Markus Persson started out building a game for himself. He showed it to a few friends, then the Internet took over.
“No, there is no strategy behind anything that has happened. It feels as if it just turned out this way. I haven’t done any of this on purpose”
That same little game has made Persson a millionaire and a celebrity.
Why is this on our bookshelf?
Video games are to geeks as fresh air is to … someone who’d rather go outside than playing video games.
Learning more about the who behind the massive time-sink that is 2010’s “game of the year” is my little way of adding some sanity back to the hours wasted playing with Minecraft’s version of digital Legos.
Rating (4 stars)
Developers aren’t the most social or open about their lives, so reading a book about the people behind the phenomenon that is Minecraft was a tough sell. Seeing a year of Mojang’s (the company behind Minecraft) growth and development through the eyes of the team, however, was as interesting as it was inspiring.
The character descriptions— remember, these are real people— make the reader feel as if they actually know the Mojang team. Business discussions around Mojang’s success paints an approachable narrative about both Minecraft’s growth and the affect it’s had on each member of the now-familiar team. Nothing is dry, and the story of Minecraft itself sets the reader up to both seek out and expect more from this amazing team in the future.
Read this book:
If you want to understand more about the minds behind Minecraft.
Don't Read this book:
If business and entrepreneurship are on your list of buzz-kills.
Once you're done, do this:
Spend some time reading about (or playing) the various Minecraft mods put together by the community.
