Lego is all the wrong scale, I think. A 1:1 translation wouldn’t work (but maybe this is just a case of Survivorship Bias and Minecraft-like games would have wo

Lego is all the wrong scale, I think. A 1:1 translation wouldn’t work (but maybe this is just a case of Survivorship Bias and Minecraft-like games would have worked at a wide range of scales). Building 3D models with contemporary computer interfaces is clumsy and the really powerful tools for it are also clearly tools. Using them is work, not play. Minecraft takes this building of 3D models and simplifies it, making it suitable for play. Part of that is certainly putting that building in an alive and big world with rules and limits. That way the play isn’t happening in some sterile environment. That also provides jumping off points for creativity. Whoever plays doesn’t have to come up with everything on their own. There are already elements all around that are starting points. (Lego does much the same with their play sets. Coming up with something completely new is often hard, so they provide a whole world as a guideline and starting point.) However, another big part is creating completely new tools for building 3D models. Those tools are much less powerful than what you can find in any 3D modelling program, but they are also much, much simpler to use – both because they have a real world analog (Lego and all other building blocks), but also because of their large scale. Computer interfaces are still clumsy, so to make building fun (enough) and not too boring picking an appropriate scale was very important, I think. And that 1m scale of Minecraft (blocks are one cubic meter, two block high corridors are high enough for the player to walk through) just works very well for that. I don’t think Lego’s scale would. It‘s too detailed, too small.