Minecraft is one of the only video games that has maintained its popularity for over a decade.
To put that into perspective, most top video games have a shelf-life of just 2 years.
I've done some quick maths and it looks like gamers have likely spent well over 100 million years playing Minecraft.
So how is Minecraft so good at entertaining gamers for so long?
For game makers, building an engaging game is extremely difficult. There’s always a good chance people won’t like it at all.
But there’s one guarantee. They will get bored.
If you’re lucky enough to make a game that gamers enjoy, your next problem becomes how do you keep them playing it?
You could release new levels, new colours, new themes, etc. That’s all great, but it’s nothing like user-generated content.
When a diverse group of users are allowed to create playable content in a game it expands the possibilities for every other user, and as a result it takes far longer for any user to get bored.
For game makers, building an engaging game is extremely difficult. There’s always a good chance people won’t like it at all.
But there’s one guarantee. They will get bored.
If you’re lucky enough to make a game that gamers enjoy, your next problem becomes how do you keep them playing it?
You could release new levels, new colours, new themes, etc. That’s all great, but it’s nothing like user-generated content.
When a diverse group of users are allowed to create playable content in a game it expands the possibilities for every other user, and as a result it takes far longer for any user to get bored.
Look for ways in which your users use your product outside of your intended use cases. Make it easier for users. Help them share these product ‘hacks’ with other users.
Minecraft wasn’t the first, but it has definitely been one of the most successful. They figured out how to design this strategy into a game for the masses.
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