held up by like 3 people and some sticks

[sleepingjunimo]

i put the cottage in cottage cheese

[sunnymarbles]

aphmau dump hi guys ^_^ ignore the gross disgusting old 2016-2019 time period art in the corner of redraws

[vyladromeave]

I PROMISED AN IVY AND I AIM TO DELIVER!!!!!

[tropicalcontinental]

Still thinking about that CL16 +TMA crossover thing (spurred by @blinkycravesviolence's post and the discussion that happened on the discord 💥💥💥)

[mcd-brainrot-hours]

castor gets to be relevant in my rewrite because i love him and his character is more than just a chicken shaman to me

like he is a powerful potion maker and magician who was sasha’s mentor whose death affected him greatly. in mcd there’s a few moments where we get to see the real castor shine through the silly chicken persona and i love those moments and guess what? he gets to have more of those in my rewrite i want to explore who he was before everything

he’s more than just a silly chicken guy to me :(

[catboypheromones]

i wanna buy a decent laptop that can run games but idk what brands are even good anymore. in my younger years I had a Toshiba that ran anything I wanted it to & it took so much abuse with so much grace, I miss that thang every day & I don't know what the modern equivalent of it would even be 😭

[colliewolfdraws]

HOWDY HOWDY!!

Collies coms are BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!! I take commissions basically always as they’re a great second source of income while I don’t have many hours at my job!! If you’d like to help me out ever these are here!!

If you’re interested please reach out to me through tumblr dm or discord friend request at colliewolf

COMMISSION TERMS OF SERVICE.

This includes what I will and will not draw. If you have any questions again please feel free to reach out.

(If sending a discord friend request please send me a message and tell me you’re interested in a commission or else your request will be ignored.)

[erebus-xvii]

all I'm gonna say about the hermit setup debate is that Cleo's build sounds pretty damn comfy and Etho just has a 2010 first-time streamer setup that he never got around to updating.

and it sounds like Cleo's setup might lead to them having better posture overall, why hunch over the keyboard when it's right in your lap?