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It should be called the MINECRAPIFICATION of EVERYTHING! Who knows if Notch was the first to herald in this new paradigm of half-finished products? It's the fi
by monkmartinez 2y ago
It should be called the MINECRAPIFICATION of EVERYTHING!
Who knows if Notch was the first to herald in this new paradigm of half-finished products? It's the first thing that comes to mind every time I experience, read about or witness a product, service or idea that isn't quite fully baked. I say, "Self, they are just cashing in while they iterate and extend... or not."
- dotnet00 2y agoAm I missing something? What does Minecraft have to do with half-baked products? It seems like they went with an approach of having a free alpa/beta release until they had a release ready game, then have spent a decade adding more content to it?
- recursivecaveat 2y agoMinecraft sold over 850,000 copies before even exiting alpha. (though these labels are really kindof arbitrary in the end) I think this was fine for that game: the game was fun, $10, and largely bought on its own merits. Sandbox gameplay + procgen exploration + multiplayer + modding can wring an incredible amount of life out of relatively few assets. It definitely led to a trend of over-promised and commercialized early-access though. When you can get a big chunk of the bag for pre-selling based on a small chunk of the work with minimal risk, the incentives are obvious.
- dotnet00 2y agoAh I see, I was reading through the wikipedia page and misinterpreted a line about updates being free during alpha/beta to be implying that the game itself was free.
- tazu 2y agoI think the difference is that Minecraft alpha/beta was fun and actually promised very little. I paid for the beta (used cracked clients before then, when I was 12) and enjoyed it for what it was, I couldn't have cared less about "future updates". There was never any mention of "future features" in Minecraft (then-guerilla) marketing.