So some things came up and long story short there was an off-topic argument towards whether or not Minecraft is a fantasy game. So I figured it would be a good idea to create a thread dedicated to just that.
By "Fantasy", we are referring to magical properties, such as spells or fire breathing dragons. Mojang walks a fine line between the two distinctions, never giving the villager clerics magical abilities directly or having the dragon breathe acid instead of fire. Where a full fantasy game would include orcs, skeletons, spiders, and ghouls as the main antagonists minecraft has zombies, skeletons, spiders, and creepers. There are plenty of original features that blur the line.
Do you believe Minecraft is a fantasy game? Do you think it should become a fantasy game? Do you think it should stop being a fantasy game? Let the debate begin.
The interesting thing about Minecraft's magic is that up until some recent updates, which I'll talk about later in the post, Minecraft's magic has been rather abstract:
Potions:
- Potions have generic effects that increase speed or neutralize certain vulnerabilities.
- The potions aren't named any weird names like the Polyjuice Potion or something.
- Potion Ingredients are a little bit less abstract or generic, although there is a bit of an exception to be made here since there aren't a lot of commonly known "real life potion ingredients" besides pieces and parts of animals and plants, which is what Minecraft uses.
Mobs:
- The basic monsters are the Zombie, Skeleton and Giant Spider, which are fairly generic ideas we've seen in much other fantasy media. The one exception to this is the creeper, but this appears to be the exception to the rule. Slimes and Ghasts are also examples of a common fantasy idea implemented in Minecraft.
- There are a few other exceptions to the abstraction rule for mobs like the Creeper and the Enderman, but these are based on an accident-turned branding material and a pop-culture icon respectively. Minecraft used to have a lot of older pop-culture icon additions back in 2012 and 2013, but this has since changed.
- Another exception to this rule is when a mob exists to fit an environment. Ender Dragons, Wither Skeletons, Husks, Drowned, etc. fit into this category.
- Zombie Pigmen are actually fairly original, although anthropomorphic animals are no new idea.
Something interesting about Minecraft's mobs is that no friendly, helpful magic mobs exist. No Unicorns, no friendly dryads, no Pegasi, not even a friendly anthropomorphic animal character. I actually like this idea that the magic in Minecraft is a corruption on the world that comes from sources like the Nether and the End, and that it's the player's job to fight this corruption. It adds a nice, albeit fairly generic, lore to the game.
Portals:
- Purple-y Magic color is pretty generic, though the obsidian thing is kinda weird
- The idea of using stones or other weird objects to open a portal is not a terribly original idea either.
Golems:
- Certainly, robots come to mind, but Golems exist in fantasy media too. The Minecraft Wiki Trivia section for Iron Golems says that Golems giving flowers to villagers was based on a Golem from the anime Laputa: Castle in the Sky.
- Most people know what a snowman is.
Enchanting:
- Similarly to Potions, each Enchantment does one thing and does it well.
- The idea of a blessed sword or cursed sword is older than video games and harkens back to Dungeons and Dragons.
- There are some exceptions to these enchantments being abstract in their names: "Bane of Arthropods" isn't terribly original, but it is more so than "Punch" or "Sharpness"
Items:
- Seems like there are very few actual magic items, usually the ones that exist are mob drops or golden food. Golden versions of other foods are fairly original, but they seem to be a simple copy of the Golden Apple, which is an idea as old as Greek Myths.
- The mob drops are pretty original, so I'll give Mojang that.
This has changed in recent updates with the addition of Guardians, Shulkers, Turtle Master Potions, etc. To be honest, I'm kinda sad to see this deviation from "generic pop culture magic", because it adds a bit of charm to the game in that Minecraft isn't trying to build an original magical world, it's just a combination of cool ideas related magic.
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Minecraft is NOT a fantasy game in my eyes and it will never be. Minecraft is a game about mining, about crafting, about building, about exploring, about player choice. (For example, a new generated structure would add to exploration, but a new uncraftable item only found in that structure would take away form crafting.)
In my eyes, Minecraft is not a fantasy game, and it will never be. It's a game about mining, about building, about crafting, about exploring, about player choice. (For example, more generated structures encourage exploration, while uncraftable items found only in said structures take away from the crafting aspect.)
You seem to be confusing gameplay aspects with the setting of the game. Mining, building, crafting, exploring and "player choice" (???) can all exist in a fantasy game. Example: I would consider Hytale to be a fantasy game given its trailers and promotional material, but yet it looks as though it's going to contain a lot of these exact things you've mentioned. Terraria could also be considered a fantasy game and contains all of these, although Terraria has a few Sci-Fi themed mobs/items/blocks/structures.
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I think you're asking the wrong question. Fantasy is not a game genre so there is no such thing as a fantasy game.
Does Minecraft exist within a fantasy world? Most certainly. The cubic visual appearance, blocks floating in the air, redstone, etc, are all fantastical elements that are not 'real'.
Does Minecraft conform to the generally accepted notion of the Fantasy literary genre? Not overly so, though there are a few borrowed elements such as enchantments and animated undead.
I think you're asking the wrong question. Fantasy is not a game genre so there is no such thing as a fantasy game.
Does Minecraft exist within a fantasy world? Most certainly. The cubic visual appearance, blocks floating in the air, redstone, etc, are all fantastical elements that are not 'real'.
Does Minecraft conform to the generally accepted notion of the Fantasy literary genre? Not overly so, though there are a few borrowed elements such as enchantments and animated undead.
For video games, Fantasy is not a genre, its a style, which we're defining as stereotypical low to high fantasy. It's like when people talk about Fallout, they describe it as post-apocalyptic. That's not a genre it's a style which defines the way the gameplay aspects of the genre are depicted. The projectiles in that game are from firearms, which we have in the real world, whereas a fantasy game like Skyrim uses fireballs and such as projectiles. Those two games are the same genre, but stylistically different. Because of the delivery of the gameplay elements in Minecraft, I'd call it a fantasy style game, which is in the Survival and RPG genre's. The ten year old post sheds some light on why Minecraft feels the way it does, but the team obviously took it in a somewhat different direction to make the game more unique.
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Vanilla minecraft is not a fantasy game imo... it is survival / crafting / building. Modded minecraft CAN be fantasy themed, but still isnt a fantasy game imo.
Whether or not MC is a fantasy game may be a matter of definition, but it clearly contains fantasy elements: undead, magic, spontaneously generating entities, dragons (acid breath [Draco Cholrinous Nauseous Respiratorus] no less than fire [Draco Conflagratio Horriblis]), etc.
I see the main point of contention eveident in the other debate as whether or not MC should be/is intended as an FRPG…
or, given the known prevalence of fantasy elements, whether it ought be focused on resource acquisition and construction [aka Mining & Crafting] or providing an RPG game (quests, monster fighting, and save the village… maybe even Princess Peach).
MC has been very successful as a sandbox catering to the first style, but now seems bent on attempting to graft on the latter, thus risking alienating those who liked it as is was… with no guarantee or successfully pleasing those who want an RPG [a market niche that is already well populated with purpose built offerings].
Better that MS/Mj expand the product line by introducing MC:The RPG [which seemed to be the market at which MC: Dungeons was aimed]
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Vanilla minecraft is not a fantasy game imo... it is survival / crafting / building. Modded minecraft CAN be fantasy themed, but still isnt a fantasy game imo.
My question to you is: Why do you think that survival, crafting and building are mutually exclusive to fantasy?
Do you know what else has survival, crafting and building? Skyrim. Skyrim is a fantasy game and has most features Minecraft does, including mining, enchanting, potion making, smelting, dragons, witches, etc. No one questions whether Skyrim is a fantasy game based on the fact that it has survival, crafting, building, mining, exploring and so on, so why do you feel like those elements make Minecraft non-fantasy? It's like C1ff said, I think you're confusing gameplay elements (genre) for setting/style. The way I see it, the game is a Survival game with some RPG elements. The setting is a Fantasy world. That makes it a Fantasy Survival game (with a sandbox mode).
My question to you is: Why do you think that survival, crafting and building are mutually exclusive to fantasy?
Do you know what else has survival, crafting and building? Skyrim. Skyrim is a fantasy game and has most features Minecraft does, including mining, enchanting, potion making, smelting, dragons, witches, etc. No one questions whether Skyrim is a fantasy game based on the fact that it has survival, crafting, building, mining, exploring and so on, so why do you feel like those elements make Minecraft non-fantasy? It's like C1ff said, I think you're confusing gameplay elements (genre) for setting/style. The way I see it, the game is a Survival game with some RPG elements. The setting is a Fantasy world. That makes it a Fantasy Survival game (with a sandbox mode).
Skyrim is an action rpg. Minecraft is survival / crafting. These are both actual genres of games. Fantasy is not a game genre, which is the original question.
According to your logic, all games fall into the "fantasy genre" because the definition of fantasy is the faculty or activity of imaging things, especially things that are impossible or improbable. Even Steam, one of the most widely used game distribution platforms, does not have a tag for fantasy (unless I over looked it, which is possible since their tags aren't alphabetical). The Minecraft wiki defines Minecraft as a sandbox / survival game. It is pretty clear Minecraft is NOT a fantasy game.
It could count. Besides definitely being a sandbox and open-world game, they felt like they had to add a bunch of fantasy elements since the full release.
Skyrim is an action rpg. Minecraft is survival / crafting. These are both actual genres of games. Fantasy is not a game genre, which is the original question.
According to your logic, all games fall into the "fantasy genre" because the definition of fantasy is the faculty or activity of imaging things, especially things that are impossible or improbable. Even Steam, one of the most widely used game distribution platforms, does not have a tag for fantasy (unless I over looked it, which is possible since their tags aren't alphabetical). The Minecraft wiki defines Minecraft as a sandbox / survival game. It is pretty clear Minecraft is NOT a fantasy game.
Just checked, Steam does have a fantasy tag. My understanding was that the OP wasn't claiming fantasy as a genre of game (the word was never mentioned), but rather as a descriptor of the setting, similar to how one would call a game post-apocalyptic, WWII, space, futuristic, zombie etc. When people call a game fantasy, they're generally talking about a very specific set of features such as potions, enchantments, spells, and monsters and that's exactly what the OP wrote as how we're defining fantasy in this thread. I certainly was not using the google definition of fantasy (the one you described) because that's way too broad a definition when talking about games which are entirely fictional.
Again, how does being a sandbox/survival game make it not a fantasy game. What word other than fantasy would you use to describe the setting? According to my logic, Minecraft is a fantasy game. Minecraft is also a sandbox/survival game. Fantasy describes the setting, aesthetic features, and how the gameplay mechanics are delivered, while sandbox/survival describes the genre and gameplay mechanics.
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Really, buddy, you're in for a long ride. I guess Notch is lying about it being a fantasy game too then? If you can do whatever you want in minecraft, that includes fantasy things. Fantasy also just means imagination, or something impossible or improbable.
1. Nine-meter mushrooms. A completely unrealistic feature. Especially the mushroom biome, mushrooms are fungi, meaning they feed off of other organisms. There's no plants in the mushroom biome, just fungi, this doesn't make sense at all, and the mushrooms are giant. I also don't know any purple mycelium that exists. Even the normal mushrooms are also nearly a meter tall.
2. Apples from oak trees. Oak trees are oak trees, apples come from apple trees, in minecraft, the apples come from oak trees.
3. Defying gravity. Do I need to explain this, you can make a tree float by cutting the trunk, there are floating islands, yet mobs, items, anvils, sand, red sand and gravel still use normal physics. Minecraft gravity also would be weird since the minecraft world is flat. In real life, the further you got from the center of the map, the more it would feel more and more steeper. Also, if the map is infinite, how does the sun set.
4. Hard obsidian. The title says it all. Also, not to mention making a portal out of obsidian, and lighting it with flint and steel opens up a gate to hell.
5. Blue diamonds.
6. Infinite water, someone needs to give me proof this isn't fantasy.
7. Huge coral. First huge mushrooms, then coral. A minecraft block is 1 meter, the coral in minecraft therefore is huge.
8. The cows all have horns, they also all have utters.
9. Bedrock is indestructible.
10. Alchemy. There are potions, alchemy, and things of that nature. There are also witches.
11. Enchanting tables. Enchanting items, that right there is like a ritual, the books language is also unknown. Speaking of magic, I assume the enchantment books on the inside are the spells you use to enchant the stuff.
12. Endermen can teleport.
13. Enderpearls. eyes of ender, and endermites.
14. Undead zombies, minecraft lore is also probably an apocalypse, which could mean a zombie virus?
15. Skeletons, they have also mastered bow skills.
16. Giant spiders.
17. Jungles are about as diverse as the other biomes.
18. Golems. You are obviously doing something to assemble a golem made of iron, or a snow man with infinite snowballs.
19. The entirety of the end.
Could go on for ages about this stuff.
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Really, buddy, you're in for a long ride. I guess Notch is lying about it being a fantasy game too then? If you can do whatever you want in minecraft, that includes fantasy things. Fantasy also just means imagination, or something impossible or improbable.
1. Nine-meter mushrooms. A completely unrealistic feature. Especially the mushroom biome, mushrooms are fungi, meaning they feed off of other organisms. There's no plants in the mushroom biome, just fungi, this doesn't make sense at all, and the mushrooms are giant. I also don't know any purple mycelium that exists. Even the normal mushrooms are also nearly a meter tall.
The Mushroom Island biome exists to encourage exploration. Yes, giant mushrooms are a fantasy trope, but it just makes sense.
2. Apples from oak trees. Oak trees are oak trees, apples come from apple trees, in minecraft, the apples come from oak trees.
That's not a fantasy thing, that's just Mojangcrasoft not bothering to add apple trees.
3. Defying gravity. Do I need to explain this, you can make a tree float by cutting the trunk, there are floating islands, yet mobs, items, anvils, sand, red sand and gravel still use normal physics. Minecraft gravity also would be weird since the minecraft world is flat. In real life, the further you got from the center of the map, the more it would feel more and more steeper. Also, if the map is infinite, how does the sun set.
Can we please not talk about whether the Minecraft world is flat or not? Most blocks in Minecraft float because making them fall would be either super laggy or detrimental to your roof. Plus, floating islands are a glitch, a cool one at that. And they encourage exploration.
4. Hard obsidian. The title says it all. Also, not to mention making a portal out of obsidian, and lighting it with flint and steel opens up a gate to hell
Maybe it's impure? IRL obsidian has no purple flecks.
5. Blue diamonds.
Again, maybe they're impure.
6. Infinite water, someone needs to give me proof this isn't fantasy.
Minecraft's water physics is oversimplified because making it realistic would be super laggy.
7. Huge coral. First huge mushrooms, then coral. A minecraft block is 1 meter, the coral in minecraft therefore is huge.
I don't know how big IRL coral is.
8. The cows all have horns, they also all have utters.
Mojang not giving animals genders makes animal farming way simpler.
9. Bedrock is indestructible.
There needs to be an indestructible block between the underground and the Void, so people don't fall in. (Or at least there does in Mojangcrasoft's eyes; I believe otherwise.) Bedrock seems a natural choice for such a block.
10. Alchemy. There are potions, alchemy, and things of that nature. There are also witches.
People were actually practicing alchemy in the 1500s (which is when I think Minecraft is set). Witches seem a lgoical choice as a hostile mob to wield potions.
11. Enchanting tables. Enchanting items, that right there is like a ritual, the books language is also unknown. Speaking of magic, I assume the enchantment books on the inside are the spells you use to enchant the stuff.
I agree with you on that. Which is why I devised a system of enhancements to replace them.
12. Endermen can teleport.
13. Enderpearls. eyes of ender, and endermites.
It all fits with the End's theme (of space/void).
14. Undead zombies, minecraft lore is also probably an apocalypse, which could mean a zombie virus?
What else would make a better basic melee hostile mob? Also, Minecraft has no lore whatsoever[/b]. All "lore" you see is fan-made.
15. Skeletons, they have also mastered bow skills.
What else would make a better basic ranged hostile mob?
16. Giant spiders.
What else would make a better basic melee hostile mob?
17. Jungles are about as diverse as the other biomes.
Jungles IRL are extremely diverse. Jungles in Minecraft have no less than three unique crops (counting bamboo), three mobs and one structure.
18. Golems. You are obviously doing something to assemble a golem made of iron, or a snow man with infinite snowballs.
Iron golems are obvioushy robots. Snow golems are obviously snowmen.
The Mushroom Island biome exists to encourage exploration. Yes, giant mushrooms are a fantasy trope, but it just makes sense.
Yes they are fantasy. Ok, and what about the normal mushrooms, even the one block ones are a near meter tall. The giant mushrooms are also in the roofed forests, which themselves don't exist. Dark Oak isn't a real tree, nor are Roofed Forests real places, nor are Mushroom Islands, nor are giant mushrooms.
That's not a fantasy thing, that's just Mojangcrasoft not bothering to add apple trees.
Oak trees are also huge in real life.
Can we please not talk about whether the Minecraft world is flat or not? Most blocks in Minecraft float because making them fall would be either super laggy or detrimental to your roof. Plus, floating islands are a glitch, a cool one at that. And they encourage exploration.
A round world, or a cube one, can't be infinite. Use logic. Floating islands aren't glitches, they are just part of the world generation, you can also build floating islands and they still float.
Maybe it's impure? IRL obsidian has no purple flecks.
In real life, obsidian is black, rarely it can be brown, tan or green, extremley, and I mean it, it could be blue, red, orange or yellow. It can never be purple. You also didn't mention the nether which I brought up?
Again, maybe they're impure.
All of them?
Minecraft's water physics is oversimplified because making it realistic would be super laggy.
Are you kidding, lava already has real life physics, doing this to water would be no different.
I don't know how big IRL coral is.
Coral reefs grown in long colonys, not tall ones. Minecraft coral is HUGE. Real coral isn't tree sized. Sea pickles are also not green, or coral.
Mojang not giving animals genders makes animal farming way simpler.
There needs to be an indestructible block between the underground and the Void, so people don't fall in. (Or at least there does in Mojangcrasoft's eyes; I believe otherwise.) Bedrock seems a natural choice for such a block.
The Void itself is fantasy.
People were actually practicing alchemy in the 1500s (which is when I think Minecraft is set). Witches seem a logical choice as a hostile mob to wield potions.
Practicing alchemy, most of which was just Herbalism. And the ingredients you need for alchemy in minecraft are also fantasy related. Witches are still fantasy.
I agree with you on that. Which is why I devised a system of enhancements to replace them.
Why, because the one right now has fantasy in it?
It all fits with the End's theme (of space/void).
Again, Void is fantasy. And, the entirety of The End, the Ender Dragon, Endermen, Endermites, Shulkers, End Citys, End Ships, Chorus Fruits, End Stone, I could go on...
What else would make a better basic melee hostile mob? Also, Minecraft has no lore whatsoever. All "lore" you see is fan-made.
Funny of you to say minecraft has no lore, and that what I think the lore is is fan-made. You said earlier about minecraft (in your eyes) being in the 1500s, which makes you a hypocrite. Zombies are still fantasy, and proof of my theory.
What else would make a better basic ranged hostile mob?
They are still fantasy.
What else would make a better basic melee hostile mob?
They are still fantasy.
Jungles IRL are extremely diverse. Jungles in Minecraft have no less than three unique crops (counting bamboo), three mobs and one structure.
Exactly, they aren't that diverse in minecraft, which means that jungles in minecraft are fantasy. This is also proof of my lore, the jungle tempels are abandoned too.
Iron golems are obvioushy robots. Snow golems are obviously snowmen.
Iron Golems are not robots. They have a pumpkin head, which is natural, not mechanical. They have vines growing on them. They are also made of iron with NO redstone. They aren't robots. I also don't recall the snowman I made when I was younger coming to life.
See my rebuttals for #12 and #13
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the faculty or activity ofimagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable.
There is nothing in the definition of fantasy that states it has to have magic and such.
No there isn't, but words don't just exist in a dictionary. Words are constantly evolving things as people alter and create new definitions for them. If we only ever went by what the dictionary said, then we'd never get idiomatic expressions, slang, new words etc. Fantasy, when used the correct way for literature is just another way of saying fiction, but when normal people talk about a fantasy novel, they mean to describe a book that has a specific set of features, magic being one of them. An alternate history book that explores what could have happened if one major event had gone differently would not be referred to as a fantasy novel by the majority of people. The same is true of a video game. All games are technically fantasy, but that's definition is not a useful description. Magic and giant spiders and enchantments, on the other hand, is a useful definition of fantasy and is the one that your average person on the street will tell you if you ask them to describe fantasy. The OP specifically stated this definition of fantasy.
Also, you pulled up the definition of fantasy as a noun, I feel like in today's time, when describing books, movies and games, we tend to use the word fantasy as an adjective which has a distinct definition from Fantasy the noun and Fantasied the adjective.
So some things came up and long story short there was an off-topic argument towards whether or not Minecraft is a fantasy game. So I figured it would be a good idea to create a thread dedicated to just that.
By "Fantasy", we are referring to magical properties, such as spells or fire breathing dragons. Mojang walks a fine line between the two distinctions, never giving the villager clerics magical abilities directly or having the dragon breathe acid instead of fire. Where a full fantasy game would include orcs, skeletons, spiders, and ghouls as the main antagonists minecraft has zombies, skeletons, spiders, and creepers. There are plenty of original features that blur the line.
Do you believe Minecraft is a fantasy game? Do you think it should become a fantasy game? Do you think it should stop being a fantasy game? Let the debate begin.
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ModeratorHere is a 10-year old post from Notch on what he envisioned Minecraft survival to be:
https://notch.tumblr.com/post/123343045/my-vision-for-survival
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The interesting thing about Minecraft's magic is that up until some recent updates, which I'll talk about later in the post, Minecraft's magic has been rather abstract:
Potions:
- Potions have generic effects that increase speed or neutralize certain vulnerabilities.
- The potions aren't named any weird names like the Polyjuice Potion or something.
- Potion Ingredients are a little bit less abstract or generic, although there is a bit of an exception to be made here since there aren't a lot of commonly known "real life potion ingredients" besides pieces and parts of animals and plants, which is what Minecraft uses.
Mobs:
- The basic monsters are the Zombie, Skeleton and Giant Spider, which are fairly generic ideas we've seen in much other fantasy media. The one exception to this is the creeper, but this appears to be the exception to the rule. Slimes and Ghasts are also examples of a common fantasy idea implemented in Minecraft.
- There are a few other exceptions to the abstraction rule for mobs like the Creeper and the Enderman, but these are based on an accident-turned branding material and a pop-culture icon respectively. Minecraft used to have a lot of older pop-culture icon additions back in 2012 and 2013, but this has since changed.
- Another exception to this rule is when a mob exists to fit an environment. Ender Dragons, Wither Skeletons, Husks, Drowned, etc. fit into this category.
- Zombie Pigmen are actually fairly original, although anthropomorphic animals are no new idea.
Something interesting about Minecraft's mobs is that no friendly, helpful magic mobs exist. No Unicorns, no friendly dryads, no Pegasi, not even a friendly anthropomorphic animal character. I actually like this idea that the magic in Minecraft is a corruption on the world that comes from sources like the Nether and the End, and that it's the player's job to fight this corruption. It adds a nice, albeit fairly generic, lore to the game.
Portals:
- Purple-y Magic color is pretty generic, though the obsidian thing is kinda weird
- The idea of using stones or other weird objects to open a portal is not a terribly original idea either.
Golems:
- Certainly, robots come to mind, but Golems exist in fantasy media too. The Minecraft Wiki Trivia section for Iron Golems says that Golems giving flowers to villagers was based on a Golem from the anime Laputa: Castle in the Sky.
- Most people know what a snowman is.
Enchanting:
- Similarly to Potions, each Enchantment does one thing and does it well.
- The idea of a blessed sword or cursed sword is older than video games and harkens back to Dungeons and Dragons.
- There are some exceptions to these enchantments being abstract in their names: "Bane of Arthropods" isn't terribly original, but it is more so than "Punch" or "Sharpness"
Items:
- Seems like there are very few actual magic items, usually the ones that exist are mob drops or golden food. Golden versions of other foods are fairly original, but they seem to be a simple copy of the Golden Apple, which is an idea as old as Greek Myths.
- The mob drops are pretty original, so I'll give Mojang that.
This has changed in recent updates with the addition of Guardians, Shulkers, Turtle Master Potions, etc. To be honest, I'm kinda sad to see this deviation from "generic pop culture magic", because it adds a bit of charm to the game in that Minecraft isn't trying to build an original magical world, it's just a combination of cool ideas related magic.
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Minecraft is NOT a fantasy game in my eyes and it will never be. Minecraft is a game about mining, about crafting, about building, about exploring, about player choice. (For example, a new generated structure would add to exploration, but a new uncraftable item only found in that structure would take away form crafting.)
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You seem to be confusing gameplay aspects with the setting of the game. Mining, building, crafting, exploring and "player choice" (???) can all exist in a fantasy game. Example: I would consider Hytale to be a fantasy game given its trailers and promotional material, but yet it looks as though it's going to contain a lot of these exact things you've mentioned. Terraria could also be considered a fantasy game and contains all of these, although Terraria has a few Sci-Fi themed mobs/items/blocks/structures.
My avatar is a texture from a small block game I made in Python. It's not very good and it probably won't work if you install it.
I'm very alone in my Minecraft worlds as I don't have a very good internet connection to run a server. If you're like me, you might be interested in my Posse mod suggestion.
I think you're asking the wrong question. Fantasy is not a game genre so there is no such thing as a fantasy game.
Does Minecraft exist within a fantasy world? Most certainly. The cubic visual appearance, blocks floating in the air, redstone, etc, are all fantastical elements that are not 'real'.
Does Minecraft conform to the generally accepted notion of the Fantasy literary genre? Not overly so, though there are a few borrowed elements such as enchantments and animated undead.
For video games, Fantasy is not a genre, its a style, which we're defining as stereotypical low to high fantasy. It's like when people talk about Fallout, they describe it as post-apocalyptic. That's not a genre it's a style which defines the way the gameplay aspects of the genre are depicted. The projectiles in that game are from firearms, which we have in the real world, whereas a fantasy game like Skyrim uses fireballs and such as projectiles. Those two games are the same genre, but stylistically different. Because of the delivery of the gameplay elements in Minecraft, I'd call it a fantasy style game, which is in the Survival and RPG genre's. The ten year old post sheds some light on why Minecraft feels the way it does, but the team obviously took it in a somewhat different direction to make the game more unique.
Vanilla minecraft is not a fantasy game imo... it is survival / crafting / building. Modded minecraft CAN be fantasy themed, but still isnt a fantasy game imo.
Whether or not MC is a fantasy game may be a matter of definition, but it clearly contains fantasy elements: undead, magic, spontaneously generating entities, dragons (acid breath [Draco Cholrinous Nauseous Respiratorus] no less than fire [Draco Conflagratio Horriblis]), etc.
I see the main point of contention eveident in the other debate as whether or not MC should be/is intended as an FRPG…
or, given the known prevalence of fantasy elements, whether it ought be focused on resource acquisition and construction [aka Mining & Crafting] or providing an RPG game (quests, monster fighting, and save the village… maybe even Princess Peach).
MC has been very successful as a sandbox catering to the first style, but now seems bent on attempting to graft on the latter, thus risking alienating those who liked it as is was… with no guarantee or successfully pleasing those who want an RPG [a market niche that is already well populated with purpose built offerings].
Better that MS/Mj expand the product line by introducing MC:The RPG [which seemed to be the market at which MC: Dungeons was aimed]
My question to you is: Why do you think that survival, crafting and building are mutually exclusive to fantasy?
Do you know what else has survival, crafting and building? Skyrim. Skyrim is a fantasy game and has most features Minecraft does, including mining, enchanting, potion making, smelting, dragons, witches, etc. No one questions whether Skyrim is a fantasy game based on the fact that it has survival, crafting, building, mining, exploring and so on, so why do you feel like those elements make Minecraft non-fantasy? It's like C1ff said, I think you're confusing gameplay elements (genre) for setting/style. The way I see it, the game is a Survival game with some RPG elements. The setting is a Fantasy world. That makes it a Fantasy Survival game (with a sandbox mode).
I would say that while MC definitely includes a lot of fantasy setting elements, it abjectly lacks the story: quests and plot.
Aside from being a sandbox game, Minecraft doesn't really fit in any of specific genre.
Skyrim is an action rpg. Minecraft is survival / crafting. These are both actual genres of games. Fantasy is not a game genre, which is the original question.
According to your logic, all games fall into the "fantasy genre" because the definition of fantasy is the faculty or activity of imaging things, especially things that are impossible or improbable. Even Steam, one of the most widely used game distribution platforms, does not have a tag for fantasy (unless I over looked it, which is possible since their tags aren't alphabetical). The Minecraft wiki defines Minecraft as a sandbox / survival game. It is pretty clear Minecraft is NOT a fantasy game.
It could count. Besides definitely being a sandbox and open-world game, they felt like they had to add a bunch of fantasy elements since the full release.
Just checked, Steam does have a fantasy tag. My understanding was that the OP wasn't claiming fantasy as a genre of game (the word was never mentioned), but rather as a descriptor of the setting, similar to how one would call a game post-apocalyptic, WWII, space, futuristic, zombie etc. When people call a game fantasy, they're generally talking about a very specific set of features such as potions, enchantments, spells, and monsters and that's exactly what the OP wrote as how we're defining fantasy in this thread. I certainly was not using the google definition of fantasy (the one you described) because that's way too broad a definition when talking about games which are entirely fictional.
Again, how does being a sandbox/survival game make it not a fantasy game. What word other than fantasy would you use to describe the setting? According to my logic, Minecraft is a fantasy game. Minecraft is also a sandbox/survival game. Fantasy describes the setting, aesthetic features, and how the gameplay mechanics are delivered, while sandbox/survival describes the genre and gameplay mechanics.
Really, buddy, you're in for a long ride. I guess Notch is lying about it being a fantasy game too then? If you can do whatever you want in minecraft, that includes fantasy things. Fantasy also just means imagination, or something impossible or improbable.
1. Nine-meter mushrooms. A completely unrealistic feature. Especially the mushroom biome, mushrooms are fungi, meaning they feed off of other organisms. There's no plants in the mushroom biome, just fungi, this doesn't make sense at all, and the mushrooms are giant. I also don't know any purple mycelium that exists. Even the normal mushrooms are also nearly a meter tall.
2. Apples from oak trees. Oak trees are oak trees, apples come from apple trees, in minecraft, the apples come from oak trees.
3. Defying gravity. Do I need to explain this, you can make a tree float by cutting the trunk, there are floating islands, yet mobs, items, anvils, sand, red sand and gravel still use normal physics. Minecraft gravity also would be weird since the minecraft world is flat. In real life, the further you got from the center of the map, the more it would feel more and more steeper. Also, if the map is infinite, how does the sun set.
4. Hard obsidian. The title says it all. Also, not to mention making a portal out of obsidian, and lighting it with flint and steel opens up a gate to hell.
5. Blue diamonds.
6. Infinite water, someone needs to give me proof this isn't fantasy.
7. Huge coral. First huge mushrooms, then coral. A minecraft block is 1 meter, the coral in minecraft therefore is huge.
8. The cows all have horns, they also all have utters.
9. Bedrock is indestructible.
10. Alchemy. There are potions, alchemy, and things of that nature. There are also witches.
11. Enchanting tables. Enchanting items, that right there is like a ritual, the books language is also unknown. Speaking of magic, I assume the enchantment books on the inside are the spells you use to enchant the stuff.
12. Endermen can teleport.
13. Enderpearls. eyes of ender, and endermites.
14. Undead zombies, minecraft lore is also probably an apocalypse, which could mean a zombie virus?
15. Skeletons, they have also mastered bow skills.
16. Giant spiders.
17. Jungles are about as diverse as the other biomes.
18. Golems. You are obviously doing something to assemble a golem made of iron, or a snow man with infinite snowballs.
19. The entirety of the end.
Could go on for ages about this stuff.
Hey guys I'm James, I used to be a noob but now I'm not, I finally figured out how to use TextCraft so here's a banner for one of my suggestions.
The Mushroom Island biome exists to encourage exploration. Yes, giant mushrooms are a fantasy trope, but it just makes sense.
That's not a fantasy thing, that's just Mojangcrasoft not bothering to add apple trees.
Can we please not talk about whether the Minecraft world is flat or not? Most blocks in Minecraft float because making them fall would be either super laggy or detrimental to your roof. Plus, floating islands are a glitch, a cool one at that. And they encourage exploration.
Maybe it's impure? IRL obsidian has no purple flecks.
Again, maybe they're impure.
Minecraft's water physics is oversimplified because making it realistic would be super laggy.
I don't know how big IRL coral is.
Mojang not giving animals genders makes animal farming way simpler.
There needs to be an indestructible block between the underground and the Void, so people don't fall in. (Or at least there does in Mojangcrasoft's eyes; I believe otherwise.) Bedrock seems a natural choice for such a block.
People were actually practicing alchemy in the 1500s (which is when I think Minecraft is set). Witches seem a lgoical choice as a hostile mob to wield potions.
I agree with you on that. Which is why I devised a system of enhancements to replace them.
It all fits with the End's theme (of space/void).
What else would make a better basic melee hostile mob? Also, Minecraft has no lore whatsoever[/b]. All "lore" you see is fan-made.
What else would make a better basic ranged hostile mob?
What else would make a better basic melee hostile mob?
Jungles IRL are extremely diverse. Jungles in Minecraft have no less than three unique crops (counting bamboo), three mobs and one structure.
Iron golems are obvioushy robots. Snow golems are obviously snowmen.
See my rebuttals for #12 and #13.
My suggestions: Enhancements - Throwable Fire Charges - On Phantoms and Elytra. Also check out The Minecraftian Language. This signature is not here to waste your space.
Yes they are fantasy. Ok, and what about the normal mushrooms, even the one block ones are a near meter tall. The giant mushrooms are also in the roofed forests, which themselves don't exist. Dark Oak isn't a real tree, nor are Roofed Forests real places, nor are Mushroom Islands, nor are giant mushrooms.
Oak trees are also huge in real life.
A round world, or a cube one, can't be infinite. Use logic. Floating islands aren't glitches, they are just part of the world generation, you can also build floating islands and they still float.
In real life, obsidian is black, rarely it can be brown, tan or green, extremley, and I mean it, it could be blue, red, orange or yellow. It can never be purple. You also didn't mention the nether which I brought up?
All of them?
Are you kidding, lava already has real life physics, doing this to water would be no different.
Coral reefs grown in long colonys, not tall ones. Minecraft coral is HUGE. Real coral isn't tree sized. Sea pickles are also not green, or coral.
The Void itself is fantasy.
Practicing alchemy, most of which was just Herbalism. And the ingredients you need for alchemy in minecraft are also fantasy related. Witches are still fantasy.
Why, because the one right now has fantasy in it?
Again, Void is fantasy. And, the entirety of The End, the Ender Dragon, Endermen, Endermites, Shulkers, End Citys, End Ships, Chorus Fruits, End Stone, I could go on...
Funny of you to say minecraft has no lore, and that what I think the lore is is fan-made. You said earlier about minecraft (in your eyes) being in the 1500s, which makes you a hypocrite. Zombies are still fantasy, and proof of my theory.
They are still fantasy.
They are still fantasy.
Exactly, they aren't that diverse in minecraft, which means that jungles in minecraft are fantasy. This is also proof of my lore, the jungle tempels are abandoned too.
Iron Golems are not robots. They have a pumpkin head, which is natural, not mechanical. They have vines growing on them. They are also made of iron with NO redstone. They aren't robots. I also don't recall the snowman I made when I was younger coming to life.
Hey guys I'm James, I used to be a noob but now I'm not, I finally figured out how to use TextCraft so here's a banner for one of my suggestions.
fan·ta·sy
/ˈfan(t)əsē/
noun
noun: fantasy
the faculty or activity of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable.
There is nothing in the definition of fantasy that states it has to have magic and such.
No there isn't, but words don't just exist in a dictionary. Words are constantly evolving things as people alter and create new definitions for them. If we only ever went by what the dictionary said, then we'd never get idiomatic expressions, slang, new words etc. Fantasy, when used the correct way for literature is just another way of saying fiction, but when normal people talk about a fantasy novel, they mean to describe a book that has a specific set of features, magic being one of them. An alternate history book that explores what could have happened if one major event had gone differently would not be referred to as a fantasy novel by the majority of people. The same is true of a video game. All games are technically fantasy, but that's definition is not a useful description. Magic and giant spiders and enchantments, on the other hand, is a useful definition of fantasy and is the one that your average person on the street will tell you if you ask them to describe fantasy. The OP specifically stated this definition of fantasy.
Also, you pulled up the definition of fantasy as a noun, I feel like in today's time, when describing books, movies and games, we tend to use the word fantasy as an adjective which has a distinct definition from Fantasy the noun and Fantasied the adjective.