Do you have a hobby or an activity that allows you to escape from all the worries of the world? For millions of people worldwide, Minecraft is a personal getaway. Far away lands with no limits and endless possibilities, with no rules, and cute little animals, Minecraft is the perfect mental vacation. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what you identify as, or if you have any friends. This game lets you do so much and all you need is a creative mind.

Minecraft was created by Markus “Notch” Persson in 2009, in which he created a 3-D building and crafting adventure game for people to play on their personal computers. In 2011 a new developer was introduced alongside Mojang, Jens Bergensten. Since then Minecraft has been claimed to be the best-selling video game of all time with 200 million copies sold and 126 million active monthly players as of 2020. How did it become so popular? This open-world, sandbox game, allows you to be creative and has virtually no limits to what you can create. This appeals to every age, class, and identity. In the 21st century, Youtube was a home for many gamers and with the rise of gamers, the popularity of Minecraft soared.

I personally started watching people play this game on Youtube. I was instantly hooked by the amazing things these people were creating and what they were able to accomplish. I turned to Minecraft as not only a getaway but a friend in some aspects. Growing up I didn’t have many friends and Minecraft helped me get through a lonely childhood. Watching popular Minecraft YouTubers such as Stampylongnose, or DanDTM really helped me not feel so alone. When I was in 6th grade, around 11 or 12 years old, I heard about this new school club in the morning where people played Minecraft. I was so excited to play because until this time I’d only played Minecraft at my friend’s house on her Xbox. I went to that club almost every day that they had it and it helped me make a few new friends and grow stronger bonds with my current friends. Then when I was around 13 years old I got my first Xbox360 and my first ever game was Minecraft. I played it almost every day after school. It was and still is my absolute favorite video game because it’s such a great escape.

What about Minecraft is so amazing? In it, there are two modes, Survival and Creative. In survival mode you have to build, craft, eat, and fight to survive. There are enemies that come out at night that will harm you and amazing boss fights you need to prepare for! You do so by mining for better materials, exploring for possible adventures and loot, and learning the ways to survive. You must eat to regenerate your health and build weapons and tools to better your chances of staying alive.

In creative mode, you can do as much as your heart desires. You are invincible, you have an infinite supply of any object in the game, and you can fly! You can also mine and break blocks at the speed of light with your fists. As I had mentioned before, there are some super cute animals including pigs, cats, sheep, dogs, fish, bees, and so many more. Some of the animals you can feed them to make them breed the cutest little babies, but eventually, you might need to kill the animals to get resources and food… But don’t worry! They respawn!

With every new update comes a new adventure and sometimes new mobs (animals/enemies) and biomes! It is safe to say that Minecraft will continue to appeal to its huge audience because there is always something new to discover. There are a few other sides of Minecraft to unveil, one is called mods (modifications,) with mods you can change the look, the behavior, and you can even add new mobs, new objects, and new adventures to your game. Another is texture packs, you can change the way your world looks and sounds. The final one is skins, you can change the way your character appears and you can completely customize your look to your desire.

Minecraft is a favorite among millions of people around the world, it appeals to almost everybody and it is a great game to escape life’s troubles. It is a million-dollar business and an amazing game. It is arguably the best game ever made because of these reasons.