WEBVTT - TechStuff Tackles Minecraft 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:17.800 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.079 Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.560 I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.800 Sitting over across from me, playing with his blocks is 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.760 senior writer Johnathan. Pretty women out walking with gorillas down 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:32.400 my street. From my window, I stare while my coffee 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:39.760 goes cold. Look over there, where here comes Minecraft. That's 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.440 what we're gonna talk about, all right. It was my 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:47.879 my MPR version, and it's Minecraft. It's good. We have 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:52.440 had so many requests, mainly on Facebook from fans who 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:56.720 really wanted us to talk about Minecraft. Um and a Minecraft, 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:59.440 in case you do not know, is a game that 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:03.360 on its surface seems pretty simple, but as you learn 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:05.560 more about it, you realize that this is actually a 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.800 pretty incredible and complex game. You just if you look 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:12.720 at it, just based upon the graphics and the the 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:16.000 the basic idea of what you're supposed to do, you 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.959 would say, oh, there's nothing to this, but oh contrair, 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:25.280 I would say to that person, So let's talk about Minecraft. 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:29.280 So Minecraft started right around May tenth, two thousand nine, 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.199 so it's just over a year or two years old 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:36.360 when we record this podcast. Yes, actually, I'm assuming that 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.160 you're taking it directly from the Minecraft website, which is 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:42.679 under about the game. Minecraft is developed by Marcus Person. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.880 It's been under developments. It's about May tenth, two thousand nine, 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:49.160 So that's that's his best guess. Yeah. So yeah, Marcus 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.160 actually was inspired, at least according to his website, to 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:56.440 do Minecraft because he'd been playing this another sort of 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.320 similar game called in Finny Minor, which I'm pretty sure 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:01.880 was Wasn't that the the guy who came out of 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.320 the Earth right at the end of The Incredibles, No, 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.680 that's the under Miner. No. Actually, it was a game 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.920 about mining elements from the Earth and you were, I 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:14.400 guess the planet. The idea was that you would you know, 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.920 dig out certain elements and you would get credit for 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.240 the stuff that you dug up um, which actually sounds 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:22.040 kind of cool. I had never heard about it until then. 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.200 That was actually under development for very very short period 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:26.520 of time from what I read, and as a matter 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:28.720 of fact, it was only out for a couple of months, 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.000 and apparently a person had played it and liked the game, 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:33.960 and then when it went away, he said, I'm going 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.040 to do something similar. Yeah. And and the concept of 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:40.399 mining in games is not a new one. I mean, 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.320 you've got you've got games, especially like multi massively multiplayer 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.280 online games that have had some sort of mining and 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:52.480 crafting uh capacity in them for ages. So games like 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:56.160 Ultima Online and ever Quest and World of Warcraft have 0:02:56.240 --> 0:03:01.240 had similar kind of of concepts. Minecraft though, does this 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:03.560 in a very simple way. Like again, if you look 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:05.800 at the the graphics, if you haven't never seen it, 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:08.280 I do recommend you check out some videos. There's plenty 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:13.040 of them on YouTube. Um. They're very blocky graphics, very cartoonish. Um. 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:17.520 They seem pretty simple. But again that kind of is 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:22.120 a uh it's deceptive because the game mechanics underneath are 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.520 actually pretty complex. Yeah. Actually, when I when I first 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:30.600 heard somebody request this, um, and I wasn't familiar with Minecraft, 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.280 immediately well, I looked. I looked it up, and I 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.640 only looked at some screenshots I didn't really understand, and 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:37.640 I was thinking, well, I mean, if you're building stuff 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.160 with blocks, that kind of reminds me of Lego Digital Designer, 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.600 which is sort of a CAD system for working with legos. 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.760 And I heard somebody just now, one of the Minecraft 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.280 fans groaning and saying, no, well, no, it's not exactly 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:52.840 like that. It's just not even remotely like that. Well, 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:54.840 it's remotely like if you just look at it on 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:56.920 the surface, though, you that might be what you would think, 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.920 so exactly. In general, in Minecraft, what you're doing is 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.440 you're using various kinds of blocks to build structures and 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.560 environments in a virtual three dimensional environment. You are playing 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.720 the part of a little avatar in this and um. 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:15.560 And then if you're playing the beta version, which is 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:19.520 the version that actually is getting updated and is changing 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.840 over time. It depends on when you're when you listen 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.720 to this, because as of recording that it's in beta. Yeah. Yeah, 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.280 who knows. By the time this this publishes, it may 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:32.840 have a full version out. But what happens is that 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.640 during the daytime, you're safe more or less. I mean, 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.320 you can fall off of of a cliff and die, 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.560 but more or less you're safe, and you can do 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:45.200 things like mine for resources, and you can mind for resources, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.200 not just through mining like digging, you can also get 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:54.120 resources by attacking, say a sheep and gathering wool um. Again, 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.320 this is not an uncommon game element. Yeah, it's in 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.159 a lot of this game mechanics in a lot of games. 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:03.200 But then what happens is at night, the monsters come out, 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.280 and uh so what you ideally, what you do is 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:11.000 you use the the resources in the virtual world to 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.719 create uh structures for you to stay safe in at night, 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:20.599 while you also continue to build more complex um elements. 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:23.640 And the interesting thing to me about Minecraft is not 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:28.320 just that you can build a castle, let's say, but 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.440 you can build a castle of different materials. It's not 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.240 You're not limited to like this is your block, this 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.320 is you know, you use this block to build things. 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:39.200 You know, it's and you might have different colors of blocks, 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.400 but they all have the same properties. That's not the 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.279 case with Minecraft. Minecraft. You actually can create blocks that 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:50.440 have unique properties. And according according the website, yeah, there 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:54.560 there are seventy seven different types of blocks at this point. Yeah, 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:59.080 I according to the Minecraft WICKI yes, I also visited 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.320 that from my research, they have you can think of 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.160 they have recipes, all right, that's what you get, Like 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:09.000 the recipes you have of combining various resources within the 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.440 game and what the outcome is. Yeah. So like, if 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:13.559 you have a block of type A and a block 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:15.560 of type B, you can combine them to create a 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.719 block of type N. Yeah. And in this case, they said, 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:25.440 there are currently one and forty four recipes. So let's say, 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:27.480 let me let me scroll down and find it's kind 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.280 of interesting. So if you think about it, um, if 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:31.040 you're not familiar with the game, you think about it, 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:37.320 you have elements, um, like for example, uh, sodium and oxygen, 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:40.360 yeah you could, you know, and hydrogen. You can combine 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.800 them to make elements. I mean, yeah, I'm I'm sorry. 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.640 You can combine them to make molecules of different something 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:50.839 else using a scientific sort of it's more on a 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.400 it's more on a macro scale. But like here's an example. 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:56.360 Let's say you want to build a pick ax. Okay, 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:58.480 so if you wanted to build a pick ax in Minecraft, 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.760 you would need as your your ingredients and your recipe. 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.280 You would need some sticks, which you can also create 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:08.920 through wooden planks. But you need sticks plus a wooden 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:14.280 plank or nudan a sticks plus cobble stone or sticks 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.960 plus iron ingets or sticks plus golding It's or sticks 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.920 plus diamond gems. So the wooden plank, cobblestone, ironing, it's golding, 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:26.400 it's or diamond gems would serve as the actual um, 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.240 the actual pick part of the pickaxe, like they pick 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.040 in the ax as opposed, then the stick would be 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:34.000 your handle. Now you would ask you and you might 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.920 ask yourself, well, why would I even bother trying to 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.800 to find a diamond gem or create a diamond gem 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.360 if I could just make a pickax using a stick 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.480 and a wooden plank. Well, the tools in Minecraft have 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:51.520 a limited number of uses, and so if you're gonna 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:55.680 use a pickax to mind more materials, uh, the number 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:58.520 of uses that pickax has is dependent upon what the 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.200 pickax itself is made up of, right, So if you 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.240 use a softer metal like gold, it wouldn't hold up 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.800 as well as something like iron, which is tougher. Yeah, 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:09.640 So if you are going for if you're going for 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.240 a really long term tool that you want to be 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:13.600 able to use over and over again, you want to 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.440 use the stronger materials, which are of course harder to 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:20.400 get in most cases of course. So uh, it's it's interesting, 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:22.960 you know, it's a part of your strategy is that, Okay, well, 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.160 how much effort do I want to take in order 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:27.440 to get the raw materials I need to make a 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.920 tool so that I can get more raw materials? Well, 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.840 it depends on how fast you need to work before nightfall. Yeah, 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.920 and it also depends on what your eventual goal is, like, 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.440 uh uh, you know, do you want to create something 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.440 that is is functional? Do you want to create something 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:47.240 that is decorative? Do you want to create something that 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.760 is both? Do you want to create something that is 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:54.040 innovative that no one else has managed to do yet? Um? 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:55.320 If you want to do that, You're going to have 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.200 to really start working soon, because I've seen some pretty 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:02.040 incredible stuff made in Minecraft. Now talking about incredible stuff 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.200 made of Minecraft. There are two versions of the game 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.160 that are out in the wild. There's the Beta version, 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.839 which is the one that keeps getting updates and gets 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.240 new elements added into it over time, and then there's 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.679 the classic version. Now, Classic you can think of as 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.760 kind of just a giant sandbox. Yeah, you can go 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.200 in and build or destroy if you're one of those 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:25.720 kind of people, to anything you like within a game 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.320 on a server. So you can actually have a game 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.920 of Minecraft playing on a server and invite the people 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.480 you know to come and play Minecraft there or build 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:37.720 on Minecraft there. And if you're using the Classic system, 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:39.440 you don't have to worry about monsters hunting you down 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:41.559 and killing you. It's really just a place for you 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:43.760 to play and build stuff. Now, granted, you don't have 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:45.840 all the materials available to you that you would in 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.319 the beta system because again Classics not getting updates, so 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.320 it's gonna have, you know, the the amount of resources 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:57.400 you have is set Classic, it's fixed changes, so that 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:01.760 doesn't hasn't stopped people from creating some pretty amazing objects 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.360 in Minecraft. We've seen a few just we watched some 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:09.079 videos if you oh gosh, it's been a few months now, 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:14.080 but I remember seeing one where someone created a globe 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:16.920 of the Earth and it was huge, an enormous globe. 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:19.360 I mean not to scale because that would have been 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.840 a little too much, but yeah, it was an enormous 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.320 globe and it was fairly accurate. It was missing a 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.839 few blocks because there were some vandals who showed up 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:29.840 and destroyed some of the blocks. And you do get 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.680 that occasionally if you have your your creations on a 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.520 server that has got a very open policy. You're gonna 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:37.360 get some jerks in there. It's just the way the 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.800 world works, unfortunately, not unlike real life. Yeah, just like 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.319 real life. But yeah, I remember seeing that globe and 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.240 it was really impressive, and it had a hole at 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.240 the very top of the globe where you could go 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:49.520 to the very top and fall down. And also, in 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.840 Classic mode, you don't die if you fall off a cliff, 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:56.000 so because the the the focus in Classic mode isn't 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.760 the game element where you're trying to stay alive and 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:02.719 and flourish. It's all about creating. So uh yeah, and 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.240 this version you you could actually go inside the globe 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:07.200 and see what was on what they had built on 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:09.760 the inside, which was also kind of cool. But then 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.040 there was another one I showed Chris that I thought 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.400 was really neat, which was a person who was trying 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:18.800 to build a scale model of the starship Enterprise in Minecraft. 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:22.040 That's pretty amazing. We should actually check and see if 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.160 that's been updated, because we looked at it months ago 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.640 and it was. It wasn't a pretty good like, it 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:30.319 wasn't finished by any means, but it was going along 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:34.079 pretty well. And this was a guy who was actually 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.600 trying to create these enterprise based off of plans from 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.840 various Star Trek source books and uh, including all the decks. 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.959 So it wasn't just that he had the shell of 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:47.320 the Enterprise there. He wanted to build it so that 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.200 you could actually go inside and explore the Enterprise as 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.200 if you were a crew member, which you know, for 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:57.560 geeks like me, that's pretty amazing. It's a painstaking process 0:11:57.600 --> 0:11:59.880 to get that much detail in there. Though. Yeah, I 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.439 remember that he had created some way where he created 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.960 sort of like a macro where he had built the 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:10.960 frame through some weird means and then was able to 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.080 import that into Minecraft. I don't remember the details. I 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.640 remember it's in the video, though, that that was pretty 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:18.280 neat that he wasn't he didn't have to do it 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:21.320 block by block in other words, which would take I 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.960 don't know how many hours. Even so, even with that 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.439 that added element in where he had been able to 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.760 build a lot of it automatically, it was still just 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.600 the the kind of like the skeleton of the Enterprise. 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:38.280 It wasn't everything by any stretch of the imagination, but 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:41.560 that that's pretty phenomenal, And like I said, there are 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:46.280 a lot of of cool examples of people who have 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.840 built some amazing structures out in Minecraft. But that's even 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.760 that's just the beginning. Um, have you seen any of 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:58.360 the Minecraft roller coasters. There are various ways to build 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.360 roller coasters in Minecraft. You and actually build rails or 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:06.600 the ones I've seen a lot of are the not rails, 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:10.440 but are their waterways. So you build like essentially a 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:15.400 giant water slide, and you create an enormous uh structure 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.120 that is going to be the is gonna be really tall, 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.040 so that gravity, the gravity of the virtual world can 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.480 pull the water along, and then you create a little 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.400 boat to ride in, and then you can just ride 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:32.079 on down the whole length of the the water slide. 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:36.080 And I saw someone who created one that was uh huge. 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.360 I mean it took hours to write all the way 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.840 down and it went essentially like the equivalent of what 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.199 it would be to write a water slide from New 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:48.319 York to Georgia. Is crazy. That's impressive now, yeah, and 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.200 also would be you have to pick a real particular 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:55.280 time of year for that to work out. But anyway, Um, 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:59.240 even then, these elements that's still just scratching the surface. 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:03.000 What has truly blown my mind is the fact that 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.680 within Minecraft all these different objects that you can build. 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:11.640 Among them are not just the transportation things, but the 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:17.280 mechanism recipes. Now, mechanism recipes allow you to create electronic 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:22.760 components or or electronic component analogs within the Minecraft world. 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.120 Well yes, but how could you possibly do that, Well, 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:30.960 they have designated they being you know, the creator of 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:36.080 the game has designated certain objects to have particular UH 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:41.400 features that are equivalent to electronic features. So, for example, 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.640 the red Stone torch. No torches, normally they doesn't just 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.920 generate light, you know, they're not they don't do anything 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.200 else like that. But red Stone torch what it does 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.840 is it constantly sends an electrical charge or can be 0:14:55.960 --> 0:15:00.240 used as a receiver transmitter when connected to the side 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.360 of a block, and can also be used for low 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:04.440 level lighting. So if you just want some low level lighting, 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:06.240 you could do that. But if you want to use 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.960 it as a switch, you could You could create a 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:11.600 you know, it creates this electrical charge, then you create 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.760 a pathway for that electrical charge to go down. You 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:19.480 can also create uh levers and buttons um, you can 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:23.920 create little note blocks. You can create a dispenser which 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.320 is used to hold and shoot out items in a 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:30.160 random ortar UM. You can create what's called a redstone repeater, 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:35.480 and that is uh uh used in circuits as a repeater, 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:38.920 de layer or a diode. And so you know, you've 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:43.080 got these basic elements that are used in electronics UM 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:46.600 and if you put them into Minecraft in the proper way, 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:51.200 you can actually create very simple computers. I've seen people 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.920 who have created calculators. I've seen people have created uh 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.160 an actual computer by building enough of these circuits together 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.960 so that it does computation. You can give it a 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.840 computer problem and it will work it out. UM. I've 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:09.280 also seen people use the music generating blocks, and you know, 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:11.360 there are ways where you can adjust the pitch and 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.760 tone of the block. Maybe it's just the pitch may 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:15.800 not be the tone, but you can adjust the pitch 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.960 of the block makes when it's activated. And then by 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.960 creating the right set of circuits so that the electricity 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:27.120 flows in a particular uh direction and order, you can 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.440 create music. You put all enough of these blocks around 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.520 and it will start playing in sequence depending upon the 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:37.360 pathway you have built. Using these these virtual circuits, you 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:40.040 can create a music synthesizer, or you can actually create 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.320 a an automatic song, so you know, you you become 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:47.120 obsessed with that new pop tune. You end up figuring 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.400 out what notes that pop tune plays. You create it 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.760 in Minecraft, and it's this enormous like it's a landscape. 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.640 You're actually looking at a landscape that represents a song, 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:58.520 and then you hit a little switch and it plays 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.640 the song up. And then you put it on YouTube 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:05.520 and everyone criticizes you for it. Yeah, and then eventually 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.280 you have uh Sony Music contact you until you to 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.639 take it down because it's infringing copyright exactly. And then 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:13.600 you say this is transformative, and then there's a big 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.320 legal lawsuit and then Jonathan has a meltdown because of 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.960 we're getting off track. Yeah. Actually our long time listeners 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:25.200 have heard that before. Um So yeah, the the game itself, 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.440 I mean, the essential components you'll find in the the 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:32.240 creative game, the uh the one that's set forever and ever, 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:34.080 you know, just learning how to to get around in 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:37.600 the environment. Um. But if you want to to uh 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:41.960 play Minecraft yourself, um, it's not hard. You you will 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.320 need to pay to get into the beta though, which 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.280 is less than than you would pay for the final version. Um, 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:49.000 I don't know that anyone has actually said with the 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:50.879 final version of we cost, but the game has been 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:55.320 so successful that Notch as he's known, has been able 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.600 to look into the possibility of hiring some people to 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:01.920 help him out with development, which is pretty cool. UM. 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.080 So you know you would need to do that if 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:06.400 you were you were going to do that. But once 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.240 you get in, then you start to learn more about 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.520 the environment that he's uh creative for you. Now we've 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:13.679 mentioned that there are many many different kinds of of 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.160 core blocks, and then you can use them to buy 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.639 to build other things. UM. You'll also find that when 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.520 you move around that you have, you know, you'll see 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.840 things like food, which you can actually craft yourself, depending 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:28.679 on what it is that you want to eat, I 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:33.000 guess uh. And food of course converts into health in 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.359 the game, because yeah, there are all these monsters that 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:36.760 are out there and they can hurt you or you 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.359 can get hurt if you fall too far that kind 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.320 of thing. Um, And you can you can create weapons 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.320 and armor as well to help protect you against monsters. 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:49.320 You can also use create vehicles to get you around. UM. 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:52.000 Like I said, with the rails, you can create mind 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.840 cart rails, and that's essentially what I was talking about 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:59.359 with the roller coasters. But what you'll encounter when you 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.480 travel around other than environmental things like that and the 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.439 things that you build are mobs. And those are the 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.240 different kinds of other creatures that you're going to find 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:13.240 as you travel around in Minecraft. Now, mobs, uh could 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.320 be good or bad or neutral. Um, sort of depends 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.720 on what you're short for. Actually, it's probably mobs because 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.040 it is short for mobile according to the Minecraft wiki, 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:27.160 So pardon my mispronunciation. Everyone calls them mobs. Really yeah, okay, cool, 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.160 because I mean that's that's the term that's been used 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:35.040 in uh and various various games, not just not just Minecraft, 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:40.120 but any any Normally it's used for monsters, but it's 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:45.200 any uh, any creature that's being controlled by the game itself, 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:49.920 not being controlled by a player. Yes, okay, um, well 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:52.360 you can. You can team up with a wolf if 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:55.960 you want to. You might run into pigs, sheeps, sheeps. 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:59.000 I don't know, I'm I'm just hungry like a wolf. 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.080 You can also run into pigs or sheep about the 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.040 sheeps in the fields, the sheeps in the fields, the cows, chicken, 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:14.199 I don't like you anymore. But then you have some 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:17.960 some creepy stuff out there. You might run into zombies 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:23.040 or skeletons or spiders. Yes, although these are all blocky, 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.040 yes it is. It is kind of funny because you know, 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.159 if you think about something like World of Warcraft, and 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:33.679 we're talking about creatures that have been designed with a 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:36.919 huge polygon count so that they are they render you 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:40.880 have to have a great graphics card to render this realistically, 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:42.840 so and and lots of memory and a high powered 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.960 processor or you know, reasonably high powered processor to to 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.080 render this so that it looks real. I mean, these 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:52.200 these creatures are round dish, they have you know, skin, 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.600 they drool when they open their mouths. They have lots 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.600 of points of articulation as well. Yes, so for example, 0:20:58.640 --> 0:20:59.879 and the reason why I bring that up is I'm 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.240 watching a video about Minecraft right now and it's hilarious 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:05.840 watching the little man run around because he has no knees, 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:08.320 like you know, the legs are just straight, so when 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:10.600 they run, there's just these straight sticks that move back 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:14.400 and forth. And you think, well, look at how sophisticated 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:16.560 some of the other games on the market look right 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:19.280 now compared to this and then you wonder how could 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:21.000 this be so popular? And I think the answer to 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:25.520 that is the gameplay is really really advanced, and it 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:28.440 gives you so much freedom to do various things, and 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:33.320 it's such an outlet for creativity that people have really 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:36.840 taken off with it, right. I mean, it's not like 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:39.840 you know other games where you get to play in 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:42.600 a world, but that not that world isn't your world, right, 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:46.720 And I'll take this as an aside um, and I'll 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:49.000 I promise to keep it short. But if you think 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.760 about it, it's sort of like the we intruding on 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:55.760 the Xbox three sixty in the PlayStation three because people, 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:58.359 a lot of people who were the the hardcore gamers 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.400 at the time that WE was introduced. We're saying, how 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:05.679 can Nintendo compete with a processor that won't even do 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:10.239 full Tinity lines of resolution? You know what? We have 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:14.360