In the lull between Christmas and New Year’s I booted up Minecraft. It’d been a while since I last played, and as I started exploring the desert hills of a new world, I encountered something I hadn’t seen before: an armadillo crossed my path, curling into a ball as I approached. I smiled, before continuing my journey, cursing that I had spawned in a desert without trees for an easy start to the game.

Features and creatures being added to Minecraft isn’t a new experience. In high school, after the release of version 1.8 brought three new types of rock, my friends complained about how they filled our inventories and looked ugly, while hunting the newly added rabbits and using the new banners to mark our territories. Years later, when Covid lockdowns prompted me to start playing again to hang out with friends, we were delighted to discover polar bears, pandas, wandering traders, and the addition of bees and beekeeping mechanics. 

If you handed the Minecraft of 2025 to a player in 2011, when the game initially released, they would marvel at the new materials and animals, but would still be able to play the game. Through over a decade of changes, the core mechanics have remained the same: players mine for resources and use them to craft building materials and tools. Yet it is astonishing that a game released in 2011 has received continuous updates and upkeep and hasn’t increased in price or required a subscription. I paid twenty dollars to purchase the game in 2016 and haven’t spent any money on it since, though there are additional features, games, and cosmetic options if players want to purchase them. 

Most games with continuous updates today are presented as services rather than goods. Minecraft Dungeons, a game in the style of Diablo, initially released in 2020 and has a plethora of expansions as well as an adventure pass, each available for an additional cost. Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online offer additional games and features for users, as long as they pay a monthly subscription. Yet the best selling video game of all time is available for a one-time purchase, with free updates for the foreseeable future. That’s not to say Microsoft isn’t maximizing the IP for profit in other ways, with Lego licenses, published novels, merchandise emblazoned with the iconic creeper face, and, of course, the forthcoming movie. 

It’s possible to find YouTube videos of the alpha build of Minecraft. Bright, saturated colors abound everywhere, and there are recognizable blocks—stone, dirt, and trees—but the world feels empty. As time has gone on, that world has filled. The sheep, cows, pigs, and chickens of the initial release have been joined by parrots, cats, dogs, foxes, frogs, and fish. The oceans, initially grey and devoid of life, are now full of coral, dolphins, turtles, sunken ships and buried treasure, and huge temples filled with monsters. The Nether, a hellish wasteland of a dimension, is now still hellish but has biomes more similar to jungles and huge caverns. Caves are full of greenery or water as submerged aquifers. 

The world of Minecraft keeps expanding, and I will keep coming back as long as there are new things to explore.

Sam Tuit

Sam Tuit graduated from Calvin in 2021 with a degree in film and media. He lives in Grand Rapids and works as an event coordinator. In his free time, he loves trying new things, cooking for others, and having nuanced conversations about the stories our society is telling.