Minecraft is a Swedish-developed sandbox game for PC , mobile and game consoles ,

which allows the player to build and demolish constructions of cubes in a 3D world.
The game passed 186 million copies sold on its 10th anniversary, and is the best-
selling game in the world.

Minecraft is developed by the Swedish video game developer Mojang , but started as
a hobby project by Markus "Notch" Persson in 2009. Minecraft is inspired by the
games Dwarf Fortress , RollerCoaster Tycoon , Dungeon Keeper and especially
Infiniminer . [16] Jens Bergensten , or Jeb, has since December 2011 been the lead
developer of the game, after Markus Persson left the role. [17] [18] A Mojang
account (formerly Minecraft account) with a paid full version (NOK 229) [19] is
required to play the full version.

The game also has a multiplayer mode. With this you can play as you like, whether
you cooperate to build, compete for resources or fight and destroy each other.
Anyone can create a server, and many servers have complicated plugins , systematic
management, limits on who can do what, and other extra features. The world's
largest servers have up to 100,000 logged-in players a day. The largest Norwegian
servers can have up to 1,000 players logged on on a single day. It is also possible
to set up a LAN server to play with friends or others on a common WiFi network.

The music and sound effects in Minecraft are made by the German musician Daniel
"C418" Rosenfeld . [20] He has released two albums of music from the game;
Minecraft – Volume Alpha and Minecraft – Volume Beta . Mojang also collaborated
with several composers in several of their individual updates, including composers
Lena Raine and Kumi Tanioka for the 1.18 version of the game.

In 2013, Mojang announced Minecraft Realms : multiplayer servers managed by

Multiplay through Mojang. The purpose behind Minecraft Realms is to make it easier
for younger and less computer-savvy players or families to set up their own server.
A Realms server can be purchased directly from the game and you pay for 1, 3 or 6
months. A Realms server is always up, and you can invite 20 players to it, ten of
whom can play on it at the same time. [21] Minecraft Realms became available
worldwide on May 19, 2014. [22]

Minecraft is supported by Mojang's open view of modifications to the game [23] ,

and this means that more and more people play with modifications or modification
packs that change the game experience. A modification can help the player to get
resources more easily, can add new resources and things, allow one to fly or add
new blocks, weapons, or the like. A modification can also be much more advanced and
add completely new dimensions or other things that drastically change the game.

In 2014, the game's publisher Mojang AB and the rights to Minecraft were sold to
Microsoft . Mojang AB sold the rights to Minecraft to Microsoft for an incredibly
high sum. When this happened, some players were disappointed, but the changes that
have been made since Microsoft bought the rights have been mostly positive.

A hole in the security of multiplayer servers was disclosed on April 17, 2015. A
weakness in the game allowed an unauthorized person to overload a server, causing
it to crash. [24] The hole had been discovered and reported to Mojang two years
earlier by Amman Askar. After the company did not correct the error despite several
warnings, Askar went to the press with the news. This led Mojang to fix the bug on
the same day as Minecraft 1.8.4. [25] [26]

The game
Minecraft is a 3D sandbox game that gives players a lot of freedom in how they play
the game, even though the game has an achievement system. The game is in first-
person perspective, but you can also press f5 to change perspective. The game
consists of a large selection of cubes, also called blocks, such as iron ore, tree
stumps, wooden planks, soil, grass, etc. The game has five different modes:

Survival Mode
In survival mode, the player must obtain materials himself, for example by cutting
down trees to obtain wood material. It is common to start the game by collecting
basic materials such as wood and stone in order to make simple tools such as axes
and picks. The game also has a difficulty level. For example, the difficulty level
can determine how much damage zombies do. The survival mode is mainly about
surviving, building and exploring the infinite world. At night, monsters appear and
attack the player, who urges him to build himself a shelter in order to survive.
You can also get food by killing animals (from which you get meat) in the game.

Adventure Mode
Adventure mode is almost the same as survival mode, but you cannot place or destroy
blocks. You can tag items with " CanPlace" or " CanDestroy" to avoid these
restrictions. For example, if you tag your pickaxe with {CanDestroy:
["stone","dirt"]}, it can break rock and soil, but nothing else. The mode is used a
lot in "custom maps".

Creative mode
In creative mode you have infinite resources, eternal life, no hunger, and you can
fly and move faster than in survival mode. You can also use commands like /fill,
/execute etc.

Spectator Mode
In this mode, one can fly around and through blocks to see the game and other
players without directly interfering with the game. One can also teleport to other
players or view the game from another player or character's perspective by right-
clicking on them.

Hardcore
Hardcore is pretty much the same as Survival mode, but you only have one life. That
is, you cannot resurrect if you die. Additionally, Hardcore is generally harder
than the "hard" difficulty in survival mode.

The world
Minecraft consists of a randomly generated, infinite [27] natural world. The world
is similar in many ways to Scandinavian scenery, but also contains desert
landscapes, savannas , jungles and tundra . The landscape is made up of cubes of
different types. These are 1x1x1 meters in size, or 16x16x16 " pixels ". The
graphics of the game are among its main trademarks. There are "normal" grasslands,
plains , beaches , mountains , cliffs , valleys , jungles , deserts , mesa
(mountain formations) , ice spikes, taiga, tundra , icebergs, caves , rivers, dried
rivers, lakes and islands . The world contains oak trees , birch trees , jungle
trees , spruce trees , acacia trees , dark oak trees and eventually palm trees,
baobab trees and mangrove trees. One can also find different types of flowers and
mushrooms , tall grass, ferns , cacti , pumpkins , melons and sugarcane . Various
animals roam the landscape. These animals are pigs , cows, sheep, chickens, wolves,
horses, donkeys, rabbits, cats, parrots, polar bears, turtles, octopuses, pandas,
foxes, bees and goats. The animals' function is to provide the player with raw
materials or building materials that can be used to create a variety of tools ,
materials and blocks, which in turn can be used to create or build anything (within
the game's limits), as well as being a source of food . Many people who play
Minecraft play only to build various things (it can be huge cities, statues, game
characters, typography or whatever the player wants). Animals, flowers and other
plants naturally also create a special and realistic atmosphere both due to sound
and appearance.

A day and night cycle is also an important element of Minecraft . Monsters are
affected by light and time, zombies and skeletons burn up when exposed to sunlight
and crops and trees only grow in light. The sun moves all the time, and after ten
minutes the sunset starts in 1.5 minutes. Then comes a seven-minute long night,
followed by a sunrise. If the player makes a bed and places it in a safe place
(often inside a self-made house), one can sleep at night and go directly to the
sunrise again.

In dark areas, or when the sun has set, different monsters appear. These often make
creepy noises and try to harm the player if they are close enough. Monsters are
also found in naturally dark places, such as caves and places with shadows.

It is possible to find villages in Minecraft . The villages are different depending

on the landscape they are located in. Villages in the desert areas have houses
built of sandstone and have flat roofs, in the forest the houses are made of wood
and stone, in the savannas they have mud houses and snow villages have igloos and
cabins. It is possible to find things in the villages, including wheat, potatoes,
carrots and other resources. Villagers in the villages are NPCs , i.e. non-player
controlled. They have various occupations such as farmer, priest, blacksmith and
librarian. There are also special workbenches and ovens in the various houses, such
as blast furnaces. It is possible to barter with the villagers.

Model of Denmark in Minecraft

In 2014, the Danish Geodatastyrelsen made a virtual model of Denmark adapted to
Minecraft , the model consists of 4,000 billion blocks. The news spread quickly,
and between 24 April and 14 May 2014 over 27,000 different users were inside and
playing in virtual Denmark. On 23 October 2014, the Geodatastyrelsen closed its
Minecraft servers, by which time over 37,000 players had visited virtual Denmark.