In the days following Minecon, a two-day convention in Las Vegas featuring the release of the prolific game Minecraft, I noticed a handful of people around the Internet voicing their complaints about the convention. A lot of these complaints revolved around the large crowds and lack of content. Some referred to the convention as “Linecon”. I personally had a wonderful time, which is why I’m writing this, to share my positive experience. A friend, Will, who I actually met that weekend, said it best on Twitter, “Cons aren’t a buffet of entertainment. They’re a pilgrimage for the faithful. You meet other worshipers and maybe touch the Pope’s robe.” A convention is what you make of it, and like the game Minecraft itself, the joy in the end comes from the vastly different and unique experiences that all the participants have in the end.
I was attending Minecon alone, so a few days beforehand, I decided to post on reddit and see if any other “forever alone” redditors were interested in meeting up and hanging out during the con. There was a good response, and I ended up meeting some cool people on Friday morning. Shout-outs to Janet, Will, and Ryan! Throughout the whole weekend, I met dozens of friendly, interesting people. The great thing about attending a two-day event dedicated to a single game, is that you know for a fact that the stranger standing next to you at any moment has something in common with you. Many great conversations were had, as well as business cards and server IP addresses exchanged.
Hanging out with some fellow redditors!
The Exhibit Floor
The first place to where the crowds flock, and really the only option for the first few hours, is the exhibit floor. I had low expectations for this, since I really couldn’t imagine how many exhibitors they could find for a single game. I ended up being impressed by all the vendors offering swag, the booths advertising servers, the independent game developers being featured, and my favorite, the giant gaming pit. There was a huge pit with rows and rows of Alienware PCs, all linked up to a single Minecraft server, where you could play the game after they released it. Hovering above this pit was monolithic screen with one of the current player’s view of the game they were playing. When I got my turn, I was praying that I would not be put up on the screen. But sure enough, after I break one of the biggest taboos of Minecraft, digging straight down, I look up and see that my computer is the one being featured. Hundreds of eyes were watching me play. I fumbled around and I heard some people laughing at me as I tried to figure out how to get back to the surface. So humiliating.
One of the great things about a relatively small convention is that you end up seeing a lot of the notable members of the community, as you wander around. On the convention floor, I ran into Brent Copeland from The Shaft, had a great conversation about the show, which led to meeting and having lunch with Joe Hills and Kevin Loper. I’m now even more convinced of how awesome the Dead Workers community is and hope to maybe make it out to Alabama in the future for one of their conventions/parties.
The Panels
A great selection of panels were offered for breakout sessions on both days. These are some of the panels I attended.
API for Game Developers: Based on the title of this panel and that it was part of Minecon, one would assume that it would be about using the Minecraft API. So I get all excited, get there early, and sit in the second row. It starts, and the first thing they say is that the panel is in fact about the “Youtube API”. They said they wouldn’t be offended if people who were not interested left. I was in the second row, though! I couldn’t just leave. It turned out to be interesting. They demonstrated the capability to upload videos using their API, specifically from within a game. They’re hoping more developers utilize the technology to record game content and let players upload without middleware.
Making a Difference: This panel was the highlight of Minecon for me. It was moderated by Lydia aka MinecraftChick, and the speakers on the panel were all amazing individuals who are using Minecraft in some unique ways. One of them, Joel Levin, is a guy I’ve been following for a few months. He is known in the community as Minecraft Teacher. He had modded Minecraft to be suitable for use in a classroom setting, and has had amazing results using it in his own classroom. I had been skeptical about this, but one point that he made that really hit home for me was how he uses the game to teach students about online etiquette. Cyber bullying is a real problem, everywhere from online games to social networks, all fueled by the fact that kids feel “safer” being cruel to other kids, when they are behind a computer, usually anonymous. Joel explained that when a student mistreats another one in the game, if for example they steal from another player’s chest, he will stop the class and use the opportunity to teach. He compares this cyber vandalism to breaking into a friend’s locker at school. His students see the connection, they get it, and the lesson sticks with them.
Also on the panel were two mothers of sons with Aspergers syndrome who told of the positive effect that the game has had for their sons, particularly in helping them communicate better. Mats Hultgren spoke about his project My Blocks, which is using Minecraft to allow community members to help prototype housing projects and parks in Sweden. Another speaker, Heather shared about the many diverse friendships she has formed through Minecraft. She contrasted it to games like World of Warcraft, where players are all in constant competition for power with each other. In Minecraft, everyone is playing as themselves, and Minecraft tends to be more collaborative than it is competitive, which leads to stronger social connections. Coincidentally, I’ve kept in touch her post-Minecon and have played with her on the Mau5Ville server.
The Shaft Podcast Live Recording: This podcast has really been the window into the Minecraft community for me. I have a blast tuning in every week to hear Eric, Brent, and Wes casually chat about the latest happenings in the Minecraft world, usually bringing in some big name guests. I ran into them all a couple times at the con, and they are some of the nicest people I’ve met. Brent even let me bum a cigarette off of him on Saturday night. Thankfully, I made the smart decision to leave the Yogscast panel early and got a good seat for The Shaft. The panel was pretty chaotic, the room was packed, and it was a ton of fun just sitting there with all the fans. They have one section called Excavation Station, where they take listeners’ ideas for Minecraft, and I gave one of mine. The crowd liked it, and I won one of the prizes they were giving away! A wolf hat!! (Picture below.)
A secret confession: the idea I gave was stolen from Joel from the Making a Difference panel. Sorry, Joel!
I think there were also a couple parties at Minecon, but for some reason I don’t remember those too well.
Looking back, what made the weekend so memorable is the people. Creative, passionate, fun-loving, sometimes-nerdy people. My kind of people. I drove out to Vegas alone and not knowing anyone personally who was going to be at Minecon, and I left with many new connections and have continued to meet more awesome people through this community. I’m excited to see what the future of Minecraft will bring, and I’m thankful that I was able to witness this part of its history.
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