“weren't you going on about “minecraft is boring” like 5-7 months ago”
– Nameless Rumia

Minecraft is a sandbox game by Mojang Studios that began in 2009,¹⁾ started sales in 2010,²⁾ fully released in 2011,³⁾ then it was acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014.⁴⁾⁵⁾ Over time, the game would be split into the 'Java Edition'⁶⁾ and the C++ 'Bedrock Edition'.⁷⁾⁸⁾

In the past, Minecraft was a simple game with a lot of potential, thus becoming this online phenomenon where you'd kept seeing it on bulletin boards⁹⁾¹⁰⁾ or YouTube videos, then came the immense modding scene. This premature hype eventually ended after Microsoft's acquisition in September 2014, with development stagnating as they juggled the 'Bedrock Engine',¹¹⁾ and newer updates broke compatibility with older mods.

Most of the late 2010s saw Minecraft being 'uncool' and their sanitized image wasn't doing any favors,¹²⁾ but it eventually saw a 'breakthrough' in 2019 after popular streamers revisited the game for its 10th anniversary, then casual multiplayer gaming and content¹³⁾ was in demand during the pandemic. Microsoft would then urge legacy Mojang accounts to migrate from October 21, 2020¹⁴⁾ to September 19, 2023.¹⁵⁾

Toggle chart.

The default Minecraft launcher is limited, and most newcomers won't know about the plethora of open-source alternatives that isn't the bloated CurseForge launcher, so I've gathered some examples below. If you're pirating with a cracked launcher¹⁹⁾ and intend to play multiplayer, be mindful that the server owner will have to make an exception,²⁰⁾ then the players would have to get SkinsRestorer or OfflineSkins.

• MultiMC
  The classic, but complicated, launcher. CurseForge and FTB modpacks may require extra steps.²¹⁾
  • PrismLauncher
    The active MultiMC fork. Most of the former PolyMC developers moved here after 2022.²²⁾
  • FjordLauncher 🏴‍☠️
    The 'DRM-free' fork of Prism Launcher, based on PollyMC. Fully supports FTB modpacks.
• ATLauncher
  A simple portable launcher. Supports FTB modpacks. Very easy to add mods!
• GDLauncher
  The alternative launcher, much simpler, but has advertisements. Recent 'Carbon' rewrite in 2024.²³⁾
• FTB App
  Feed The Beast's launcher. Mostly bloated.

You will need a Java Development Kit (JDK), preferably an open-source fork, to run Minecraft. While some launchers can install one for you, other launchers assume that you already know about these things, which could add further confusion to an already intimidating process. Below are the main four distribution options that people choose from, obviously not including the subscription-only OTN.

If you wish to play a modified version of Minecraft, there are two main mod loaders: Forge and Fabric. Generally speaking, as a rule of thumb, 'Forge' is for additional content and 'Fabric' is for performance and quality-of-life. 'Forge' is the older of the two and slower to develop, while 'Fabric' is intentionally lightweight and recent since it came out of 'Forge' spending months on a 1.13-compatible version.

• Historically, the price of Minecraft used to be €5 in Indev/Infdev, then €10 in Alpha, then €15 in Beta,²⁵⁾ then €20 on release, then $27 around May 2016²⁶⁾ which has since become $30. The game rarely goes on sale, but the players justify this because it's 'cheap' or they ramble about sunk cost.
• I did not own Minecraft growing up. My computer was kinda old and modding looked complex at the time, so I never felt a 'need' to have it (despite how most internet communities in the early 2010s just seemed to advertise the hell out of their server), then it became 'uncool' once I had income, so I wouldn't have a reason to buy Minecraft until November 2020. Terraria is better. :V
  • For my personal reference, I have the 'GUI scale' set to 2 and the 'FOV Effects' set to OFF.
• During his early marketing attempts, Notch visited 4chan's “Video Games” (/v/) board using the tripcode of !!pvnhARpwdMO around October 20, 2010,²⁷⁾²⁸⁾ explaining the former “Woo, /v/!” splash.
  • On October 3, 2016, Notch joked about buying 4chan for a GET,²⁹⁾³⁰⁾ but rescinded the offer³¹⁾ after he had a brief revelation on why the concept of 'free speech' is idealist: the contradictions.³²⁾
• Minecraft and RuneScape were both Java games. The overlap really shouldn't be a huge surprise.
• It's important to remember that shields did not exist until 2016, which may explain the abundance of old creeper memes (e.g. “S” spam, “shame if something happened”, etc.) at the time.
• The exact split from JRE 8 to JRE 17 for Minecraft is debatable. The official website claimed 1.18,³³⁾ but the MultiMC wiki says 1.17³⁴⁾ and a benchmarking page says 1.16.5.³⁵⁾
• The term 'SMP' means 'survival multiplayer', which is probably the most common Minecraft server type, and it can be further categorized into game modes like: vanilla, semi-vanilla, modded, peaceful, anarchy, economy, factions, skyblock, roleplay, etc. Why is there an acronym? What are we doing?

Toggle day/night cycle chart.

• Minecraft - The official website for Minecraft.
• Minecraft Wiki - The wiki has become independent again, under Weird Gloop, in 2023.³⁶⁾³⁷⁾
• Seed Map - A map viewer that lets you analyze Minecraft world seeds.
• CurseForge / Legacy CurseForge - The older resource for modded Minecraft content.
  • Curseforge Search - Alternative search engine for said content on CurseForge.
  • Old Curseforge Please! - Userscript that redirects you to the “legacy.curseforge.com” pages.
• Modrinth - The newer alternative resource for modded Minecraft content.
• Modpack Finder - Self-explanatory.

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