Well over a decade has passed since Mojang saw the release of its monumental sandbox game Minecraft, but the developers are still hard at work on new updates – and apparently, they've got a very precise mantra they try to follow during production.
Jens 'Jeb' Bergensten, the lead designer of Minecraft and chief creative officer of Mojang Studios, reveals as much in a new behind-the-scenes video on YouTube. "When we add new things to Minecraft," he admits, "it's very important that we find the right balance. We want to avoid treating players in a way that feels unfair. So we have this guiding principle that bad things happen, but they're technically the player's fault."
Yes, you read that right – if something goes wrong in-game, it should ideally be the users' own fault rather than any mistake made by the devs. "And what we mean by that is that either the player caused it or the player had a chance to prevent it," as Jeb explains. Creative lead Cory 'Cojomax99' Scheviak agrees, saying, "We try to live by this as best we can. We have a few exceptions." As a player myself, I do wonder what those are.
How does Mojnag manage to strike that "balance" Jeb described, though? "In order to find balance in game design, you have to weigh risk versus reward," the dev says. "You want to make the game feel fab." Scheviak then chimes in, "We like to put the harder challenges later in the game, and we also like to make them opt-in" – and he's not wrong. Most of the "hard" content in Minecraft is entirely optional for those preferring a more creative experience.
As Jeb concludes, "Through that, you are able to balance your own difficulty." That's why, should something go wrong or, as the dev put it, should "bad things happen," it all boils down to the player – not Mojang. You choose whether you're going to take a certain path, fight a specific boss, or take it easy and avoid mobs altogether for more building-focused gameplay. It's part of what makes Minecraft so great, and I, for one, think the formula works well for the sandbox genre, especially.
