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3598545-293370Mark your confusion.Show evidence of a close reading.Write a 1+ page reflection.020000Mark your confusion.Show evidence of a close reading.Write a 1+ page reflection.-264795-321945Article of the WeekArticle of the WeekDear Microsoft: Please don’t let this be Minecraft’s end gameSource: LinkedIn - September 11, 2014Dear Microsoft:You don't want to be forever known as the company that ruined Minecraft, do you?When the news broke that Microsoft was in talks to acquire Mojang, the company that makes Minecraft, my knee-jerk reaction was, “Damn. The magic’s over.”Please don’t let that happen.In media coverage, even recently, the game has been characterized as a pixelated form of Lego, or a survival game. That is a sadly narrow interpretation of what is a deceptively deep game. While there is certainly a big building component to the game, and yes, everything is rendered in pixelated blocks—no curves anywhere—it is not only a game about building. And yes, in Survival Mode, you’d better get home after dark, lest a Creeper mob kill you, but it is not only a game about Survival. It is a game that is completely defined by the player. There are no levels to clear, no goal beyond what you set for yourself; you make it what you want it to be. Minecraft gives the player creative control.We first downloaded the game at the end of 2012, a year after the game’s first full release. While the game is meant for those 10 and up, you’d be hard-pressed to find a kid under 10 out of Pre-K who doesn’t play the game, or is at least familiar with it.My stepson is a software engineer, and thought my and my husband’s six- and seven-year-olds would get a kick out of it. They did. But it went much farther; instead of mild entertainment, it morphed into a?passion. At first we had one account, which quickly became three. $35 or so dollars per account seemed completely reasonable for a game that we got so much enjoyment out of. Anyone with a computer and web connection can play; no special consoles or equipment needed. They could also play on any platform: PC or mobile, and when it was released for PS3, they played on that too. Compared with other games, it was a compete bargain. Further, it seemed that every time they played, it was a different game. There were no levels to exhaust, and its limits were really only my kids’ imaginations. I credit it with motivating my then First Grader to learn to read, and my Second Grader to begin to code.?Keep it affordable, and accessible on multiple platforms.Soon after that first year, everyone seemed to discover it at the same time. All their friends were soon playing; not only were they playing with each other, they’d call each other on Skype and party each other on multi-player servers like Mineplex and Minetime, among others. Both kids came adept at PVP (person vs. person) strategy games on these servers such as Hunger Games, Spleef, and Splegg, where they “verse” other anonymous players. This side of Minecraft you don’t hear a lot about in the press, but is the most social, and I bet the most popular; however playing on independent servers can only be done through PC. Servers are free to play on, but support themselves by selling ranks that add special functionality to a player. Lacking that fun, players say they find Pocket MC and console versions such as X-Box and PlayStation to be very limited in functionality, scope, and sociability-- and a lot less fun. The Minecraft app aftermarket is huge. Players can also download skins or capes, for example, or use a program that makes them, then upload them to Minecraft. There’s a skin out there for any character you’d like to be. Show up on a server with a Steve skin, get labeled a n00b.?Keep the PVP, and let the independent operators continue.When kids are not playing Minecraft, invariably they are watching other people play Minecraft on YouTube. (I haven’t done this, but I hear people will watch streams of Minecraft founder Markus Persson “Notch” code.) More than once I have caught my kids playing “YouTuber,” imitating their favorite players such as SkyDoesMinecraft, Tobuscus, Stampylongnose, IHasCupquake , Pewdiepie, and others. It’s not just Minecraft and gaming that made these players stars; they are true entertainers, who have followings larger than the Kardashians. Pewdiepie, Felix Kjellberg, has the most-subscribed to channel on YouTube, with more than 30 million subscribers and close to 6 BILLION views—he is less of a Minecrafter now, but his popularity grew from his gaming videos. They connect with their audiences in a way that TV and movie stars do not; they feel like regular people, playing the games that the audience loves. Kids binge watch the episodes, know their Minecraft tribute songs, download them on iTunes.?Keep it authentic and keep it social.It’s also from YouTube that they learn about new mods, texture packs, resource packs and maps. They then bug their parents to install them, if unable themselves. Mods are software modifications developed for Minecraft by outside software developers that in part give the game its uniqueness. Forge is a downloadable software addition that is most commonly used on top of Minecraft to support the mods in the game. There are mods for everything: animals, role playing, Star Wars My Little Pony, Halo, Ariana Grande, no lie—you name it, there’s a mod for it. There is even a mod to handle too many mods: The Too Many Items Mod.The mods are a big part of what makes Minecraft, and again, are not available outside the PC environment. Though Mojang doesn’t support the mods, it doesn’t discourage software developers from making them. An error message on a mod crash report will even encourage you to report bugs to the mod developers so that they can fix them.?Keep the Modders modding.Minecraft is responsible for engaging an entire generation of kids and even teenagers in coding. On a basic level, they get an intro to coding by using the simple command lines in the game. They Google or watch YouTube to learn more complicated ones. I came home one day to find that my daughter had downloaded a Minecraft development snapshot and had a coding terminal open. More advanced players start to write the mods themselves. Even the Under 10 Crowd understands software platforms, releases, and computing in a way those earlier generations never did. It is just part of their entertainment feed. As the MR. MEOLA tribute song, “Making Minecraft Sexy” song goes, “Thank you for making a game that no one plays the same.”This part about Minecraft might be the most difficult part for the world’s largest software company to contend with. However, allowing players to remain in control of the game is critical to the game’s continued success.?Keep the players in control of their own experience.Mojang operated like a software gaming company. It took the feedback of the users very seriously and that was reflected throughout its different versions. Microsoft, these kids are your future customers. I told my kids about the potential sale, and they were worried.“But what will happen to Notch and Jeb? Do people at Microsoft know how to code and make updates?” my daughter asked.“Microsoft has Xbox, so I guess they want it for that and for their tablets and any other products they have,” I say.”Mom, why can’t they sell it to an actual gaming company? They don’t make games. They make a machine that plays games.”“I guess they want to make games now,” I tell her.She has a point, and one that’s important to remember. Fans don’t want Minecraft to go the way of Halo, and with the purchase of the Minecraft IP, that certainly could happen.But above all, Microsoft, please remember: You’re not just buying a gaming company. You’re buying into a cultural phenomenon. Please don't ruin it.Possible Response Questions:1. Do you think the writer posed a well-balanced argument? Why?2. Is this something worth complaining about?3. Choose any part of the passage and respond. ................
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