To say thatMinecraftis a huge success is something of an understatement. Originally released in 2011, it is arguablyone of the most successful indie games in the history of gaming, selling more than 200 million copies as of last May. Being such a huge juggernaut, it’s unsurprising that fans are still looking for ways to keep the endless possibilities that the game brings going, and one gamer is attempting to go beyond what the game is capable of.
PushingMinecraftto its very limits, user KurtJMac, otherwise known as Kurt, has spent the last ten years in search of the Far Lands. For those who don’t know, the Far Lands is effectively the visual end of the game’s procedurally generated world. It is a point that sits more than 12.5 million blocks away from the original spawn point and represents the upper boundaries for what can be generated by the algorithm before everything starts to look a little abstract.
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Kurt has been uploadingMinecraftvideos to YouTubesince he began playing in 2011. He says that he didn’t intend to go looking for the Far Lands, that it was just a “spur of the moment decision” in which he suddenly decided he wanted to try and walk to the edge of the map. Kurt also realized that his audience was growing and decided to raise some money for charity, starting at $850 which he easily raised within five days. He has since upped the donation goal and continues to add to it as more people watch. So far, watchers have donated around $450,000 to charity.
Minecraftis just one of those games that seems to have infinite potentials. From Kurt’s charity videos in which he challenges himself to walk 12.5 million blocks, to the player whocreated a functioning arcade cabinet in the game, Notch’s humble beginnings ten years ago is living proof that games are not just something to play to kill time, they are an institution.
Minecraftis available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
