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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markus_Persson#cite_note-48] | [TOKENS: 3525] |
Contents Markus Persson Markus Alexej Persson (/ˈpɪərsən/ ⓘ PEER-sən, Swedish: [ˈmǎrːkɵs ˈpæ̌ːʂɔn] ⓘ; born 1 June 1979), known by the pseudonym Notch, is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is the creator of Minecraft, the best-selling video game in history. He founded the video game development company Mojang Studios in 2009. Persson began developing video games at an early age. His commercial success began after he published an early version of Minecraft in 2009. Prior to the game's official retail release in 2011, it had sold over four million copies. After this point Persson stood down as the lead designer and transferred his creative authority to Jens Bergensten. In September 2014 Persson announced his intention to leave Mojang, and in November of that year the company was sold to Microsoft reportedly for US$2.5 billion, which made him a billionaire. Since 2016 several of Persson's posts on Twitter regarding feminism, race, and transgender rights have caused public controversies. He has been described as "an increasingly polarizing figure, tweeting offensive statements regarding race, the LGBTQ community, gender, and other topics." In an effort to distance itself from Persson, Microsoft removed mentions of his name from Minecraft (excluding one instance in the game's end credits) and did not invite him to the game's tenth anniversary celebration. In 2015 he co-founded a separate game studio called Rubberbrain, which was relaunched in 2024 as Bitshift Entertainment. Early life Markus Alexej Persson was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to a Finnish mother, Ritva, and a Swedish father, Birger, on 1 June 1979. He has one sister. He grew up in Edsbyn until he was seven years old, when his family moved back to Stockholm. In Edsbyn, Persson's father worked for the railroad, and his mother was a nurse. He spent much time outdoors in Edsbyn, exploring the woods with his friends. When Persson was about seven years old, his parents divorced, and he and his sister lived with their mother. His father moved to a cabin in the countryside. Persson said in an interview that they experienced food insecurity around once a month. Persson lost contact with his father for several years after the divorce. According to Persson, his father suffered from depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and medication abuse, and went to jail for robberies. While his father had somewhat recovered during Persson's early life, his father relapsed, contributing to the divorce. His sister also experimented with drugs and ran away from home. He had gained interest in video games at an early age. His father was "a really big nerd", who built his own modem and taught Persson to use the family's Commodore 128. On it, Persson played bootleg games and loaded in various type-in programs from computer magazines with the help of his sister. The first game he purchased with his own money was The Bard's Tale. He began programming on his father's Commodore 128 home computer at the age of seven. He produced his first game at the age of eight, a text-based adventure game. By 1994 Persson knew he wanted to become a video game developer, but his teachers advised him to study graphic design, which he did from ages 15 to 18. Persson, although introverted, was well-liked by his peers, but after entering secondary school was a "loner" and reportedly had only one friend. He spent most of his spare time with games and programming at home. He managed to reverse-engineer the Doom engine, which he continued to take great pride in as of 2014[update]. He never finished high school, but was reportedly a good student. Career Persson started his career working as a web designer. He later found employment at Game Federation, where he met Rolf Jansson. The pair worked in their spare time to build the 2006 video game Wurm Online. The game was released through a new entity, "Mojang Specifications AB". Persson left the project in late 2007. As Persson wanted to reuse the name "Mojang", Jansson agreed to rename the company to Onetoofree AB. Between 2004 and 2009 Persson worked as a game developer for Midasplayer (later known as King). There, he worked as a programmer, mostly building browser games made in Flash. He later worked as a programmer for jAlbum. Prior to creating Minecraft, Persson developed multiple, small games. He also entered a number of game design competitions and participated in discussions on the TIGSource forums, a web forum for independent game developers. One of Persson's more notable personal projects was called RubyDung, an isometric three-dimensional base-building game like RollerCoaster Tycoon and Dwarf Fortress. While working on RubyDung, Persson experimented with a first-person view mode similar to that found in Dungeon Keeper. However, he felt the graphics were too pixelated and omitted this mode. In 2009 Persson found inspiration in Infiniminer, a block-based open-ended mining game. Infiniminer heavily influenced his future work on RubyDung, and was behind Persson's reasoning for returning the first-person mode, the "blocky" visual style and the block-building fundamentals to the game. RubyDung is the earliest known Minecraft prototype created by Persson. On 17 May 2009 Persson released the original edition (later called "Classic version") of Minecraft on the TIGSource forums. He regularly updated the game based on feedback from TIGSource users. Persson released several new versions of Minecraft throughout 2009 and 2010, going through several phases of development including Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev. On 30 June 2010 Persson released the game's Alpha version. While working on the pre-Alpha version of Minecraft, Persson continued working at jAlbum. In 2010, after the release and subsequent success of Minecraft's Alpha version, Persson moved from a full-time role to a part-time role at jAlbum. He left jAlbum later that same year. In September 2010 Persson travelled to Valve Corporation's headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, United States, where he took part in a programming exercise and met Gabe Newell. Persson was subsequently offered a job at Valve, which he turned down in order to continue work on Minecraft. On 20 December 2010 Minecraft moved into its beta phase and began expanding to other platforms, including mobile. In January 2011 Minecraft reached one million registered accounts. Six months afterwards, it reached ten million. The game has sold over four million copies by 7 November 2011. Mojang held the first Minecon from 18 to 19 November 2011 to celebrate its full release, and subsequently made it an annual event. Following this, on 11 December 2011, Persson transferred creative control of Minecraft to Jens Bergensten and began working on another game title, 0x10c, although he reportedly abandoned the project around 2013. In 2013 Mojang recorded revenues of $330 million and profits of $129 million. Persson has stated that, due to the intense media attention and public pressure, he became exhausted with running Minecraft and Mojang. In a September 2014 blog post he shared his realization that he "didn't have the connection to my fans I thought I had", that he had "become a symbol", and that he did not wish to be responsible for Mojang's increasingly large operation. In June 2014 Persson tweeted "Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang so I can move on with my life? Getting hate for trying to do the right thing is not my gig", reportedly partly as a joke. Persson controlled a 71% stake in Mojang at the time. The offer attracted significant interest from Activision Blizzard, EA, and Microsoft. Forbes later reported that Microsoft wanted to purchase the game as a "tax dodge" to turn their taxable excess liquid cash into other assets. In September 2014 Microsoft agreed to purchase Mojang for $2.5 billion, making Persson a billionaire. He then left the company after the deal was finalised in November. Since leaving Mojang, Persson has worked on several small projects. On 23 June 2014 he founded a company with Porsér called Rubberbrain AB; the company had no games by 2021, despite spending SEK 60 million. The company was relaunched as Bitshift Entertainment, LLC on 28 March 2024. Persson expressed interest in creating a new video game studio in 2020, and in developing virtual reality games. He has also since created a series of narrative-driven immersive events called ".party()", which uses extensive visual effects and has been hosted in multiple cities. At the beginning of 2025 Persson decided to create a spiritual successor to Minecraft, referred to as "Minecraft 2", in response to the results of a poll on X. However, after speaking to his team, he shortly went against this in favour of developing the other choice on his Twitter poll, a roguelike titled Levers and Chests. Games Persson's most popular creation is the survival sandbox game Minecraft, which was first publicly available on 17 May 2009 and fully released on 18 November 2011. Persson left his job as a game developer to work on Minecraft full-time until completion. In early 2011, Mojang AB sold the one millionth copy of the game, several months later their second, and several more their third. Mojang hired several new staff members for the Minecraft team, while Persson passed the lead developer role to Jens Bergensten. He stopped working on Minecraft after a deal with Microsoft to sell Mojang for $2.5 billion. This brought his net worth to US$1.5 billion. Persson and Jakob Porsér came up with the idea for Scrolls including elements from board games and collectible card games. Persson noted that he will not be actively involved in development of the game and that Porsér will be developing it. Persson revealed on his Tumblr blog on 5 August 2011 that he was being sued by a Swedish law firm representing Bethesda Softworks over the trademarked name of Scrolls, claiming that it conflicted with their The Elder Scrolls series of games. On 17 August 2011 Persson challenged Bethesda to a Quake 3 tournament to decide the outcome of the naming dispute. On 27 September 2011 Persson confirmed that the lawsuit was going to court. ZeniMax Media, owner of Bethesda Softworks, announced the lawsuit's settlement in March 2012. The settlement allowed Mojang to continue using the Scrolls trademark. In 2018, Scrolls was made available free of charge and renamed to Caller's Bane. Cliffhorse is a humorous game programmed in two hours using the Unity game engine and free assets. The game took inspiration from Skyrim's physics engine, "the more embarrassing minimum-effort Greenlight games", Goat Simulator, and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing. The game was released to Microsoft Windows systems as an early access and honourware game on the first day of E3 2014, instructing users to donate Dogecoin to "buy" the game before downloading it. The game accumulated over 280,000 dogecoins. Following the end to his involvement with Minecraft, Persson began pre-production of an alternate reality space game set in the distant future in March 2012. On April Fools' Day Mojang launched a satirical website for Mars Effect (parody of Mass Effect), citing the lawsuit with Bethesda as an inspiration. However, the gameplay elements remained true and on 4 April, Mojang revealed 0x10c (pronounced "Ten to the C") as a space sandbox title. Persson officially halted game production in August 2013. However, C418, the composer of the game's soundtrack (as well as that of Minecraft), released an album of the work he had made for the game. In 2013, Persson made a free game called Shambles in the Unity game engine. Persson has also participated in several Ludum Dare 48-hour game making competitions. Personal life In 2011 Persson married Elin Zetterstrand, whom he had dated for four years before. Zetterstrand was a former moderator on the Minecraft forums. They had a daughter together, but by mid-2012, he began to see little of her. On 15 August 2012 he announced that he and his wife had filed for divorce. The divorce was finalised later that year. On 14 December 2011 Persson's father committed suicide with a handgun after drinking heavily. In an interview with The New Yorker, Persson said of his father: When I decided I wanted to quit my day job and work on my own games, he was the only person who supported my decision. He was proud of me and made sure I knew. When I added the monsters to Minecraft, he told me that the dark caves became too scary for him. But I think that was the only true criticism I ever heard from him. Persson later admitted that he himself suffered from depression and various highs and lows in his mood. Persson has criticised the stance of large game companies on piracy. He once stated that "piracy is not theft", viewing unauthorised downloads as potential future customers. Persson stated himself to be a member of the Pirate Party of Sweden in 2011. He is also a member of Mensa. He has donated to numerous charities, including Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). Under his direction, Mojang spent a week developing Catacomb Snatch for the Humble Indie Bundle and raised US$458,248 for charity. He also donated $250,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2012. In 2011 he gave $3 million in dividends back to Mojang employees. According to Forbes, his net worth in 2023 was around $1.2 billion. In 2014 Persson was one of the biggest taxpayers in Sweden. Around 2014, he lived in a multi-level penthouse in Östermalm, Stockholm, an area he described as "where the rich people live". In December 2014 Persson purchased a home in Trousdale Estates, a neighbourhood in Beverly Hills, California, in the United States, for $70 million, a record sales price for Beverly Hills at the time. Persson reportedly outbid Beyoncé and Jay-Z for the property. Persson began receiving criticism for political and social opinions he expressed on social media as early as 2016. November 30, 2017 In 2017, he proposed a heterosexual pride holiday, and wrote that those who opposed the idea "deserve to be shot." After facing backlash, he deleted the tweets and rescinded his statements, writing, "So yeah, it's about pride of daring to express, not about pride of being who you are. I get it now." Later in the year, he wrote that feminism is a "social disease" and called the video game developer and feminist Zoë Quinn a "cunt", although he was generally critical of the GamerGate movement. He has described intersectional feminism as a "framework for bigotry" and the use of the word mansplaining as being sexist. Also in 2017, Persson tweeted that "It's okay to be white". Later that year, he stated that he believed in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. In 2019, he tweeted referencing QAnon, saying "Q is legit. Don't trust the media." Later in 2019, he tweeted in response to a pro-transgender internet meme that, "You are absolutely evil if you want to encourage delusion. What happened to not stigmatizing mental illness?" He then also promoted claims that people were fined for "using the wrong pronoun". However, after facing backlash, he tweeted a day afterwards that he had "no idea what [being trans is] like of course, but it's inspiring as hell when people open up and choose to actually be who they know themselves as. Not because it's a cool choice, because it's a big step. I gues [sic] that's actually cool nvm". Later that year, Microsoft removed two mentions of Persson's name in the "19w13a" snapshot of Minecraft and did not invite him to the 10-year anniversary celebration of the game. A spokesperson for Microsoft stated that his views "do not reflect those of Microsoft or Mojang". He is still mentioned in the End Poem ("a flat, infinite world created by a man called Markus").[citation needed] Awards References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_area_network] | [TOKENS: 2451] |
Contents Local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, campus, or building, and has its network equipment and interconnects locally managed. LANs facilitate the distribution of data and sharing network devices, such as printers. The LAN contrasts the wide area network (WAN), which not only covers a larger geographic distance, but also generally involves leased telecommunication circuits or Internet links. An even greater contrast is the Internet, which is a system of globally connected business and personal computers. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are the two most common technologies used for local area networks; historical network technologies include ARCNET, Token Ring, and LocalTalk. Description A local area network allows multiple nearby computers to use shared resources. A 1989 survey of 100 large LAN users found that database or file sharing was the primary purpose of 67% of networks, laser printer sharing 30%, and 3% other. Cabling Most wired network infrastructures utilize Category 5 or Category 6 twisted pair cabling with RJ45 compatible terminations. This medium provides physical connectivity between the Ethernet interfaces present on a large number of IP-aware devices. Depending on the grade of cable and quality of installation, speeds of up to 10 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s, 1 Gbit/s, or 10 Gbit/s are supported. Wireless LAN In a wireless LAN, users have unrestricted movement within the coverage area. Wireless networks have become popular in residences and small businesses because of their ease of installation, convenience, and flexibility. Most wireless LANs consist of devices containing wireless radio technology that conforms to 802.11 standards as certified by the IEEE. Most wireless-capable residential devices operate at both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies and fall within the 802.11n or 802.11ac standards. Some older home networking devices operate exclusively at a frequency of 2.4 GHz under 802.11b and 802.11g, or 5 GHz under 802.11a. Some newer devices operate at the aforementioned frequencies in addition to 6 GHz under Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi is a marketing and compliance certification for IEEE 802.11 technologies. The Wi-Fi Alliance has tested compliant products, and certifies them for interoperability. The technology may be integrated into smartphones, tablet computers and laptops. Guests are often offered Internet access via a hotspot service. Infrastructure and technicals Simple LANs in office or school buildings generally consist of cabling and one or more network switches; a switch is used to allow devices on a LAN to talk to one another via Ethernet. A switch can be connected to a router, cable modem, or ADSL modem for Internet access. LANs at residential homes usually tend to have a single router and often may include a wireless repeater. A LAN can include a wide variety of other network devices such as firewalls, load balancers, and network intrusion detection. A wireless access point is required for connecting wireless devices to a network; when a router includes this device, it is referred to as a wireless router. Advanced LANs are characterized by their use of redundant links with switches using the Spanning Tree Protocol to prevent loops, their ability to manage differing traffic types via quality of service (QoS), and their ability to segregate traffic with VLANs. A network bridge binds two different LANs or LAN segments to each other, often in order to grant a wired-only device access to a wireless network medium. Network topology describes the layout of interconnections between devices and network segments. At the data link layer and physical layer, a wide variety of LAN topologies have been used, including ring, bus, mesh and star. The star topology is the most common in contemporary times. Wireless LAN (WLAN) also has its topologies: independent basic service set (IBSS, an ad-hoc network) where each node connects directly to each other (this is also standardized as Wi-Fi Direct), or basic service set (BSS, an infrastructure network that uses an wireless access point). DHCP is used to assign internal IP addresses to members of a local area network. A DHCP server typically runs on the router with end devices as its clients. All DHCP clients request configuration settings using the DHCP protocol in order to acquire their IP address, a default route and one or more DNS server addresses. Once the client implements these settings, it will be able to communicate on that internet. At the higher network layers, protocols such as NetBIOS, IPX/SPX, AppleTalk and others were once common, but the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) has prevailed as the standard of choice for almost all local area networks today. LANs can maintain connections with other LANs via leased lines, leased services, or across the Internet using virtual private network technologies. Depending on how the connections are established and secured, and the distance involved, such linked LANs may also be classified as a metropolitan area network (MAN) or a wide area network (WAN). Local area networks may be connected to the Internet (a type of WAN) via fixed-line means (such as a DSL/ADSL modem) or alternatively using a cellular or satellite modem. These would additionally make use of telephone wires such as VDSL and VDSL2, coaxial cables, or fiber to the home for running fiber-optic cables directly into a house or office building, or alternatively a cellular modem or satellite dish in the latter non-fixed cases. With Internet access, the Internet service provider (ISP) would grant a single WAN-facing IP address to the network. A router is configured with the provider's IP address on the WAN interface, which is shared among all devices in the LAN by network address translation. A gateway establishes physical and data link layer connectivity to a WAN over a service provider's native telecommunications infrastructure. Such devices typically contain a cable, DSL, or optical modem bound to a network interface controller for Ethernet. Home and small business class routers are often incorporated into these devices for additional convenience, and they often also have integrated wireless access point and 4-port Ethernet switch. The ITU-T G.hn and IEEE Powerline standard, which provide high-speed (up to 1 Gbit/s) local area networking over existing home wiring, are examples of home networking technology designed specifically for IPTV delivery.[relevant?] History and development of LAN The increasing demand and usage of computers in universities and research labs in the late 1960s generated the need to provide high-speed interconnections between computer systems. A 1970 report from the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory detailing the growth of their "Octopus" network gave a good indication of the situation. A number of experimental and early commercial LAN technologies were developed in the 1970s. Ethernet was developed at Xerox PARC between 1973 and 1974. The Cambridge Ring was developed at Cambridge University starting in 1974. ARCNET was developed by Datapoint Corporation in 1976 and announced in 1977. It had the first commercial installation in December 1977 at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. In 1979, the electronic voting system for the European Parliament was the first installation of a LAN connecting hundreds (420) of microprocessor-controlled voting terminals to a polling/selecting central unit with a multidrop bus with Master/slave (technology) arbitration.[dubious – discuss] It used 10 kilometers of simple unshielded twisted pair category 3 cable—the same cable used for telephone systems—installed inside the benches of the European Parliament Hemicycles in Strasbourg and Luxembourg. The development and proliferation of personal computers using the CP/M operating system in the late 1970s, and later DOS-based systems starting in 1981, meant that many sites grew to dozens or even hundreds of computers. The initial driving force for networking was to share storage and printers, both of which were expensive at the time. There was much enthusiasm for the concept, and for several years, from about 1983 onward, computer industry pundits habitually declared the coming year to be, "The year of the LAN". In practice, the concept was marred by the proliferation of incompatible physical layer and network protocol implementations, and a plethora of methods of sharing resources. Typically, each vendor would have its own type of network card, cabling, protocol, and network operating system. A solution appeared with the advent of Novell NetWare which provided even-handed support for dozens of competing card and cable types, and a much more sophisticated operating system than most of its competitors. The 1989 survey of LAN users found that 38% used NetWare, compared to 17% IBM, 3Com 11%, AT&T Corporation 7%, 6% AppleTalk, 3% Banyan VINES, and 24% other. Of the competitors to NetWare, only Banyan had comparable technical strengths, but Banyan never gained a secure base. 3Com produced 3+Share and Microsoft produced MS-Net. These then formed the basis for collaboration between Microsoft and 3Com to create a simple network operating system LAN Manager and its cousin, IBM's LAN Server. None of these enjoyed any lasting success; Netware dominated the personal computer LAN business from early after its introduction in 1983 until the mid-1990s when Microsoft introduced Windows NT. In 1983, TCP/IP was first shown capable of supporting actual defense department applications on a Defense Communication Agency LAN testbed located at Reston, Virginia. The TCP/IP-based LAN successfully supported Telnet, FTP, and a Defense Department teleconferencing application. This demonstrated the feasibility of employing TCP/IP LANs to interconnect Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS) computers at command centers throughout the United States. However, WWMCCS was superseded by the Global Command and Control System (GCCS) before that could happen. During the same period, Unix workstations were using TCP/IP networking. Although the workstation market segment is now much reduced, the technologies developed in the area continue to be influential on the Internet and in all forms of networking—and the TCP/IP protocol has replaced IPX, AppleTalk, NBF, and other protocols used by the early PC LANs. Econet was Acorn Computers's low-cost local area network system, intended for use by schools and small businesses. It was first developed for the Acorn Atom and Acorn System 2/3/4 computers in 1981. In the 1980s, several token ring network implementations for LANs were developed. IBM released its own implementation of token ring in 1985, It ran at 4 Mbit/s. IBM claimed that their token ring systems were superior to Ethernet, especially under load, but these claims were debated; while the slow but inexpensive AppleTalk was popular for Macs, in 1987 InfoWorld said, "No LAN has stood out as the clear leader, even in the IBM world". IBM's implementation of token ring was the basis of the IEEE 802.5 standard. A 16 Mbit/s version of Token Ring was standardized by the 802.5 working group in 1989. IBM had market dominance over Token Ring, for example, in 1990, IBM equipment was the most widely used for Token Ring networks. Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), a LAN standard, was considered an attractive campus backbone network technology in the early to mid 1990s since existing Ethernet networks only offered 10 Mbit/s data rates and Token Ring networks only offered 4 Mbit/s or 16 Mbit/s rates. Thus it was a relatively high-speed choice of that era, with speeds such as 100 Mbit/s. By 1994, vendors included Cisco Systems, National Semiconductor, Network Peripherals, SysKonnect (acquired by Marvell Technology Group), and 3Com. FDDI installations have largely been replaced by Ethernet deployments. See also References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World] | [TOKENS: 3029] |
Contents New World The "New World" (Latin: Mundus novus) is a term describing the majority of lands in the Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas. It was introduced in the early 16th century, during Europe's Age of Discovery, by Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who published the pamphlet Mundus novus, presenting his conclusion that the lands discovered west of the Atlantic Ocean (soon called America after Amerigo's name) constituted new continents. This realization expanded the geographical horizon of earlier European geographers, who had thought that the world only included Africa, Asia, and Europe, which became collectively known as the "Old World". Origin of the term The Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci is usually credited for coming up with the term "New World" (Mundus Novus) for the Americas in his 1503 letter, giving it its popular cachet, although similar terms had been used and applied before him. The Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto used the term "un altro mondo" ("another world") to refer to sub-Saharan Africa, which he explored in 1455 and 1456 on behalf of the Portuguese. This was merely a literary flourish, not a suggestion of a new "fourth" part of the world. Cadamosto was aware that sub-Saharan Africa was part of the African continent. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, an Italian chronicler at the service of Spain, doubted Christopher Columbus's claims to have reached East Asia ("the Indies"),[citation needed] and consequently came up with alternative names to refer to them. Only a few weeks after Columbus's return from his first voyage, Martyr wrote letters referring to Columbus's discovered lands as the "western antipodes" ("antipodibus occiduis", letter of 14 May 1493), and the "new hemisphere of the earth" ("novo terrarum hemisphaerio", 13 September 1493). In a letter dated 1 November 1493, he refers to Columbus as the "discoverer of the new globe" ("Colonus ille novi orbis repertor"). A year later, on 20 October 1494, Peter Martyr again refers to the marvels of the New Globe ("Novo Orbe") and the "Western Hemisphere" ("ab occidente hemisphero"). In Columbus's 1499 letter to the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, reporting the results of his third voyage, he relates how the massive waters of South America's Orinoco delta rushing into the Gulf of Paria implied that a previously unknown continent must lie behind it. Columbus proposes that the South American landmass is not a "fourth" continent, but rather the terrestrial paradise of Biblical tradition, a land allegedly known, but undiscovered, by Christendom. In another letter to the nurse of Prince John, written 1500, Columbus refers to having reached a "new heavens and world" ("nuevo cielo é mundo") and that he had placed "another world" ("otro mundo") under the dominion of the Kings of Spain. The term "New World" (Mundus Novus) was coined in Spring 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci in a letter written to his friend and former patron Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici, which was published in Latin in 1503–04 under the title Mundus Novus. Vespucci's letter contains the first explicit articulation in print of the hypothesis that the lands discovered by European navigators to the west were not the edges of Asia, as asserted by Christopher Columbus, but rather an entirely different continent that represented a "New World". According to Mundus Novus, Vespucci arrived in Brazil in August 1501. He compared the nature and people of the place with what Portuguese sailors told him about Asia, and realised he was in a new world. A chance meeting between two different expeditions occurred at the watering stop at Bezeguiche in present-day Dakar, Senegal, as Vespucci was on his expedition to chart the coast of newly discovered Brazil and the ships of the Second Portuguese India armada, commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral, were returning from India. Having already visited the Americas in prior years, Vespucci likely found it difficult to reconcile what he had already seen in the West Indies with what returning sailors told him of the East Indies. Vespucci wrote a preliminary letter to Lorenzo, while anchored at Bezeguiche, which he sent back with the Portuguese fleet, which expressed a certain puzzlement about his conversations. Vespucci ultimately was convinced while on his mapping expedition of eastern Brazil from 1501 to 1502. After returning from Brazil in the spring of 1503, Vespucci authored the Mundus Novus letter in Lisbon and sent it to Lorenzo in Florence, with the famous opening paragraph: In passed days I wrote very fully to you of my return from new countries, which have been found and explored with the ships, at the cost and by the command of this Most Serene King of Portugal; and it is lawful to call it a new world, because none of these countries were known to our ancestors and to all who hear about them they will be entirely new. For the opinion of the ancients was, that the greater part of the world beyond the equinoctial line to the south was not land, but only sea, which they have called the Atlantic; and even if they have affirmed that any continent is there, they have given many reasons for denying it is inhabited. But this opinion is false, and entirely opposed to the truth. My last voyage has proved it, for I have found a continent in that southern part; full of animals and more populous than our Europe, or Asia, or Africa, and even more temperate and pleasant than any other region known to us. Vespucci's letter was a publishing sensation in Europe that was immediately and repeatedly reprinted in several other countries. Peter Martyr, who had been writing and circulating private letters commenting on Columbus's discoveries since 1493, often shares credit with Vespucci for designating the Americas as a new world. Peter Martyr used the term Orbe Novo, meaning "New Globe", in the title of his history of the discovery of the Americas, which began appearing in 1511. The Vespucci passage above applied the "New World" label to merely the continental landmass of South America. At the time, most of the continent of North America was not yet discovered, and Vespucci's comments did not eliminate the possibility that the islands of the Antilles discovered earlier by Christopher Columbus might still be the eastern edges of Asia, as Columbus continued to insist until his death in 1506. A 1504 globe, possibly created by Leonardo da Vinci, depicts the New World as only South America, excluding North America and Central America. A conference of navigators known as Junta de Navegantes was assembled by the Spanish monarchs at Toro in 1505 and continued at Burgos in 1508 to digest all existing information about the Indies, come to an agreement on what had been discovered, and set out the future goals of Spanish exploration. Amerigo Vespucci attended both conferences, and seems to have had an outsized influence on them—at Burgos, he ended up being appointed the first piloto mayor, the chief of the navigation of Spain. Although the proceedings of the Toro-Burgos conferences are missing, it is almost certain that Vespucci articulated his recent 'New World' thesis to his fellow navigators there. During these conferences, Spanish officials seem to have accepted that the Antilles and the known stretch of Central America were not the Indies as they had hoped (though Columbus still insisted that they were). They set out the new goal for Spanish explorers: find a sea passage or strait through the Americas, a path to Asia proper. The term New World was not universally accepted, entering English only relatively late, and has more recently been subject to criticism (see below: § Contemporary usage). Delimitation While it became generally accepted after Amerigo Vespucci that Christopher Columbus' discoveries were not Asia but a "New World", the geographic relationship between Europe and the Americas remained unclear. That there must be a large ocean between Asia and the Americas was implied by the known existence of vast continuous sea along the coasts of East Asia. Given the size of the Earth as calculated by Eratosthenes this left a large space between Asia and the newly discovered lands. Even prior to Vespucci, several maps, e.g. the Cantino planisphere of 1502 and the Canerio map of 1504, placed a large open ocean between China on the east side of the map, and the inchoate largely water-surrounded North American and South American discoveries on the western side of map. Out of uncertainty, they depicted a finger of the Asian land mass stretching across the top to the eastern edge of the map, suggesting it carried over into the western hemisphere. E.g. the Cantino Planisphere denotes Greenland as "Punta d'Asia"—"edge of Asia". Some maps, e.g., the 1506 Contarini–Rosselli map and the 1508 Johannes Ruysch map, bowing to Ptolemaic authority and Columbus's assertions, have the northern Asian landmass stretching well into the western hemisphere and merging with known North America, Labrador, Newfoundland, etc. These maps place the island of Japan near Cuba and leave the South American continent—Vespucci's "New World" proper—detached and floating below by itself. The Waldseemüller map of 1507, which accompanied the famous Cosmographiae Introductio volume, which includes reprints of Vespucci's letters, comes closest to modernity by placing a completely open sea, with no stretching land fingers, between Asia on the eastern side and the New World. It is represented two times in the same map in a different way: with and without a sea passage in the middle of what is now named Central America on the western side—which, on what is now named South America, that same map famously labels simply "America". Martin Waldseemüller's map of 1516 retreats considerably from his earlier map and back to classical authority, with the Asian land mass merging into North America, which he now calls Terra de Cuba Asie partis, and quietly drops the "America" label from South America, calling it merely Terra incognita. The western coast of the New World, including the Pacific Ocean, was discovered in 1513 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, twenty years after Columbus' initial voyage. It was a few more years before the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan's between 1519 and 1522 determined that the Pacific Ocean definitely formed a single large body of water that separates Asia from the Americas. Several years later, the Pacific Coast of North America was mapped. The discovery of the Bering Straits in the early 18th century, established that Asia and North America were not connected by land. But some European maps of the 16th century, including the 1533 Johannes Schöner globe, still continued to depict North America as connected by a land bridge to Asia. In 1524, the term "New World" was used by Giovanni da Verrazzano in a record of his voyage that year along the Atlantic coast of North America in what is present-day Canada and the United States. Contemporary usage The term "New World" is still commonly employed when discussing historic spaces, particularly the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the subsequent European colonization of the Americas. It has been framed as being problematic for applying a colonial perspective of discovery and not doing justice to either the historic or geographic complexity of the world. It is argued that both 'worlds' and the age of Western colonialism rather entered a new stage, as in the 'modern world'. In wine terminology, "New World" uses a particular definition. "New World wines" include not only North American and South American wines, but also those from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and all other locations outside the traditional wine-growing regions of Europe, North Africa and the Near East. The usefulness of these terms for wines though have been questioned as arbitrary and too generalized. In a biological context, species can be divided into those in the Old World (Palearctic, Afrotropic) and those in the New World (Nearctic, Neotropic). Biological taxonomists often attach the "New World" label to groups of species found exclusively in the Americas, to distinguish them from their counterparts in the "Old World" (Europe, Africa and Asia)—e.g., New World monkeys, New World vultures, New World warblers. The label is also often used in agriculture. Asia, Africa, and Europe share a common agricultural history stemming from the Neolithic Revolution, and the same domesticated plants and animals spread through these three continents thousands of years ago, making them largely indistinct and useful to classify together as "Old World". Common Old World crops, e.g., barley, lentils, oats, peas, rye, wheat, and domesticated animals, e.g., cattle, chickens, goats, horses, pigs, sheep, did not exist in the Americas until they were introduced by post-Columbian contact in the 1490s. Many common crops were originally domesticated in the Americas before they spread worldwide after Columbian contact, and are still often referred to as "New World crops". Common beans (phaseolus), maize, and squash—the "three sisters"—as well as the avocado, tomato, and wide varieties of capsicum (bell pepper, chili pepper, etc.), and the turkey were originally domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples in Mesoamerica. Agriculturalists in the Andean region of South America brought forth the cassava, peanut, potato, quinoa and domesticated animals like the alpaca, guinea pig and llama. Other New World crops include the sweetpotato, cashew, cocoa, rubber, sunflower, tobacco, and vanilla, and fruits like the guava, papaya and pineapple. There are rare instances of overlap, e.g., the calabash (bottle-gourd), cotton, and yam are believed to have been domesticated separately in both the Old and New World, or their early forms possibly brought along by Paleo-Indians from Asia during the last glacial period. See also References External links Africa Antarctica Asia Australia Europe North America South America Afro-Eurasia Americas Eurasia Oceania Africa Eurasia North America Oceania South America |
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[SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian] | [TOKENS: 2630] |
BBC News, Україна - Головна Головне Наміри депутатів парламенту знизити шлюбний вік до 14 років за певних умов спричинило різку реакцію правозахисників, лікарів та психологів. Хоча автори такої ідеї запевняють, що вже відмовилися від неї, за лаштунками лишилося багато важливих обставин, які стали причиною бурхливих протестів. Тоді як війна в Україні вступає у свій п'ятий рік, Європі час виступити проти Путіна на власних умовах, а Трампу сказати, щоб він забирався геть, - пише оглядач з міжнародних питань Guardian Саймон Тісдолл. Верховний суд США постановив, що президент Дональд Трамп перевищив свої повноваження, коли запроваджував мита на імпорт товарів до США. В Індії жорстоко вбили молоду жінку та її 10-місячного сина — їх спалили живцем після звинувачень у чаклунстві, повідомила місцева поліція У великому розслідуванні The Guardian журналісти реконструюють, як західні розвідки заздалегідь отримали детальну інформацію про плани Кремля напасти на Україну, чому багато союзників і сам Київ довго не вірили цим попередженням, і які висновки світ зробив із цієї історії. Офіс президента України вже заперечив озвучену в інтернеті інформацію про те, що на зустрічі з найближчими соратниками Володимир Зеленський заявив про провал переговорів і підготовку Києвом планів продовження війни протягом наступних трьох років. Олександр Півненко вважає, що для України прийнятне припинення вогню і зупинка на лінії зіткнення. Він виконає наказ про відхід, якщо такий буде, проте не вірить, що Україна на таке погодиться. Ейлін Гу - найтитулованіша олімпійська лижниця з фристайлу в історії та світова суперзірка, яка продовжує викликати суперечки. У віддаленому селі Седанка на Далекому Сході Росії майже всі чоловіки призовного віку виїхали на війну в Україні. Варто подивитися Ваш пристрій не підтримує відтворення мультимедійних файлів Медальний залік Ми зібрали дані про золоті, срібні та бронзові медалі, які команди з різних країн здобули на зимовій Олімпіаді - 2026 у Мілані та Кортіні. Докладно Ендрю Маунтбеттен-Віндзор зустрів свій 66-й день народження в поліцейській камері, де є лише "ліжко та туалет". Що призвело до падіння колишнього принца та ветерана Фолклендської війни? Три делегації, неформальне спілкування з європейськими дипломатами, десятки журналістів — і водночас вкрай скупі заяви про результати. У такій атмосфері минули дводенні переговори Росії, України та США у Женеві. Кореспонденти ВВС розповідають, як проходила ця зустріч у Швейцарії. Репортаж Марії Вєрніковської з Калінінграда змусив втрутитись навіть дипломатів. Що пішло не так і як на репортаж про "звичайних росіян" реагують поляки? Галущенко планує "збирати кошти не на заставу, а на адвокатів, щоб вони подали апеляцію на ухвалу ВАКС". Простої відповіді немає. Але тим, хто дійсно хоче розібратися, відкривається захопливий трилер, в якому головні ролі грають хаос, золото та загадкова ФРС. Ефір ВВС Україна Брата британського короля Ендрю Маунтбеттен-Віндзора відпустили після арешту, однак розслідування щодо нього триває. Безпрецедента подія - поліція заарештувала брата короля Чарльза екс-принца Ендрю через файли Епштейна. Його підозрюють у зловживанні службовим становищем. Сам Ендрю всі звинувачення відкидає. Що далі? Як це вплине на королівську родину Великої Британії та чи можна очікувати ланцюгову реакцію у інших справах по файлам Епштейна? Що після Женеви? Переговори України i Росії за посередництва США завершились. Президент Зеленський заявляє про певний технічний прогрес. Чи наближає це до завершення війни? І про що дві години окремо говорили представники української та російської делегацій? Третій раунд переговорів розпочався у Швейцарії. Чи вдасться Україні та Росії домовитись про умови завершення війни за посередництва США? Олексія Навального вбили отрутою еквадорської жаби. Одразу кілька незалежних лабораторій виявили цей токсин у біоматеріалах покійного опозиціонера. Як це вдалося з'ясувати, чому про це стало відомо саме зараз та що кажуть у Кремлі? BBC News Україна тепер у WhatsApp! Отримуйте найкращий контент від наших команд на свій телефон і першими дізнавайтеся найважливіші історії з України та світу. Війна Росії проти України ВВС Уголос Відео Новини України Міжнародні новини Життя Підписуйтеся на нас у соцмережах Найбільше читають Отримуйте новини іншими мовами © 2026 BBC. BBC не несе відповідальності за контент інших сайтів. Ознайомтеся з нашими правилами зовнішніх посилань. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_extraction] | [TOKENS: 476] |
Contents Sentence extraction Sentence extraction is a technique used for automatic summarization of a text. In this shallow approach, statistical heuristics are used to identify the most salient sentences of a text. Sentence extraction is a low-cost approach compared to more knowledge-intensive deeper approaches which require additional knowledge bases such as ontologies or linguistic knowledge. In short, sentence extraction works as a filter that allows only meaningful sentences to pass. The major downside of applying sentence-extraction techniques to the task of summarization is the loss of coherence in the resulting summary. Nevertheless, sentence extraction summaries can give valuable clues to the main points of a document and are frequently sufficiently intelligible to human readers. Procedure Usually, a combination of heuristics is used to determine the most important sentences within the document. Each heuristic assigns a (positive or negative) score to the sentence. After all heuristics have been applied, the highest-scoring sentences are included in the summary. The individual heuristics are weighted according to their importance. Seminal papers which laid the foundations for many techniques used today have been published by Hans Peter Luhn in 1958 and H. P Edmundson in 1969. Luhn proposed to assign more weight to sentences at the beginning of the document or a paragraph. Edmundson stressed the importance of title-words for summarization and was the first to employ stop-lists in order to filter uninformative words of low semantic content (e.g. most grammatical words such as of, the, a). He also distinguished between bonus words and stigma words, i.e. words that probably occur together with important (e.g. the word form significant) or unimportant information. His idea of using key-words, i.e. words which occur significantly frequently in the document, is still one of the core heuristics of today's summarizers. With large linguistic corpora available today, the tf–idf value which originated in information retrieval, can be successfully applied to identify the key words of a text: If for example the word cat occurs significantly more often in the text to be summarized (TF = "term frequency") than in the corpus (IDF means "inverse document frequency"; here the corpus is meant by document), then cat is likely to be an important word of the text; the text may in fact be a text about cats. See also References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft#cite_note-67] | [TOKENS: 12858] |
Contents Minecraft Minecraft is a sandbox game developed and published by Mojang Studios. Following its initial public alpha release in 2009, it was formally released in 2011 for personal computers. The game has since been ported to numerous platforms, including mobile devices and various video game consoles. In Minecraft, players explore a procedurally generated world with virtually infinite terrain made up of voxels (cubes). They can discover and extract raw materials, craft tools and items, build structures, fight hostile mobs, and cooperate with or compete against other players in multiplayer. The game's large community offers a wide variety of user-generated content, such as modifications, servers, player skins, texture packs, and custom maps, which add new game mechanics and possibilities. Originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java programming language, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten was handed control over the game's development following its full release. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion; Xbox Game Studios hold the publishing rights for the Bedrock Edition, the unified cross-platform version which evolved from the Pocket Edition codebase[i] and replaced the legacy console versions. Bedrock is updated concurrently with Mojang's original Java Edition, although with numerous, generally small, differences. Minecraft is the best-selling video game in history with over 350 million copies sold. It has received critical acclaim, winning several awards and being cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Social media, parodies, adaptations, merchandise, and the annual Minecon conventions have played prominent roles in popularizing it. The wider Minecraft franchise includes several spin-off games, such as Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Dungeons, and Minecraft Legends. A film adaptation, titled A Minecraft Movie, was released in 2025 and became the second highest-grossing video game film of all time. Gameplay Minecraft is a 3D sandbox video game that has no required goals to accomplish, giving players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. The game features an optional achievement system. Gameplay is in the first-person perspective by default, but players have the option of third-person perspectives. The game world is composed of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes, referred to as blocks—representing various materials, such as dirt, stone, ores, tree trunks, water, and lava. The core gameplay revolves around picking up and placing these objects. These blocks are arranged in a voxel grid, while players can move freely around the world. Players can break, or mine, blocks and then place them elsewhere, enabling them to build things. Very few blocks are affected by gravity, instead maintaining their voxel position in the air. Players can also craft a wide variety of items, such as armor, which mitigates damage from attacks; weapons (such as swords or bows and arrows), which allow monsters and animals to be killed more easily; and tools (such as pickaxes or shovels), which break certain types of blocks more quickly. Some items have multiple tiers depending on the material used to craft them, with higher-tier items being more effective and durable. They may also freely craft helpful blocks—such as furnaces which can cook food and smelt ores, and torches that produce light—or exchange items with villagers (NPC) through trading emeralds for different goods and vice versa. The game has an inventory system, allowing players to carry a limited number of items. The in-game time system follows a day and night cycle, with one full cycle lasting for 20 real-time minutes. The game also contains a material called redstone, which can be used to make primitive mechanical devices, electrical circuits, and logic gates, allowing for the construction of many complex systems. New players are given a randomly selected default character skin out of nine possibilities, including Steve or Alex, but are able to create and upload their own skins. Players encounter various mobs (short for mobile entities) including animals, villagers, and hostile creatures. Passive mobs, such as cows, pigs, and chickens, spawn during the daytime and can be hunted for food and crafting materials, while hostile mobs—including large spiders, witches, skeletons, and zombies—spawn during nighttime or in dark places such as caves. Some hostile mobs, such as zombies and skeletons, burn under the sun if they have no headgear and are not standing in water. Other creatures unique to Minecraft include the creeper (an exploding creature that sneaks up on the player) and the enderman (a creature with the ability to teleport as well as pick up and place blocks). There are also variants of mobs that spawn in different conditions; for example, zombies have husk and drowned variants that spawn in deserts and oceans, respectively. The Minecraft environment is procedurally generated as players explore it using a map seed that is randomly chosen at the time of world creation (or manually specified by the player). Divided into biomes representing different environments with unique resources and structures, worlds are designed to be effectively infinite in traditional gameplay, though technical limits on the player have existed throughout development, both intentionally and not. Implementation of horizontally infinite generation initially resulted in a glitch termed the "Far Lands" at over 12 million blocks away from the world center, where terrain generated as wall-like, fissured patterns. The Far Lands and associated glitches were considered the effective edge of the world until they were resolved, with the current horizontal limit instead being a special impassable barrier called the world border, located 30 million blocks away. Vertical space is comparatively limited, with an unbreakable bedrock layer at the bottom and a building limit several hundred blocks into the sky. Minecraft features three independent dimensions accessible through portals and providing alternate game environments. The Overworld is the starting dimension and represents the real world, with a terrestrial surface setting including plains, mountains, forests, oceans, caves, and small sources of lava. The Nether is a hell-like underworld dimension accessed via an obsidian portal and composed mainly of lava. Mobs that populate the Nether include shrieking, fireball-shooting ghasts, alongside anthropomorphic pigs called piglins and their zombified counterparts. Piglins in particular have a bartering system, where players can give them gold ingots and receive items in return. Structures known as Nether Fortresses generate in the Nether, containing mobs such as wither skeletons and blazes, which can drop blaze rods needed to access the End dimension. The player can also choose to build an optional boss mob known as the Wither, using skulls obtained from wither skeletons and soul sand. The End can be reached through an end portal, consisting of twelve end portal frames. End portals are found in underground structures in the Overworld known as strongholds. To find strongholds, players must craft eyes of ender using an ender pearl and blaze powder. Eyes of ender can then be thrown, traveling in the direction of the stronghold. Once the player reaches the stronghold, they can place eyes of ender into each portal frame to activate the end portal. The dimension consists of islands floating in a dark, bottomless void. A boss enemy called the Ender Dragon guards the largest, central island. Killing the dragon opens access to an exit portal, which, when entered, cues the game's ending credits and the End Poem, a roughly 1,500-word work written by Irish novelist Julian Gough, which takes about nine minutes to scroll past, is the game's only narrative text, and the only text of significant length directed at the player.: 10–12 At the conclusion of the credits, the player is teleported back to their respawn point and may continue the game indefinitely. In Survival mode, players have to gather natural resources such as wood and stone found in the environment in order to craft certain blocks and items. Depending on the difficulty, monsters spawn in darker areas outside a certain radius of the character, requiring players to build a shelter in order to survive at night. The mode also has a health bar which is depleted by attacks from mobs, falls, drowning, falling into lava, suffocation, starvation, and other events. Players also have a hunger bar, which must be periodically refilled by eating food in-game unless the player is playing on peaceful difficulty. If the hunger bar is empty, the player starves. Health replenishes when players have a full hunger bar or continuously on peaceful. Upon losing all health, players die. The items in the players' inventories are dropped unless the game is reconfigured not to do so. Players then re-spawn at their spawn point, which by default is where players first spawn in the game and can be changed by sleeping in a bed or using a respawn anchor. Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they despawn after 5 minutes. Players may acquire experience points (commonly referred to as "xp" or "exp") by killing mobs and other players, mining, smelting ores, animal breeding, and cooking food. Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools, armor and weapons. Enchanted items are generally more powerful, last longer, or have other special effects. The game features two more game modes based on Survival, known as Hardcore mode and Adventure mode. Hardcore mode plays identically to Survival mode, but with the game's difficulty setting locked to "Hard" and with permadeath, forcing them to delete the world or explore it as a spectator after dying. Adventure mode was added to the game in a post-launch update, and prevents the player from directly modifying the game's world. It was designed primarily for use in custom maps, allowing map designers to let players experience it as intended. In Creative mode, players have access to an infinite number of all resources and items in the game through the inventory menu and can place or mine them instantly. Players can toggle the ability to fly freely around the game world at will, and their characters usually do not take any damage nor are affected by hunger. The game mode helps players focus on building and creating projects of any size without disturbance. Multiplayer in Minecraft enables multiple players to interact and communicate with each other on a single world. It is available through direct game-to-game multiplayer, local area network (LAN) play, local split screen (console-only), and servers (player-hosted and business-hosted). Players can run their own server by making a realm, using a host provider, hosting one themselves or connect directly to another player's game via Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or Nintendo Switch Online. Single-player worlds have LAN support, allowing players to join a world on locally interconnected computers without a server setup. Minecraft multiplayer servers are guided by server operators, who have access to server commands such as setting the time of day and teleporting players. Operators can also set up restrictions concerning which usernames or IP addresses are allowed or disallowed to enter the server. Multiplayer servers have a wide range of activities, with some servers having their own unique rules and customs. The largest and most popular server is Hypixel, which has been visited by over 14 million unique players. Player versus player combat (PvP) can be enabled to allow fighting between players. In 2013, Mojang announced Minecraft Realms, a server hosting service intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and safely without having to set up their own. Unlike a standard server, only invited players can join Realms servers, and these servers do not use server addresses. Minecraft: Java Edition Realms server owners can invite up to twenty people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at a time. Minecraft Realms server owners can invite up to 3,000 people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at one time. The Minecraft: Java Edition Realms servers do not support user-made plugins, but players can play custom Minecraft maps. Minecraft Bedrock Realms servers support user-made add-ons, resource packs, behavior packs, and custom Minecraft maps. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016, support for cross-platform play between Windows 10, iOS, and Android platforms was added through Realms starting in June 2016, with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch support to come later in 2017, and support for virtual reality devices. On 31 July 2017, Mojang released the beta version of the update allowing cross-platform play. Nintendo Switch support for Realms was released in July 2018. The modding community consists of fans, users and third-party programmers. Using a variety of application program interfaces that have arisen over time, they have produced a wide variety of downloadable content for Minecraft, such as modifications, texture packs and custom maps. Modifications of the Minecraft code, called mods, add a variety of gameplay changes, ranging from new blocks, items, and mobs to entire arrays of mechanisms. The modding community is responsible for a substantial supply of mods from ones that enhance gameplay, such as mini-maps, waypoints, and durability counters, to ones that add to the game elements from other video games and media. While a variety of mod frameworks were independently developed by reverse engineering the code, Mojang has also enhanced vanilla Minecraft with official frameworks for modification, allowing the production of community-created resource packs, which alter certain game elements including textures and sounds. Players can also create their own "maps" (custom world save files) that often contain specific rules, challenges, puzzles and quests, and share them for others to play. Mojang added an adventure mode in August 2012 and "command blocks" in October 2012, which were created specially for custom maps in Java Edition. Data packs, introduced in version 1.13 of the Java Edition, allow further customization, including the ability to add new achievements, dimensions, functions, loot tables, predicates, recipes, structures, tags, and world generation. The Xbox 360 Edition supported downloadable content, which was available to purchase via the Xbox Games Store; these content packs usually contained additional character skins. It later received support for texture packs in its twelfth title update while introducing "mash-up packs", which combined texture packs with skin packs and changes to the game's sounds, music and user interface. The first mash-up pack (and by extension, the first texture pack) for the Xbox 360 Edition was released on 4 September 2013, and was themed after the Mass Effect franchise. Unlike Java Edition, however, the Xbox 360 Edition did not support player-made mods or custom maps. A cross-promotional resource pack based on the Super Mario franchise by Nintendo was released exclusively for the Wii U Edition worldwide on 17 May 2016, and later bundled free with the Nintendo Switch Edition at launch. Another based on Fallout was released on consoles that December, and for Windows and Mobile in April 2017. In April 2018, malware was discovered in several downloadable user-made Minecraft skins for use with the Java Edition of the game. Avast stated that nearly 50,000 accounts were infected, and when activated, the malware would attempt to reformat the user's hard drive. Mojang promptly patched the issue, and released a statement stating that "the code would not be run or read by the game itself", and would run only when the image containing the skin itself was opened. In June 2017, Mojang released the "1.1 Discovery Update" to the Pocket Edition of the game, which later became the Bedrock Edition. The update introduced the "Marketplace", a catalogue of purchasable user-generated content intended to give Minecraft creators "another way to make a living from the game". Various skins, maps, texture packs and add-ons from different creators can be bought with "Minecoins", a digital currency that is purchased with real money. Additionally, users can access specific content with a subscription service titled "Marketplace Pass". Alongside content from independent creators, the Marketplace also houses items published by Mojang and Microsoft themselves, as well as official collaborations between Minecraft and other intellectual properties. By 2022, the Marketplace had over 1.7 billion content downloads, generating over $500 million in revenue. Development Before creating Minecraft, Markus "Notch" Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009. At King, he primarily developed browser games and learned several programming languages. During his free time, he prototyped his own games, often drawing inspiration from other titles, and was an active participant on the TIGSource forums for independent developers. One such project was "RubyDung", a base-building game inspired by Dwarf Fortress, but with an isometric, three-dimensional perspective similar to RollerCoaster Tycoon. Among the features in RubyDung that he explored was a first-person view similar to Dungeon Keeper, though he ultimately discarded this idea, feeling the graphics were too pixelated at the time. Around March 2009, Persson left King and joined jAlbum, while continuing to work on his prototypes. Infiniminer, a block-based open-ended mining game first released in April 2009, inspired Persson's vision for RubyDung's future direction. Infiniminer heavily influenced the visual style of gameplay, including bringing back the first-person mode, the "blocky" visual style and the block-building fundamentals. However, unlike Infiniminer, Persson wanted Minecraft to have RPG elements. The first public alpha build of Minecraft was released on 17 May 2009 on TIGSource. Over the years, Persson regularly released test builds that added new features, including tools, mobs, and entire new dimensions. In 2011, partly due to the game's rising popularity, Persson decided to release a full 1.0 version—a second part of the "Adventure Update"—on 18 November 2011. Shortly after, Persson stepped down from development, handing the project's lead to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten. On 15 September 2014, Microsoft, the developer behind the Microsoft Windows operating system and Xbox video game console, announced a $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, which included the Minecraft intellectual property. Persson had suggested the deal on Twitter, asking a corporation to buy his stake in the game after receiving criticism for enforcing terms in the game's end-user license agreement (EULA), which had been in place for the past three years. According to Persson, Mojang CEO Carl Manneh received a call from a Microsoft executive shortly after the tweet, asking if Persson was serious about a deal. Mojang was also approached by other companies including Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts. The deal with Microsoft was arbitrated on 6 November 2014 and led to Persson becoming one of Forbes' "World's Billionaires". After 2014, Minecraft's primary versions received usually annual major updates—free to players who have purchased the game— each primarily centered around a specific theme. For instance, version 1.13, the Update Aquatic, focused on ocean-related features, while version 1.16, the Nether Update, introduced significant changes to the Nether dimension. However, in late 2024, Mojang announced a shift in their update strategy; rather than releasing large updates annually, they opted for a more frequent release schedule with smaller, incremental updates, stating, "We know that you want new Minecraft content more often." The Bedrock Edition has also received regular updates, now matching the themes of the Java Edition updates. Other versions of the game, such as various console editions and the Pocket Edition, were either merged into Bedrock or discontinued and have not received further updates. On 7 May 2019, coinciding with Minecraft's 10th anniversary, a JavaScript recreation of an old 2009 Java Edition build named Minecraft Classic was made available to play online for free. On 16 April 2020, a Bedrock Edition-exclusive beta version of Minecraft, called Minecraft RTX, was released by Nvidia. It introduced physically-based rendering, real-time path tracing, and DLSS for RTX-enabled GPUs. The public release was made available on 8 December 2020. Path tracing can only be enabled in supported worlds, which can be downloaded for free via the in-game Minecraft Marketplace, with a texture pack from Nvidia's website, or with compatible third-party texture packs. It cannot be enabled by default with any texture pack on any world. Initially, Minecraft RTX was affected by many bugs, display errors, and instability issues. On 22 March 2025, a new visual mode called Vibrant Visuals, an optional graphical overhaul similar to Minecraft RTX, was announced. It promises modern rendering features—such as dynamic shadows, screen space reflections, volumetric fog, and bloom—without the need of RTX-capable hardware. Vibrant Visuals was released as a part of the Chase the Skies update on 17 June 2025 for Bedrock Edition and is planned to release on Java Edition at a later date. Development began for the original edition of Minecraft—then known as Cave Game, and now known as the Java Edition—in May 2009,[k] and ended on 13 May, when Persson released a test video on YouTube of an early version of the game, dubbed the "Cave game tech test" or the "Cave game tech demo". The game was named Minecraft: Order of the Stone the next day, after a suggestion made by a player. "Order of the Stone" came from the webcomic The Order of the Stick, and "Minecraft" was chosen "because it's a good name". The title was later shortened to just Minecraft, omitting the subtitle. Persson completed the game's base programming over a weekend in May 2009, and private testing began on TigIRC on 16 May. The first public release followed on 17 May 2009 as a developmental version shared on the TIGSource forums. Based on feedback from forum users, Persson continued updating the game. This initial public build later became known as Classic. Further developmental phases—dubbed Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev—were released throughout 2009 and 2010. The first major update, known as Alpha, was released on 30 June 2010. At the time, Persson was still working a day job at jAlbum but later resigned to focus on Minecraft full-time as sales of the alpha version surged. Updates were distributed automatically, introducing new blocks, items, mobs, and changes to game mechanics such as water flow. With revenue generated from the game, Persson founded Mojang, a video game studio, alongside former colleagues Jakob Porser and Carl Manneh. On 11 December 2010, Persson announced that Minecraft would enter its beta phase on 20 December. He assured players that bug fixes and all pre-release updates would remain free. As development progressed, Mojang expanded, hiring additional employees to work on the project. The game officially exited beta and launched in full on 18 November 2011. On 1 December 2011, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten took full creative control over Minecraft, replacing Persson as lead designer. On 28 February 2012, Mojang announced the hiring of the developers behind Bukkit, a popular developer API for Minecraft servers, to improve Minecraft's support of server modifications. This move included Mojang taking apparent ownership of the CraftBukkit server mod, though this apparent acquisition later became controversial, and its legitimacy was questioned due to CraftBukkit's open-source nature and licensing under the GNU General Public License and Lesser General Public License. In August 2011, Minecraft: Pocket Edition was released as an early alpha for the Xperia Play via the Android Market, later expanding to other Android devices on 8 October 2011. The iOS version followed on 17 November 2011. A port was made available for Windows Phones shortly after Microsoft acquired Mojang. Unlike Java Edition, Pocket Edition initially focused on Minecraft's creative building and basic survival elements but lacked many features of the PC version. Bergensten confirmed on Twitter that the Pocket Edition was written in C++ rather than Java, as iOS does not support Java. On 10 December 2014, a port of Pocket Edition was released for Windows Phone 8.1. In July 2015, a port of the Pocket Edition to Windows 10 was released as the Windows 10 Edition, with full crossplay to other Pocket versions. In January 2017, Microsoft announced that it would no longer maintain the Windows Phone versions of Pocket Edition. On 20 September 2017, with the "Better Together Update", the Pocket Edition was ported to the Xbox One, and was renamed to the Bedrock Edition. The console versions of Minecraft debuted with the Xbox 360 edition, developed by 4J Studios and released on 9 May 2012. Announced as part of the Xbox Live Arcade NEXT promotion, this version introduced a redesigned crafting system, a new control interface, in-game tutorials, split-screen multiplayer, and online play via Xbox Live. Unlike the PC version, its worlds were finite, bordered by invisible walls. Initially, the Xbox 360 version resembled outdated PC versions but received updates to bring it closer to Java Edition before eventually being discontinued. The Xbox One version launched on 5 September 2014, featuring larger worlds and support for more players. Minecraft expanded to PlayStation platforms with PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 editions released on 17 December 2013 and 4 September 2014, respectively. Originally planned as a PS4 launch title, it was delayed before its eventual release. A PlayStation Vita version followed in October 2014. Like the Xbox versions, the PlayStation editions were developed by 4J Studios. Nintendo platforms received Minecraft: Wii U Edition on 17 December 2015, with a physical release in North America on 17 June 2016 and in Europe on 30 June. The Nintendo Switch version launched via the eShop on 11 May 2017. During a Nintendo Direct presentation on 13 September 2017, Nintendo announced that Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition, based on the Pocket Edition, would be available for download immediately after the livestream, and a physical copy available on a later date. The game is compatible only with the New Nintendo 3DS or New Nintendo 2DS XL systems and does not work with the original 3DS or 2DS systems. On 20 September 2017, the Better Together Update introduced Bedrock Edition across Xbox One, Windows 10, VR, and mobile platforms, enabling cross-play between these versions. Bedrock Edition later expanded to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, with the latter receiving the update in December 2019, allowing cross-platform play for users with a free Xbox Live account. The Bedrock Edition released a native version for PlayStation 5 on 22 October 2024, while the Xbox Series X/S version launched on 17 June 2025. On 18 December 2018, the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions of Minecraft received their final update and would later become known as "Legacy Console Editions". On 15 January 2019, the New Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft received its final update, effectively becoming discontinued as well. An educational version of Minecraft, designed for use in schools, launched on 1 November 2016. It is available on Android, ChromeOS, iPadOS, iOS, MacOS, and Windows. On 20 August 2018, Mojang announced that it would bring Education Edition to iPadOS in Autumn 2018. It was released to the App Store on 6 September 2018. On 27 March 2019, it was announced that it would be operated by JD.com in China. On 26 June 2020, a public beta for the Education Edition was made available to Google Play Store compatible Chromebooks. The full game was released to the Google Play Store for Chromebooks on 7 August 2020. On 20 May 2016, China Edition (also known as My World) was announced as a localized edition for China, where it was released under a licensing agreement between NetEase and Mojang. The PC edition was released for public testing on 8 August 2017. The iOS version was released on 15 September 2017, and the Android version was released on 12 October 2017. The PC edition is based on the original Java Edition, while the iOS and Android mobile versions are based on the Bedrock Edition. The edition is free-to-play and had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. This version of Bedrock Edition is exclusive to Microsoft's Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems. The beta release for Windows 10 launched on the Windows Store on 29 July 2015. After nearly a year and a half in beta, Microsoft fully released the version on 19 December 2016. Called the "Ender Update", this release implemented new features to this version of Minecraft like world templates and add-on packs. On 7 June 2022, the Java and Bedrock Editions of Minecraft were merged into a single bundle for purchase on Windows; those who owned one version would automatically gain access to the other version. Both game versions would otherwise remain separate. Around 2011, prior to Minecraft's full release, Mojang collaborated with The Lego Group to create a Lego brick-based Minecraft game called Brickcraft. This would have modified the base Minecraft game to use Lego bricks, which meant adapting the basic 1×1 block to account for larger pieces typically used in Lego sets. Persson worked on an early version called "Project Rex Kwon Do", named after the character of the same name from the film Napoleon Dynamite. Although Lego approved the project and Mojang assigned two developers for six months, it was canceled due to the Lego Group's demands, according to Mojang's Daniel Kaplan. Lego considered buying Mojang to complete the game, but when Microsoft offered over $2 billion for the company, Lego stepped back, unsure of Minecraft's potential. On 26 June 2025, a build of Brickcraft dated 28 June 2012 was published on a community archive website Omniarchive. Initially, Markus Persson planned to support the Oculus Rift with a Minecraft port. However, after Facebook acquired Oculus in 2013, he abruptly canceled the plans, stating, "Facebook creeps me out." In 2016, a community-made mod, Minecraft VR, added VR support for Java Edition, followed by Vivecraft for HTC Vive. Later that year, Microsoft introduced official Oculus Rift support for Windows 10 Edition, leading to the discontinuation of the Minecraft VR mod due to trademark complaints. Vivecraft was endorsed by Minecraft VR contributors for its Rift support. Also available is a Gear VR version, titled Minecraft: Gear VR Edition. Windows Mixed Reality support was added in 2017. On 7 September 2020, Mojang Studios announced that the PlayStation 4 Bedrock version would receive PlayStation VR support later that month. In September 2024, the Minecraft team announced they would no longer support PlayStation VR, which received its final update in March 2025. Music and sound design Minecraft's music and sound effects were produced by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. To create the sound effects for the game, Rosenfeld made extensive use of Foley techniques. On learning the processes for the game, he remarked, "Foley's an interesting thing, and I had to learn its subtleties. Early on, I wasn't that knowledgeable about it. It's a whole trial-and-error process. You just make a sound and eventually you go, 'Oh my God, that's it! Get the microphone!' There's no set way of doing anything at all." He reminisced on creating the in-game sound for grass blocks, stating "It turns out that to make grass sounds you don't actually walk on grass and record it, because grass sounds like nothing. What you want to do is get a VHS, break it apart, and just lightly touch the tape." According to Rosenfeld, his favorite sound to design for the game was the hisses of spiders. He elaborates, "I like the spiders. Recording that was a whole day of me researching what a spider sounds like. Turns out, there are spiders that make little screeching sounds, so I think I got this recording of a fire hose, put it in a sampler, and just pitched it around until it sounded like a weird spider was talking to you." Many of the sound design decisions by Rosenfeld were done accidentally or spontaneously. The creeper notably lacks any specific noises apart from a loud fuse-like sound when about to explode; Rosenfeld later recalled "That was just a complete accident by Markus and me [sic]. We just put in a placeholder sound of burning a matchstick. It seemed to work hilariously well, so we kept it." On other sounds, such as those of the zombie, Rosenfeld remarked, "I actually never wanted the zombies so scary. I intentionally made them sound comical. It's nice to hear that they work so well [...]." Rosenfeld remarked that the sound engine was "terrible" to work with, remembering "If you had two song files at once, it [the game engine] would actually crash. There were so many more weird glitches like that the guys never really fixed because they were too busy with the actual game and not the sound engine." The background music in Minecraft consists of instrumental ambient music. To compose the music of Minecraft, Rosenfeld used the package from Ableton Live, along with several additional plug-ins. Speaking on them, Rosenfeld said "They can be pretty much everything from an effect to an entire orchestra. Additionally, I've got some synthesizers that are attached to the computer. Like a Moog Voyager, Dave Smith Prophet 08 and a Virus TI." On 4 March 2011, Rosenfeld released a soundtrack titled Minecraft – Volume Alpha; it includes most of the tracks featured in Minecraft, as well as other music not featured in the game. Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku chose the music in Minecraft as one of the best video game soundtracks of 2011. On 9 November 2013, Rosenfeld released the second official soundtrack, titled Minecraft – Volume Beta, which included the music that was added in a 2013 "Music Update" for the game. A physical release of Volume Alpha, consisting of CDs, black vinyl, and limited-edition transparent green vinyl LPs, was issued by indie electronic label Ghostly International on 21 August 2015. On 14 August 2020, Ghostly released Volume Beta on CD and vinyl, with alternate color LPs and lenticular cover pressings released in limited quantities. The final update Rosenfeld worked on was 2018's 1.13 Update Aquatic. His music remained the only music in the game until 2020's "Nether Update", introducing pieces from Lena Raine. Since then, other composers have made contributions, including Kumi Tanioka, Samuel Åberg, Aaron Cherof, and Amos Roddy, with Raine remaining as the new primary composer. Ownership of all music besides Rosenfeld's independently released albums has been retained by Microsoft, with their label publishing all of the other artists' releases. Gareth Coker also composed some of the music for the game's mini games from the Legacy Console editions. Rosenfeld had stated his intent to create a third album of music for the game in a 2015 interview with Fact, and confirmed its existence in a 2017 tweet, stating that his work on the record as of then had tallied up to be longer than the previous two albums combined, which in total clocks in at over 3 hours and 18 minutes. However, due to licensing issues with Microsoft, the third volume has since not seen release. On 8 January 2021, Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not there was still a third volume of his music intended for release. Rosenfeld responded, saying, "I have something—I consider it finished—but things have become complicated, especially as Minecraft is now a big property, so I don't know." Reception Minecraft has received critical acclaim, with praise for the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay. Critics have expressed enjoyment in Minecraft's complex crafting system, commenting that it is an important aspect of the game's open-ended gameplay. Most publications were impressed by the game's "blocky" graphics, with IGN describing them as "instantly memorable". Reviewers also liked the game's adventure elements, noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building. The game's multiplayer feature has been generally received favorably, with IGN commenting that "adventuring is always better with friends". Jaz McDougall of PC Gamer said Minecraft is "intuitively interesting and contagiously fun, with an unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences". It has been regarded as having introduced millions of children to the digital world, insofar as its basic game mechanics are logically analogous to computer commands. IGN was disappointed about the troublesome steps needed to set up multiplayer servers, calling it a "hassle". Critics also said that visual glitches occur periodically. Despite its release out of beta in 2011, GameSpot said the game had an "unfinished feel", adding that some game elements seem "incomplete or thrown together in haste". A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the Daily Record, called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it. Jim Rossignol of Rock Paper Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego Stalker". On 17 September 2010, gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game. The Xbox 360 version was generally received positively by critics, but did not receive as much praise as the PC version. Although reviewers were disappointed by the lack of features such as mod support and content from the PC version, they acclaimed the port's addition of a tutorial and in-game tips and crafting recipes, saying that they make the game more user-friendly. The Xbox One Edition was one of the best received ports, being praised for its relatively large worlds. The PlayStation 3 Edition also received generally favorable reviews, being compared to the Xbox 360 Edition and praised for its well-adapted controls. The PlayStation 4 edition was the best received port to date, being praised for having 36 times larger worlds than the PlayStation 3 edition and described as nearly identical to the Xbox One edition. The PlayStation Vita Edition received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for its technical limitations. The Wii U version received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for a lack of GamePad integration. The 3DS version received mixed reviews, being criticized for its high price, technical issues, and lack of cross-platform play. The Nintendo Switch Edition received fairly positive reviews from critics, being praised, like other modern ports, for its relatively larger worlds. Minecraft: Pocket Edition initially received mixed reviews from critics. Although reviewers appreciated the game's intuitive controls, they were disappointed by the lack of content. The inability to collect resources and craft items, as well as the limited types of blocks and lack of hostile mobs, were especially criticized. After updates added more content, Pocket Edition started receiving more positive reviews. Reviewers complimented the controls and the graphics, but still noted a lack of content. Minecraft surpassed over a million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase in early 2011. At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth, and various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic. By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version. In November 2011, prior to the game's full release, Minecraft beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases. By March 2012, Minecraft had become the 6th best-selling PC game of all time. As of 10 October 2014[update], the game had sold 17 million copies on PC, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time. On 25 February 2014, the game reached 100 million registered users. By May 2019, 180 million copies had been sold across all platforms, making it the single best-selling video game of all time. The free-to-play Minecraft China version had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. By 2023, the game had sold over 300 million copies. As of April 2025, Minecraft has sold over 350 million copies. The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first day of the game's release in 2012, when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400,000 players online. Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold a million copies. GameSpot announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012. In 2012, Minecraft was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day. As of 4 April 2014[update], the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies. In addition, Minecraft: Pocket Edition has reached a figure of 21 million in sales. The PlayStation 3 Edition sold one million copies in five weeks. The release of the game's PlayStation Vita version boosted Minecraft sales by 79%, outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest Minecraft launch on a PlayStation console. The PS Vita version sold 100,000 digital copies in Japan within the first two months of release, according to an announcement by SCE Japan Asia. By January 2015, 500,000 digital copies of Minecraft were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms, with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version. As of 2022, the Vita version has sold over 1.65 million physical copies in Japan, making it the best-selling Vita game in the country. Minecraft helped improve Microsoft's total first-party revenue by $63 million for the 2015 second quarter. The game, including all of its versions, had over 112 million monthly active players by September 2019. On its 11th anniversary in May 2020, the company announced that Minecraft had reached over 200 million copies sold across platforms with over 126 million monthly active players. By April 2021, the number of active monthly users had climbed to 140 million. In July 2010, PC Gamer listed Minecraft as the fourth-best game to play at work. In December of that year, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010, Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the "game of the year". Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for Most Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie. It was also awarded Game of the Year by PC Gamer UK. The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Technical Excellence, and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize and the community-voted Audience Award. At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, Minecraft won awards in the categories for Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game and Innovation Award, winning every award for which it was nominated. It also won GameCity's video game arts award. On 5 May 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on 16 March 2012. At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Minecraft won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category. In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Persson received The Special Award. In 2012, Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category, and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category. In 2013, it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards. During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year". Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014. In 2015, the game placed 6th on USgamer's The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list. In 2016, Minecraft placed 6th on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list. Minecraft was nominated for the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite App, but lost to Temple Run. It was nominated for the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game, but lost to Just Dance 2014. The game later won the award for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards. In addition, the Java Edition was nominated for "Favorite Video Game" at the 2018 Kids' Choice Awards, while the game itself won the "Still Playing" award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, as well as the "Favorite Video Game" award at the 2020 Kids' Choice Awards. Minecraft also won "Stream Game of the Year" at inaugural Streamer Awards in 2021. The game later garnered a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award nomination for Favorite Video Game in 2021, and won the same category in 2022 and 2023. At the Golden Joystick Awards 2025, it won the Still Playing Award - PC and Console. Minecraft has been subject to several notable controversies. In June 2014, Mojang announced that it would begin enforcing the portion of Minecraft's end-user license agreement (EULA) which prohibits servers from giving in-game advantages to players in exchange for donations or payments. Spokesperson Owen Hill stated that servers could still require players to pay a fee to access the server and could sell in-game cosmetic items. The change was supported by Persson, citing emails he received from parents of children who had spent hundreds of dollars on servers. The Minecraft community and server owners protested, arguing that the EULA's terms were more broad than Mojang was claiming, that the crackdown would force smaller servers to shut down for financial reasons, and that Mojang was suppressing competition for its own Minecraft Realms subscription service. The controversy contributed to Notch's decision to sell Mojang. In 2020, Mojang announced an eventual change to the Java Edition to require a login from a Microsoft account rather than a Mojang account, the latter of which would be sunsetted. This also required Java Edition players to create Xbox network Gamertags. Mojang defended the move to Microsoft accounts by saying that improved security could be offered, including two-factor authentication, blocking cyberbullies in chat, and improved parental controls. The community responded with intense backlash, citing various technical difficulties encountered in the process and how account migration would be mandatory, even for those who do not play on servers. As of 10 March 2022, Microsoft required that all players migrate in order to maintain access the Java Edition of Minecraft. Mojang announced a deadline of 19 September 2023 for account migration, after which all legacy Mojang accounts became inaccessible and unable to be migrated. In June 2022, Mojang added a player-reporting feature in Java Edition. Players could report other players on multiplayer servers for sending messages prohibited by the Xbox Live Code of Conduct; report categories included profane language,[l] substance abuse, hate speech, threats of violence, and nudity. If a player was found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards, they would be banned from all servers for a specific period of time or permanently. The update containing the report feature (1.19.1) was released on 27 July 2022. Mojang received substantial backlash and protest from community members, one of the most common complaints being that banned players would be forbidden from joining any server, even private ones. Others took issue to what they saw as Microsoft increasing control over its player base and exercising censorship, leading some to start a hashtag #saveminecraft and dub the version "1.19.84", a reference to the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The "Mob Vote" was an online event organized by Mojang in which the Minecraft community voted between three original mob concepts; initially, the winning mob was to be implemented in a future update, while the losing mobs were scrapped, though after the first mob vote this was changed, and losing mobs would now have a chance to come to the game in the future. The first Mob Vote was held during Minecon Earth 2017 and became an annual event starting with Minecraft Live 2020. The Mob Vote was often criticized for forcing players to choose one mob instead of implementing all three, causing divisions and flaming within the community, and potentially allowing internet bots and Minecraft content creators with large fanbases to conduct vote brigading. The Mob Vote was also blamed for a perceived lack of new content added to Minecraft since Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang in 2014. The 2023 Mob Vote featured three passive mobs—the crab, the penguin, and the armadillo—with voting scheduled to start on 13 October. In response, a Change.org petition was created on 6 October, demanding that Mojang eliminate the Mob Vote and instead implement all three mobs going forward. The petition received approximately 445,000 signatures by 13 October and was joined by calls to boycott the Mob Vote, as well as a partially tongue-in-cheek "revolutionary" propaganda campaign in which sympathizers created anti-Mojang and pro-boycott posters in the vein of real 20th century propaganda posters. Mojang did not release an official response to the boycott, and the Mob Vote otherwise proceeded normally, with the armadillo winning the vote. In September 2024, as part of a blog post detailing their future plans for Minecraft's development, Mojang announced the Mob Vote would be retired. Cultural impact In September 2019, The Guardian classified Minecraft as the best video game of the 21st century to date, and in November 2019, Polygon called it the "most important game of the decade" in its 2010s "decade in review". In June 2020, Minecraft was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Minecraft is recognized as one of the first successful games to use an early access model to draw in sales prior to its full release version to help fund development. As Minecraft helped to bolster indie game development in the early 2010s, it also helped to popularize the use of the early access model in indie game development. Social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit have played a significant role in popularizing Minecraft. Research conducted by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania showed that one-third of Minecraft players learned about the game via Internet videos. In 2010, Minecraft-related videos began to gain influence on YouTube, often made by commentators. The videos usually contain screen-capture footage of the game and voice-overs. Common coverage in the videos includes creations made by players, walkthroughs of various tasks, and parodies of works in popular culture. By May 2012, over four million Minecraft-related YouTube videos had been uploaded. The game would go on to be a prominent fixture within YouTube's gaming scene during the entire 2010s; in 2014, it was the second-most searched term on the entire platform. By 2018, it was still YouTube's biggest game globally. Some popular commentators have received employment at Machinima, a now-defunct gaming video company that owned a highly watched entertainment channel on YouTube. The Yogscast is a British company that regularly produces Minecraft videos; their YouTube channel has attained billions of views, and their panel at Minecon 2011 had the highest attendance. Another well-known YouTube personality is Jordan Maron, known online as CaptainSparklez, who has also created many Minecraft music parodies, including "Revenge", a parody of Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love". Minecraft's popularity on YouTube was described by Polygon as quietly dominant, although in 2019, thanks in part to PewDiePie's playthroughs of the game, Minecraft experienced a visible uptick in popularity on the platform. Longer-running series include Far Lands or Bust, dedicated to reaching the obsolete "Far Lands" glitch by foot on an older version of the game. YouTube announced that on 14 December 2021 that the total amount of Minecraft-related views on the website had exceeded one trillion. Minecraft has been referenced by other video games, such as Torchlight II, Team Fortress 2, Borderlands 2, Choplifter HD, Super Meat Boy, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Binding of Isaac, The Stanley Parable, and FTL: Faster Than Light. Minecraft is officially represented in downloadable content for the crossover fighter Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with Steve as a playable character with a moveset including references to building, crafting, and redstone, alongside an Overworld-themed stage. It was also referenced by electronic music artist Deadmau5 in his performances. The game is also referenced heavily in "Informative Murder Porn", the second episode of the seventeenth season of the animated television series South Park. In 2025, A Minecraft Movie was released. It made $313 million in the box office in the first week, a record-breaking opening for a video game adaptation. Minecraft has been noted as a cultural touchstone for Generation Z, as many of the generation's members played the game at a young age. The possible applications of Minecraft have been discussed extensively, especially in the fields of computer-aided design (CAD) and education. In a panel at Minecon 2011, a Swedish developer discussed the possibility of using the game to redesign public buildings and parks, stating that rendering using Minecraft was much more user-friendly for the community, making it easier to envision the functionality of new buildings and parks. In 2012, a member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab, Cody Sumter, said: "Notch hasn't just built a game. He's tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program." Various software has been developed to allow virtual designs to be printed using professional 3D printers or personal printers such as MakerBot and RepRap. In September 2012, Mojang began the Block by Block project in cooperation with UN Habitat to create real-world environments in Minecraft. The project allows young people who live in those environments to participate in designing the changes they would like to see. Using Minecraft, the community has helped reconstruct the areas of concern, and citizens are invited to enter the Minecraft servers and modify their own neighborhood. Carl Manneh, Mojang's managing director, called the game "the perfect tool to facilitate this process", adding "The three-year partnership will support UN-Habitat's Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016." Mojang signed Minecraft building community, FyreUK, to help render the environments into Minecraft. The first pilot project began in Kibera, one of Nairobi's informal settlements and is in the planning phase. The Block by Block project is based on an earlier initiative started in October 2011, Mina Kvarter (My Block), which gave young people in Swedish communities a tool to visualize how they wanted to change their part of town. According to Manneh, the project was a helpful way to visualize urban planning ideas without necessarily having a training in architecture. The ideas presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions. In April 2014, the Danish Geodata Agency generated all of Denmark in fullscale in Minecraft based on their own geodata. This is possible because Denmark is one of the flattest countries with the highest point at 171 meters (ranking as the country with the 30th smallest elevation span), where the limit in default Minecraft was around 192 meters above in-game sea level when the project was completed. Taking advantage of the game's accessibility where other websites are censored, the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders has used an open Minecraft server to create the Uncensored Library, a repository within the game of journalism by authors from countries (including Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam) who have been censored and arrested, such as Jamal Khashoggi. The neoclassical virtual building was created over about 250 hours by an international team of 24 people. Despite its unpredictable nature, Minecraft speedrunning, where players time themselves from spawning into a new world to reaching The End and defeating the Ender Dragon boss, is popular. Some speedrunners use a combination of mods, external programs, and debug menus, while other runners play the game in a more vanilla or more consistency-oriented way. Minecraft has been used in educational settings through initiatives such as MinecraftEdu, founded in 2011 to make the game affordable and accessible for schools in collaboration with Mojang. MinecraftEdu provided features allowing teachers to monitor student progress, including screenshot submissions as evidence of lesson completion, and by 2012 reported that approximately 250,000 students worldwide had access to the platform. Mojang also developed Minecraft: Education Edition with pre-built lesson plans for up to 30 students in a closed environment. Educators have used Minecraft to teach subjects such as history, language arts, and science through custom-built environments, including reconstructions of historical landmarks and large-scale models of biological structures such as animal cells. The introduction of redstone blocks enabled the construction of functional virtual machines such as a hard drive and an 8-bit computer. Mods have been created to use these mechanics for teaching programming. In 2014, the British Museum announced a project to reproduce its building and exhibits in Minecraft in collaboration with the public. Microsoft and Code.org have offered Minecraft-based tutorials and activities designed to teach programming, reporting by 2018 that more than 85 million children had used their resources. In 2025, the Musée de Minéralogie in Paris held a temporary exhibition titled "Minerals in Minecraft." Following the initial surge in popularity of Minecraft in 2010, other video games were criticised for having various similarities to Minecraft, and some were described as being "clones", often due to a direct inspiration from Minecraft, or a superficial similarity. Examples include Ace of Spades, CastleMiner, CraftWorld, FortressCraft, Terraria, BlockWorld 3D, Total Miner, and Luanti (formerly Minetest). David Frampton, designer of The Blockheads, reported that one failure of his 2D game was the "low resolution pixel art" that too closely resembled the art in Minecraft, which resulted in "some resistance" from fans. A homebrew adaptation of the alpha version of Minecraft for the Nintendo DS, titled DScraft, has been released; it has been noted for its similarity to the original game considering the technical limitations of the system. In response to Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang and their Minecraft IP, various developers announced further clone titles developed specifically for Nintendo's consoles, as they were the only major platforms not to officially receive Minecraft at the time. These clone titles include UCraft (Nexis Games), Cube Life: Island Survival (Cypronia), Discovery (Noowanda), Battleminer (Wobbly Tooth Games), Cube Creator 3D (Big John Games), and Stone Shire (Finger Gun Games). Despite this, the fears of fans were unfounded, with official Minecraft releases on Nintendo consoles eventually resuming. Markus Persson made another similar game, Minicraft, for a Ludum Dare competition in 2011. In 2025, Persson announced through a poll on his X account that he was considering developing a spiritual successor to Minecraft. He later clarified that he was "100% serious", and that he had "basically announced Minecraft 2". Within days, however, Persson cancelled the plans after speaking to his team. In November 2024, artificial intelligence companies Decart and Etched released Oasis, an artificially generated version of Minecraft, as a proof of concept. Every in-game element is completely AI-generated in real time and the model does not store world data, leading to "hallucinations" such as items and blocks appearing that were not there before. In January 2026, indie game developer Unomelon announced that their voxel sandbox game Allumeria would be playable in Steam Next Fest that year. On 10 February, Mojang issued a DMCA takedown of Allumeria on Steam through Valve, alleging the game was infringing on Minecraft's copyright. Some reports suggested that the takedown may have used an automatic AI copyright claiming service. The DMCA was later withdrawn. Minecon was an annual official fan convention dedicated to Minecraft. The first full Minecon was held in November 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The event included the official launch of Minecraft; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; Minecraft-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft-related companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the Minecraft community. In 2016, Minecon was held in-person for the last time, with the following years featuring annual "Minecon Earth" livestreams on minecraft.net and YouTube instead. These livestreams, later rebranded to "Minecraft Live", included the mob/biome votes, and announcements of new game updates. In 2025, "Minecraft Live" became a biannual event as part of Minecraft's changing update schedule.[citation needed] Notes References External links |
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Contents Xbox network The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the original Xbox console on November 15, 2002. An updated version of the service, adding the Xbox Live Marketplace, became available with the Xbox 360 console launch in November 2005, and a further enhanced version was released in 2013 with the Xbox One. The service is used on the latest Xbox Series X and Series S and, in addition to a Microsoft account, is the account for Xbox ecosystem; accounts can store games and other content. The service was extended in 2007 across the Windows platform, named Games for Windows – Live, now defunct, which made most aspects of the system available on Windows computers. The Microsoft Store and Xbox app are now used to cross over the Xbox ecosystem into PC gaming, in addition to handhelds and mobile phones as part of the Play Anywhere initiative. Microsoft's former mobile operating system, Windows Phone, included full Xbox Live functionality until it was discontinued. The service shut down for the original Xbox on April 15, 2010, and original Xbox Games are now only playable online through Insignia, an unofficial Xbox Live replacement service, or through local area network (LAN) tunneling applications. Xbox network service is available as both a free service and a subscription-based service known as Xbox Game Pass Essential. In 2021, Microsoft renamed Xbox Live as simply the "Xbox network" to cover all of its services related to Xbox, and began slowly phasing out all "Live" branding until it was fully removed in 2023. Availability The Xbox network is available in the following 41 countries and territories: seven in the Americas: one in Africa: nine in the Asia-Pacific region: 21 in Europe: three in the Middle East '*' = Country where Xbox network and Store are officially available, but the Store is in Global currency USD, not in local currency. Users from other countries are not officially supported, although it is possible for them to access Xbox network if they provide an address located in a country where Xbox network is officially available. The country selected during account creation affects the payment options, content, and services available to the user. Previously, users were unable to change their account region, but in October 2012, Microsoft introduced an account migration tool as a pilot project, which allows the user to change their region and maintain their Xbox network profile. Subscriptions, such as that for Xbox Music, cannot be transferred with this method. On May 18, 2011, Microsoft announced that it planned to launch Xbox network in the Middle East within the next twelve months, but it never occurred during that time period. However, on October 20, 2012, Microsoft officially announced the service would be launching in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in three days time. On November 4, Microsoft announced that the service would be launched on November 29 in Argentina and Israel. The service also appeared in the following month in Slovakia and Turkey. The service was launched in China without Game Pass in late 2014. On March 5, 2022, the Xbox team announced that it suspended all Xbox network services in Russia in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. History As Microsoft developed the original Xbox console, online gaming was designated as one of the key pillars for the greater Xbox strategy. Sega had made an attempt to capitalize on the ever-growing online gaming scene when it launched the Dreamcast video game console in 1999, including online support as standard, with the SegaNet service in North America and Dreamarena in Europe. Nevertheless, due to lack of widespread broadband adoption at the time, the Dreamcast shipped with only a dial-up modem while a later-released broadband adapter was neither widely supported nor widely available. Downloadable content was available, though limited in size due to the narrowband connection and the size limitations of a memory card. The PlayStation 2 did not initially ship with built-in networking capabilities. Microsoft, however, hoped that the Xbox would succeed where the Dreamcast had failed. The company determined that intense online gaming required the throughput of a broadband connection and the storage space of a hard disk drive, and thus these features would be vital to the new platform. This would allow not only for significant downloadable content, such as new levels, maps, weapons, challenges and characters, to be downloaded quickly and stored, but also would make it possible to standardize bandwidth intensive features such as voice communication. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates both had a vision of making premium download content and add-ons that would attract many new customers. Based on this reasoning, the console included a standard Ethernet port (10/100) in order to provide connectivity to common broadband networks, but did not include a modem or any dial-up support, and its online service was designed to support broadband users only. Critics scoffed at it, citing poor broadband adoption at the turn of the century. When the Xbox launched on November 15, 2001, the as-yet unnamed online service was destined for a Summer 2002 deployment. Xbox Live was finally given a name at E3 2002 when the service was unveiled in its entirety. Sound-dampened booths and broadband-connected Xbox consoles—featuring an early version of Unreal Championship—demonstrated the service on the show floor. The Epic title was one of the flagship titles for the service, which was slated for a debut on November 15, 2002, marking the anniversary of the Xbox launch. Microsoft announced that 50 Xbox Live titles would be available by the end of 2003. Utilizing the required broadband bandwidth, Xbox Live featured a unified gaming "Friends List", as well as a single identity across all titles (regardless of the publisher), and standardized voice chat with a headset and communication, a feature that was still in its infancy. Leading up to the launch, Microsoft enlisted several waves of beta testers to improve the service and receive feature feedback. The first wave of beta testers were given Re-Volt (which was never released officially) and NFL Fever 2003 to beta test. Once beta testing concluded, Microsoft sent these beta testers a translucent orange memory card, a headset carrying case, and a beta tester t-shirt with the slogan "I've got great hands". When the service debuted, it lacked much of the functionality that later titles included, but Xbox Live grew and evolved on the Xbox and many aspects of the service were included with the Xbox 360 console out of the box, rather than through a later update. Microsoft granted Live-related patent that gives Xbox 360 users access to watch other gamers compete against each other over Xbox Live. The packaging for playable Xbox Live titles on the original Xbox console featured a trademark luminescent orange-gold bar underneath the Xbox header. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Brute Force sported a Live "bubble" design, as they only featured downloadable content. It was changed later, wherein all Xbox Live titles included the universal orange-gold Live bar. By the time of the Xbox 360, all titles were required to provide at least a limited form of Xbox Live "awareness".[clarification needed] In July 2004, Xbox Live had reached 1 million online users. In July 2005, Xbox Live had reached 2 million online users. On November 15, 2007, Microsoft celebrated Xbox Live's 5th anniversary by offering its then over 8 million subscribers the title Carcassonne free of charge and awarding gamers who had subscribed to Live since its inception 500 free Microsoft Points. Due to intermittent service interruptions during late December 2007 and early January 2008, Microsoft promised to offer a free Xbox Live Arcade game to all Xbox Live users as compensation, in an open letter to all Xbox Live members from Marc Whitten, Xbox LIVE General Manager. Increased demand from Xbox 360 purchasers (the largest number of new user sign-ups in the history of Xbox Live) was given as the reason for the downtime. On January 18, 2008, Microsoft announced Undertow would be offered free to both Gold and Free members for the week starting January 23 through January 27 as compensation. On November 12, 2009, Dennis Durkin, COO of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, announced that November 10, 2009, the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 marked the busiest day ever on Xbox Live, with over two million active users simultaneously. On February 5, 2010, Marc Whitten announced that Xbox Live had reached 23 million members. On the same day, Larry Hyrb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, announced on his blog that Xbox Live support for the original Xbox would be discontinued on April 15, 2010, including online play through backwards compatibility on the Xbox 360 and all downloadable content for original Xbox games. In August 2010, Microsoft announced an increase to the cost of Xbox Live Gold in several countries by 20%, for the first time since its inception. The basic service was also renamed. Prior to October 2010, the free service was known as Xbox Live Silver. It was announced on June 10, 2011, that the service is going to be fully integrated into Microsoft's Windows 8. In October 2011, Microsoft announced live streaming cable television with various providers. In February 2013, Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, shared that Xbox Live members now number 46 million, up 15 percent from a year ago, during the Dive into Media conference in Southern California. In June 2014, Microsoft retracted the Xbox Live Gold requirements to access streaming media apps (including Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Internet Explorer, Skype, and others), though various rental or subscription fees may still apply. On December 25, 2014, both PlayStation Network and Xbox Live suffered network disruption after a denial-of-service attack. Functionality was restored on December 28, with some users experiencing difficulties in the days that followed. A group called, "The Phantom Squad" has threatened to disrupt the Xbox Live network through a denial-of-service attack on December 25, 2015. In 2019, the Official Xbox Magazine revealed that Xbox Live would be made cross platform, and would serve Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch. Microsoft added Xbox Live Gold to its Xbox Game Pass program as part of a new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription tier in April 2019. On January 22, 2021, Microsoft planned to increase the prices for the Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, as follows: by $1 for the monthly subscription ($10.99 from $9.99), by $5 for the 3-month subscription ($29.99 from $24.99), by $20 for the 6-month subscription ($59.99 from $39.99), and by $60 (double the price) for the 12-month subscription ($119.99 from $59.99). However, the 6-month and 12-month subscription price increases would not affect existing subscribers when they resubscribed at the same level, nor those already subscribed through the Xbox Games Pass Ultimate program. However, after complaints from the Xbox community, Microsoft made an announcement on the same day that they revoked their decision, and that they would not increase the prices of any of the subscriptions, thus they would remain the same as they were. Microsoft officially announced that they would be branding Xbox Live as "Xbox network" in March 2021 as to cover all the services related to Xbox and not just Xbox Live. Xbox Live Gold would remain the same name and to distinguish the subscription program from the set of services. Microsoft also stated that with this, it would eliminate the requirement to have Xbox Live Gold to play free-to-play games on Xbox consoles. By January 2021, Microsoft reported that there were more than 100 million Xbox users (including those through the Xbox Game Pass subscription). On September 14, 2023, Xbox Live Gold was discontinued and replaced by Xbox Game Pass Core, which carries most of the same benefits as Xbox Live Gold, while replacing the "Games with Gold" program with access to a limited rotation of Game Pass titles. User information A gamertag is the universal name for a player's username on the Xbox network. A gamertag is a unique identifier, and can include numbers, letters, and spaces. Gamertags can be changed using an Xbox console (first time is free, all other changes afterwards are charged), while the Xbox 360 supports eight Xbox network-enabled profiles per memory unit and thirty-two profiles on the hard drive. A player's Gamertag account status can be checked using a variety of online tools, which is useful especially when looking for a new gamertag, or confirming that a gamertag exists. Using a valid gamertag, any player can be found and messaged from within the network. There are also several websites which allow users of gamertags to upload photos and information about themselves. Gamertags also contain avatar images (or "gamer pictures"), with the stock images sometimes associated with certain games or game characters. On Xbox 360, individual gamerpics are available, but they are usually bundled into packs. It is also possible to take "Public" pictures (which are shown to all that view a profile, unless the user has a different "personal" picture set) which can be taken of avatars while using the avatar editor. On Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, players are able to upload custom images of their choice through the Xbox app, subject to Xbox approval. Users were formerly forbidden to use strings such as "gay" or refer to homosexuality in any way in their gamertag or profile due to it being considered "content of a sexual nature", even if the string occurs in a legitimate surname. Incidents where a woman was suspended from the service for identifying herself as a lesbian, and an incident where a male user was suspended for using his surname "Gaywood" in his username attracted controversy. In February 2009, Xbox Live Lead Program Manager for Enforcement Stephen Toulouse clarified the service's policy on sexual identification, stating that "Expression of any sexual orientation [...] is not allowed in Gamertags" but that the company is "examining how we can provide it in a way that won't get misused". Changes announced in March 2010 permit Xbox Live members to express sexual orientation in their gamertags and profiles. The Gamerscore (G) is an achievements point accumulation system that reflects the number of achievements accumulated by a user on Xbox through the displaying of the number of points accumulated. These Achievement points are awarded for the completion of game-specific challenges, such as beating a level or amassing a specified number of wins against other players in online matches and other various in game challenges. Initially, retail Xbox 360 games offered up to 1,000G spread over a variable number of Achievements, while each Xbox Live Arcade title contained 12 Achievements totaling 200G. On February 1, 2007, Microsoft announced on their Gamerscore Blog some new policies that developers must follow related to Gamerscore and Achievements in future releases. All regular disc-based games must have 1,000 Gamerscore points in the base game; the title can ship with fewer than 1,000 points, but anything added later must be free.[citation needed] Game developers also now have the option of adding up to 250 points via downloadable content every quarter after the first year of release (for a total of 1,750 points). Xbox Live Arcade titles also allowed players to obtain Gamerscore, initially up to 200 Gamerscore with additional points up to 50 Gamerscore via downloadable content (for a total of 250 points), but some XBLA games now contain up to 400 Gamerscore without DLC. On March 25, 2008, Microsoft cracked down on "Gamerscore cheaters" (those who used external tools to artificially inflate their Gamerscore), and reduced their Gamerscores to zero without the option to recover the scores that had been "earned", and branded the player by denoting on their Gamertag that they were a "Cheater". The development of the Gamerscore system had created a new niche in the internet economy. Many websites have been created to provide gamers with tips and tricks for getting achievement points. Some sites are solely devoted to these achievement guides, and some blogs provide gaming guides in addition to their other content. On March 13, 2014, Ray Cox IV or "Stallion83" became the first player in history to reach 1 million Gamerscore. The Gamercard is an information panel used to summarize one's user profile on Microsoft's Xbox network. The pieces of information on a Gamercard include: A player's Gamercard can be viewed via the guide, the Xbox app, or online through Xbox.com. Similarly, Mac OS X users were able to download widgets that display their Xbox Live Gamercard within Mac OS X's Dashboard. These can be downloaded onto any Mac with OS X 10.4 or higher via Apple's widget download page. On Xbox 360, there were four Gamer Zones; Recreation is for casual gamers, Family is for family-friendly gamers (without profanity, etc.), Pro is for competitive gamers who enjoy a challenge, and Underground is for no-holds-barred gaming where anything goes (as long as it does not violate the Xbox Live Terms of Use). However, in practice these gamer zones were displayed only on the Gamercard of the player, and did not tend to affect the gameplay experience or the matching of players in online games. TrueSkill is a ranking and matchmaking system which was first implemented as part of the Xbox 360's Live service. Developed at Microsoft Research Cambridge (United Kingdom), the TrueSkill ranking system is now used in over 150 titles for the Xbox 360[citation needed] and was used in the Games for Windows – Live game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. It uses a mathematical model of uncertainty to address weaknesses in existing ranking systems such as Elo. For example, a new player joining million-player leagues can be ranked correctly in fewer than 20 games. It can predict the probability of each game outcome, which enhances competitive matchmaking, making it possible to assemble skill-balanced teams from a group of players with different abilities. When matchmaking, the system attempts to match individuals based on their estimated skill level. If two individuals are competing head-to-head and have the same estimated skill level with low estimate uncertainty, they should each have roughly a 50% chance of winning a match. In this way, the system attempts to make every match as competitive as possible. In order to prevent abuse of the system, the majority of ranked games have relatively limited options for matchmaking. By design, players cannot easily play with their friends in ranked games. However, these countermeasures have failed due to techniques such as alternate account(s) and system flaws where each system has its own individual TrueSkill rating. To provide less competitive games, the system supports unranked Player Matches, which allow individuals of any skill level to be paired (often including "guests" on an account). Such matches do not contribute to the TrueSkill rating. Microsoft Store The Microsoft Store is the current digital marketplace for the Xbox ecosystem starting in 2017 for the Xbox One. It is available on consoles and on Xbox's website (as well as its own website), offering games from across all of Xbox's generations, in addition to movies, television shows, and multiple apps available as streaming services for music or television. Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) was a unified storefront for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One which offered both free and premium content for download including Xbox Live Arcade titles, Xbox indie games, original Xbox games, Xbox 360 game demos, game expansion material (e.g. extra maps, vehicles, songs), trailers, gamer pictures and themes, television shows, music videos, movie rentals, Apps and games and more. On November 6, 2006, Microsoft announced Microsoft Movies & TV (Microsoft Films & TV in other supported countries) (formerly Xbox Video Marketplace, Xbox Video and Zune Video), an exclusive video store accessible through the Xbox 360. Launched in the United States on November 22, 2006, the first anniversary of the Xbox 360's launch, the service allows users in the United States to download high-definition and standard-definition television shows for purchase and movies for rental onto an Xbox 360 console for viewing. With the exception of short clips, content is not currently available for streaming, and must be downloaded. Movies are available for rental from the Video Marketplace. They expire in 14 days after download or at the end of the first 24 hours after the movie has begun playing, whichever comes first. Television episodes can be purchased to own, and are transferable to an unlimited number of consoles. Downloaded files use 5.1 surround audio and are encoded using VC-1 for video at 720p, with a bitrate of 6.8 Mbit/s. Television content is offered from MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Turner Broadcasting and CBS; and movie content is Warner Bros., Paramount and Disney, along with other publishers. Xbox Play Anywhere Originally called Live Anywhere, Play Anywhere is a cross-platform service allowing owners of Xbox and Windows games the ability to use said games on either operating system. Under the scheme, supported games purchased digitally on Microsoft Store for Xbox One can also be downloaded on a Windows 10 PC (running Windows 10 Anniversary Update or later) through Microsoft Store using the same Microsoft account at no additional charge, and vice versa. The scheme also promotes the ability to synchronize save data, achievements, and downloadable content between Windows 10 and Xbox One versions of a game. Microsoft announced in March 2019 that it would be providing Xbox Live SDKs for iOS and Android mobile devices, allowing developers on those platforms to integrate most services of the Xbox network into their applications and games. Microsoft also stated that they were looking to bring this functionality to the Nintendo Switch, anticipating this to be a post-launch feature for the Switch port of Cuphead. Play Anywhere was originally released as Live Anywhere as a cross-platform initiative to bring the Xbox network to a wide variety of Microsoft platforms and devices, including Xbox, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows (Vista and 7), Windows Phone, and Zune. Microsoft's Chris Early said of Live Anywhere in 2006 that "it [was] a long-term project expected to be rolled out over several years". While a concept service for mobile devices was demonstrated at E3 2006 and CES 2006 on a Motorola Q mobile phone, it never released. On February 15, 2010, Microsoft announced its new mobile operating system, Windows Phone. With Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile 10, Microsoft integrated full Xbox Live functionality. Windows Phone has since been discontinued. At E3 2016 on June 14, 2016, Play Anywhere was announced, rebranding Live Anywhere, and releasing on September 13, 2016. Xbox Game Pass Signing up for the Xbox network is free, but a recurring subscription to Xbox Game Pass is required to access community features such as online multiplayer for paid games, game recording, and media sharing. The service includes access to a library of games which can be downloaded and played at no additional charge; they become locked and unplayable if the subscription lapses, or the title is no longer available to Game Pass. While initially requiring the subscription, online multiplayer on free-to-play titles, as well as the party chat feature on Xbox consoles, no longer need a subscription to use as of April 2021. The service is available in multiple tiers: Programs The "Game with Fame" initiative was Microsoft's way to connect Xbox Live members with celebrities and game developers. Notable participants of "Game with Fame" include Shia LaBeouf, Jack Black, Rihanna, Velvet Revolver, Victoria Justice, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Scissor Sisters, Paramore, Korn, OK Go, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Dream Theater, Linkin Park, Green Day and Insane Clown Posse. "Xbox Rewards" was a promotion designed to provide gamers incentives to play on the Xbox network by subsidizing achievement points earned with actual rewards. Gamers were required to register for specific challenges which, if successfully completed, would yield a challenge-specific reward. "Xbox Live Labs" was a program found in the community section and was available from March 10 to 27, 2011 for members in the United States. If a player chose to participate, they were rewarded with avatar items and 3 zero-point achievements. Metamessage was a show which aimed to answer questions sent in by viewers on anything related to the world of Xbox. The show ran for four series and was released every other Saturday. The show was driven entirely by user-generated questions. To ensure the volume of questions remained high, fans could contact the show in a variety of ways, including sending questions to the Metamessage Gamertag over Xbox LIVE, writing an email, or using social network websites.[citation needed] "Games with Gold" was a program in which digital downloads of games were offered at no charge to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Games with Gold initially launched with the Xbox 360 in July 2013, while Xbox One games were added in June 2014. After October 2022, Games with Gold no longer offered Xbox 360 games, with future releases being Xbox One games only. Games downloaded through the program on Xbox 360 were free to own with no further restrictions. Xbox One Games with Gold titles required an active Gold subscription in order to use, and became locked and unplayable if the subscription lapsed. As of November 2015, all Games with Gold titles for Xbox 360 were backwards compatible on Xbox One. The service was discontinued on September 14, 2023 as part of the Xbox network rebranding and focusing on a base-level Game Pass tier. Microsoft Rewards is a current promotion providing Xbox network members with Reward Points (not to be confused with the defunct Microsoft Points) when they achieve Game Pass goals, buy something on the Marketplace, etc. "Xbox Ambassadors" are Xbox network members selected by Microsoft who have proven themselves to be helpful towards others, and are willing to assist new Xbox users and answer their questions. As of March 2009, there are ambassadors representing 18 countries in more than 30 languages. Security Microsoft implements a number of different security measures on its Xbox network service. One of these takes the form of a proactive security check that assures that only unmodified machines may access their service. On May 17, 2007, Microsoft banned consoles with modified firmware from Xbox Live. A Microsoft representative indicated that the action was taken to assure "the integrity of the service and protect our partners and users.". According to Microsoft, consoles with firmware of unknown origin, quality or intent were banned permanently from the Xbox network. It has been discovered that pretexting has been used to impersonate an Xbox network user for sabotage. Microsoft subsequently implemented greater security to decrease the service's susceptibility to social engineering. In early November 2009 Microsoft banned approximately 1 million consoles with modified firmware from Xbox Live. In October 2011, users of Xbox Live reported having unauthorized access to their Xbox Live accounts, with Microsoft points subsequently being used and/or bought to purchase various in-game items for FIFA 12. Microsoft responded to such incidents by restricting access to the account for 25 days while the fraud team investigated. Both EA and Microsoft denied the existence of a wider security breach. On December 25, 2014, both PlayStation Network and Xbox Live suffered network disruption after a denial-of-service attack. Functionality was restored on December 28, with some users experiencing difficulties in the days that followed. First-generation Xbox Live shutdown Xbox Live for the original Xbox was discontinued by Microsoft on April 15, 2010, encouraging gamers to upgrade to the Xbox 360. Through loopholes and flaws, however, users were still able to play after the provided time and date Microsoft announced the shutdown. Users could continue interacting in the network; new users, however, could not enter the system. Notably, 14 users played Halo 2 until May 11, 2010. Though official Xbox Live service has been discontinued for the original Xbox, a replacement service for the original Xbox called Insignia has returned online functionality including online multiplayer, scoreboards, content download and more features to currently supported games. As an alternative to Insignia, LAN tunnelling software exists, allowing original Xbox users to play system link games such as Halo 2 with other people from around the world. The Noble 14 were a band of users who continued to play Halo 2 until May 11, 2010, 26 days after the service was officially discontinued by Microsoft. The users would play custom games together, with all attempting to stay on for as long as possible. An Xbox spokesperson made a statement regarding the Noble 14, "A small band of a committed few, engaged in a battle against insurmountable odds. It's not Noble team from Halo: Reach, it's the final, passionate few who are still playing Halo 2. We wish them the best in their battle against time." The last 12 users were offered Halo: Reach Beta Codes by GamesRadar.com, as well as having their Xbox Live memberships extended by Microsoft. Eventually "Agent Windex" and "Apache N4SIR" were the final two users on the service, however two days after the third user "Lord Odysseus11" was disconnected by an internet drop, user Agent Windex was booted on May 10, stating "Good job Apache, you're the last one." The next day, May 11, Apache N4SIR was booted offline after many hours since Agent Windex was disconnected. He stated that he wanted to play 15 hours, 14 for each member, then one final hour for the community. Revenue Bloomberg has estimated that Xbox network likely generated over $1 billion in revenue in the 2010 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, 2010. See also References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft#cite_note-Creative_Mode_2-66] | [TOKENS: 12858] |
Contents Minecraft Minecraft is a sandbox game developed and published by Mojang Studios. Following its initial public alpha release in 2009, it was formally released in 2011 for personal computers. The game has since been ported to numerous platforms, including mobile devices and various video game consoles. In Minecraft, players explore a procedurally generated world with virtually infinite terrain made up of voxels (cubes). They can discover and extract raw materials, craft tools and items, build structures, fight hostile mobs, and cooperate with or compete against other players in multiplayer. The game's large community offers a wide variety of user-generated content, such as modifications, servers, player skins, texture packs, and custom maps, which add new game mechanics and possibilities. Originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java programming language, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten was handed control over the game's development following its full release. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion; Xbox Game Studios hold the publishing rights for the Bedrock Edition, the unified cross-platform version which evolved from the Pocket Edition codebase[i] and replaced the legacy console versions. Bedrock is updated concurrently with Mojang's original Java Edition, although with numerous, generally small, differences. Minecraft is the best-selling video game in history with over 350 million copies sold. It has received critical acclaim, winning several awards and being cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Social media, parodies, adaptations, merchandise, and the annual Minecon conventions have played prominent roles in popularizing it. The wider Minecraft franchise includes several spin-off games, such as Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Dungeons, and Minecraft Legends. A film adaptation, titled A Minecraft Movie, was released in 2025 and became the second highest-grossing video game film of all time. Gameplay Minecraft is a 3D sandbox video game that has no required goals to accomplish, giving players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. The game features an optional achievement system. Gameplay is in the first-person perspective by default, but players have the option of third-person perspectives. The game world is composed of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes, referred to as blocks—representing various materials, such as dirt, stone, ores, tree trunks, water, and lava. The core gameplay revolves around picking up and placing these objects. These blocks are arranged in a voxel grid, while players can move freely around the world. Players can break, or mine, blocks and then place them elsewhere, enabling them to build things. Very few blocks are affected by gravity, instead maintaining their voxel position in the air. Players can also craft a wide variety of items, such as armor, which mitigates damage from attacks; weapons (such as swords or bows and arrows), which allow monsters and animals to be killed more easily; and tools (such as pickaxes or shovels), which break certain types of blocks more quickly. Some items have multiple tiers depending on the material used to craft them, with higher-tier items being more effective and durable. They may also freely craft helpful blocks—such as furnaces which can cook food and smelt ores, and torches that produce light—or exchange items with villagers (NPC) through trading emeralds for different goods and vice versa. The game has an inventory system, allowing players to carry a limited number of items. The in-game time system follows a day and night cycle, with one full cycle lasting for 20 real-time minutes. The game also contains a material called redstone, which can be used to make primitive mechanical devices, electrical circuits, and logic gates, allowing for the construction of many complex systems. New players are given a randomly selected default character skin out of nine possibilities, including Steve or Alex, but are able to create and upload their own skins. Players encounter various mobs (short for mobile entities) including animals, villagers, and hostile creatures. Passive mobs, such as cows, pigs, and chickens, spawn during the daytime and can be hunted for food and crafting materials, while hostile mobs—including large spiders, witches, skeletons, and zombies—spawn during nighttime or in dark places such as caves. Some hostile mobs, such as zombies and skeletons, burn under the sun if they have no headgear and are not standing in water. Other creatures unique to Minecraft include the creeper (an exploding creature that sneaks up on the player) and the enderman (a creature with the ability to teleport as well as pick up and place blocks). There are also variants of mobs that spawn in different conditions; for example, zombies have husk and drowned variants that spawn in deserts and oceans, respectively. The Minecraft environment is procedurally generated as players explore it using a map seed that is randomly chosen at the time of world creation (or manually specified by the player). Divided into biomes representing different environments with unique resources and structures, worlds are designed to be effectively infinite in traditional gameplay, though technical limits on the player have existed throughout development, both intentionally and not. Implementation of horizontally infinite generation initially resulted in a glitch termed the "Far Lands" at over 12 million blocks away from the world center, where terrain generated as wall-like, fissured patterns. The Far Lands and associated glitches were considered the effective edge of the world until they were resolved, with the current horizontal limit instead being a special impassable barrier called the world border, located 30 million blocks away. Vertical space is comparatively limited, with an unbreakable bedrock layer at the bottom and a building limit several hundred blocks into the sky. Minecraft features three independent dimensions accessible through portals and providing alternate game environments. The Overworld is the starting dimension and represents the real world, with a terrestrial surface setting including plains, mountains, forests, oceans, caves, and small sources of lava. The Nether is a hell-like underworld dimension accessed via an obsidian portal and composed mainly of lava. Mobs that populate the Nether include shrieking, fireball-shooting ghasts, alongside anthropomorphic pigs called piglins and their zombified counterparts. Piglins in particular have a bartering system, where players can give them gold ingots and receive items in return. Structures known as Nether Fortresses generate in the Nether, containing mobs such as wither skeletons and blazes, which can drop blaze rods needed to access the End dimension. The player can also choose to build an optional boss mob known as the Wither, using skulls obtained from wither skeletons and soul sand. The End can be reached through an end portal, consisting of twelve end portal frames. End portals are found in underground structures in the Overworld known as strongholds. To find strongholds, players must craft eyes of ender using an ender pearl and blaze powder. Eyes of ender can then be thrown, traveling in the direction of the stronghold. Once the player reaches the stronghold, they can place eyes of ender into each portal frame to activate the end portal. The dimension consists of islands floating in a dark, bottomless void. A boss enemy called the Ender Dragon guards the largest, central island. Killing the dragon opens access to an exit portal, which, when entered, cues the game's ending credits and the End Poem, a roughly 1,500-word work written by Irish novelist Julian Gough, which takes about nine minutes to scroll past, is the game's only narrative text, and the only text of significant length directed at the player.: 10–12 At the conclusion of the credits, the player is teleported back to their respawn point and may continue the game indefinitely. In Survival mode, players have to gather natural resources such as wood and stone found in the environment in order to craft certain blocks and items. Depending on the difficulty, monsters spawn in darker areas outside a certain radius of the character, requiring players to build a shelter in order to survive at night. The mode also has a health bar which is depleted by attacks from mobs, falls, drowning, falling into lava, suffocation, starvation, and other events. Players also have a hunger bar, which must be periodically refilled by eating food in-game unless the player is playing on peaceful difficulty. If the hunger bar is empty, the player starves. Health replenishes when players have a full hunger bar or continuously on peaceful. Upon losing all health, players die. The items in the players' inventories are dropped unless the game is reconfigured not to do so. Players then re-spawn at their spawn point, which by default is where players first spawn in the game and can be changed by sleeping in a bed or using a respawn anchor. Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they despawn after 5 minutes. Players may acquire experience points (commonly referred to as "xp" or "exp") by killing mobs and other players, mining, smelting ores, animal breeding, and cooking food. Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools, armor and weapons. Enchanted items are generally more powerful, last longer, or have other special effects. The game features two more game modes based on Survival, known as Hardcore mode and Adventure mode. Hardcore mode plays identically to Survival mode, but with the game's difficulty setting locked to "Hard" and with permadeath, forcing them to delete the world or explore it as a spectator after dying. Adventure mode was added to the game in a post-launch update, and prevents the player from directly modifying the game's world. It was designed primarily for use in custom maps, allowing map designers to let players experience it as intended. In Creative mode, players have access to an infinite number of all resources and items in the game through the inventory menu and can place or mine them instantly. Players can toggle the ability to fly freely around the game world at will, and their characters usually do not take any damage nor are affected by hunger. The game mode helps players focus on building and creating projects of any size without disturbance. Multiplayer in Minecraft enables multiple players to interact and communicate with each other on a single world. It is available through direct game-to-game multiplayer, local area network (LAN) play, local split screen (console-only), and servers (player-hosted and business-hosted). Players can run their own server by making a realm, using a host provider, hosting one themselves or connect directly to another player's game via Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or Nintendo Switch Online. Single-player worlds have LAN support, allowing players to join a world on locally interconnected computers without a server setup. Minecraft multiplayer servers are guided by server operators, who have access to server commands such as setting the time of day and teleporting players. Operators can also set up restrictions concerning which usernames or IP addresses are allowed or disallowed to enter the server. Multiplayer servers have a wide range of activities, with some servers having their own unique rules and customs. The largest and most popular server is Hypixel, which has been visited by over 14 million unique players. Player versus player combat (PvP) can be enabled to allow fighting between players. In 2013, Mojang announced Minecraft Realms, a server hosting service intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and safely without having to set up their own. Unlike a standard server, only invited players can join Realms servers, and these servers do not use server addresses. Minecraft: Java Edition Realms server owners can invite up to twenty people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at a time. Minecraft Realms server owners can invite up to 3,000 people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at one time. The Minecraft: Java Edition Realms servers do not support user-made plugins, but players can play custom Minecraft maps. Minecraft Bedrock Realms servers support user-made add-ons, resource packs, behavior packs, and custom Minecraft maps. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016, support for cross-platform play between Windows 10, iOS, and Android platforms was added through Realms starting in June 2016, with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch support to come later in 2017, and support for virtual reality devices. On 31 July 2017, Mojang released the beta version of the update allowing cross-platform play. Nintendo Switch support for Realms was released in July 2018. The modding community consists of fans, users and third-party programmers. Using a variety of application program interfaces that have arisen over time, they have produced a wide variety of downloadable content for Minecraft, such as modifications, texture packs and custom maps. Modifications of the Minecraft code, called mods, add a variety of gameplay changes, ranging from new blocks, items, and mobs to entire arrays of mechanisms. The modding community is responsible for a substantial supply of mods from ones that enhance gameplay, such as mini-maps, waypoints, and durability counters, to ones that add to the game elements from other video games and media. While a variety of mod frameworks were independently developed by reverse engineering the code, Mojang has also enhanced vanilla Minecraft with official frameworks for modification, allowing the production of community-created resource packs, which alter certain game elements including textures and sounds. Players can also create their own "maps" (custom world save files) that often contain specific rules, challenges, puzzles and quests, and share them for others to play. Mojang added an adventure mode in August 2012 and "command blocks" in October 2012, which were created specially for custom maps in Java Edition. Data packs, introduced in version 1.13 of the Java Edition, allow further customization, including the ability to add new achievements, dimensions, functions, loot tables, predicates, recipes, structures, tags, and world generation. The Xbox 360 Edition supported downloadable content, which was available to purchase via the Xbox Games Store; these content packs usually contained additional character skins. It later received support for texture packs in its twelfth title update while introducing "mash-up packs", which combined texture packs with skin packs and changes to the game's sounds, music and user interface. The first mash-up pack (and by extension, the first texture pack) for the Xbox 360 Edition was released on 4 September 2013, and was themed after the Mass Effect franchise. Unlike Java Edition, however, the Xbox 360 Edition did not support player-made mods or custom maps. A cross-promotional resource pack based on the Super Mario franchise by Nintendo was released exclusively for the Wii U Edition worldwide on 17 May 2016, and later bundled free with the Nintendo Switch Edition at launch. Another based on Fallout was released on consoles that December, and for Windows and Mobile in April 2017. In April 2018, malware was discovered in several downloadable user-made Minecraft skins for use with the Java Edition of the game. Avast stated that nearly 50,000 accounts were infected, and when activated, the malware would attempt to reformat the user's hard drive. Mojang promptly patched the issue, and released a statement stating that "the code would not be run or read by the game itself", and would run only when the image containing the skin itself was opened. In June 2017, Mojang released the "1.1 Discovery Update" to the Pocket Edition of the game, which later became the Bedrock Edition. The update introduced the "Marketplace", a catalogue of purchasable user-generated content intended to give Minecraft creators "another way to make a living from the game". Various skins, maps, texture packs and add-ons from different creators can be bought with "Minecoins", a digital currency that is purchased with real money. Additionally, users can access specific content with a subscription service titled "Marketplace Pass". Alongside content from independent creators, the Marketplace also houses items published by Mojang and Microsoft themselves, as well as official collaborations between Minecraft and other intellectual properties. By 2022, the Marketplace had over 1.7 billion content downloads, generating over $500 million in revenue. Development Before creating Minecraft, Markus "Notch" Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009. At King, he primarily developed browser games and learned several programming languages. During his free time, he prototyped his own games, often drawing inspiration from other titles, and was an active participant on the TIGSource forums for independent developers. One such project was "RubyDung", a base-building game inspired by Dwarf Fortress, but with an isometric, three-dimensional perspective similar to RollerCoaster Tycoon. Among the features in RubyDung that he explored was a first-person view similar to Dungeon Keeper, though he ultimately discarded this idea, feeling the graphics were too pixelated at the time. Around March 2009, Persson left King and joined jAlbum, while continuing to work on his prototypes. Infiniminer, a block-based open-ended mining game first released in April 2009, inspired Persson's vision for RubyDung's future direction. Infiniminer heavily influenced the visual style of gameplay, including bringing back the first-person mode, the "blocky" visual style and the block-building fundamentals. However, unlike Infiniminer, Persson wanted Minecraft to have RPG elements. The first public alpha build of Minecraft was released on 17 May 2009 on TIGSource. Over the years, Persson regularly released test builds that added new features, including tools, mobs, and entire new dimensions. In 2011, partly due to the game's rising popularity, Persson decided to release a full 1.0 version—a second part of the "Adventure Update"—on 18 November 2011. Shortly after, Persson stepped down from development, handing the project's lead to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten. On 15 September 2014, Microsoft, the developer behind the Microsoft Windows operating system and Xbox video game console, announced a $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, which included the Minecraft intellectual property. Persson had suggested the deal on Twitter, asking a corporation to buy his stake in the game after receiving criticism for enforcing terms in the game's end-user license agreement (EULA), which had been in place for the past three years. According to Persson, Mojang CEO Carl Manneh received a call from a Microsoft executive shortly after the tweet, asking if Persson was serious about a deal. Mojang was also approached by other companies including Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts. The deal with Microsoft was arbitrated on 6 November 2014 and led to Persson becoming one of Forbes' "World's Billionaires". After 2014, Minecraft's primary versions received usually annual major updates—free to players who have purchased the game— each primarily centered around a specific theme. For instance, version 1.13, the Update Aquatic, focused on ocean-related features, while version 1.16, the Nether Update, introduced significant changes to the Nether dimension. However, in late 2024, Mojang announced a shift in their update strategy; rather than releasing large updates annually, they opted for a more frequent release schedule with smaller, incremental updates, stating, "We know that you want new Minecraft content more often." The Bedrock Edition has also received regular updates, now matching the themes of the Java Edition updates. Other versions of the game, such as various console editions and the Pocket Edition, were either merged into Bedrock or discontinued and have not received further updates. On 7 May 2019, coinciding with Minecraft's 10th anniversary, a JavaScript recreation of an old 2009 Java Edition build named Minecraft Classic was made available to play online for free. On 16 April 2020, a Bedrock Edition-exclusive beta version of Minecraft, called Minecraft RTX, was released by Nvidia. It introduced physically-based rendering, real-time path tracing, and DLSS for RTX-enabled GPUs. The public release was made available on 8 December 2020. Path tracing can only be enabled in supported worlds, which can be downloaded for free via the in-game Minecraft Marketplace, with a texture pack from Nvidia's website, or with compatible third-party texture packs. It cannot be enabled by default with any texture pack on any world. Initially, Minecraft RTX was affected by many bugs, display errors, and instability issues. On 22 March 2025, a new visual mode called Vibrant Visuals, an optional graphical overhaul similar to Minecraft RTX, was announced. It promises modern rendering features—such as dynamic shadows, screen space reflections, volumetric fog, and bloom—without the need of RTX-capable hardware. Vibrant Visuals was released as a part of the Chase the Skies update on 17 June 2025 for Bedrock Edition and is planned to release on Java Edition at a later date. Development began for the original edition of Minecraft—then known as Cave Game, and now known as the Java Edition—in May 2009,[k] and ended on 13 May, when Persson released a test video on YouTube of an early version of the game, dubbed the "Cave game tech test" or the "Cave game tech demo". The game was named Minecraft: Order of the Stone the next day, after a suggestion made by a player. "Order of the Stone" came from the webcomic The Order of the Stick, and "Minecraft" was chosen "because it's a good name". The title was later shortened to just Minecraft, omitting the subtitle. Persson completed the game's base programming over a weekend in May 2009, and private testing began on TigIRC on 16 May. The first public release followed on 17 May 2009 as a developmental version shared on the TIGSource forums. Based on feedback from forum users, Persson continued updating the game. This initial public build later became known as Classic. Further developmental phases—dubbed Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev—were released throughout 2009 and 2010. The first major update, known as Alpha, was released on 30 June 2010. At the time, Persson was still working a day job at jAlbum but later resigned to focus on Minecraft full-time as sales of the alpha version surged. Updates were distributed automatically, introducing new blocks, items, mobs, and changes to game mechanics such as water flow. With revenue generated from the game, Persson founded Mojang, a video game studio, alongside former colleagues Jakob Porser and Carl Manneh. On 11 December 2010, Persson announced that Minecraft would enter its beta phase on 20 December. He assured players that bug fixes and all pre-release updates would remain free. As development progressed, Mojang expanded, hiring additional employees to work on the project. The game officially exited beta and launched in full on 18 November 2011. On 1 December 2011, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten took full creative control over Minecraft, replacing Persson as lead designer. On 28 February 2012, Mojang announced the hiring of the developers behind Bukkit, a popular developer API for Minecraft servers, to improve Minecraft's support of server modifications. This move included Mojang taking apparent ownership of the CraftBukkit server mod, though this apparent acquisition later became controversial, and its legitimacy was questioned due to CraftBukkit's open-source nature and licensing under the GNU General Public License and Lesser General Public License. In August 2011, Minecraft: Pocket Edition was released as an early alpha for the Xperia Play via the Android Market, later expanding to other Android devices on 8 October 2011. The iOS version followed on 17 November 2011. A port was made available for Windows Phones shortly after Microsoft acquired Mojang. Unlike Java Edition, Pocket Edition initially focused on Minecraft's creative building and basic survival elements but lacked many features of the PC version. Bergensten confirmed on Twitter that the Pocket Edition was written in C++ rather than Java, as iOS does not support Java. On 10 December 2014, a port of Pocket Edition was released for Windows Phone 8.1. In July 2015, a port of the Pocket Edition to Windows 10 was released as the Windows 10 Edition, with full crossplay to other Pocket versions. In January 2017, Microsoft announced that it would no longer maintain the Windows Phone versions of Pocket Edition. On 20 September 2017, with the "Better Together Update", the Pocket Edition was ported to the Xbox One, and was renamed to the Bedrock Edition. The console versions of Minecraft debuted with the Xbox 360 edition, developed by 4J Studios and released on 9 May 2012. Announced as part of the Xbox Live Arcade NEXT promotion, this version introduced a redesigned crafting system, a new control interface, in-game tutorials, split-screen multiplayer, and online play via Xbox Live. Unlike the PC version, its worlds were finite, bordered by invisible walls. Initially, the Xbox 360 version resembled outdated PC versions but received updates to bring it closer to Java Edition before eventually being discontinued. The Xbox One version launched on 5 September 2014, featuring larger worlds and support for more players. Minecraft expanded to PlayStation platforms with PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 editions released on 17 December 2013 and 4 September 2014, respectively. Originally planned as a PS4 launch title, it was delayed before its eventual release. A PlayStation Vita version followed in October 2014. Like the Xbox versions, the PlayStation editions were developed by 4J Studios. Nintendo platforms received Minecraft: Wii U Edition on 17 December 2015, with a physical release in North America on 17 June 2016 and in Europe on 30 June. The Nintendo Switch version launched via the eShop on 11 May 2017. During a Nintendo Direct presentation on 13 September 2017, Nintendo announced that Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition, based on the Pocket Edition, would be available for download immediately after the livestream, and a physical copy available on a later date. The game is compatible only with the New Nintendo 3DS or New Nintendo 2DS XL systems and does not work with the original 3DS or 2DS systems. On 20 September 2017, the Better Together Update introduced Bedrock Edition across Xbox One, Windows 10, VR, and mobile platforms, enabling cross-play between these versions. Bedrock Edition later expanded to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, with the latter receiving the update in December 2019, allowing cross-platform play for users with a free Xbox Live account. The Bedrock Edition released a native version for PlayStation 5 on 22 October 2024, while the Xbox Series X/S version launched on 17 June 2025. On 18 December 2018, the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions of Minecraft received their final update and would later become known as "Legacy Console Editions". On 15 January 2019, the New Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft received its final update, effectively becoming discontinued as well. An educational version of Minecraft, designed for use in schools, launched on 1 November 2016. It is available on Android, ChromeOS, iPadOS, iOS, MacOS, and Windows. On 20 August 2018, Mojang announced that it would bring Education Edition to iPadOS in Autumn 2018. It was released to the App Store on 6 September 2018. On 27 March 2019, it was announced that it would be operated by JD.com in China. On 26 June 2020, a public beta for the Education Edition was made available to Google Play Store compatible Chromebooks. The full game was released to the Google Play Store for Chromebooks on 7 August 2020. On 20 May 2016, China Edition (also known as My World) was announced as a localized edition for China, where it was released under a licensing agreement between NetEase and Mojang. The PC edition was released for public testing on 8 August 2017. The iOS version was released on 15 September 2017, and the Android version was released on 12 October 2017. The PC edition is based on the original Java Edition, while the iOS and Android mobile versions are based on the Bedrock Edition. The edition is free-to-play and had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. This version of Bedrock Edition is exclusive to Microsoft's Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems. The beta release for Windows 10 launched on the Windows Store on 29 July 2015. After nearly a year and a half in beta, Microsoft fully released the version on 19 December 2016. Called the "Ender Update", this release implemented new features to this version of Minecraft like world templates and add-on packs. On 7 June 2022, the Java and Bedrock Editions of Minecraft were merged into a single bundle for purchase on Windows; those who owned one version would automatically gain access to the other version. Both game versions would otherwise remain separate. Around 2011, prior to Minecraft's full release, Mojang collaborated with The Lego Group to create a Lego brick-based Minecraft game called Brickcraft. This would have modified the base Minecraft game to use Lego bricks, which meant adapting the basic 1×1 block to account for larger pieces typically used in Lego sets. Persson worked on an early version called "Project Rex Kwon Do", named after the character of the same name from the film Napoleon Dynamite. Although Lego approved the project and Mojang assigned two developers for six months, it was canceled due to the Lego Group's demands, according to Mojang's Daniel Kaplan. Lego considered buying Mojang to complete the game, but when Microsoft offered over $2 billion for the company, Lego stepped back, unsure of Minecraft's potential. On 26 June 2025, a build of Brickcraft dated 28 June 2012 was published on a community archive website Omniarchive. Initially, Markus Persson planned to support the Oculus Rift with a Minecraft port. However, after Facebook acquired Oculus in 2013, he abruptly canceled the plans, stating, "Facebook creeps me out." In 2016, a community-made mod, Minecraft VR, added VR support for Java Edition, followed by Vivecraft for HTC Vive. Later that year, Microsoft introduced official Oculus Rift support for Windows 10 Edition, leading to the discontinuation of the Minecraft VR mod due to trademark complaints. Vivecraft was endorsed by Minecraft VR contributors for its Rift support. Also available is a Gear VR version, titled Minecraft: Gear VR Edition. Windows Mixed Reality support was added in 2017. On 7 September 2020, Mojang Studios announced that the PlayStation 4 Bedrock version would receive PlayStation VR support later that month. In September 2024, the Minecraft team announced they would no longer support PlayStation VR, which received its final update in March 2025. Music and sound design Minecraft's music and sound effects were produced by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. To create the sound effects for the game, Rosenfeld made extensive use of Foley techniques. On learning the processes for the game, he remarked, "Foley's an interesting thing, and I had to learn its subtleties. Early on, I wasn't that knowledgeable about it. It's a whole trial-and-error process. You just make a sound and eventually you go, 'Oh my God, that's it! Get the microphone!' There's no set way of doing anything at all." He reminisced on creating the in-game sound for grass blocks, stating "It turns out that to make grass sounds you don't actually walk on grass and record it, because grass sounds like nothing. What you want to do is get a VHS, break it apart, and just lightly touch the tape." According to Rosenfeld, his favorite sound to design for the game was the hisses of spiders. He elaborates, "I like the spiders. Recording that was a whole day of me researching what a spider sounds like. Turns out, there are spiders that make little screeching sounds, so I think I got this recording of a fire hose, put it in a sampler, and just pitched it around until it sounded like a weird spider was talking to you." Many of the sound design decisions by Rosenfeld were done accidentally or spontaneously. The creeper notably lacks any specific noises apart from a loud fuse-like sound when about to explode; Rosenfeld later recalled "That was just a complete accident by Markus and me [sic]. We just put in a placeholder sound of burning a matchstick. It seemed to work hilariously well, so we kept it." On other sounds, such as those of the zombie, Rosenfeld remarked, "I actually never wanted the zombies so scary. I intentionally made them sound comical. It's nice to hear that they work so well [...]." Rosenfeld remarked that the sound engine was "terrible" to work with, remembering "If you had two song files at once, it [the game engine] would actually crash. There were so many more weird glitches like that the guys never really fixed because they were too busy with the actual game and not the sound engine." The background music in Minecraft consists of instrumental ambient music. To compose the music of Minecraft, Rosenfeld used the package from Ableton Live, along with several additional plug-ins. Speaking on them, Rosenfeld said "They can be pretty much everything from an effect to an entire orchestra. Additionally, I've got some synthesizers that are attached to the computer. Like a Moog Voyager, Dave Smith Prophet 08 and a Virus TI." On 4 March 2011, Rosenfeld released a soundtrack titled Minecraft – Volume Alpha; it includes most of the tracks featured in Minecraft, as well as other music not featured in the game. Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku chose the music in Minecraft as one of the best video game soundtracks of 2011. On 9 November 2013, Rosenfeld released the second official soundtrack, titled Minecraft – Volume Beta, which included the music that was added in a 2013 "Music Update" for the game. A physical release of Volume Alpha, consisting of CDs, black vinyl, and limited-edition transparent green vinyl LPs, was issued by indie electronic label Ghostly International on 21 August 2015. On 14 August 2020, Ghostly released Volume Beta on CD and vinyl, with alternate color LPs and lenticular cover pressings released in limited quantities. The final update Rosenfeld worked on was 2018's 1.13 Update Aquatic. His music remained the only music in the game until 2020's "Nether Update", introducing pieces from Lena Raine. Since then, other composers have made contributions, including Kumi Tanioka, Samuel Åberg, Aaron Cherof, and Amos Roddy, with Raine remaining as the new primary composer. Ownership of all music besides Rosenfeld's independently released albums has been retained by Microsoft, with their label publishing all of the other artists' releases. Gareth Coker also composed some of the music for the game's mini games from the Legacy Console editions. Rosenfeld had stated his intent to create a third album of music for the game in a 2015 interview with Fact, and confirmed its existence in a 2017 tweet, stating that his work on the record as of then had tallied up to be longer than the previous two albums combined, which in total clocks in at over 3 hours and 18 minutes. However, due to licensing issues with Microsoft, the third volume has since not seen release. On 8 January 2021, Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not there was still a third volume of his music intended for release. Rosenfeld responded, saying, "I have something—I consider it finished—but things have become complicated, especially as Minecraft is now a big property, so I don't know." Reception Minecraft has received critical acclaim, with praise for the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay. Critics have expressed enjoyment in Minecraft's complex crafting system, commenting that it is an important aspect of the game's open-ended gameplay. Most publications were impressed by the game's "blocky" graphics, with IGN describing them as "instantly memorable". Reviewers also liked the game's adventure elements, noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building. The game's multiplayer feature has been generally received favorably, with IGN commenting that "adventuring is always better with friends". Jaz McDougall of PC Gamer said Minecraft is "intuitively interesting and contagiously fun, with an unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences". It has been regarded as having introduced millions of children to the digital world, insofar as its basic game mechanics are logically analogous to computer commands. IGN was disappointed about the troublesome steps needed to set up multiplayer servers, calling it a "hassle". Critics also said that visual glitches occur periodically. Despite its release out of beta in 2011, GameSpot said the game had an "unfinished feel", adding that some game elements seem "incomplete or thrown together in haste". A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the Daily Record, called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it. Jim Rossignol of Rock Paper Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego Stalker". On 17 September 2010, gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game. The Xbox 360 version was generally received positively by critics, but did not receive as much praise as the PC version. Although reviewers were disappointed by the lack of features such as mod support and content from the PC version, they acclaimed the port's addition of a tutorial and in-game tips and crafting recipes, saying that they make the game more user-friendly. The Xbox One Edition was one of the best received ports, being praised for its relatively large worlds. The PlayStation 3 Edition also received generally favorable reviews, being compared to the Xbox 360 Edition and praised for its well-adapted controls. The PlayStation 4 edition was the best received port to date, being praised for having 36 times larger worlds than the PlayStation 3 edition and described as nearly identical to the Xbox One edition. The PlayStation Vita Edition received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for its technical limitations. The Wii U version received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for a lack of GamePad integration. The 3DS version received mixed reviews, being criticized for its high price, technical issues, and lack of cross-platform play. The Nintendo Switch Edition received fairly positive reviews from critics, being praised, like other modern ports, for its relatively larger worlds. Minecraft: Pocket Edition initially received mixed reviews from critics. Although reviewers appreciated the game's intuitive controls, they were disappointed by the lack of content. The inability to collect resources and craft items, as well as the limited types of blocks and lack of hostile mobs, were especially criticized. After updates added more content, Pocket Edition started receiving more positive reviews. Reviewers complimented the controls and the graphics, but still noted a lack of content. Minecraft surpassed over a million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase in early 2011. At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth, and various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic. By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version. In November 2011, prior to the game's full release, Minecraft beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases. By March 2012, Minecraft had become the 6th best-selling PC game of all time. As of 10 October 2014[update], the game had sold 17 million copies on PC, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time. On 25 February 2014, the game reached 100 million registered users. By May 2019, 180 million copies had been sold across all platforms, making it the single best-selling video game of all time. The free-to-play Minecraft China version had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. By 2023, the game had sold over 300 million copies. As of April 2025, Minecraft has sold over 350 million copies. The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first day of the game's release in 2012, when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400,000 players online. Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold a million copies. GameSpot announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012. In 2012, Minecraft was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day. As of 4 April 2014[update], the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies. In addition, Minecraft: Pocket Edition has reached a figure of 21 million in sales. The PlayStation 3 Edition sold one million copies in five weeks. The release of the game's PlayStation Vita version boosted Minecraft sales by 79%, outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest Minecraft launch on a PlayStation console. The PS Vita version sold 100,000 digital copies in Japan within the first two months of release, according to an announcement by SCE Japan Asia. By January 2015, 500,000 digital copies of Minecraft were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms, with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version. As of 2022, the Vita version has sold over 1.65 million physical copies in Japan, making it the best-selling Vita game in the country. Minecraft helped improve Microsoft's total first-party revenue by $63 million for the 2015 second quarter. The game, including all of its versions, had over 112 million monthly active players by September 2019. On its 11th anniversary in May 2020, the company announced that Minecraft had reached over 200 million copies sold across platforms with over 126 million monthly active players. By April 2021, the number of active monthly users had climbed to 140 million. In July 2010, PC Gamer listed Minecraft as the fourth-best game to play at work. In December of that year, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010, Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the "game of the year". Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for Most Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie. It was also awarded Game of the Year by PC Gamer UK. The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Technical Excellence, and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize and the community-voted Audience Award. At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, Minecraft won awards in the categories for Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game and Innovation Award, winning every award for which it was nominated. It also won GameCity's video game arts award. On 5 May 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on 16 March 2012. At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Minecraft won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category. In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Persson received The Special Award. In 2012, Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category, and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category. In 2013, it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards. During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year". Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014. In 2015, the game placed 6th on USgamer's The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list. In 2016, Minecraft placed 6th on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list. Minecraft was nominated for the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite App, but lost to Temple Run. It was nominated for the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game, but lost to Just Dance 2014. The game later won the award for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards. In addition, the Java Edition was nominated for "Favorite Video Game" at the 2018 Kids' Choice Awards, while the game itself won the "Still Playing" award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, as well as the "Favorite Video Game" award at the 2020 Kids' Choice Awards. Minecraft also won "Stream Game of the Year" at inaugural Streamer Awards in 2021. The game later garnered a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award nomination for Favorite Video Game in 2021, and won the same category in 2022 and 2023. At the Golden Joystick Awards 2025, it won the Still Playing Award - PC and Console. Minecraft has been subject to several notable controversies. In June 2014, Mojang announced that it would begin enforcing the portion of Minecraft's end-user license agreement (EULA) which prohibits servers from giving in-game advantages to players in exchange for donations or payments. Spokesperson Owen Hill stated that servers could still require players to pay a fee to access the server and could sell in-game cosmetic items. The change was supported by Persson, citing emails he received from parents of children who had spent hundreds of dollars on servers. The Minecraft community and server owners protested, arguing that the EULA's terms were more broad than Mojang was claiming, that the crackdown would force smaller servers to shut down for financial reasons, and that Mojang was suppressing competition for its own Minecraft Realms subscription service. The controversy contributed to Notch's decision to sell Mojang. In 2020, Mojang announced an eventual change to the Java Edition to require a login from a Microsoft account rather than a Mojang account, the latter of which would be sunsetted. This also required Java Edition players to create Xbox network Gamertags. Mojang defended the move to Microsoft accounts by saying that improved security could be offered, including two-factor authentication, blocking cyberbullies in chat, and improved parental controls. The community responded with intense backlash, citing various technical difficulties encountered in the process and how account migration would be mandatory, even for those who do not play on servers. As of 10 March 2022, Microsoft required that all players migrate in order to maintain access the Java Edition of Minecraft. Mojang announced a deadline of 19 September 2023 for account migration, after which all legacy Mojang accounts became inaccessible and unable to be migrated. In June 2022, Mojang added a player-reporting feature in Java Edition. Players could report other players on multiplayer servers for sending messages prohibited by the Xbox Live Code of Conduct; report categories included profane language,[l] substance abuse, hate speech, threats of violence, and nudity. If a player was found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards, they would be banned from all servers for a specific period of time or permanently. The update containing the report feature (1.19.1) was released on 27 July 2022. Mojang received substantial backlash and protest from community members, one of the most common complaints being that banned players would be forbidden from joining any server, even private ones. Others took issue to what they saw as Microsoft increasing control over its player base and exercising censorship, leading some to start a hashtag #saveminecraft and dub the version "1.19.84", a reference to the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The "Mob Vote" was an online event organized by Mojang in which the Minecraft community voted between three original mob concepts; initially, the winning mob was to be implemented in a future update, while the losing mobs were scrapped, though after the first mob vote this was changed, and losing mobs would now have a chance to come to the game in the future. The first Mob Vote was held during Minecon Earth 2017 and became an annual event starting with Minecraft Live 2020. The Mob Vote was often criticized for forcing players to choose one mob instead of implementing all three, causing divisions and flaming within the community, and potentially allowing internet bots and Minecraft content creators with large fanbases to conduct vote brigading. The Mob Vote was also blamed for a perceived lack of new content added to Minecraft since Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang in 2014. The 2023 Mob Vote featured three passive mobs—the crab, the penguin, and the armadillo—with voting scheduled to start on 13 October. In response, a Change.org petition was created on 6 October, demanding that Mojang eliminate the Mob Vote and instead implement all three mobs going forward. The petition received approximately 445,000 signatures by 13 October and was joined by calls to boycott the Mob Vote, as well as a partially tongue-in-cheek "revolutionary" propaganda campaign in which sympathizers created anti-Mojang and pro-boycott posters in the vein of real 20th century propaganda posters. Mojang did not release an official response to the boycott, and the Mob Vote otherwise proceeded normally, with the armadillo winning the vote. In September 2024, as part of a blog post detailing their future plans for Minecraft's development, Mojang announced the Mob Vote would be retired. Cultural impact In September 2019, The Guardian classified Minecraft as the best video game of the 21st century to date, and in November 2019, Polygon called it the "most important game of the decade" in its 2010s "decade in review". In June 2020, Minecraft was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Minecraft is recognized as one of the first successful games to use an early access model to draw in sales prior to its full release version to help fund development. As Minecraft helped to bolster indie game development in the early 2010s, it also helped to popularize the use of the early access model in indie game development. Social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit have played a significant role in popularizing Minecraft. Research conducted by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania showed that one-third of Minecraft players learned about the game via Internet videos. In 2010, Minecraft-related videos began to gain influence on YouTube, often made by commentators. The videos usually contain screen-capture footage of the game and voice-overs. Common coverage in the videos includes creations made by players, walkthroughs of various tasks, and parodies of works in popular culture. By May 2012, over four million Minecraft-related YouTube videos had been uploaded. The game would go on to be a prominent fixture within YouTube's gaming scene during the entire 2010s; in 2014, it was the second-most searched term on the entire platform. By 2018, it was still YouTube's biggest game globally. Some popular commentators have received employment at Machinima, a now-defunct gaming video company that owned a highly watched entertainment channel on YouTube. The Yogscast is a British company that regularly produces Minecraft videos; their YouTube channel has attained billions of views, and their panel at Minecon 2011 had the highest attendance. Another well-known YouTube personality is Jordan Maron, known online as CaptainSparklez, who has also created many Minecraft music parodies, including "Revenge", a parody of Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love". Minecraft's popularity on YouTube was described by Polygon as quietly dominant, although in 2019, thanks in part to PewDiePie's playthroughs of the game, Minecraft experienced a visible uptick in popularity on the platform. Longer-running series include Far Lands or Bust, dedicated to reaching the obsolete "Far Lands" glitch by foot on an older version of the game. YouTube announced that on 14 December 2021 that the total amount of Minecraft-related views on the website had exceeded one trillion. Minecraft has been referenced by other video games, such as Torchlight II, Team Fortress 2, Borderlands 2, Choplifter HD, Super Meat Boy, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Binding of Isaac, The Stanley Parable, and FTL: Faster Than Light. Minecraft is officially represented in downloadable content for the crossover fighter Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with Steve as a playable character with a moveset including references to building, crafting, and redstone, alongside an Overworld-themed stage. It was also referenced by electronic music artist Deadmau5 in his performances. The game is also referenced heavily in "Informative Murder Porn", the second episode of the seventeenth season of the animated television series South Park. In 2025, A Minecraft Movie was released. It made $313 million in the box office in the first week, a record-breaking opening for a video game adaptation. Minecraft has been noted as a cultural touchstone for Generation Z, as many of the generation's members played the game at a young age. The possible applications of Minecraft have been discussed extensively, especially in the fields of computer-aided design (CAD) and education. In a panel at Minecon 2011, a Swedish developer discussed the possibility of using the game to redesign public buildings and parks, stating that rendering using Minecraft was much more user-friendly for the community, making it easier to envision the functionality of new buildings and parks. In 2012, a member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab, Cody Sumter, said: "Notch hasn't just built a game. He's tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program." Various software has been developed to allow virtual designs to be printed using professional 3D printers or personal printers such as MakerBot and RepRap. In September 2012, Mojang began the Block by Block project in cooperation with UN Habitat to create real-world environments in Minecraft. The project allows young people who live in those environments to participate in designing the changes they would like to see. Using Minecraft, the community has helped reconstruct the areas of concern, and citizens are invited to enter the Minecraft servers and modify their own neighborhood. Carl Manneh, Mojang's managing director, called the game "the perfect tool to facilitate this process", adding "The three-year partnership will support UN-Habitat's Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016." Mojang signed Minecraft building community, FyreUK, to help render the environments into Minecraft. The first pilot project began in Kibera, one of Nairobi's informal settlements and is in the planning phase. The Block by Block project is based on an earlier initiative started in October 2011, Mina Kvarter (My Block), which gave young people in Swedish communities a tool to visualize how they wanted to change their part of town. According to Manneh, the project was a helpful way to visualize urban planning ideas without necessarily having a training in architecture. The ideas presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions. In April 2014, the Danish Geodata Agency generated all of Denmark in fullscale in Minecraft based on their own geodata. This is possible because Denmark is one of the flattest countries with the highest point at 171 meters (ranking as the country with the 30th smallest elevation span), where the limit in default Minecraft was around 192 meters above in-game sea level when the project was completed. Taking advantage of the game's accessibility where other websites are censored, the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders has used an open Minecraft server to create the Uncensored Library, a repository within the game of journalism by authors from countries (including Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam) who have been censored and arrested, such as Jamal Khashoggi. The neoclassical virtual building was created over about 250 hours by an international team of 24 people. Despite its unpredictable nature, Minecraft speedrunning, where players time themselves from spawning into a new world to reaching The End and defeating the Ender Dragon boss, is popular. Some speedrunners use a combination of mods, external programs, and debug menus, while other runners play the game in a more vanilla or more consistency-oriented way. Minecraft has been used in educational settings through initiatives such as MinecraftEdu, founded in 2011 to make the game affordable and accessible for schools in collaboration with Mojang. MinecraftEdu provided features allowing teachers to monitor student progress, including screenshot submissions as evidence of lesson completion, and by 2012 reported that approximately 250,000 students worldwide had access to the platform. Mojang also developed Minecraft: Education Edition with pre-built lesson plans for up to 30 students in a closed environment. Educators have used Minecraft to teach subjects such as history, language arts, and science through custom-built environments, including reconstructions of historical landmarks and large-scale models of biological structures such as animal cells. The introduction of redstone blocks enabled the construction of functional virtual machines such as a hard drive and an 8-bit computer. Mods have been created to use these mechanics for teaching programming. In 2014, the British Museum announced a project to reproduce its building and exhibits in Minecraft in collaboration with the public. Microsoft and Code.org have offered Minecraft-based tutorials and activities designed to teach programming, reporting by 2018 that more than 85 million children had used their resources. In 2025, the Musée de Minéralogie in Paris held a temporary exhibition titled "Minerals in Minecraft." Following the initial surge in popularity of Minecraft in 2010, other video games were criticised for having various similarities to Minecraft, and some were described as being "clones", often due to a direct inspiration from Minecraft, or a superficial similarity. Examples include Ace of Spades, CastleMiner, CraftWorld, FortressCraft, Terraria, BlockWorld 3D, Total Miner, and Luanti (formerly Minetest). David Frampton, designer of The Blockheads, reported that one failure of his 2D game was the "low resolution pixel art" that too closely resembled the art in Minecraft, which resulted in "some resistance" from fans. A homebrew adaptation of the alpha version of Minecraft for the Nintendo DS, titled DScraft, has been released; it has been noted for its similarity to the original game considering the technical limitations of the system. In response to Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang and their Minecraft IP, various developers announced further clone titles developed specifically for Nintendo's consoles, as they were the only major platforms not to officially receive Minecraft at the time. These clone titles include UCraft (Nexis Games), Cube Life: Island Survival (Cypronia), Discovery (Noowanda), Battleminer (Wobbly Tooth Games), Cube Creator 3D (Big John Games), and Stone Shire (Finger Gun Games). Despite this, the fears of fans were unfounded, with official Minecraft releases on Nintendo consoles eventually resuming. Markus Persson made another similar game, Minicraft, for a Ludum Dare competition in 2011. In 2025, Persson announced through a poll on his X account that he was considering developing a spiritual successor to Minecraft. He later clarified that he was "100% serious", and that he had "basically announced Minecraft 2". Within days, however, Persson cancelled the plans after speaking to his team. In November 2024, artificial intelligence companies Decart and Etched released Oasis, an artificially generated version of Minecraft, as a proof of concept. Every in-game element is completely AI-generated in real time and the model does not store world data, leading to "hallucinations" such as items and blocks appearing that were not there before. In January 2026, indie game developer Unomelon announced that their voxel sandbox game Allumeria would be playable in Steam Next Fest that year. On 10 February, Mojang issued a DMCA takedown of Allumeria on Steam through Valve, alleging the game was infringing on Minecraft's copyright. Some reports suggested that the takedown may have used an automatic AI copyright claiming service. The DMCA was later withdrawn. Minecon was an annual official fan convention dedicated to Minecraft. The first full Minecon was held in November 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The event included the official launch of Minecraft; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; Minecraft-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft-related companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the Minecraft community. In 2016, Minecon was held in-person for the last time, with the following years featuring annual "Minecon Earth" livestreams on minecraft.net and YouTube instead. These livestreams, later rebranded to "Minecraft Live", included the mob/biome votes, and announcements of new game updates. In 2025, "Minecraft Live" became a biannual event as part of Minecraft's changing update schedule.[citation needed] Notes References External links |
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Contents World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plurality of worlds". Some treat the world as one simple object, while others analyze the world as a complex made up of parts. In scientific cosmology, the world or universe is commonly defined as "the totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and will be". Theories of modality talk of possible worlds as complete and consistent ways how things could have been. Phenomenology, starting from the horizon of co-given objects present in the periphery of every experience, defines the world as the biggest horizon, or the "horizon of all horizons". In philosophy of mind, the world is contrasted with the mind as that which is represented by the mind. Theology conceptualizes the world in relation to God, for example, as God's creation, as identical to God, or as the two being interdependent. In religions, there is a tendency to downgrade the material or sensory world in favor of a spiritual world to be sought through religious practice. A comprehensive representation of the world and our place in it, as is found in religions, is known as a worldview. Cosmogony is the field that studies the origin or creation of the world, while eschatology refers to the science or doctrine of the last things or of the end of the world. In various contexts, the term "world" takes a more restricted meaning associated, for example, with the Earth and all life on it, with humanity as a whole, or with an international or intercontinental scope. In this sense, world history refers to the history of humanity as a whole, and world politics is the discipline of political science studying issues that transcend nations and continents. Other examples include terms such as "world religion", "world language", "world government", "world war", "world population", "world economy", or "world championship". Etymology The English word world comes from the Old English weorold. The Old English is a reflex of the Common Germanic *weraldiz, a compound of weraz 'man' and aldiz 'age', thus literally meaning roughly 'age of man'; this word led to Old Frisian warld, Old Saxon werold, Old Dutch werolt, Old High German weralt, and Old Norse verǫld. The corresponding word in Latin is mundus, literally 'clean, elegant', itself a loan translation of Greek cosmos 'orderly arrangement'. While the Germanic word thus reflects a mythological notion of a "domain of Man" (compare Midgard), presumably as opposed to the divine sphere on the one hand and the chthonic sphere of the underworld on the other, the Greco-Latin term expresses a notion of creation as an act of establishing order out of chaos. Conceptions Different fields often work with quite different conceptions of the essential features associated with the term "world". Some conceptions see the world as unique: there can be no more than one world. Others talk of a "plurality of worlds". Some see worlds as complex things composed of many substances as their parts while others hold that worlds are simple in the sense that there is only one substance: the world as a whole. Some characterize worlds in terms of objective spacetime while others define them relative to the horizon present in each experience. These different characterizations are not always exclusive: it may be possible to combine some without leading to a contradiction. Most of them agree that worlds are unified totalities. Monism is a thesis about oneness: that only one thing exists in a certain sense. The denial of monism is pluralism, the thesis that, in a certain sense, more than one thing exists. There are many forms of monism and pluralism, but in relation to the world as a whole, two are of special interest: existence monism/pluralism and priority monism/pluralism. Existence monism states that the world is the only concrete object there is. This means that all the concrete "objects" we encounter in our daily lives, including apples, cars and ourselves, are not truly objects in a strict sense. Instead, they are just dependent aspects of the world-object. Such a world-object is simple in the sense that it does not have any genuine parts. For this reason, it has also been referred to as "blobject" since it lacks an internal structure like a blob. Priority monism allows that there are other concrete objects besides the world. But it holds that these objects do not have the most fundamental form of existence, that they somehow depend on the existence of the world. The corresponding forms of pluralism state that the world is complex in the sense that it is made up of concrete, independent objects. Scientific cosmology can be defined as the science of the universe as a whole. In it, the terms "universe" and "cosmos" are usually used as synonyms for the term "world". One common definition of the world/universe found in this field is as "[t]he totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and will be". Some definitions emphasize that there are two other aspects to the universe besides spacetime: forms of energy or matter, like stars and particles, and laws of nature. World-conceptions in this field differ both concerning their notion of spacetime and of the contents of spacetime. The theory of relativity plays a central role in modern cosmology and its conception of space and time. A difference from its predecessors is that it conceives space and time not as distinct dimensions but as a single four-dimensional manifold called spacetime. This can be seen in special relativity in relation to the Minkowski metric, which includes both spatial and temporal components in its definition of distance. General relativity goes one step further by integrating the concept of mass into the concept of spacetime as its curvature. Quantum cosmology uses a classical notion of spacetime and conceives the whole world as one big wave function expressing the probability of finding particles in a given location. The world-concept plays a role in many modern theories of modality, sometimes in the form of possible worlds. A possible world is a complete and consistent way how things could have been. The actual world is a possible world since the way things are is a way things could have been. There are many other ways things could have been besides how they actually are. For example, Hillary Clinton did not win the 2016 US election, but she could have won. So there is a possible world in which she did. There is a vast number of possible worlds, one corresponding to each such difference, no matter how small or big, as long as no outright contradictions are introduced this way. Possible worlds are often conceived as abstract objects, for example, in terms of non-obtaining states of affairs or as maximally consistent sets of propositions. On such a view, they can even be seen as belonging to the actual world. Another way to conceive possible worlds, made famous by David Lewis, is as concrete entities. On this conception, there is no important difference between the actual world and possible worlds: both are conceived as concrete, inclusive and spatiotemporally connected. The only difference is that the actual world is the world we live in, while other possible worlds are not inhabited by us but by our counterparts. Everything within a world is spatiotemporally connected to everything else but the different worlds do not share a common spacetime: They are spatiotemporally isolated from each other. This is what makes them separate worlds. It has been suggested that, besides possible worlds, there are also impossible worlds. Possible worlds are ways things could have been, so impossible worlds are ways things could not have been. Such worlds involve a contradiction, like a world in which Hillary Clinton both won and lost the 2016 US election. Both possible and impossible worlds have in common the idea that they are totalities of their constituents. Within phenomenology, worlds are defined in terms of horizons of experiences. When we perceive an object, like a house, we do not just experience this object at the center of our attention but also various other objects surrounding it, given in the periphery. The term "horizon" refers to these co-given objects, which are usually experienced only in a vague, indeterminate manner. The perception of a house involves various horizons, corresponding to the neighborhood, the city, the country, the Earth, etc. In this context, the world is the biggest horizon or the "horizon of all horizons". It is common among phenomenologists to understand the world not just as a spatiotemporal collection of objects but as additionally incorporating various other relations between these objects. These relations include, for example, indication-relations that help us anticipate one object given the appearances of another object and means-end-relations or functional involvements relevant for practical concerns. In philosophy of mind, the term "world" is commonly used in contrast to the term "mind" as that which is represented by the mind. This is sometimes expressed by stating that there is a gap between mind and world and that this gap needs to be overcome for representation to be successful. One problem in philosophy of mind is to explain how the mind is able to bridge this gap and to enter into genuine mind-world-relations, for example, in the form of perception, knowledge or action. This is necessary for the world to be able to rationally constrain the activity of the mind. According to a realist position, the world is something distinct and independent from the mind. Idealists conceive of the world as partially or fully determined by the mind. Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism, for example, posits that the spatiotemporal structure of the world is imposed by the mind on reality but lacks independent existence otherwise. A more radical idealist conception of the world can be found in Berkeley's subjective idealism, which holds that the world as a whole, including all everyday objects like tables, cats, trees and ourselves, "consists of nothing but minds and ideas". Different theological positions hold different conceptions of the world based on its relation to God. Classical theism states that God is wholly distinct from the world. But the world depends for its existence on God, both because God created the world and because He maintains or conserves it. This is sometimes understood in analogy to how humans create and conserve ideas in their imagination, with the difference being that the divine mind is vastly more powerful. On such a view, God has absolute, ultimate reality in contrast to the lower ontological status ascribed to the world. God's involvement in the world is often understood along the lines of a personal, benevolent God who looks after and guides His creation. Deists agree with theists that God created the world but deny any subsequent, personal involvement in it. Pantheists reject the separation between God and world. Instead, they claim that the two are identical. This means that there is nothing to the world that does not belong to God and that there is nothing to God beyond what is found in the world. Panentheism constitutes a middle ground between theism and pantheism. Against theism, it holds that God and the world are interrelated and depend on each other. Against pantheism, it holds that there is no outright identity between the two. History of philosophy In philosophy, the term world has several possible meanings. In some contexts, it refers to everything that makes up reality or the physical universe. In others, it can mean have a specific ontological sense (see world disclosure). While clarifying the concept of world has arguably always been among the basic tasks of Western philosophy, this theme appears to have been raised explicitly only at the start of the twentieth century, Plato is well known for his theory of forms, which posits the existence of two different worlds: the sensible world and the intelligible world. The sensible world is the world we live in, filled with changing physical things we can see, touch and interact with. The intelligible world is the world of invisible, eternal, changeless forms like goodness, beauty, unity and sameness. Plato ascribes a lower ontological status to the sensible world, which only imitates the world of forms. This is due to the fact that physical things exist only to the extent that they participate in the forms that characterize them, while the forms themselves have an independent manner of existence. In this sense, the sensible world is a mere replication of the perfect exemplars found in the world of forms: it never lives up to the original. In the allegory of the cave, Plato compares the physical things we are familiar with to mere shadows of the real things. But not knowing the difference, the prisoners in the cave mistake the shadows for the real things. Two definitions that were both put forward in the 1920s, however, suggest the range of available opinion. "The world is everything that is the case", wrote Ludwig Wittgenstein in his influential Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, first published in 1921. Martin Heidegger, meanwhile, argued that "the surrounding world is different for each of us, and notwithstanding that we move about in a common world". "World" is one of the key terms in Eugen Fink's philosophy. He thinks that there is a misguided tendency in western philosophy to understand the world as one enormously big thing containing all the small everyday things we are familiar with. He sees this view as a form of forgetfulness of the world and tries to oppose it by what he calls the "cosmological difference": the difference between the world and the inner-worldly things it contains. On his view, the world is the totality of the inner-worldly things that transcends them. It is itself groundless but it provides a ground for things. It therefore cannot be identified with a mere container. Instead, the world gives appearance to inner-worldly things, it provides them with a place, a beginning and an end. One difficulty in investigating the world is that we never encounter it since it is not just one more thing that appears to us. This is why Fink uses the notion of play or playing to elucidate the nature of the world. He sees play as a symbol of the world that is both part of it and that represents it. Play usually comes with a form of imaginary play-world involving various things relevant to the play. But just like the play is more than the imaginary realities appearing in it so the world is more than the actual things appearing in it. The concept of worlds plays a central role in Nelson Goodman's late philosophy. He argues that we need to posit different worlds in order to account for the fact that there are different incompatible truths found in reality. Two truths are incompatible if they ascribe incompatible properties to the same thing. This happens, for example, when we assert both that the earth moves and that the earth is at rest. These incompatible truths correspond to two different ways of describing the world: heliocentrism and geocentrism. Goodman terms such descriptions "world versions". He holds a correspondence theory of truth: a world version is true if it corresponds to a world. Incompatible true world versions correspond to different worlds. It is common for theories of modality to posit the existence of a plurality of possible worlds. But Goodman's theory is different since it posits a plurality not of possible but of actual worlds. Such a position is in danger of involving a contradiction: there cannot be a plurality of actual worlds if worlds are defined as maximally inclusive wholes. This danger may be avoided by interpreting Goodman's world-concept not as maximally inclusive wholes in the absolute sense but in relation to its corresponding world-version: a world contains all and only the entities that its world-version describes. Religion Mythological cosmologies depict the world as centered on an axis mundi and delimited by a boundary such as a world ocean, a world serpent or similar. Hinduism constitutes a family of religious-philosophical views. These views present perspectives on the nature and role of the world. Samkhya philosophy, for example, is a metaphysical dualism that understands reality as comprising 2 parts: purusha and prakriti. The term "purusha" stands for the individual conscious self that each of "us" possesses. Prakriti, on the other hand, is the 1 world inhabited by all these selves. Samkhya understands this world as a world of matter governed by the law of cause and effect. The term "matter" is understood in a sense in this tradition including physical and mental aspects. This is reflected in the doctrine of tattvas, according to which prakriti is made up of 23 principles or elements of reality. These principles include physical elements, like water or earth, and mental aspects, like intelligence or sense-impressions. The relation between purusha and prakriti is conceived as 1 of observation: purusha is the conscious self aware of the world of prakriti and does not causally interact with it. A conception of the world is present in Advaita Vedanta, the monist school among the Vedanta schools. Unlike the realist position defended in Samkhya philosophy, Advaita Vedanta sees the world of multiplicity as an illusion, referred to as Maya. This illusion includes impression of existing as separate experiencing selfs called Jivas. Instead, Advaita Vedanta teaches that on the most fundamental level of reality, referred to as Brahman, there exists no plurality or difference. All there is is 1 all-encompassing self: Atman. Ignorance is seen as the source of this illusion, which results in bondage to the world of mere appearances. Liberation is possible in the course of overcoming this illusion by acquiring the knowledge of Brahman, according to Advaita Vedanta. Contemptus mundi is the name given to the belief that the world, in all its vanity, is nothing more than a futile attempt to hide from God by stifling our desire for the good and the holy. This view has been characterised as a "pastoral of fear" by historian Jean Delumeau. "The world, the flesh, and the devil" is a traditional division of the sources of temptation. Orbis Catholicus is a Latin phrase meaning "Catholic world", per the expression Urbi et Orbi, and refers to that area of Christendom under papal supremacy. In Islam, the term "dunya" is used for the world. Its meaning is derived from the root word "dana", a term for "near". It is associated with the temporal, sensory world and earthly concerns, i.e. with this world in contrast to the spiritual world. Religious teachings warn of a tendency to seek happiness in this world and advise a more ascetic lifestyle concerned with the afterlife. Other strands in Islam recommend a balanced approach. In Mandaean cosmology, the world or earthly realm is known as Tibil. It is separated from the World of Light (alma d-nhūra) above and the World of Darkness (alma d-hšuka) below by aether (ayar). Related terms and problems A worldview is a comprehensive representation of the world and our place in it. As a representation, it is a subjective perspective of the world and thereby different from the world it represents. All higher animals need to represent their environment in some way in order to navigate it. But it has been argued that only humans possess a representation encompassing enough to merit the term "worldview". Philosophers of worldviews commonly hold that the understanding of any object depends on a worldview constituting the background on which this understanding can take place. This may affect not just our intellectual understanding of the object in question but the experience of it in general. It is therefore impossible to assess one's worldview from a neutral perspective since this assessment already presupposes the worldview as its background. Some hold that each worldview is based on a single hypothesis that promises to solve all the problems of our existence we may encounter. On this interpretation, the term is closely associated to the worldviews given by different religions. Worldviews offer orientation not just in theoretical matters but also in practical matters. For this reason, they usually include answers to the question of the meaning of life and other evaluative components about what matters and how we should act. A worldview can be unique to one individual but worldviews are usually shared by many people within a certain culture or religion. The idea that there exist many different worlds is found in various fields. For example, theories of modality talk about a plurality of possible worlds and the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics carries this reference even in its name. Talk of different worlds is also common in everyday language, for example, with reference to the world of music, the world of business, the world of football, the world of experience or the Asian world. But at the same time, worlds are usually defined as all-inclusive totalities. This seems to contradict the very idea of a plurality of worlds since if a world is total and all-inclusive then it cannot have anything outside itself. Understood this way, a world can neither have other worlds besides itself or be part of something bigger. One way to resolve this paradox while holding onto the notion of a plurality of worlds is to restrict the sense in which worlds are totalities. On this view, worlds are not totalities in an absolute sense. This might be even understood in the sense that, strictly speaking, there are no worlds at all. Another approach understands worlds in a schematic sense: as context-dependent expressions that stand for the current domain of discourse. So in the expression "Around the World in Eighty Days", the term "world" refers to the earth while in the colonial expression "the New World" it refers to the landmass of North and South America. Cosmogony is the field that studies the origin or creation of the world. This includes both scientific cosmogony and creation myths found in various religions. The dominant theory in scientific cosmogony is the Big Bang theory, according to which both space, time and matter have their origin in one initial singularity occurring about 13.8 billion years ago. This singularity was followed by an expansion that allowed the universe to sufficiently cool down for the formation of subatomic particles and later atoms. These initial elements formed giant clouds, which would then coalesce into stars and galaxies. Non-scientific creation myths are found in many cultures and are often enacted in rituals expressing their symbolic meaning. They can be categorized concerning their contents. Types often found include creation from nothing, from chaos or from a cosmic egg. Eschatology refers to the science or doctrine of the last things or of the end of the world. It is traditionally associated with religion, specifically with the Abrahamic religions. In this form, it may include teachings both of the end of each individual human life and of the end of the world as a whole. But it has been applied to other fields as well, for example, in the form of physical eschatology, which includes scientifically based speculations about the far future of the universe. According to some models, there will be a Big Crunch in which the whole universe collapses back into a singularity, possibly resulting in a second Big Bang afterward. But current astronomical evidence seems to suggest that our universe will continue to expand indefinitely. World history studies the world from a historical perspective. Unlike other approaches to history, it employs a global viewpoint. It deals less with individual nations and civilizations, which it usually approaches at a high level of abstraction. Instead, it concentrates on wider regions and zones of interaction, often interested in how people, goods and ideas move from one region to another. It includes comparisons of different societies and civilizations as well as considering wide-ranging developments with a long-term global impact like the process of industrialization. Contemporary world history is dominated by three main research paradigms determining the periodization into different epochs. One is based on productive relations between humans and nature. The two most important changes in history in this respect were the introduction of agriculture and husbandry concerning the production of food, which started around 10,000 to 8,000 BCE and is sometimes termed the Neolithic Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution, which started around 1760 CE and involved the transition from manual to industrial manufacturing. Another paradigm, focusing on culture and religion instead, is based on Karl Jaspers' theories about the Axial Age, a time in which various new forms of religious and philosophical thoughts appeared in several separate parts of the world around the time between 800 and 200 BCE. A third periodization is based on the relations between civilizations and societies. According to this paradigm, history can be divided into three periods in relation to the dominant region in the world: Middle Eastern dominance before 500 BCE, Eurasian cultural balance until 1500 CE and Western dominance since 1500 CE. Big History employs an even wider framework than world history by putting human history into the context of the history of the universe as a whole. It starts with the Big Bang and traces the formation of galaxies, the Solar System, the Earth, its geological eras, the evolution of life and humans until the present day. World politics, also referred to as global politics or international relations, is the discipline of political science studying issues of interest to the world that transcend nations and continents. It aims to explain complex patterns found in the social world that are often related to the pursuit of power, order and justice, usually in the context of globalization. It focuses not just on the relations between nation-states but also considers other transnational actors, like multinational corporations, terrorist groups, or non-governmental organizations. For example, it tries to explain events such as the September 11 attacks, the 2003 invasion of Iraq or the 2008 financial crisis. Various theories have been proposed in order to deal with the complexity involved in formulating such explanations. These theories are sometimes divided into realism, liberalism and constructivism. Realists see nation-states as the main actors in world politics. They constitute an anarchical international system without any overarching power to control their behavior. They are seen as sovereign agents that, determined by human nature, act according to their national self-interest. Military force may play an important role in the ensuing struggle for power between states, but diplomacy and cooperation are also key mechanisms for nations to achieve their goals. Liberalists acknowledge the importance of states but they also emphasize the role of transnational actors, like the United Nations or the World Trade Organization. They see humans as perfectible and stress the role of democracy in this process. The emergent order in world politics, on this perspective, is more complex than a mere balance of power since more different agents and interests are involved in its production. Constructivism ascribes more importance to the agency of individual humans than realism and liberalism. It understands the social world as a construction of the people living in it. This leads to an emphasis on the possibility of change. If the international system is an anarchy of nation-states, as the realists hold, then this is only so because we made it this way and may change since this is not prefigured by human nature, according to the constructivists. See also References External links Africa Antarctica Asia Australia Europe North America South America Afro-Eurasia Americas Eurasia Oceania |
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BBC News, اردو - صفحۂ اول اہم خبریں امریکی صدر ڈونلڈ َٹرمپ کا کہنا ہے کہ وہ ایران پر محدود فوجی حملے کے بارے میں غور کر رہے ہیں۔ دوسری جانب ایرانی وزیرِ خارجہ کا کہنا ہے کہ تہران ایک ’ممکنہ معاہدے کے مسودے‘ پر کام کر رہا ہے جسے اگلے چند دنوں میں امریکہ کے حوالے کر دیا جائے گا۔ تجارتی نقطۂ نظر سے دیکھا جائے تو سنہ 2026 انڈیا کے لیے تاریخی قرار پائے گا۔ مارچ ابھی شروع بھی نہیں ہوا اور دہلی نے یورپی یونین کے ساتھ ’تمام تجارتی معاہدوں کی ماں‘ کہلانے والا معاہدہ کر لیا ہے۔ ساتھ ہی امریکہ کے ساتھ وہ معاہدہ بھی کیا ہے جسے اب ’تمام تجارتی معاہدوں کا باپ‘ کہا جا رہا ہے۔ کار کی پچھلی سیٹ پر بیٹھے حیرت زدہ اینڈریو ماؤنٹ بیٹن ونڈسر کی ایک تصویر دنیا بھر کے اخباروں اور نیوز ویب سائٹس میں شہ سرخیوں کا حصہ بنی ہے۔ ثاقب ججہ کا تعلق بھی اسی گاؤں سے ہے جس کے کئی پاکستانی نوجوان تارکین وطن کی اس کشتی پر سوار تھے یونان میں حادثے کا شکار ہوئی تھی۔ کچھ لوگوں کو روزہ زیادہ محسوس ہوتا ہے جس کی بڑی وجہ بھوک اور پیاس کا لگنا ہے۔ کچھ ایسے لوگ بھی ہوتے ہیں جنھیں طویل وقت تک کھانے پینے سے دور رہنے کے باعث تھکاوٹ یا کمزوری محسوس ہوتی ہے۔ شوگر اور بلڈ پریشر کے مریض صحت سے متعلق مسائل کا سامنا بھی کر سکتے ہیں۔ تو ایسا کیا کیا جائے کہ روزے کے دوران بھوک اور پیاس محسوس نہ ہو؟ پاکستانی ذرائع ابلاغ اور سوشل میڈیا پر پنجاب حکومت کی جانب سے ایک لگژری طیارے کی مبینہ خریداری کی اطلاعات کو اس وقت تقویت ملی جب اس معاملے پر حکومت کا موقف سامنے آیا۔ یہ طیارہ کب پاکستان پہنچا اور کب سے استعمال ہو رہا ہے؟ قرآن کے مطابق یاجوج اور ماجوج سے خوف زدہ کچھ لوگوں نے ذوالقرنین کو یاجوج اور ماجوج کو روکنے کے لیے دیوار تعمیر کرنے پر آمادہ کیا۔ اس دیوار سے نہ تو پار اترا جا سکتا ہے اور نہ ہی اس میں نقب لگائی جا سکتی ہے۔ جیسے جیسے امریکہ خلیج میں اپنی فوجی طاقت میں اضافہ کر رہا ہے، ایرانی قیادت اس وقت اس کشمکش میں مبتلا ہے کہ آیا امریکی مطالبات کے خلاف مزاحمت کرنا ہی بہترین آپشن ہے یا نہیں۔ ذرائع نے بی بی سی سپورٹ کو بتایا ہے کہ انگلینڈ میں اگلے مہینے شروع ہونے والی 'دی ہنڈرڈ' کرکٹ لیگ میں کھلاڑیوں کی نیلامی میں انڈین پریمیئر لیگ (آئی پی ایل) سے منسلک فرنچائزیں اپنی ٹیموں میں پاکستانی کرکٹرز کو شامل نہیں کریں گی۔ فیچر اور تجزیے بی بی سی اردو اب واٹس ایپ پر بی بی سی اردو کی خبروں اور فیچرز کو اپنے فون پر حاصل کریں اور سب سے پہلے جانیں پاکستان اور دنیا بھر سے ان کہانیوں کے بارے میں جو آپ کے لیے معنی رکھتی ہیں مختصر ویڈیوز اپ کی ڈیوائس پر پلے بیک سپورٹ دستیاب نہیں خصوصی رپورٹس جہاں نما دیکھیے بی بی سی اردو کی ویب سائٹ پر پیر سے جمعہ رات آٹھ بجے ویڈیوز اور پوڈ کاسٹ کیا آپ اپنا انٹرنیٹ ڈیٹا بچانا چاہتے ہیں؟ کم ڈیٹا استعمال کرنے کے لیے ہماری نئی ویب سائٹ استعمال کریں پاکستان آس پاس کھیل ورلڈ فن فنکار سائنس بی بی سی اردو سوشل میڈیا مقبول خبریں © 2026 بی بی سی. بی بی سی بیرونی ویب سائٹس کے مواد کا ذمہ دار نہیں بیرونی لنکس کے بارے میں ہماری پالیسی. |
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[SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese] | [TOKENS: 1798] |
BBC News, Tiếng Việt - Tin chính Tin chính Tổng Bí thư Tô Lâm đã có cuộc gặp với Tổng thống Mỹ Donald Trump tại Nhà Trắng, sau hội nghị ra mắt Hội đồng Hòa bình. Eileen Gu là vận động viên trượt tuyết tự do nữ Olympic giành nhiều huy chương nhất trong lịch sử và là một siêu sao toàn cầu, nhưng cô vẫn tiếp tục gây tranh cãi. Phán quyết của Tòa án Tối cao bác bỏ một số mức thuế sâu rộng nhất của ông Trump càng làm gia tăng bất định trong thương mại toàn cầu. Hóa ra việc thay đổi câu trả lời mà các công cụ AI đưa cho người khác có thể đơn giản như việc viết một bài blog thật cách khéo léo và đăng ở gần như bất cứ đâu trên mạng. Tại làng Sedanka hẻo lánh ở vùng Viễn Đông của Nga, hầu hết đàn ông trong độ tuổi chiến đấu đều đã rời nhà để tham gia cuộc chiến ở Ukraine. Tăng cường hội nhập kinh tế, thu hút đầu tư vào công nghệ cao được Tổng Bí thư Tô Lâm coi là chìa khóa để Việt Nam bước vào "kỷ nguyên mới", nhưng vẫn còn nhiều chướng ngại cho các nỗ lực này. Giới quan sát đang theo dõi liệu ông Kim Jong-un có được trao danh xưng "chủ tịch" và liệu cô con gái tuổi thiếu niên của ông, Kim Ju-ae, có xuất hiện hoặc đảm nhận một vị trí chính thức nào đó hay không. Nhiều đoạn clip được cho là tạo bằng Seedance, có sự xuất hiện của các nhân vật nổi tiếng như Spider-Man và Deadpool, đã lan truyền mạnh trên mạng. Việt Nam đối mặt với nhiều rủi ro, nhưng cũng có những cơ hội khi tham gia vào Hội đồng Hòa bình do Tổng thống Donald Trump khởi xướng. Cựu hoàng tử Andrew rời đồn cảnh sát vào tối 19/2, khi cảnh sát cho biết các cuộc khám xét tại Norfolk đã kết thúc. Vị tỷ phú nói mình "luôn" hối tiếc vì đã không đẩy nhanh tiến độ việc xác định người dùng dưới 13 tuổi. Ông Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor đã bị bắt vì bị nghi ngờ có hành vi sai phạm trong khi thi hành công vụ. Việt Nam Thế giới Nghe/Xem BBC giới thiệu Tổng Bí thư Tô Lâm chính thức tái đắc cử chức vụ lãnh đạo cao nhất của Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam tại Đại hội 14. Những bó hoa tiền mặt đang nở rộ tại Kenya, nhưng các cảnh báo gần đây có thể làm chậm lại xu hướng này. Một cặp đôi từng ở Thâm Quyến đã phát hiện ra những khoảnh khắc riêng tư của họ bị quay lén thành phim khiêu dâm. Những câu chuyện về các thực tập sinh nước ngoài đầy tham vọng đã hé lộ một ngành nghề chưa được quản lý chặt chẽ, nơi tiềm ẩn cả cơ hội và rủi ro. Máy bay chở khách của Comac đang thu hút khách hàng ở Đông Nam Á, khu vực nhu cầu về máy bay giá cả phải chăng đang tăng lên. Ba triệu tài liệu mới với hàng trăm lần nhắc đến ông Trump và các email giữa ông Epstein với một người có biệt danh là "Công tước". Việc Trung Quốc thông báo mở cuộc điều tra đối với Thượng tướng Trương Hựu Hiệp, Ủy viên Bộ Chính trị, Phó Chủ tịch Quân ủy Trung ương, vào hôm 24/1 là một cơn chấn động lớn. Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam cần một người am hiểu về kinh tế để hiện thực hóa các mục tiêu phát triển và cơ hội được cho là sẽ mở ra cho ông Lê Minh Hưng. Nhà Trắng cho biết họ đang cân nhắc nhiều phương án để giành quyền kiểm soát hòn đảo Greenland, trong đó có cả khả năng triển khai quân đội. Một bài viết mới đây của Nikkei Asia chỉ ra rằng Việt Nam có thể vượt Thái Lan về GDP danh nghĩa (GDP tính theo giá hiện hành) trong năm 2026. Liên tiếp những sự kiện trong tuần qua – cùng với Chiến lược An ninh Quốc gia mới của Mỹ – đặt ra những câu hỏi cấp bách về trật tự thế giới mới. Tập đoàn Vingroup vào hôm nay 25/12 đã chính thức gửi công văn lên Chính phủ xin rút đăng ký đầu tư dự án Đường sắt tốc độ cao Bắc–Nam. Đại hội 14 50 năm kết thúc Chiến tranh Việt Nam Xã hội-Thể thao-Sức khỏe Kinh tế Văn hóa-Giáo dục BBC Tiếng Việt trên mạng xã hội Phổ biến Nhận tin tức bằng ngôn ngữ khác © 2026 BBC. BBC không chịu trách nhiệm nội dung các trang ngoài. Tìm hiểu cách chúng tôi tiếp cận việc dẫn tới trang ngoài |
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[SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/uzbek] | [TOKENS: 3497] |
BBC News, O'zbek - Бош саҳифа Бош мақола Трампнинг Тинчлик кенгаши Ғазо учун миллиардлаб доллар ажратаётган бир пайтда, минтақадаги сиёсий вазият яна мураккаблашмоқда. Ҳамас қуролсизланадими ёки кучаймоқдами? Исроил ва АҚШнинг талаблари, БМТнинг роли ва қайта тиклаш режалари ҳозир ҳам катта баҳс марказида. Ўзбекистон ҳам ёрдам пакетига қўшилгани айтилмоқда. Бироқ шу билан бирга, икки фуқаролик муаммоси янги саволларни ўртага чиқарди: Ғазо можаросида ўзбекистонлик изларини ким қолдирмоқда? Қирғизистон коррупцияга қарши қатъий қонун қабул қилди - Ўзбекистонда эса ислоҳотлар нега жиловланиб қолган? Амалдорларга хорижда ҳисоб очиш тақиқланди, мол-мулк тўлиқ очиқланади. Қўшнидаги бу “радикал” қадамлар нима учун Ўзбекистонда ишламайди? Журналистлар, экспертлар ва жамоатчилик фикри мақолада. Эндрю Маунтбаттен‑Уиндзор давлат лавозимини суистеъмол қилганликда гумонланиб қўлга олинди. Бу ҳақда ҳозирча маълум бўлганлар. Янги тадқиқотларга кўра, мутант "гибрид" паразитлар жинсий аъзоларга инфекция юқтирувчи касалликнинг халқаро миқёсида тарқалишига сабаб бўлиши мумкин. Ўзбекистонда муҳим воқеалар кетма-кетликда юз бермоқда: блогерлар фаолиятида тартиб кучаймоқда, йирик халқаро инвеститсиялар учун янги эшиклар очилмоқда ва дунёнинг етакчи мамлакатлари билан ҳамкорлик янада мустаҳкамланмоқда. Учта делегация, европалик дипломатлар билан норасмий мулоқот, ўнлаб журналистлар ва натижалар ҳақида ниҳоятда қисқа баёнотлар - ана шундай шароитда Россия, Украина ва АҚШнинг Женевадаги икки кунлик музокаралари ўтди. Би-би-си мухбирлари Швейцариядаги учрашув қандай ўтгани ҳақида ҳикоя қилади. Сунъий интеллектнинг кескин ривожланиши, ҳатто қуруқ ҳудудларда ҳам, катта миқдорда сув талаб қиладиган серверлар жойлашган дата-марказларга бўлган талабни оширмоқда. Москва бошқа йўналишлардаги муваффақиятсизликларни Украинага босимни кучайтириш ва мамлакат ичида янги репрессив чоралар қўллаш билан қопламоқда, деб таъкидлайди Economist журнали. Николас Мадуро қўлга олинганидан бир неча кун ўтгач, Россия ҳарбийлари Украинага "Орешник" баллистик ракетаси билан зарба берди. Россия Ички ишлар вазирлиги тарқатган маълумотга кўра, 2025 йилда 191 Ўзбекистон фуқароси Россиядан сиёсий бошпана сўраган. Қирғизистонда веб-камера орқали порно студияларни уюштирган шахс афв этилди. Қозоғистон депутатлари мактабларда нафақат синфхоналарда, балки танаффусларда ҳам ўқувчилардан телефонлари тортиб олинишини таклиф қилишди. Би-би-си Жаҳон хизмати жамоаси Сквайр ва Португалия, Бразилия ҳамда Россиядаги бошқа тергов бўлинмалари билан беш йил давомида суратга олиш ишлари олиб борди. Улар Россияда ўғирлаб кетилган ва ўлган деб тахмин қилинган етти ёшли боланинг иши ҳамда дарк-вебдаги болаларга нисбатан энг йирик бешта жиноий форумни бошқарган бразилиялик эркакни ҳибсга олиш жараёни тафсилотларини кўрсатишди. Видео Мултимедиа ўйнаш бу қурилмада дастакланмайди BBC News O‘zbek WhatsApp Ўзбекистон, минтақа, дунё янгиликлари ҳамда таҳлил ва муносабат Ўзбекистон Минтақа Дунё Фақат бизда Россиянинг Украинага босқини Муҳаррир танлови Теҳрон АҚШнинг ҳар қандай ҳужумини ўтган ёздаги урушнинг давоми сифатида қабул қилишини айтди. Шунинг учун Эроннинг жавоби янада қаттиқ ва жиддий бўлиши мумкин. Президент Садир Жапаров томонидан 10 феврал куни имзоланган фармонга кўра, Қамчибек Ташиев Вазирлар Маҳкамаси раисининг ўринбосари - Давлат Миллий Хавфсизлик Қўмитаси раиси лавозимидан озод қилинди. CBC радиосига гапирган Тамблер Риж ўқувчисининг айтишича, у синфдошлари билан синф хонанинг эшигини ичкаридан тўсиб олган. У синфдошлари билан анча вақт ичкарида қолишгани ва нималар бўлаётганидан бехабар бўлишганини, сўнг отишма акс этган суратларни телефонида кўрганини айтади. Қирғизистон Президенти Садир Жапаров 10 феврал куни имзо қўйган фармонга биноан Қамчибек Ташиев Вазирлар Маҳкамаси раиси ўринбосари - Давлат Хавфсизлик қўмитаси раиси лавозимларидан бўшатилди. Президент Жапаров нега бундай қарор қабул қилганини тушунтирди. Бу икки инфлюенсер жуда таниқли, муваффақиятли, аммо улардан фақат биттаси одам... АҚШ президенти "хато қилмаганини", видео жойланишидан олдин фақат бош қисмини кўрганини таъкидлади. Видеода 2020 йилги президентлик сайловларидаги овоз бериш жараёнларида сохтакорликлар бўлгани ҳақидаги иддаолар илгари сурилган. Кейинчалик видео ўчирилди. Баъзи маданиятларда эркаклар ўтириб пешоб қилишга ундалади. Масалан, Исломда бу ҳатто суннатнинг бир қисми сифатида тавсия этилади. Аммо кўпчилик эркаклар учун эски одатлар ўзгариши қийин ва тик туриб пешоб қилиш ҳали ҳам "биринчи рақамли" усул ҳисобланади. Минтақадаги сўнгги вазият таҳлили. Ёш билан гормонлар ўзгариши фақат аёлларга хос эмас. Гарчи бу каби ўзгариш аста-секин ва аёллардагидек кескин бўлмаса-да, эркакларда ҳам ёш ўтган сари тестостерон даражаси пасаяди. Бироқ, баъзи маълумотларга кўра, ҳатто бу кичик ўзгариш ҳам айрим эркакларда кайфият ўзгаришларини келтириб чиқариши мумкин. BBC Ўзбек ТВ Дастури Афғонистон учун Ўзбек тилида ТВ дастурлар архиви Янги видеолар https://www.youtube.com/@bbcnewsuzbek Бизни ижтимоий тармоқларда кузатинг Оммабоп мақолалар BBC Сандиқ © 2026 BBC. Би-би-си ташқи сайтлар мазмуни учун масъул эмас. Ташқи линкларга бизнинг ёндашувимиз қандайлиги ҳақида маълумотга эга бўлинг |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_engine] | [TOKENS: 2090] |
Contents Physics engine A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, typically classical dynamics, including rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics. It is of use in the domains of computer graphics, video games and film (CGI). Their main uses are in video games (typically as middleware), in which case the simulations are in real-time. The term is sometimes used more generally to describe any software system for simulating physical phenomena, such as high-performance scientific simulation. Description There are generally two classes of physics engines: real-time and high-precision. High-precision physics engines require more processing power to calculate very precise physics and are usually used by scientists and computer-animated movies. Real-time physics engines—as used in video games and other forms of interactive computing—use simplified calculations and decreased accuracy to compute in time for the game to respond at an appropriate rate for game play. A physics engine is essentially a big calculator that does mathematics needed to simulate physics. One of the first general purpose computers, ENIAC, was used as a very simple type of physics engine. It was used to design ballistics tables to help the United States military estimate where artillery shells of various mass would land when fired at varying angles and gunpowder charges, also accounting for drift caused by wind. The results were calculated a single time only, and were tabulated into printed tables handed out to the artillery commanders. Physics engines have been commonly used on supercomputers since the 1980s to perform computational fluid dynamics modeling, where particles are assigned force vectors that are combined to show circulation. Due to the requirements of speed and high precision, special computer processors known as vector processors were developed to accelerate the calculations. The techniques can be used to model weather patterns in weather forecasting, wind tunnel data for designing air- and watercraft or motor vehicles including racecars, and thermal cooling of computer processors for improving heat sinks. As with many calculation-laden processes in computing, the accuracy of the simulation is related to the resolution of the simulation and the precision of the calculations; small fluctuations not modeled in the simulation can drastically change the predicted results. Tire manufacturers use physics simulations to examine how new tire tread types will perform under wet and dry conditions, using new tire materials of varying flexibility and under different levels of weight loading. The simulations optimize tire operations, material selection, costs, and enhance time efficiency. In most computer games, speed of the processors and gameplay are more important than accuracy of simulation. This leads to designs for physics engines that produce results in real-time but that replicate real world physics only for simple cases and typically with some approximation. More often than not, the simulation is geared towards providing a "perceptually correct" approximation rather than a real simulation. However some game engines, such as Source, use physics in puzzles or in combat situations. This requires more accurate physics so that, for example, the momentum of an object can knock over an obstacle or lift a sinking object. Physically-based character animation in the past only used rigid body dynamics because they are faster and easier to calculate, but modern games and movies are starting to use soft body physics. Soft body physics are also used for particle effects, liquids and cloth. Some form of limited fluid dynamics simulation is sometimes provided to simulate water and other liquids as well as the flow of fire and explosions through the air. Objects in games interact with the player, the environment, and each other. Typically, most 3D objects in games are represented by two separate meshes or shapes. One of these meshes is the highly complex and detailed shape visible to the player in the game, such as a vase with elegant curved and looping handles. For purpose of speed, a second, simplified invisible mesh is used to represent the object to the physics engine so that the physics engine treats the example vase as a simple cylinder. It would thus be impossible to insert a rod or fire a projectile through the handle holes on the vase, because the physics engine model is based on the cylinder and is unaware of the handles. The simplified mesh used for physics processing is often referred to as the collision geometry. This may be a bounding box, sphere, or convex hull. Engines that use bounding boxes or bounding spheres as the final shape for collision detection are considered extremely simple. Generally a bounding box is used for broad phase collision detection to narrow down the number of possible collisions before costly mesh on mesh collision detection is done in the narrow phase of collision detection. Another aspect of precision in discrete collision detection involves the framerate, or the number of moments in time per second when physics is calculated. Each frame is treated as separate from all other frames, and the space between frames is not calculated. A low framerate and a small fast-moving object causes a situation where the object does not move smoothly through space but instead seems to teleport from one point in space to the next as each frame is calculated. Projectiles moving at sufficiently high speeds will miss targets, if the target is small enough to fit in the gap between the calculated frames of the fast moving projectile. Various techniques are used to overcome this flaw, such as Second Life's representation of projectiles as arrows with invisible trailing tails longer than the gap in frames to collide with any object that might fit between the calculated frames. By contrast, continuous collision detection such as in Bullet or Havok does not suffer this problem. An alternative to using bounding box-based rigid body physics systems is to use a finite element-based system. In such a system, a 3-dimensional, volumetric tessellation is created of the 3D object. The tessellation results in a number of finite elements which represent aspects of the object's physical properties such as toughness, plasticity, and volume preservation. Once constructed, the finite elements are used by a solver to model the stress within the 3D object. The stress can be used to drive fracture, deformation and other physical effects with a high degree of realism and uniqueness. As the number of modeled elements is increased, the engine's ability to model physical behavior increases. The visual representation of the 3D object is altered by the finite element system through the use of a deformation shader run on the CPU or GPU. Finite Element-based systems had been impractical for use in games due to the performance overhead and the lack of tools to create finite element representations out of 3D art objects. With higher performance processors and tools to rapidly create the volumetric tessellations, real-time finite element systems began to be used in games, beginning with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed that used Digital Molecular Matter for the deformation and destruction effects of wood, steel, flesh and plants using an algorithm developed by Dr. James O'Brien as a part of his PhD thesis. In the real world, physics is always active. There is a constant Brownian motion jitter to all particles in our universe as the forces push back and forth against each other. For a game physics engine, such constant active precision is unnecessarily wasting the limited CPU power, which can cause problems such as decreased framerate. Thus, games may put objects to "sleep" by disabling the computation of physics on objects that have not moved a particular distance within a certain amount of time. For example, in the 3D virtual world Second Life, if an object is resting on the floor and the object does not move beyond a minimal distance in about two seconds, then the physics calculations are disabled for the object and it becomes frozen in place. The object remains frozen until physics processing reactivates for the object after collision occurs with some other active physical object. Physics engines for video games typically have two core components, a collision detection/collision response system, and the dynamics simulation component responsible for solving the forces affecting the simulated objects. Modern physics engines may also contain fluid simulations, animation control systems and asset integration tools. There are three major paradigms for the physical simulation of solids: Finally, hybrid methods are possible that combine aspects of the above paradigms. Limitations A primary limit of physics engine realism is the approximated result of the constraint resolutions and collision result due to the slow convergence of algorithms. Collision detection computed at a too low frequency can result in objects passing through each other and then being repelled with an abnormal correction force. On the other hand, approximated results of reaction force is due to the slow convergence of typical Projected Gauss Seidel solver resulting in abnormal bouncing. Any type of free-moving compound physics object can demonstrate this problem, but it is especially prone to affecting chain links under high tension, and wheeled objects with actively physical bearing surfaces. Higher precision reduces the positional/force errors, but at the cost of needing greater CPU power for the calculations. Physics processing unit (PPU) A physics processing unit (PPU) is a dedicated microprocessor designed to handle the calculations of physics, especially in the physics engine of video games. Examples of calculations involving a PPU might include rigid body dynamics, soft body dynamics, collision detection, fluid dynamics, hair and clothing simulation, finite element analysis, and fracturing of objects. The idea is that specialized processors offload time-consuming tasks from a computer's CPU, much like how a GPU performs graphics operations in the main CPU's place. The term was coined by Ageia's marketing to describe their PhysX chip to consumers. Several other technologies in the CPU-GPU spectrum have some features in common with it, although Ageia's solution was the only complete one designed, marketed, supported, and placed within a system exclusively as a PPU. General-purpose computing on graphics processing unit (GPGPU) Hardware acceleration for physics processing is now usually provided by graphics processing units that support more general computation, a concept known as general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU). AMD and NVIDIA provide support for rigid body dynamics computations on their latest graphics cards. NVIDIA's GeForce 8 series supports a GPU-based Newtonian physics acceleration technology named Quantum Effects Technology. NVIDIA provides an SDK Toolkit for CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) technology that offers both a low and high-level API to the GPU. For their GPUs, AMD offers a similar SDK, called Close to Metal (CTM), which provides a thin hardware interface. PhysX is an example of a physics engine that can use GPGPU based hardware acceleration when it is available. Engines See also References Further reading External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft#cite_note-riotgames-71] | [TOKENS: 12858] |
Contents Minecraft Minecraft is a sandbox game developed and published by Mojang Studios. Following its initial public alpha release in 2009, it was formally released in 2011 for personal computers. The game has since been ported to numerous platforms, including mobile devices and various video game consoles. In Minecraft, players explore a procedurally generated world with virtually infinite terrain made up of voxels (cubes). They can discover and extract raw materials, craft tools and items, build structures, fight hostile mobs, and cooperate with or compete against other players in multiplayer. The game's large community offers a wide variety of user-generated content, such as modifications, servers, player skins, texture packs, and custom maps, which add new game mechanics and possibilities. Originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java programming language, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten was handed control over the game's development following its full release. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion; Xbox Game Studios hold the publishing rights for the Bedrock Edition, the unified cross-platform version which evolved from the Pocket Edition codebase[i] and replaced the legacy console versions. Bedrock is updated concurrently with Mojang's original Java Edition, although with numerous, generally small, differences. Minecraft is the best-selling video game in history with over 350 million copies sold. It has received critical acclaim, winning several awards and being cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Social media, parodies, adaptations, merchandise, and the annual Minecon conventions have played prominent roles in popularizing it. The wider Minecraft franchise includes several spin-off games, such as Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Dungeons, and Minecraft Legends. A film adaptation, titled A Minecraft Movie, was released in 2025 and became the second highest-grossing video game film of all time. Gameplay Minecraft is a 3D sandbox video game that has no required goals to accomplish, giving players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. The game features an optional achievement system. Gameplay is in the first-person perspective by default, but players have the option of third-person perspectives. The game world is composed of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes, referred to as blocks—representing various materials, such as dirt, stone, ores, tree trunks, water, and lava. The core gameplay revolves around picking up and placing these objects. These blocks are arranged in a voxel grid, while players can move freely around the world. Players can break, or mine, blocks and then place them elsewhere, enabling them to build things. Very few blocks are affected by gravity, instead maintaining their voxel position in the air. Players can also craft a wide variety of items, such as armor, which mitigates damage from attacks; weapons (such as swords or bows and arrows), which allow monsters and animals to be killed more easily; and tools (such as pickaxes or shovels), which break certain types of blocks more quickly. Some items have multiple tiers depending on the material used to craft them, with higher-tier items being more effective and durable. They may also freely craft helpful blocks—such as furnaces which can cook food and smelt ores, and torches that produce light—or exchange items with villagers (NPC) through trading emeralds for different goods and vice versa. The game has an inventory system, allowing players to carry a limited number of items. The in-game time system follows a day and night cycle, with one full cycle lasting for 20 real-time minutes. The game also contains a material called redstone, which can be used to make primitive mechanical devices, electrical circuits, and logic gates, allowing for the construction of many complex systems. New players are given a randomly selected default character skin out of nine possibilities, including Steve or Alex, but are able to create and upload their own skins. Players encounter various mobs (short for mobile entities) including animals, villagers, and hostile creatures. Passive mobs, such as cows, pigs, and chickens, spawn during the daytime and can be hunted for food and crafting materials, while hostile mobs—including large spiders, witches, skeletons, and zombies—spawn during nighttime or in dark places such as caves. Some hostile mobs, such as zombies and skeletons, burn under the sun if they have no headgear and are not standing in water. Other creatures unique to Minecraft include the creeper (an exploding creature that sneaks up on the player) and the enderman (a creature with the ability to teleport as well as pick up and place blocks). There are also variants of mobs that spawn in different conditions; for example, zombies have husk and drowned variants that spawn in deserts and oceans, respectively. The Minecraft environment is procedurally generated as players explore it using a map seed that is randomly chosen at the time of world creation (or manually specified by the player). Divided into biomes representing different environments with unique resources and structures, worlds are designed to be effectively infinite in traditional gameplay, though technical limits on the player have existed throughout development, both intentionally and not. Implementation of horizontally infinite generation initially resulted in a glitch termed the "Far Lands" at over 12 million blocks away from the world center, where terrain generated as wall-like, fissured patterns. The Far Lands and associated glitches were considered the effective edge of the world until they were resolved, with the current horizontal limit instead being a special impassable barrier called the world border, located 30 million blocks away. Vertical space is comparatively limited, with an unbreakable bedrock layer at the bottom and a building limit several hundred blocks into the sky. Minecraft features three independent dimensions accessible through portals and providing alternate game environments. The Overworld is the starting dimension and represents the real world, with a terrestrial surface setting including plains, mountains, forests, oceans, caves, and small sources of lava. The Nether is a hell-like underworld dimension accessed via an obsidian portal and composed mainly of lava. Mobs that populate the Nether include shrieking, fireball-shooting ghasts, alongside anthropomorphic pigs called piglins and their zombified counterparts. Piglins in particular have a bartering system, where players can give them gold ingots and receive items in return. Structures known as Nether Fortresses generate in the Nether, containing mobs such as wither skeletons and blazes, which can drop blaze rods needed to access the End dimension. The player can also choose to build an optional boss mob known as the Wither, using skulls obtained from wither skeletons and soul sand. The End can be reached through an end portal, consisting of twelve end portal frames. End portals are found in underground structures in the Overworld known as strongholds. To find strongholds, players must craft eyes of ender using an ender pearl and blaze powder. Eyes of ender can then be thrown, traveling in the direction of the stronghold. Once the player reaches the stronghold, they can place eyes of ender into each portal frame to activate the end portal. The dimension consists of islands floating in a dark, bottomless void. A boss enemy called the Ender Dragon guards the largest, central island. Killing the dragon opens access to an exit portal, which, when entered, cues the game's ending credits and the End Poem, a roughly 1,500-word work written by Irish novelist Julian Gough, which takes about nine minutes to scroll past, is the game's only narrative text, and the only text of significant length directed at the player.: 10–12 At the conclusion of the credits, the player is teleported back to their respawn point and may continue the game indefinitely. In Survival mode, players have to gather natural resources such as wood and stone found in the environment in order to craft certain blocks and items. Depending on the difficulty, monsters spawn in darker areas outside a certain radius of the character, requiring players to build a shelter in order to survive at night. The mode also has a health bar which is depleted by attacks from mobs, falls, drowning, falling into lava, suffocation, starvation, and other events. Players also have a hunger bar, which must be periodically refilled by eating food in-game unless the player is playing on peaceful difficulty. If the hunger bar is empty, the player starves. Health replenishes when players have a full hunger bar or continuously on peaceful. Upon losing all health, players die. The items in the players' inventories are dropped unless the game is reconfigured not to do so. Players then re-spawn at their spawn point, which by default is where players first spawn in the game and can be changed by sleeping in a bed or using a respawn anchor. Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they despawn after 5 minutes. Players may acquire experience points (commonly referred to as "xp" or "exp") by killing mobs and other players, mining, smelting ores, animal breeding, and cooking food. Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools, armor and weapons. Enchanted items are generally more powerful, last longer, or have other special effects. The game features two more game modes based on Survival, known as Hardcore mode and Adventure mode. Hardcore mode plays identically to Survival mode, but with the game's difficulty setting locked to "Hard" and with permadeath, forcing them to delete the world or explore it as a spectator after dying. Adventure mode was added to the game in a post-launch update, and prevents the player from directly modifying the game's world. It was designed primarily for use in custom maps, allowing map designers to let players experience it as intended. In Creative mode, players have access to an infinite number of all resources and items in the game through the inventory menu and can place or mine them instantly. Players can toggle the ability to fly freely around the game world at will, and their characters usually do not take any damage nor are affected by hunger. The game mode helps players focus on building and creating projects of any size without disturbance. Multiplayer in Minecraft enables multiple players to interact and communicate with each other on a single world. It is available through direct game-to-game multiplayer, local area network (LAN) play, local split screen (console-only), and servers (player-hosted and business-hosted). Players can run their own server by making a realm, using a host provider, hosting one themselves or connect directly to another player's game via Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or Nintendo Switch Online. Single-player worlds have LAN support, allowing players to join a world on locally interconnected computers without a server setup. Minecraft multiplayer servers are guided by server operators, who have access to server commands such as setting the time of day and teleporting players. Operators can also set up restrictions concerning which usernames or IP addresses are allowed or disallowed to enter the server. Multiplayer servers have a wide range of activities, with some servers having their own unique rules and customs. The largest and most popular server is Hypixel, which has been visited by over 14 million unique players. Player versus player combat (PvP) can be enabled to allow fighting between players. In 2013, Mojang announced Minecraft Realms, a server hosting service intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and safely without having to set up their own. Unlike a standard server, only invited players can join Realms servers, and these servers do not use server addresses. Minecraft: Java Edition Realms server owners can invite up to twenty people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at a time. Minecraft Realms server owners can invite up to 3,000 people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at one time. The Minecraft: Java Edition Realms servers do not support user-made plugins, but players can play custom Minecraft maps. Minecraft Bedrock Realms servers support user-made add-ons, resource packs, behavior packs, and custom Minecraft maps. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016, support for cross-platform play between Windows 10, iOS, and Android platforms was added through Realms starting in June 2016, with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch support to come later in 2017, and support for virtual reality devices. On 31 July 2017, Mojang released the beta version of the update allowing cross-platform play. Nintendo Switch support for Realms was released in July 2018. The modding community consists of fans, users and third-party programmers. Using a variety of application program interfaces that have arisen over time, they have produced a wide variety of downloadable content for Minecraft, such as modifications, texture packs and custom maps. Modifications of the Minecraft code, called mods, add a variety of gameplay changes, ranging from new blocks, items, and mobs to entire arrays of mechanisms. The modding community is responsible for a substantial supply of mods from ones that enhance gameplay, such as mini-maps, waypoints, and durability counters, to ones that add to the game elements from other video games and media. While a variety of mod frameworks were independently developed by reverse engineering the code, Mojang has also enhanced vanilla Minecraft with official frameworks for modification, allowing the production of community-created resource packs, which alter certain game elements including textures and sounds. Players can also create their own "maps" (custom world save files) that often contain specific rules, challenges, puzzles and quests, and share them for others to play. Mojang added an adventure mode in August 2012 and "command blocks" in October 2012, which were created specially for custom maps in Java Edition. Data packs, introduced in version 1.13 of the Java Edition, allow further customization, including the ability to add new achievements, dimensions, functions, loot tables, predicates, recipes, structures, tags, and world generation. The Xbox 360 Edition supported downloadable content, which was available to purchase via the Xbox Games Store; these content packs usually contained additional character skins. It later received support for texture packs in its twelfth title update while introducing "mash-up packs", which combined texture packs with skin packs and changes to the game's sounds, music and user interface. The first mash-up pack (and by extension, the first texture pack) for the Xbox 360 Edition was released on 4 September 2013, and was themed after the Mass Effect franchise. Unlike Java Edition, however, the Xbox 360 Edition did not support player-made mods or custom maps. A cross-promotional resource pack based on the Super Mario franchise by Nintendo was released exclusively for the Wii U Edition worldwide on 17 May 2016, and later bundled free with the Nintendo Switch Edition at launch. Another based on Fallout was released on consoles that December, and for Windows and Mobile in April 2017. In April 2018, malware was discovered in several downloadable user-made Minecraft skins for use with the Java Edition of the game. Avast stated that nearly 50,000 accounts were infected, and when activated, the malware would attempt to reformat the user's hard drive. Mojang promptly patched the issue, and released a statement stating that "the code would not be run or read by the game itself", and would run only when the image containing the skin itself was opened. In June 2017, Mojang released the "1.1 Discovery Update" to the Pocket Edition of the game, which later became the Bedrock Edition. The update introduced the "Marketplace", a catalogue of purchasable user-generated content intended to give Minecraft creators "another way to make a living from the game". Various skins, maps, texture packs and add-ons from different creators can be bought with "Minecoins", a digital currency that is purchased with real money. Additionally, users can access specific content with a subscription service titled "Marketplace Pass". Alongside content from independent creators, the Marketplace also houses items published by Mojang and Microsoft themselves, as well as official collaborations between Minecraft and other intellectual properties. By 2022, the Marketplace had over 1.7 billion content downloads, generating over $500 million in revenue. Development Before creating Minecraft, Markus "Notch" Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009. At King, he primarily developed browser games and learned several programming languages. During his free time, he prototyped his own games, often drawing inspiration from other titles, and was an active participant on the TIGSource forums for independent developers. One such project was "RubyDung", a base-building game inspired by Dwarf Fortress, but with an isometric, three-dimensional perspective similar to RollerCoaster Tycoon. Among the features in RubyDung that he explored was a first-person view similar to Dungeon Keeper, though he ultimately discarded this idea, feeling the graphics were too pixelated at the time. Around March 2009, Persson left King and joined jAlbum, while continuing to work on his prototypes. Infiniminer, a block-based open-ended mining game first released in April 2009, inspired Persson's vision for RubyDung's future direction. Infiniminer heavily influenced the visual style of gameplay, including bringing back the first-person mode, the "blocky" visual style and the block-building fundamentals. However, unlike Infiniminer, Persson wanted Minecraft to have RPG elements. The first public alpha build of Minecraft was released on 17 May 2009 on TIGSource. Over the years, Persson regularly released test builds that added new features, including tools, mobs, and entire new dimensions. In 2011, partly due to the game's rising popularity, Persson decided to release a full 1.0 version—a second part of the "Adventure Update"—on 18 November 2011. Shortly after, Persson stepped down from development, handing the project's lead to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten. On 15 September 2014, Microsoft, the developer behind the Microsoft Windows operating system and Xbox video game console, announced a $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, which included the Minecraft intellectual property. Persson had suggested the deal on Twitter, asking a corporation to buy his stake in the game after receiving criticism for enforcing terms in the game's end-user license agreement (EULA), which had been in place for the past three years. According to Persson, Mojang CEO Carl Manneh received a call from a Microsoft executive shortly after the tweet, asking if Persson was serious about a deal. Mojang was also approached by other companies including Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts. The deal with Microsoft was arbitrated on 6 November 2014 and led to Persson becoming one of Forbes' "World's Billionaires". After 2014, Minecraft's primary versions received usually annual major updates—free to players who have purchased the game— each primarily centered around a specific theme. For instance, version 1.13, the Update Aquatic, focused on ocean-related features, while version 1.16, the Nether Update, introduced significant changes to the Nether dimension. However, in late 2024, Mojang announced a shift in their update strategy; rather than releasing large updates annually, they opted for a more frequent release schedule with smaller, incremental updates, stating, "We know that you want new Minecraft content more often." The Bedrock Edition has also received regular updates, now matching the themes of the Java Edition updates. Other versions of the game, such as various console editions and the Pocket Edition, were either merged into Bedrock or discontinued and have not received further updates. On 7 May 2019, coinciding with Minecraft's 10th anniversary, a JavaScript recreation of an old 2009 Java Edition build named Minecraft Classic was made available to play online for free. On 16 April 2020, a Bedrock Edition-exclusive beta version of Minecraft, called Minecraft RTX, was released by Nvidia. It introduced physically-based rendering, real-time path tracing, and DLSS for RTX-enabled GPUs. The public release was made available on 8 December 2020. Path tracing can only be enabled in supported worlds, which can be downloaded for free via the in-game Minecraft Marketplace, with a texture pack from Nvidia's website, or with compatible third-party texture packs. It cannot be enabled by default with any texture pack on any world. Initially, Minecraft RTX was affected by many bugs, display errors, and instability issues. On 22 March 2025, a new visual mode called Vibrant Visuals, an optional graphical overhaul similar to Minecraft RTX, was announced. It promises modern rendering features—such as dynamic shadows, screen space reflections, volumetric fog, and bloom—without the need of RTX-capable hardware. Vibrant Visuals was released as a part of the Chase the Skies update on 17 June 2025 for Bedrock Edition and is planned to release on Java Edition at a later date. Development began for the original edition of Minecraft—then known as Cave Game, and now known as the Java Edition—in May 2009,[k] and ended on 13 May, when Persson released a test video on YouTube of an early version of the game, dubbed the "Cave game tech test" or the "Cave game tech demo". The game was named Minecraft: Order of the Stone the next day, after a suggestion made by a player. "Order of the Stone" came from the webcomic The Order of the Stick, and "Minecraft" was chosen "because it's a good name". The title was later shortened to just Minecraft, omitting the subtitle. Persson completed the game's base programming over a weekend in May 2009, and private testing began on TigIRC on 16 May. The first public release followed on 17 May 2009 as a developmental version shared on the TIGSource forums. Based on feedback from forum users, Persson continued updating the game. This initial public build later became known as Classic. Further developmental phases—dubbed Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev—were released throughout 2009 and 2010. The first major update, known as Alpha, was released on 30 June 2010. At the time, Persson was still working a day job at jAlbum but later resigned to focus on Minecraft full-time as sales of the alpha version surged. Updates were distributed automatically, introducing new blocks, items, mobs, and changes to game mechanics such as water flow. With revenue generated from the game, Persson founded Mojang, a video game studio, alongside former colleagues Jakob Porser and Carl Manneh. On 11 December 2010, Persson announced that Minecraft would enter its beta phase on 20 December. He assured players that bug fixes and all pre-release updates would remain free. As development progressed, Mojang expanded, hiring additional employees to work on the project. The game officially exited beta and launched in full on 18 November 2011. On 1 December 2011, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten took full creative control over Minecraft, replacing Persson as lead designer. On 28 February 2012, Mojang announced the hiring of the developers behind Bukkit, a popular developer API for Minecraft servers, to improve Minecraft's support of server modifications. This move included Mojang taking apparent ownership of the CraftBukkit server mod, though this apparent acquisition later became controversial, and its legitimacy was questioned due to CraftBukkit's open-source nature and licensing under the GNU General Public License and Lesser General Public License. In August 2011, Minecraft: Pocket Edition was released as an early alpha for the Xperia Play via the Android Market, later expanding to other Android devices on 8 October 2011. The iOS version followed on 17 November 2011. A port was made available for Windows Phones shortly after Microsoft acquired Mojang. Unlike Java Edition, Pocket Edition initially focused on Minecraft's creative building and basic survival elements but lacked many features of the PC version. Bergensten confirmed on Twitter that the Pocket Edition was written in C++ rather than Java, as iOS does not support Java. On 10 December 2014, a port of Pocket Edition was released for Windows Phone 8.1. In July 2015, a port of the Pocket Edition to Windows 10 was released as the Windows 10 Edition, with full crossplay to other Pocket versions. In January 2017, Microsoft announced that it would no longer maintain the Windows Phone versions of Pocket Edition. On 20 September 2017, with the "Better Together Update", the Pocket Edition was ported to the Xbox One, and was renamed to the Bedrock Edition. The console versions of Minecraft debuted with the Xbox 360 edition, developed by 4J Studios and released on 9 May 2012. Announced as part of the Xbox Live Arcade NEXT promotion, this version introduced a redesigned crafting system, a new control interface, in-game tutorials, split-screen multiplayer, and online play via Xbox Live. Unlike the PC version, its worlds were finite, bordered by invisible walls. Initially, the Xbox 360 version resembled outdated PC versions but received updates to bring it closer to Java Edition before eventually being discontinued. The Xbox One version launched on 5 September 2014, featuring larger worlds and support for more players. Minecraft expanded to PlayStation platforms with PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 editions released on 17 December 2013 and 4 September 2014, respectively. Originally planned as a PS4 launch title, it was delayed before its eventual release. A PlayStation Vita version followed in October 2014. Like the Xbox versions, the PlayStation editions were developed by 4J Studios. Nintendo platforms received Minecraft: Wii U Edition on 17 December 2015, with a physical release in North America on 17 June 2016 and in Europe on 30 June. The Nintendo Switch version launched via the eShop on 11 May 2017. During a Nintendo Direct presentation on 13 September 2017, Nintendo announced that Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition, based on the Pocket Edition, would be available for download immediately after the livestream, and a physical copy available on a later date. The game is compatible only with the New Nintendo 3DS or New Nintendo 2DS XL systems and does not work with the original 3DS or 2DS systems. On 20 September 2017, the Better Together Update introduced Bedrock Edition across Xbox One, Windows 10, VR, and mobile platforms, enabling cross-play between these versions. Bedrock Edition later expanded to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, with the latter receiving the update in December 2019, allowing cross-platform play for users with a free Xbox Live account. The Bedrock Edition released a native version for PlayStation 5 on 22 October 2024, while the Xbox Series X/S version launched on 17 June 2025. On 18 December 2018, the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions of Minecraft received their final update and would later become known as "Legacy Console Editions". On 15 January 2019, the New Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft received its final update, effectively becoming discontinued as well. An educational version of Minecraft, designed for use in schools, launched on 1 November 2016. It is available on Android, ChromeOS, iPadOS, iOS, MacOS, and Windows. On 20 August 2018, Mojang announced that it would bring Education Edition to iPadOS in Autumn 2018. It was released to the App Store on 6 September 2018. On 27 March 2019, it was announced that it would be operated by JD.com in China. On 26 June 2020, a public beta for the Education Edition was made available to Google Play Store compatible Chromebooks. The full game was released to the Google Play Store for Chromebooks on 7 August 2020. On 20 May 2016, China Edition (also known as My World) was announced as a localized edition for China, where it was released under a licensing agreement between NetEase and Mojang. The PC edition was released for public testing on 8 August 2017. The iOS version was released on 15 September 2017, and the Android version was released on 12 October 2017. The PC edition is based on the original Java Edition, while the iOS and Android mobile versions are based on the Bedrock Edition. The edition is free-to-play and had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. This version of Bedrock Edition is exclusive to Microsoft's Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems. The beta release for Windows 10 launched on the Windows Store on 29 July 2015. After nearly a year and a half in beta, Microsoft fully released the version on 19 December 2016. Called the "Ender Update", this release implemented new features to this version of Minecraft like world templates and add-on packs. On 7 June 2022, the Java and Bedrock Editions of Minecraft were merged into a single bundle for purchase on Windows; those who owned one version would automatically gain access to the other version. Both game versions would otherwise remain separate. Around 2011, prior to Minecraft's full release, Mojang collaborated with The Lego Group to create a Lego brick-based Minecraft game called Brickcraft. This would have modified the base Minecraft game to use Lego bricks, which meant adapting the basic 1×1 block to account for larger pieces typically used in Lego sets. Persson worked on an early version called "Project Rex Kwon Do", named after the character of the same name from the film Napoleon Dynamite. Although Lego approved the project and Mojang assigned two developers for six months, it was canceled due to the Lego Group's demands, according to Mojang's Daniel Kaplan. Lego considered buying Mojang to complete the game, but when Microsoft offered over $2 billion for the company, Lego stepped back, unsure of Minecraft's potential. On 26 June 2025, a build of Brickcraft dated 28 June 2012 was published on a community archive website Omniarchive. Initially, Markus Persson planned to support the Oculus Rift with a Minecraft port. However, after Facebook acquired Oculus in 2013, he abruptly canceled the plans, stating, "Facebook creeps me out." In 2016, a community-made mod, Minecraft VR, added VR support for Java Edition, followed by Vivecraft for HTC Vive. Later that year, Microsoft introduced official Oculus Rift support for Windows 10 Edition, leading to the discontinuation of the Minecraft VR mod due to trademark complaints. Vivecraft was endorsed by Minecraft VR contributors for its Rift support. Also available is a Gear VR version, titled Minecraft: Gear VR Edition. Windows Mixed Reality support was added in 2017. On 7 September 2020, Mojang Studios announced that the PlayStation 4 Bedrock version would receive PlayStation VR support later that month. In September 2024, the Minecraft team announced they would no longer support PlayStation VR, which received its final update in March 2025. Music and sound design Minecraft's music and sound effects were produced by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. To create the sound effects for the game, Rosenfeld made extensive use of Foley techniques. On learning the processes for the game, he remarked, "Foley's an interesting thing, and I had to learn its subtleties. Early on, I wasn't that knowledgeable about it. It's a whole trial-and-error process. You just make a sound and eventually you go, 'Oh my God, that's it! Get the microphone!' There's no set way of doing anything at all." He reminisced on creating the in-game sound for grass blocks, stating "It turns out that to make grass sounds you don't actually walk on grass and record it, because grass sounds like nothing. What you want to do is get a VHS, break it apart, and just lightly touch the tape." According to Rosenfeld, his favorite sound to design for the game was the hisses of spiders. He elaborates, "I like the spiders. Recording that was a whole day of me researching what a spider sounds like. Turns out, there are spiders that make little screeching sounds, so I think I got this recording of a fire hose, put it in a sampler, and just pitched it around until it sounded like a weird spider was talking to you." Many of the sound design decisions by Rosenfeld were done accidentally or spontaneously. The creeper notably lacks any specific noises apart from a loud fuse-like sound when about to explode; Rosenfeld later recalled "That was just a complete accident by Markus and me [sic]. We just put in a placeholder sound of burning a matchstick. It seemed to work hilariously well, so we kept it." On other sounds, such as those of the zombie, Rosenfeld remarked, "I actually never wanted the zombies so scary. I intentionally made them sound comical. It's nice to hear that they work so well [...]." Rosenfeld remarked that the sound engine was "terrible" to work with, remembering "If you had two song files at once, it [the game engine] would actually crash. There were so many more weird glitches like that the guys never really fixed because they were too busy with the actual game and not the sound engine." The background music in Minecraft consists of instrumental ambient music. To compose the music of Minecraft, Rosenfeld used the package from Ableton Live, along with several additional plug-ins. Speaking on them, Rosenfeld said "They can be pretty much everything from an effect to an entire orchestra. Additionally, I've got some synthesizers that are attached to the computer. Like a Moog Voyager, Dave Smith Prophet 08 and a Virus TI." On 4 March 2011, Rosenfeld released a soundtrack titled Minecraft – Volume Alpha; it includes most of the tracks featured in Minecraft, as well as other music not featured in the game. Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku chose the music in Minecraft as one of the best video game soundtracks of 2011. On 9 November 2013, Rosenfeld released the second official soundtrack, titled Minecraft – Volume Beta, which included the music that was added in a 2013 "Music Update" for the game. A physical release of Volume Alpha, consisting of CDs, black vinyl, and limited-edition transparent green vinyl LPs, was issued by indie electronic label Ghostly International on 21 August 2015. On 14 August 2020, Ghostly released Volume Beta on CD and vinyl, with alternate color LPs and lenticular cover pressings released in limited quantities. The final update Rosenfeld worked on was 2018's 1.13 Update Aquatic. His music remained the only music in the game until 2020's "Nether Update", introducing pieces from Lena Raine. Since then, other composers have made contributions, including Kumi Tanioka, Samuel Åberg, Aaron Cherof, and Amos Roddy, with Raine remaining as the new primary composer. Ownership of all music besides Rosenfeld's independently released albums has been retained by Microsoft, with their label publishing all of the other artists' releases. Gareth Coker also composed some of the music for the game's mini games from the Legacy Console editions. Rosenfeld had stated his intent to create a third album of music for the game in a 2015 interview with Fact, and confirmed its existence in a 2017 tweet, stating that his work on the record as of then had tallied up to be longer than the previous two albums combined, which in total clocks in at over 3 hours and 18 minutes. However, due to licensing issues with Microsoft, the third volume has since not seen release. On 8 January 2021, Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not there was still a third volume of his music intended for release. Rosenfeld responded, saying, "I have something—I consider it finished—but things have become complicated, especially as Minecraft is now a big property, so I don't know." Reception Minecraft has received critical acclaim, with praise for the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay. Critics have expressed enjoyment in Minecraft's complex crafting system, commenting that it is an important aspect of the game's open-ended gameplay. Most publications were impressed by the game's "blocky" graphics, with IGN describing them as "instantly memorable". Reviewers also liked the game's adventure elements, noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building. The game's multiplayer feature has been generally received favorably, with IGN commenting that "adventuring is always better with friends". Jaz McDougall of PC Gamer said Minecraft is "intuitively interesting and contagiously fun, with an unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences". It has been regarded as having introduced millions of children to the digital world, insofar as its basic game mechanics are logically analogous to computer commands. IGN was disappointed about the troublesome steps needed to set up multiplayer servers, calling it a "hassle". Critics also said that visual glitches occur periodically. Despite its release out of beta in 2011, GameSpot said the game had an "unfinished feel", adding that some game elements seem "incomplete or thrown together in haste". A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the Daily Record, called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it. Jim Rossignol of Rock Paper Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego Stalker". On 17 September 2010, gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game. The Xbox 360 version was generally received positively by critics, but did not receive as much praise as the PC version. Although reviewers were disappointed by the lack of features such as mod support and content from the PC version, they acclaimed the port's addition of a tutorial and in-game tips and crafting recipes, saying that they make the game more user-friendly. The Xbox One Edition was one of the best received ports, being praised for its relatively large worlds. The PlayStation 3 Edition also received generally favorable reviews, being compared to the Xbox 360 Edition and praised for its well-adapted controls. The PlayStation 4 edition was the best received port to date, being praised for having 36 times larger worlds than the PlayStation 3 edition and described as nearly identical to the Xbox One edition. The PlayStation Vita Edition received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for its technical limitations. The Wii U version received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for a lack of GamePad integration. The 3DS version received mixed reviews, being criticized for its high price, technical issues, and lack of cross-platform play. The Nintendo Switch Edition received fairly positive reviews from critics, being praised, like other modern ports, for its relatively larger worlds. Minecraft: Pocket Edition initially received mixed reviews from critics. Although reviewers appreciated the game's intuitive controls, they were disappointed by the lack of content. The inability to collect resources and craft items, as well as the limited types of blocks and lack of hostile mobs, were especially criticized. After updates added more content, Pocket Edition started receiving more positive reviews. Reviewers complimented the controls and the graphics, but still noted a lack of content. Minecraft surpassed over a million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase in early 2011. At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth, and various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic. By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version. In November 2011, prior to the game's full release, Minecraft beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases. By March 2012, Minecraft had become the 6th best-selling PC game of all time. As of 10 October 2014[update], the game had sold 17 million copies on PC, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time. On 25 February 2014, the game reached 100 million registered users. By May 2019, 180 million copies had been sold across all platforms, making it the single best-selling video game of all time. The free-to-play Minecraft China version had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. By 2023, the game had sold over 300 million copies. As of April 2025, Minecraft has sold over 350 million copies. The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first day of the game's release in 2012, when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400,000 players online. Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold a million copies. GameSpot announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012. In 2012, Minecraft was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day. As of 4 April 2014[update], the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies. In addition, Minecraft: Pocket Edition has reached a figure of 21 million in sales. The PlayStation 3 Edition sold one million copies in five weeks. The release of the game's PlayStation Vita version boosted Minecraft sales by 79%, outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest Minecraft launch on a PlayStation console. The PS Vita version sold 100,000 digital copies in Japan within the first two months of release, according to an announcement by SCE Japan Asia. By January 2015, 500,000 digital copies of Minecraft were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms, with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version. As of 2022, the Vita version has sold over 1.65 million physical copies in Japan, making it the best-selling Vita game in the country. Minecraft helped improve Microsoft's total first-party revenue by $63 million for the 2015 second quarter. The game, including all of its versions, had over 112 million monthly active players by September 2019. On its 11th anniversary in May 2020, the company announced that Minecraft had reached over 200 million copies sold across platforms with over 126 million monthly active players. By April 2021, the number of active monthly users had climbed to 140 million. In July 2010, PC Gamer listed Minecraft as the fourth-best game to play at work. In December of that year, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010, Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the "game of the year". Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for Most Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie. It was also awarded Game of the Year by PC Gamer UK. The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Technical Excellence, and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize and the community-voted Audience Award. At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, Minecraft won awards in the categories for Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game and Innovation Award, winning every award for which it was nominated. It also won GameCity's video game arts award. On 5 May 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on 16 March 2012. At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Minecraft won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category. In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Persson received The Special Award. In 2012, Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category, and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category. In 2013, it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards. During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year". Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014. In 2015, the game placed 6th on USgamer's The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list. In 2016, Minecraft placed 6th on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list. Minecraft was nominated for the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite App, but lost to Temple Run. It was nominated for the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game, but lost to Just Dance 2014. The game later won the award for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards. In addition, the Java Edition was nominated for "Favorite Video Game" at the 2018 Kids' Choice Awards, while the game itself won the "Still Playing" award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, as well as the "Favorite Video Game" award at the 2020 Kids' Choice Awards. Minecraft also won "Stream Game of the Year" at inaugural Streamer Awards in 2021. The game later garnered a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award nomination for Favorite Video Game in 2021, and won the same category in 2022 and 2023. At the Golden Joystick Awards 2025, it won the Still Playing Award - PC and Console. Minecraft has been subject to several notable controversies. In June 2014, Mojang announced that it would begin enforcing the portion of Minecraft's end-user license agreement (EULA) which prohibits servers from giving in-game advantages to players in exchange for donations or payments. Spokesperson Owen Hill stated that servers could still require players to pay a fee to access the server and could sell in-game cosmetic items. The change was supported by Persson, citing emails he received from parents of children who had spent hundreds of dollars on servers. The Minecraft community and server owners protested, arguing that the EULA's terms were more broad than Mojang was claiming, that the crackdown would force smaller servers to shut down for financial reasons, and that Mojang was suppressing competition for its own Minecraft Realms subscription service. The controversy contributed to Notch's decision to sell Mojang. In 2020, Mojang announced an eventual change to the Java Edition to require a login from a Microsoft account rather than a Mojang account, the latter of which would be sunsetted. This also required Java Edition players to create Xbox network Gamertags. Mojang defended the move to Microsoft accounts by saying that improved security could be offered, including two-factor authentication, blocking cyberbullies in chat, and improved parental controls. The community responded with intense backlash, citing various technical difficulties encountered in the process and how account migration would be mandatory, even for those who do not play on servers. As of 10 March 2022, Microsoft required that all players migrate in order to maintain access the Java Edition of Minecraft. Mojang announced a deadline of 19 September 2023 for account migration, after which all legacy Mojang accounts became inaccessible and unable to be migrated. In June 2022, Mojang added a player-reporting feature in Java Edition. Players could report other players on multiplayer servers for sending messages prohibited by the Xbox Live Code of Conduct; report categories included profane language,[l] substance abuse, hate speech, threats of violence, and nudity. If a player was found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards, they would be banned from all servers for a specific period of time or permanently. The update containing the report feature (1.19.1) was released on 27 July 2022. Mojang received substantial backlash and protest from community members, one of the most common complaints being that banned players would be forbidden from joining any server, even private ones. Others took issue to what they saw as Microsoft increasing control over its player base and exercising censorship, leading some to start a hashtag #saveminecraft and dub the version "1.19.84", a reference to the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The "Mob Vote" was an online event organized by Mojang in which the Minecraft community voted between three original mob concepts; initially, the winning mob was to be implemented in a future update, while the losing mobs were scrapped, though after the first mob vote this was changed, and losing mobs would now have a chance to come to the game in the future. The first Mob Vote was held during Minecon Earth 2017 and became an annual event starting with Minecraft Live 2020. The Mob Vote was often criticized for forcing players to choose one mob instead of implementing all three, causing divisions and flaming within the community, and potentially allowing internet bots and Minecraft content creators with large fanbases to conduct vote brigading. The Mob Vote was also blamed for a perceived lack of new content added to Minecraft since Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang in 2014. The 2023 Mob Vote featured three passive mobs—the crab, the penguin, and the armadillo—with voting scheduled to start on 13 October. In response, a Change.org petition was created on 6 October, demanding that Mojang eliminate the Mob Vote and instead implement all three mobs going forward. The petition received approximately 445,000 signatures by 13 October and was joined by calls to boycott the Mob Vote, as well as a partially tongue-in-cheek "revolutionary" propaganda campaign in which sympathizers created anti-Mojang and pro-boycott posters in the vein of real 20th century propaganda posters. Mojang did not release an official response to the boycott, and the Mob Vote otherwise proceeded normally, with the armadillo winning the vote. In September 2024, as part of a blog post detailing their future plans for Minecraft's development, Mojang announced the Mob Vote would be retired. Cultural impact In September 2019, The Guardian classified Minecraft as the best video game of the 21st century to date, and in November 2019, Polygon called it the "most important game of the decade" in its 2010s "decade in review". In June 2020, Minecraft was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Minecraft is recognized as one of the first successful games to use an early access model to draw in sales prior to its full release version to help fund development. As Minecraft helped to bolster indie game development in the early 2010s, it also helped to popularize the use of the early access model in indie game development. Social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit have played a significant role in popularizing Minecraft. Research conducted by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania showed that one-third of Minecraft players learned about the game via Internet videos. In 2010, Minecraft-related videos began to gain influence on YouTube, often made by commentators. The videos usually contain screen-capture footage of the game and voice-overs. Common coverage in the videos includes creations made by players, walkthroughs of various tasks, and parodies of works in popular culture. By May 2012, over four million Minecraft-related YouTube videos had been uploaded. The game would go on to be a prominent fixture within YouTube's gaming scene during the entire 2010s; in 2014, it was the second-most searched term on the entire platform. By 2018, it was still YouTube's biggest game globally. Some popular commentators have received employment at Machinima, a now-defunct gaming video company that owned a highly watched entertainment channel on YouTube. The Yogscast is a British company that regularly produces Minecraft videos; their YouTube channel has attained billions of views, and their panel at Minecon 2011 had the highest attendance. Another well-known YouTube personality is Jordan Maron, known online as CaptainSparklez, who has also created many Minecraft music parodies, including "Revenge", a parody of Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love". Minecraft's popularity on YouTube was described by Polygon as quietly dominant, although in 2019, thanks in part to PewDiePie's playthroughs of the game, Minecraft experienced a visible uptick in popularity on the platform. Longer-running series include Far Lands or Bust, dedicated to reaching the obsolete "Far Lands" glitch by foot on an older version of the game. YouTube announced that on 14 December 2021 that the total amount of Minecraft-related views on the website had exceeded one trillion. Minecraft has been referenced by other video games, such as Torchlight II, Team Fortress 2, Borderlands 2, Choplifter HD, Super Meat Boy, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Binding of Isaac, The Stanley Parable, and FTL: Faster Than Light. Minecraft is officially represented in downloadable content for the crossover fighter Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with Steve as a playable character with a moveset including references to building, crafting, and redstone, alongside an Overworld-themed stage. It was also referenced by electronic music artist Deadmau5 in his performances. The game is also referenced heavily in "Informative Murder Porn", the second episode of the seventeenth season of the animated television series South Park. In 2025, A Minecraft Movie was released. It made $313 million in the box office in the first week, a record-breaking opening for a video game adaptation. Minecraft has been noted as a cultural touchstone for Generation Z, as many of the generation's members played the game at a young age. The possible applications of Minecraft have been discussed extensively, especially in the fields of computer-aided design (CAD) and education. In a panel at Minecon 2011, a Swedish developer discussed the possibility of using the game to redesign public buildings and parks, stating that rendering using Minecraft was much more user-friendly for the community, making it easier to envision the functionality of new buildings and parks. In 2012, a member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab, Cody Sumter, said: "Notch hasn't just built a game. He's tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program." Various software has been developed to allow virtual designs to be printed using professional 3D printers or personal printers such as MakerBot and RepRap. In September 2012, Mojang began the Block by Block project in cooperation with UN Habitat to create real-world environments in Minecraft. The project allows young people who live in those environments to participate in designing the changes they would like to see. Using Minecraft, the community has helped reconstruct the areas of concern, and citizens are invited to enter the Minecraft servers and modify their own neighborhood. Carl Manneh, Mojang's managing director, called the game "the perfect tool to facilitate this process", adding "The three-year partnership will support UN-Habitat's Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016." Mojang signed Minecraft building community, FyreUK, to help render the environments into Minecraft. The first pilot project began in Kibera, one of Nairobi's informal settlements and is in the planning phase. The Block by Block project is based on an earlier initiative started in October 2011, Mina Kvarter (My Block), which gave young people in Swedish communities a tool to visualize how they wanted to change their part of town. According to Manneh, the project was a helpful way to visualize urban planning ideas without necessarily having a training in architecture. The ideas presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions. In April 2014, the Danish Geodata Agency generated all of Denmark in fullscale in Minecraft based on their own geodata. This is possible because Denmark is one of the flattest countries with the highest point at 171 meters (ranking as the country with the 30th smallest elevation span), where the limit in default Minecraft was around 192 meters above in-game sea level when the project was completed. Taking advantage of the game's accessibility where other websites are censored, the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders has used an open Minecraft server to create the Uncensored Library, a repository within the game of journalism by authors from countries (including Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam) who have been censored and arrested, such as Jamal Khashoggi. The neoclassical virtual building was created over about 250 hours by an international team of 24 people. Despite its unpredictable nature, Minecraft speedrunning, where players time themselves from spawning into a new world to reaching The End and defeating the Ender Dragon boss, is popular. Some speedrunners use a combination of mods, external programs, and debug menus, while other runners play the game in a more vanilla or more consistency-oriented way. Minecraft has been used in educational settings through initiatives such as MinecraftEdu, founded in 2011 to make the game affordable and accessible for schools in collaboration with Mojang. MinecraftEdu provided features allowing teachers to monitor student progress, including screenshot submissions as evidence of lesson completion, and by 2012 reported that approximately 250,000 students worldwide had access to the platform. Mojang also developed Minecraft: Education Edition with pre-built lesson plans for up to 30 students in a closed environment. Educators have used Minecraft to teach subjects such as history, language arts, and science through custom-built environments, including reconstructions of historical landmarks and large-scale models of biological structures such as animal cells. The introduction of redstone blocks enabled the construction of functional virtual machines such as a hard drive and an 8-bit computer. Mods have been created to use these mechanics for teaching programming. In 2014, the British Museum announced a project to reproduce its building and exhibits in Minecraft in collaboration with the public. Microsoft and Code.org have offered Minecraft-based tutorials and activities designed to teach programming, reporting by 2018 that more than 85 million children had used their resources. In 2025, the Musée de Minéralogie in Paris held a temporary exhibition titled "Minerals in Minecraft." Following the initial surge in popularity of Minecraft in 2010, other video games were criticised for having various similarities to Minecraft, and some were described as being "clones", often due to a direct inspiration from Minecraft, or a superficial similarity. Examples include Ace of Spades, CastleMiner, CraftWorld, FortressCraft, Terraria, BlockWorld 3D, Total Miner, and Luanti (formerly Minetest). David Frampton, designer of The Blockheads, reported that one failure of his 2D game was the "low resolution pixel art" that too closely resembled the art in Minecraft, which resulted in "some resistance" from fans. A homebrew adaptation of the alpha version of Minecraft for the Nintendo DS, titled DScraft, has been released; it has been noted for its similarity to the original game considering the technical limitations of the system. In response to Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang and their Minecraft IP, various developers announced further clone titles developed specifically for Nintendo's consoles, as they were the only major platforms not to officially receive Minecraft at the time. These clone titles include UCraft (Nexis Games), Cube Life: Island Survival (Cypronia), Discovery (Noowanda), Battleminer (Wobbly Tooth Games), Cube Creator 3D (Big John Games), and Stone Shire (Finger Gun Games). Despite this, the fears of fans were unfounded, with official Minecraft releases on Nintendo consoles eventually resuming. Markus Persson made another similar game, Minicraft, for a Ludum Dare competition in 2011. In 2025, Persson announced through a poll on his X account that he was considering developing a spiritual successor to Minecraft. He later clarified that he was "100% serious", and that he had "basically announced Minecraft 2". Within days, however, Persson cancelled the plans after speaking to his team. In November 2024, artificial intelligence companies Decart and Etched released Oasis, an artificially generated version of Minecraft, as a proof of concept. Every in-game element is completely AI-generated in real time and the model does not store world data, leading to "hallucinations" such as items and blocks appearing that were not there before. In January 2026, indie game developer Unomelon announced that their voxel sandbox game Allumeria would be playable in Steam Next Fest that year. On 10 February, Mojang issued a DMCA takedown of Allumeria on Steam through Valve, alleging the game was infringing on Minecraft's copyright. Some reports suggested that the takedown may have used an automatic AI copyright claiming service. The DMCA was later withdrawn. Minecon was an annual official fan convention dedicated to Minecraft. The first full Minecon was held in November 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The event included the official launch of Minecraft; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; Minecraft-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft-related companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the Minecraft community. In 2016, Minecon was held in-person for the last time, with the following years featuring annual "Minecon Earth" livestreams on minecraft.net and YouTube instead. These livestreams, later rebranded to "Minecraft Live", included the mob/biome votes, and announcements of new game updates. In 2025, "Minecraft Live" became a biannual event as part of Minecraft's changing update schedule.[citation needed] Notes References External links |
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BBC Cymrufyw Enseffalitis: 'Angen gw'bod mwy wedi i Dad farw o'r cyflwr' Ar Ddiwrnod Enseffalitis y Byd chwaraewr rygbi rhyngwladol yn galw am godi ymwybyddiaeth o'r cyflwr wedi i'w dad farw yn 2014. Galw am wahardd cŵn o gaeau chwarae ar ôl i chwaraewr fynd i'r ysbyty Gwobrau'r Selar 'angen bod yn uchelgeisiol' i ddenu pobl ifanc Cwis: Hanes Mawr Cymru Carcharu gyrrwr tacsi o Sir Gâr a dreisiodd fenyw ar ôl ei gyrru adref Dedfrydau oes i ddau lanc am lofruddio dyn mewn ymosodiad hiliol Hel atgofion am ganu pop y 60au gydag Y Diliau Chwaraeon y penwythnos: Sut wnaeth timau Cymru? Heddlu nid athrawon ddylai chwilio am arfau - athrawes gafodd ei thrywanu Carcharu dyn am oes am drywanu ei wraig i farwolaeth Dyn yn y llys ar ôl canfod corff menyw yn ei 80au mewn rhewgell Pam fod ChatGPT yn ymateb i gwestiynau Saesneg yn y Gymraeg? Cylchgrawn Pen-blwydd hapus Mistar Urdd yn 50! Cwis Dyddiol Cymru Fyw Lluniau: Awyr Dywyll Cymru 5 ffordd mae Wrecsam wedi elwa o ddyfodiad sêr Hollywood Ceiniogau poeth a theisen Berffro: Trysori traddodiadau Môn Ap Cymru Fyw Y gorau o Gymru ar flaenau dy fysedd Gwylio Gwrando Y Selar yn cydnabod cyfraniad Mr Phormula i gerddoriaeth Gymraeg. Ifan Davies. Sain, 00:00:55Y Selar yn cydnabod cyfraniad Mr Phormula i gerddoriaeth Gymraeg Ifan Davies Creu grŵp enfawr o bobl o'r enw Gruff. Trystan ac Emma. Sain, 00:02:27Creu grŵp enfawr o bobl o'r enw Gruff Trystan ac Emma Pen-blwydd hapus Mistar Urdd yn 50 oed. Sain, 00:02:16Pen-blwydd hapus Mistar Urdd yn 50 oed Atgofion melys Y Diliau. Caryl. Sain, 00:02:41Atgofion melys Y Diliau Caryl Celf yn achub yr artist Rhŷn Williams. Llwyfan gyda Manon Steffan Ros. Sain, 00:02:41Celf yn achub yr artist Rhŷn Williams Llwyfan gyda Manon Steffan Ros Chwaraeon Chwaraeon y penwythnos: Sut wnaeth timau Cymru? Cyhuddo cefnogwyr Caerdydd o ganu caneuon homoffobig Chwe Gwlad: Hamer-Webb a Costelow i ddechrau yn erbyn yr Alban 5 ffordd mae Wrecsam wedi elwa o ddyfodiad sêr Hollywood Cais i'r Uchel Lys atal cytundeb i brynu Rygbi Caerdydd BBC Radio Cymru Y rhaglenni diweddaraf ar ein gorsaf radio cenedlaethol Mwy ar Cymru Fyw Cwis Dysgu Cymraeg / Learning Welsh Ateb y Galw 3 Llun Hefyd ar y we Podlediadau Cymraeg ar BBC Sounds Ymunwch â sianel BBC Cymru Fyw ar WhatsApp BBC Rewind: Clipiau archif o bob cwr o'r wlad Merthyr Tudful: Y Chwyldro Diwydiannol X Facebook Instagram Y diweddaraf Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. |
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Contents Mojang Studios Mojang AB, trading as Mojang Studios, is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. A first-party developer for Xbox Game Studios, the studio is best known for developing the sandbox and survival game Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time. Mojang Studios was founded by the independent video game designer Markus Persson in 2009 as Mojang Specifications for Minecraft's development. The studio inherited its name from another video game venture Persson had left two years prior. Following the game's initial release, Persson, in conjunction with Jakob Porsér, incorporated the business in late 2010, and they hired Carl Manneh as the company's chief executive officer. Other early hires included Daniel Kaplan and Jens Bergensten. Minecraft became highly successful, giving Mojang sustained growth. With a desire to move on from the game, Persson offered to sell his share in Mojang, and the company was acquired by Microsoft in November 2014. Persson, Porsér, and Manneh subsequently left Mojang. In May 2020, Mojang was rebranded as Mojang Studios. As of 2021, the company employs approximately 600 people and has additional locations in London, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Redmond, Washington, where Microsoft is headquartered. Kayleen Walters is the studio head. Apart from Minecraft, Mojang Studios has developed Caller's Bane, Crown and Council, and further games in the Minecraft franchise: Minecraft Dungeons, Minecraft Legends, and the cancelled Minecraft Earth. It also released smaller games as part of game jams organised by Humble Bundle and published the externally developed Cobalt and Cobalt WASD. History Mojang Studios was founded by Markus Persson, a Swedish independent video game designer and programmer, in 2009. He had gained interest in video games at an early age, playing The Bard's Tale and several pirated games on his father's Commodore 128 home computer, and learned to programme at age eight with help from his sister. Because he was a "loner" in school, he spent most of his spare time with games and programming at home. Following his graduation and a few years of working as a web developer, Persson created Wurm Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, with his colleague Rolf Jansson in 2003. They used the name "Mojang Specifications" during the development and, as the game started turning a profit, incorporated the company Mojang Specifications AB (an aktiebolag) in 2007. The name is derived from the Swedish word mojäng (Swedish pronunciation: [mʊˈjɛŋː]; lit. 'gadget'). Persson left the project in the same year and wished to reuse the name, so Jansson renamed the company Onetoofree AB and later Code Club AB. Meanwhile, Persson had joined Midas, later known as King.com, where he developed 25–30 games. He departed the company when he was barred from creating games in his free time. In May 2009, Persson began working on a clone of Infiniminer, a game developed by Zachtronics and released earlier that year. Persson reused assets and parts of the engine code from an earlier personal project and released the first alpha version of the game, now titled Minecraft, on 17 May 2009, followed by the first commercial version on 13 June. He reused the name "Mojang Specifications" for this release, registering a sole proprietorship with this name on 18 June. In less than a month, Minecraft had generated enough revenue for Persson to take time off his day job, which he was able to quit entirely by May 2010. As all sales were processed through the game's website, he did not have to split income with third parties. The payment services provider PayPal temporarily disabled his account when it suspected fraud. In September 2010, Persson travelled to Bellevue, Washington, to the offices of video game company Valve, where he took part in a programming exercise and met with Gabe Newell, before being offered a job at the company. He turned down the offer and instead contacted Jakob Porsér, a former colleague from King.com, to ask for aid in establishing a business out of Mojang Specifications. Porsér quickly quit his job, and the pair incorporated Mojang AB on 17 September. While Persson continued working on Minecraft, Porsér would develop Scrolls, a digital collectable card game. Wishing to focus on game development, they hired Carl Manneh, a manager at jAlbum, Persson's former employer, as chief executive officer. Other significant early hires included Daniel Kaplan as business developer, Markus Toivonen as art director, and Jens Bergensten as lead programmer. In January 2011, Minecraft reached one million registered accounts and ten million six months thereafter. The continued success led Mojang to start the development of a new version for mobile devices. Due to the incompatibility of the game's Java-based framework with mobile devices, this version was programmed in C++ instead. Another version, initially developed for Xbox 360, was outsourced to Scotland-based developer 4J Studios, which also used C++. Scrolls was announced by Mojang in March 2011. The studio's attempt to trademark the game's name resulted in a dispute with ZeniMax Media, which cited similarities between the game's name and that of the ZeniMax-owned The Elder Scrolls series. Kaplan stated in May 2011 that, due to many such requests in the past, Mojang was planning to publish or co-publish games from other indie game studios. Its first, Cobalt from Oxeye Game Studio, was announced in August. An early version of the game was made available in December 2011, with the full game released in February 2016 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows. A multiplayer-focused spin-off, Cobalt WASD, was also developed by Oxeye Game Studio and released by Mojang for Windows in November 2017 after some time in early access. For the full release of Minecraft, Mojang held Minecon, a dedicated convention, in Las Vegas on 18–19 November 2011, with Minecraft formally being released during a presentation on the first day. Thereafter, Minecon was turned into an annual event. Following Minecraft's full release, Persson transferred his role as lead designer for the game to Bergensten in December 2011. Around this time, Manneh had discussion with a plethora of venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners, but turned all of them down as the company did not require any funds. Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and former president of Facebook, Inc., offered to privately invest in Mojang in 2011 but was turned down as well. At the time, the studio ruled out being sold or becoming a public company to maintain its independence, which was said to have heavily contributed to Minecraft's success. By March 2012, Minecraft had sold five million copies, amounting to US$80 million in revenue. In November, Mojang had 25 employees, and total revenues of $237.7 million in 2012. In 2013, it released an education-focused version of Minecraft for Raspberry Pi devices, and—after the exclusivity clause penned with Microsoft over the availability of the game's console edition on Microsoft's platforms had expired—announced editions of the game for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita. In October 2013, Jonas Mårtensson, formerly of gambling company Betsson, was hired as Mojang's vice-president. That year, Mojang recorded revenues of $330 million, of which $129 million were profit. Persson, exhausted from the pressure of being the owner of Minecraft, published a tweet in June 2014, asking whether anyone would be willing to buy his share in Mojang. Several parties expressed interest in this offer, including Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Microsoft. Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, urged Microsoft's newly appointed chief executive Satya Nadella to purchase Mojang to set out "a pretty bold vision" for Microsoft's gaming business. Furthermore, the company had $2.5 billion in offshore bank accounts that it could not bring back to the United States without paying repatriation taxes. Nadella separately stated the possible use of Minecraft with the HoloLens, Microsoft's mixed reality device, to have been a major factor in pursuing the acquisition. The company first approached Mojang regarding a potential acquisition in June 2014, making its first offer shortly thereafter. Mojang subsequently hired advisers from JPMorgan Chase. Microsoft's agreement to purchase Mojang for $2.5 billion was announced on 15 September 2014. Persson, Porsér and Manneh were the only shareholders at this time, of whom Persson owned 71% of shares. The acquisition was finalised on 6 November and Mojang became part of the Microsoft Studios branch. As part of the transaction, Persson received $1.8 billion, while Porsér and Manneh got $300 million and $100 million, respectively. All three subsequently left Mojang and Mårtensson succeeded Manneh. According to Bergensten, the change in ownership went against the studio's independence-focused culture. Many employees were wary about the uncertainties they could face after the acquisition, and some staffers cried at the offices. Everyone who remained with the company for six months thereafter was awarded a bonus of roughly $300,000 (after taxes), deducted from Persson's share. Under the oversight of Microsoft's Matt Booty, Mojang's integration was minimal, leaving its operations independent but backed by Microsoft's financial and technical capabilities. This approach shaped how Microsoft would acquire other gaming companies. Scrolls was released out-of-beta in December 2014 and development of further content ceased in 2015. Also in December 2014, Mojang and Telltale Games jointly announced a partnership in which the latter would develop Minecraft: Story Mode, an episodic, narrative-driven game set in the Minecraft universe. In April 2016, Mojang released Crown and Council, a game entirely developed by artist Henrik Pettersson (who had been hired in August 2011), for free for Windows. An update in January 2017 introduced Linux and macOS versions. Mojang discontinued the online services for Scrolls in February 2018 and re-released the game under a free-to-play model and with the name Caller's Bane in June. Aiming to expand the Minecraft franchise with further games, Mojang developed two spin-offs: Minecraft Dungeons, a dungeon crawler, and Minecraft Earth, an augmented reality game in the vein of Pokémon Go. They were announced in September 2018 and May 2019, respectively. Minecraft Classic, the original browser-based version of Minecraft, was re-released for free on its ten-year anniversary in May 2019. By this time, Minecraft had sold 147 million copies, making it the best-selling video game of all time. Persson was explicitly excluded from the anniversary's festivities due to several controversial statements of his involving transphobia and other issues; an update for Minecraft released the March before also removed several references to Persson. On 17 May 2020, Minecraft's eleventh anniversary, Mojang announced its rebranding to Mojang Studios, aiming to reflect its multi-studio structure, and introduced a new logo. The design was created at the agency Bold under the creative direction of Oliver Helfrich. Minecraft Dungeons was released later that month for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. In June 2022, the studio announced the action-strategy game Minecraft Legends. Helen Chiang, the six-year head of studio for Mojang Studios, acceded to Xbox Game Studios in December 2023 and was replaced by Åsa Bredin in the same role. When Bredin stepped down in February 2025 to focus on personal goals outside the company, Kayleen Walters was appointed in her place, in addition to Amy Stillion as chief of staff. Games developed Mojang partnered with Humble Bundle in 2012 to launch Mojam, a game jam event to raise money for charity, as part of which Mojang developed the shoot 'em up mini-game Catacomb Snatch. The including bundle was sold 81,575 times, raising $458,248.99. The following year, Mojang developed three mini-games for Mojam 2. The studio also participated in Humble Bundle's Games Against Ebola game jam in 2014 with three further mini-games. In 2011, Persson and Kaplan envisioned a hybrid of Minecraft and Lego bricks and agreed with the Lego Group to develop the game as Brickcraft, codenamed Rex Kwon Do (in reference to the film Napoleon Dynamite). The game has also been described as a first-person shooter. Mojang hired two new programmers to work on the game, while a prototype was created by Persson. However, Mojang cancelled the project after six months. Upon announcing the cancellation in July 2012, Persson stated that the move was performed so that Mojang could focus on the games it wholly owned. Daniel Mathiasen, a Lego Group employee at the time, later blamed the cancellation on a series of legal hurdles that the Lego Group had put in place to protect the product's family-friendly image. Kaplan lamented that the staff at Mojang had felt more like consultants on the project, rather than its designers. The Lego Group also considered acquiring Mojang at this point but later decided against doing so as they had not foreseen that Minecraft would become as popular as it would at one point be. In March 2012, Persson revealed that he would be designing a sandbox space trading and combat simulator in the likes of Elite. Titled 0x10c, it was to be set in the year 281,474,976,712,644 AD in a parallel universe. The project was shelved by August 2013, with Persson citing a lack of interest and a creative block. Minecraft Earth was made available as an early-access game in November 2019 for Android and iOS. In January 2021, it was announced that the game would be withdrawn from sale in June that year, with all player data deleted in July. Mojang Studios cited the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as primary reason for the game's closure, as its effects conflicted with the game's concept. Games published Legal disputes In August 2011, after Mojang had attempted to trademark the word "Scrolls" for their game, ZeniMax Media, the parent company of The Elder Scrolls publisher Bethesda Softworks, issued a cease and desist letter, claiming that Scrolls infringed on ZeniMax's "The Elder Scrolls" trademark, that Mojang could not use the name, and that ZeniMax would sue the studio over the word's usage. Persson offered to give up the trademark and give Scrolls a subtitle. However, as Mojang ignored the cease and desist letter, ZeniMax filed the lawsuit in September. Bethesda's Pete Hines stated that Bethesda was not responsible for the lawsuit, rather the issue was centred around "lawyers who understand it". Mojang won an interim injunction in October, the ruling being that Scrolls and The Elder Scrolls were too easy to differentiate, though ZeniMax could still appeal the ruling. In March 2012, Mojang and ZeniMax settled, with all "Scrolls" trademarks and trademark applications being transferred to ZeniMax, who would in turn licence the name to Mojang for use with Scrolls and add-on content, but not for sequels or any other games with similar names. On 20 July 2012, Uniloc, a company specialising in digital rights management technologies, filed a lawsuit against Mojang, stating that the licence verification system in Minecraft's Android version infringed on one of Uniloc's patents. The case was Uniloc USA, Inc. et al v. Mojang AB and was filed with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In response to hate mail, Uniloc founder Ric Richardson denied his involvement, claiming to have only filed the patent. The patent was invalidated in March 2016. In July 2013, the minigolf chain Putt-Putt issued a cease and desist letter against Mojang and Don Mattrick (who was previously affiliated with Minecraft's Xbox 360 version but had since joined Zynga), alleging that they infringed on its "Putt-Putt" trademark. Attached to the letter, which Persson shared on Twitter, was a Google Search screenshot showing videos of user-created maps using the name. Alex Chapman, Mojang's lawyer, stated "I think there is clearly a misunderstanding here as to what Minecraft actually is. It's a game that, among other things, allows people to build things. Mojang doesn't control what users build and Mojang doesn't control the content of the videos users make. Suing Mojang for what people do using Minecraft is like suing Microsoft for what people do using Word." References External links |
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Contents Minecraft Minecraft is a sandbox game developed and published by Mojang Studios. Following its initial public alpha release in 2009, it was formally released in 2011 for personal computers. The game has since been ported to numerous platforms, including mobile devices and various video game consoles. In Minecraft, players explore a procedurally generated world with virtually infinite terrain made up of voxels (cubes). They can discover and extract raw materials, craft tools and items, build structures, fight hostile mobs, and cooperate with or compete against other players in multiplayer. The game's large community offers a wide variety of user-generated content, such as modifications, servers, player skins, texture packs, and custom maps, which add new game mechanics and possibilities. Originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java programming language, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten was handed control over the game's development following its full release. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion; Xbox Game Studios hold the publishing rights for the Bedrock Edition, the unified cross-platform version which evolved from the Pocket Edition codebase[i] and replaced the legacy console versions. Bedrock is updated concurrently with Mojang's original Java Edition, although with numerous, generally small, differences. Minecraft is the best-selling video game in history with over 350 million copies sold. It has received critical acclaim, winning several awards and being cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Social media, parodies, adaptations, merchandise, and the annual Minecon conventions have played prominent roles in popularizing it. The wider Minecraft franchise includes several spin-off games, such as Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Dungeons, and Minecraft Legends. A film adaptation, titled A Minecraft Movie, was released in 2025 and became the second highest-grossing video game film of all time. Gameplay Minecraft is a 3D sandbox video game that has no required goals to accomplish, giving players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. The game features an optional achievement system. Gameplay is in the first-person perspective by default, but players have the option of third-person perspectives. The game world is composed of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes, referred to as blocks—representing various materials, such as dirt, stone, ores, tree trunks, water, and lava. The core gameplay revolves around picking up and placing these objects. These blocks are arranged in a voxel grid, while players can move freely around the world. Players can break, or mine, blocks and then place them elsewhere, enabling them to build things. Very few blocks are affected by gravity, instead maintaining their voxel position in the air. Players can also craft a wide variety of items, such as armor, which mitigates damage from attacks; weapons (such as swords or bows and arrows), which allow monsters and animals to be killed more easily; and tools (such as pickaxes or shovels), which break certain types of blocks more quickly. Some items have multiple tiers depending on the material used to craft them, with higher-tier items being more effective and durable. They may also freely craft helpful blocks—such as furnaces which can cook food and smelt ores, and torches that produce light—or exchange items with villagers (NPC) through trading emeralds for different goods and vice versa. The game has an inventory system, allowing players to carry a limited number of items. The in-game time system follows a day and night cycle, with one full cycle lasting for 20 real-time minutes. The game also contains a material called redstone, which can be used to make primitive mechanical devices, electrical circuits, and logic gates, allowing for the construction of many complex systems. New players are given a randomly selected default character skin out of nine possibilities, including Steve or Alex, but are able to create and upload their own skins. Players encounter various mobs (short for mobile entities) including animals, villagers, and hostile creatures. Passive mobs, such as cows, pigs, and chickens, spawn during the daytime and can be hunted for food and crafting materials, while hostile mobs—including large spiders, witches, skeletons, and zombies—spawn during nighttime or in dark places such as caves. Some hostile mobs, such as zombies and skeletons, burn under the sun if they have no headgear and are not standing in water. Other creatures unique to Minecraft include the creeper (an exploding creature that sneaks up on the player) and the enderman (a creature with the ability to teleport as well as pick up and place blocks). There are also variants of mobs that spawn in different conditions; for example, zombies have husk and drowned variants that spawn in deserts and oceans, respectively. The Minecraft environment is procedurally generated as players explore it using a map seed that is randomly chosen at the time of world creation (or manually specified by the player). Divided into biomes representing different environments with unique resources and structures, worlds are designed to be effectively infinite in traditional gameplay, though technical limits on the player have existed throughout development, both intentionally and not. Implementation of horizontally infinite generation initially resulted in a glitch termed the "Far Lands" at over 12 million blocks away from the world center, where terrain generated as wall-like, fissured patterns. The Far Lands and associated glitches were considered the effective edge of the world until they were resolved, with the current horizontal limit instead being a special impassable barrier called the world border, located 30 million blocks away. Vertical space is comparatively limited, with an unbreakable bedrock layer at the bottom and a building limit several hundred blocks into the sky. Minecraft features three independent dimensions accessible through portals and providing alternate game environments. The Overworld is the starting dimension and represents the real world, with a terrestrial surface setting including plains, mountains, forests, oceans, caves, and small sources of lava. The Nether is a hell-like underworld dimension accessed via an obsidian portal and composed mainly of lava. Mobs that populate the Nether include shrieking, fireball-shooting ghasts, alongside anthropomorphic pigs called piglins and their zombified counterparts. Piglins in particular have a bartering system, where players can give them gold ingots and receive items in return. Structures known as Nether Fortresses generate in the Nether, containing mobs such as wither skeletons and blazes, which can drop blaze rods needed to access the End dimension. The player can also choose to build an optional boss mob known as the Wither, using skulls obtained from wither skeletons and soul sand. The End can be reached through an end portal, consisting of twelve end portal frames. End portals are found in underground structures in the Overworld known as strongholds. To find strongholds, players must craft eyes of ender using an ender pearl and blaze powder. Eyes of ender can then be thrown, traveling in the direction of the stronghold. Once the player reaches the stronghold, they can place eyes of ender into each portal frame to activate the end portal. The dimension consists of islands floating in a dark, bottomless void. A boss enemy called the Ender Dragon guards the largest, central island. Killing the dragon opens access to an exit portal, which, when entered, cues the game's ending credits and the End Poem, a roughly 1,500-word work written by Irish novelist Julian Gough, which takes about nine minutes to scroll past, is the game's only narrative text, and the only text of significant length directed at the player.: 10–12 At the conclusion of the credits, the player is teleported back to their respawn point and may continue the game indefinitely. In Survival mode, players have to gather natural resources such as wood and stone found in the environment in order to craft certain blocks and items. Depending on the difficulty, monsters spawn in darker areas outside a certain radius of the character, requiring players to build a shelter in order to survive at night. The mode also has a health bar which is depleted by attacks from mobs, falls, drowning, falling into lava, suffocation, starvation, and other events. Players also have a hunger bar, which must be periodically refilled by eating food in-game unless the player is playing on peaceful difficulty. If the hunger bar is empty, the player starves. Health replenishes when players have a full hunger bar or continuously on peaceful. Upon losing all health, players die. The items in the players' inventories are dropped unless the game is reconfigured not to do so. Players then re-spawn at their spawn point, which by default is where players first spawn in the game and can be changed by sleeping in a bed or using a respawn anchor. Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they despawn after 5 minutes. Players may acquire experience points (commonly referred to as "xp" or "exp") by killing mobs and other players, mining, smelting ores, animal breeding, and cooking food. Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools, armor and weapons. Enchanted items are generally more powerful, last longer, or have other special effects. The game features two more game modes based on Survival, known as Hardcore mode and Adventure mode. Hardcore mode plays identically to Survival mode, but with the game's difficulty setting locked to "Hard" and with permadeath, forcing them to delete the world or explore it as a spectator after dying. Adventure mode was added to the game in a post-launch update, and prevents the player from directly modifying the game's world. It was designed primarily for use in custom maps, allowing map designers to let players experience it as intended. In Creative mode, players have access to an infinite number of all resources and items in the game through the inventory menu and can place or mine them instantly. Players can toggle the ability to fly freely around the game world at will, and their characters usually do not take any damage nor are affected by hunger. The game mode helps players focus on building and creating projects of any size without disturbance. Multiplayer in Minecraft enables multiple players to interact and communicate with each other on a single world. It is available through direct game-to-game multiplayer, local area network (LAN) play, local split screen (console-only), and servers (player-hosted and business-hosted). Players can run their own server by making a realm, using a host provider, hosting one themselves or connect directly to another player's game via Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or Nintendo Switch Online. Single-player worlds have LAN support, allowing players to join a world on locally interconnected computers without a server setup. Minecraft multiplayer servers are guided by server operators, who have access to server commands such as setting the time of day and teleporting players. Operators can also set up restrictions concerning which usernames or IP addresses are allowed or disallowed to enter the server. Multiplayer servers have a wide range of activities, with some servers having their own unique rules and customs. The largest and most popular server is Hypixel, which has been visited by over 14 million unique players. Player versus player combat (PvP) can be enabled to allow fighting between players. In 2013, Mojang announced Minecraft Realms, a server hosting service intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and safely without having to set up their own. Unlike a standard server, only invited players can join Realms servers, and these servers do not use server addresses. Minecraft: Java Edition Realms server owners can invite up to twenty people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at a time. Minecraft Realms server owners can invite up to 3,000 people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at one time. The Minecraft: Java Edition Realms servers do not support user-made plugins, but players can play custom Minecraft maps. Minecraft Bedrock Realms servers support user-made add-ons, resource packs, behavior packs, and custom Minecraft maps. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016, support for cross-platform play between Windows 10, iOS, and Android platforms was added through Realms starting in June 2016, with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch support to come later in 2017, and support for virtual reality devices. On 31 July 2017, Mojang released the beta version of the update allowing cross-platform play. Nintendo Switch support for Realms was released in July 2018. The modding community consists of fans, users and third-party programmers. Using a variety of application program interfaces that have arisen over time, they have produced a wide variety of downloadable content for Minecraft, such as modifications, texture packs and custom maps. Modifications of the Minecraft code, called mods, add a variety of gameplay changes, ranging from new blocks, items, and mobs to entire arrays of mechanisms. The modding community is responsible for a substantial supply of mods from ones that enhance gameplay, such as mini-maps, waypoints, and durability counters, to ones that add to the game elements from other video games and media. While a variety of mod frameworks were independently developed by reverse engineering the code, Mojang has also enhanced vanilla Minecraft with official frameworks for modification, allowing the production of community-created resource packs, which alter certain game elements including textures and sounds. Players can also create their own "maps" (custom world save files) that often contain specific rules, challenges, puzzles and quests, and share them for others to play. Mojang added an adventure mode in August 2012 and "command blocks" in October 2012, which were created specially for custom maps in Java Edition. Data packs, introduced in version 1.13 of the Java Edition, allow further customization, including the ability to add new achievements, dimensions, functions, loot tables, predicates, recipes, structures, tags, and world generation. The Xbox 360 Edition supported downloadable content, which was available to purchase via the Xbox Games Store; these content packs usually contained additional character skins. It later received support for texture packs in its twelfth title update while introducing "mash-up packs", which combined texture packs with skin packs and changes to the game's sounds, music and user interface. The first mash-up pack (and by extension, the first texture pack) for the Xbox 360 Edition was released on 4 September 2013, and was themed after the Mass Effect franchise. Unlike Java Edition, however, the Xbox 360 Edition did not support player-made mods or custom maps. A cross-promotional resource pack based on the Super Mario franchise by Nintendo was released exclusively for the Wii U Edition worldwide on 17 May 2016, and later bundled free with the Nintendo Switch Edition at launch. Another based on Fallout was released on consoles that December, and for Windows and Mobile in April 2017. In April 2018, malware was discovered in several downloadable user-made Minecraft skins for use with the Java Edition of the game. Avast stated that nearly 50,000 accounts were infected, and when activated, the malware would attempt to reformat the user's hard drive. Mojang promptly patched the issue, and released a statement stating that "the code would not be run or read by the game itself", and would run only when the image containing the skin itself was opened. In June 2017, Mojang released the "1.1 Discovery Update" to the Pocket Edition of the game, which later became the Bedrock Edition. The update introduced the "Marketplace", a catalogue of purchasable user-generated content intended to give Minecraft creators "another way to make a living from the game". Various skins, maps, texture packs and add-ons from different creators can be bought with "Minecoins", a digital currency that is purchased with real money. Additionally, users can access specific content with a subscription service titled "Marketplace Pass". Alongside content from independent creators, the Marketplace also houses items published by Mojang and Microsoft themselves, as well as official collaborations between Minecraft and other intellectual properties. By 2022, the Marketplace had over 1.7 billion content downloads, generating over $500 million in revenue. Development Before creating Minecraft, Markus "Notch" Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009. At King, he primarily developed browser games and learned several programming languages. During his free time, he prototyped his own games, often drawing inspiration from other titles, and was an active participant on the TIGSource forums for independent developers. One such project was "RubyDung", a base-building game inspired by Dwarf Fortress, but with an isometric, three-dimensional perspective similar to RollerCoaster Tycoon. Among the features in RubyDung that he explored was a first-person view similar to Dungeon Keeper, though he ultimately discarded this idea, feeling the graphics were too pixelated at the time. Around March 2009, Persson left King and joined jAlbum, while continuing to work on his prototypes. Infiniminer, a block-based open-ended mining game first released in April 2009, inspired Persson's vision for RubyDung's future direction. Infiniminer heavily influenced the visual style of gameplay, including bringing back the first-person mode, the "blocky" visual style and the block-building fundamentals. However, unlike Infiniminer, Persson wanted Minecraft to have RPG elements. The first public alpha build of Minecraft was released on 17 May 2009 on TIGSource. Over the years, Persson regularly released test builds that added new features, including tools, mobs, and entire new dimensions. In 2011, partly due to the game's rising popularity, Persson decided to release a full 1.0 version—a second part of the "Adventure Update"—on 18 November 2011. Shortly after, Persson stepped down from development, handing the project's lead to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten. On 15 September 2014, Microsoft, the developer behind the Microsoft Windows operating system and Xbox video game console, announced a $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, which included the Minecraft intellectual property. Persson had suggested the deal on Twitter, asking a corporation to buy his stake in the game after receiving criticism for enforcing terms in the game's end-user license agreement (EULA), which had been in place for the past three years. According to Persson, Mojang CEO Carl Manneh received a call from a Microsoft executive shortly after the tweet, asking if Persson was serious about a deal. Mojang was also approached by other companies including Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts. The deal with Microsoft was arbitrated on 6 November 2014 and led to Persson becoming one of Forbes' "World's Billionaires". After 2014, Minecraft's primary versions received usually annual major updates—free to players who have purchased the game— each primarily centered around a specific theme. For instance, version 1.13, the Update Aquatic, focused on ocean-related features, while version 1.16, the Nether Update, introduced significant changes to the Nether dimension. However, in late 2024, Mojang announced a shift in their update strategy; rather than releasing large updates annually, they opted for a more frequent release schedule with smaller, incremental updates, stating, "We know that you want new Minecraft content more often." The Bedrock Edition has also received regular updates, now matching the themes of the Java Edition updates. Other versions of the game, such as various console editions and the Pocket Edition, were either merged into Bedrock or discontinued and have not received further updates. On 7 May 2019, coinciding with Minecraft's 10th anniversary, a JavaScript recreation of an old 2009 Java Edition build named Minecraft Classic was made available to play online for free. On 16 April 2020, a Bedrock Edition-exclusive beta version of Minecraft, called Minecraft RTX, was released by Nvidia. It introduced physically-based rendering, real-time path tracing, and DLSS for RTX-enabled GPUs. The public release was made available on 8 December 2020. Path tracing can only be enabled in supported worlds, which can be downloaded for free via the in-game Minecraft Marketplace, with a texture pack from Nvidia's website, or with compatible third-party texture packs. It cannot be enabled by default with any texture pack on any world. Initially, Minecraft RTX was affected by many bugs, display errors, and instability issues. On 22 March 2025, a new visual mode called Vibrant Visuals, an optional graphical overhaul similar to Minecraft RTX, was announced. It promises modern rendering features—such as dynamic shadows, screen space reflections, volumetric fog, and bloom—without the need of RTX-capable hardware. Vibrant Visuals was released as a part of the Chase the Skies update on 17 June 2025 for Bedrock Edition and is planned to release on Java Edition at a later date. Development began for the original edition of Minecraft—then known as Cave Game, and now known as the Java Edition—in May 2009,[k] and ended on 13 May, when Persson released a test video on YouTube of an early version of the game, dubbed the "Cave game tech test" or the "Cave game tech demo". The game was named Minecraft: Order of the Stone the next day, after a suggestion made by a player. "Order of the Stone" came from the webcomic The Order of the Stick, and "Minecraft" was chosen "because it's a good name". The title was later shortened to just Minecraft, omitting the subtitle. Persson completed the game's base programming over a weekend in May 2009, and private testing began on TigIRC on 16 May. The first public release followed on 17 May 2009 as a developmental version shared on the TIGSource forums. Based on feedback from forum users, Persson continued updating the game. This initial public build later became known as Classic. Further developmental phases—dubbed Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev—were released throughout 2009 and 2010. The first major update, known as Alpha, was released on 30 June 2010. At the time, Persson was still working a day job at jAlbum but later resigned to focus on Minecraft full-time as sales of the alpha version surged. Updates were distributed automatically, introducing new blocks, items, mobs, and changes to game mechanics such as water flow. With revenue generated from the game, Persson founded Mojang, a video game studio, alongside former colleagues Jakob Porser and Carl Manneh. On 11 December 2010, Persson announced that Minecraft would enter its beta phase on 20 December. He assured players that bug fixes and all pre-release updates would remain free. As development progressed, Mojang expanded, hiring additional employees to work on the project. The game officially exited beta and launched in full on 18 November 2011. On 1 December 2011, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten took full creative control over Minecraft, replacing Persson as lead designer. On 28 February 2012, Mojang announced the hiring of the developers behind Bukkit, a popular developer API for Minecraft servers, to improve Minecraft's support of server modifications. This move included Mojang taking apparent ownership of the CraftBukkit server mod, though this apparent acquisition later became controversial, and its legitimacy was questioned due to CraftBukkit's open-source nature and licensing under the GNU General Public License and Lesser General Public License. In August 2011, Minecraft: Pocket Edition was released as an early alpha for the Xperia Play via the Android Market, later expanding to other Android devices on 8 October 2011. The iOS version followed on 17 November 2011. A port was made available for Windows Phones shortly after Microsoft acquired Mojang. Unlike Java Edition, Pocket Edition initially focused on Minecraft's creative building and basic survival elements but lacked many features of the PC version. Bergensten confirmed on Twitter that the Pocket Edition was written in C++ rather than Java, as iOS does not support Java. On 10 December 2014, a port of Pocket Edition was released for Windows Phone 8.1. In July 2015, a port of the Pocket Edition to Windows 10 was released as the Windows 10 Edition, with full crossplay to other Pocket versions. In January 2017, Microsoft announced that it would no longer maintain the Windows Phone versions of Pocket Edition. On 20 September 2017, with the "Better Together Update", the Pocket Edition was ported to the Xbox One, and was renamed to the Bedrock Edition. The console versions of Minecraft debuted with the Xbox 360 edition, developed by 4J Studios and released on 9 May 2012. Announced as part of the Xbox Live Arcade NEXT promotion, this version introduced a redesigned crafting system, a new control interface, in-game tutorials, split-screen multiplayer, and online play via Xbox Live. Unlike the PC version, its worlds were finite, bordered by invisible walls. Initially, the Xbox 360 version resembled outdated PC versions but received updates to bring it closer to Java Edition before eventually being discontinued. The Xbox One version launched on 5 September 2014, featuring larger worlds and support for more players. Minecraft expanded to PlayStation platforms with PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 editions released on 17 December 2013 and 4 September 2014, respectively. Originally planned as a PS4 launch title, it was delayed before its eventual release. A PlayStation Vita version followed in October 2014. Like the Xbox versions, the PlayStation editions were developed by 4J Studios. Nintendo platforms received Minecraft: Wii U Edition on 17 December 2015, with a physical release in North America on 17 June 2016 and in Europe on 30 June. The Nintendo Switch version launched via the eShop on 11 May 2017. During a Nintendo Direct presentation on 13 September 2017, Nintendo announced that Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition, based on the Pocket Edition, would be available for download immediately after the livestream, and a physical copy available on a later date. The game is compatible only with the New Nintendo 3DS or New Nintendo 2DS XL systems and does not work with the original 3DS or 2DS systems. On 20 September 2017, the Better Together Update introduced Bedrock Edition across Xbox One, Windows 10, VR, and mobile platforms, enabling cross-play between these versions. Bedrock Edition later expanded to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, with the latter receiving the update in December 2019, allowing cross-platform play for users with a free Xbox Live account. The Bedrock Edition released a native version for PlayStation 5 on 22 October 2024, while the Xbox Series X/S version launched on 17 June 2025. On 18 December 2018, the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions of Minecraft received their final update and would later become known as "Legacy Console Editions". On 15 January 2019, the New Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft received its final update, effectively becoming discontinued as well. An educational version of Minecraft, designed for use in schools, launched on 1 November 2016. It is available on Android, ChromeOS, iPadOS, iOS, MacOS, and Windows. On 20 August 2018, Mojang announced that it would bring Education Edition to iPadOS in Autumn 2018. It was released to the App Store on 6 September 2018. On 27 March 2019, it was announced that it would be operated by JD.com in China. On 26 June 2020, a public beta for the Education Edition was made available to Google Play Store compatible Chromebooks. The full game was released to the Google Play Store for Chromebooks on 7 August 2020. On 20 May 2016, China Edition (also known as My World) was announced as a localized edition for China, where it was released under a licensing agreement between NetEase and Mojang. The PC edition was released for public testing on 8 August 2017. The iOS version was released on 15 September 2017, and the Android version was released on 12 October 2017. The PC edition is based on the original Java Edition, while the iOS and Android mobile versions are based on the Bedrock Edition. The edition is free-to-play and had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. This version of Bedrock Edition is exclusive to Microsoft's Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems. The beta release for Windows 10 launched on the Windows Store on 29 July 2015. After nearly a year and a half in beta, Microsoft fully released the version on 19 December 2016. Called the "Ender Update", this release implemented new features to this version of Minecraft like world templates and add-on packs. On 7 June 2022, the Java and Bedrock Editions of Minecraft were merged into a single bundle for purchase on Windows; those who owned one version would automatically gain access to the other version. Both game versions would otherwise remain separate. Around 2011, prior to Minecraft's full release, Mojang collaborated with The Lego Group to create a Lego brick-based Minecraft game called Brickcraft. This would have modified the base Minecraft game to use Lego bricks, which meant adapting the basic 1×1 block to account for larger pieces typically used in Lego sets. Persson worked on an early version called "Project Rex Kwon Do", named after the character of the same name from the film Napoleon Dynamite. Although Lego approved the project and Mojang assigned two developers for six months, it was canceled due to the Lego Group's demands, according to Mojang's Daniel Kaplan. Lego considered buying Mojang to complete the game, but when Microsoft offered over $2 billion for the company, Lego stepped back, unsure of Minecraft's potential. On 26 June 2025, a build of Brickcraft dated 28 June 2012 was published on a community archive website Omniarchive. Initially, Markus Persson planned to support the Oculus Rift with a Minecraft port. However, after Facebook acquired Oculus in 2013, he abruptly canceled the plans, stating, "Facebook creeps me out." In 2016, a community-made mod, Minecraft VR, added VR support for Java Edition, followed by Vivecraft for HTC Vive. Later that year, Microsoft introduced official Oculus Rift support for Windows 10 Edition, leading to the discontinuation of the Minecraft VR mod due to trademark complaints. Vivecraft was endorsed by Minecraft VR contributors for its Rift support. Also available is a Gear VR version, titled Minecraft: Gear VR Edition. Windows Mixed Reality support was added in 2017. On 7 September 2020, Mojang Studios announced that the PlayStation 4 Bedrock version would receive PlayStation VR support later that month. In September 2024, the Minecraft team announced they would no longer support PlayStation VR, which received its final update in March 2025. Music and sound design Minecraft's music and sound effects were produced by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. To create the sound effects for the game, Rosenfeld made extensive use of Foley techniques. On learning the processes for the game, he remarked, "Foley's an interesting thing, and I had to learn its subtleties. Early on, I wasn't that knowledgeable about it. It's a whole trial-and-error process. You just make a sound and eventually you go, 'Oh my God, that's it! Get the microphone!' There's no set way of doing anything at all." He reminisced on creating the in-game sound for grass blocks, stating "It turns out that to make grass sounds you don't actually walk on grass and record it, because grass sounds like nothing. What you want to do is get a VHS, break it apart, and just lightly touch the tape." According to Rosenfeld, his favorite sound to design for the game was the hisses of spiders. He elaborates, "I like the spiders. Recording that was a whole day of me researching what a spider sounds like. Turns out, there are spiders that make little screeching sounds, so I think I got this recording of a fire hose, put it in a sampler, and just pitched it around until it sounded like a weird spider was talking to you." Many of the sound design decisions by Rosenfeld were done accidentally or spontaneously. The creeper notably lacks any specific noises apart from a loud fuse-like sound when about to explode; Rosenfeld later recalled "That was just a complete accident by Markus and me [sic]. We just put in a placeholder sound of burning a matchstick. It seemed to work hilariously well, so we kept it." On other sounds, such as those of the zombie, Rosenfeld remarked, "I actually never wanted the zombies so scary. I intentionally made them sound comical. It's nice to hear that they work so well [...]." Rosenfeld remarked that the sound engine was "terrible" to work with, remembering "If you had two song files at once, it [the game engine] would actually crash. There were so many more weird glitches like that the guys never really fixed because they were too busy with the actual game and not the sound engine." The background music in Minecraft consists of instrumental ambient music. To compose the music of Minecraft, Rosenfeld used the package from Ableton Live, along with several additional plug-ins. Speaking on them, Rosenfeld said "They can be pretty much everything from an effect to an entire orchestra. Additionally, I've got some synthesizers that are attached to the computer. Like a Moog Voyager, Dave Smith Prophet 08 and a Virus TI." On 4 March 2011, Rosenfeld released a soundtrack titled Minecraft – Volume Alpha; it includes most of the tracks featured in Minecraft, as well as other music not featured in the game. Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku chose the music in Minecraft as one of the best video game soundtracks of 2011. On 9 November 2013, Rosenfeld released the second official soundtrack, titled Minecraft – Volume Beta, which included the music that was added in a 2013 "Music Update" for the game. A physical release of Volume Alpha, consisting of CDs, black vinyl, and limited-edition transparent green vinyl LPs, was issued by indie electronic label Ghostly International on 21 August 2015. On 14 August 2020, Ghostly released Volume Beta on CD and vinyl, with alternate color LPs and lenticular cover pressings released in limited quantities. The final update Rosenfeld worked on was 2018's 1.13 Update Aquatic. His music remained the only music in the game until 2020's "Nether Update", introducing pieces from Lena Raine. Since then, other composers have made contributions, including Kumi Tanioka, Samuel Åberg, Aaron Cherof, and Amos Roddy, with Raine remaining as the new primary composer. Ownership of all music besides Rosenfeld's independently released albums has been retained by Microsoft, with their label publishing all of the other artists' releases. Gareth Coker also composed some of the music for the game's mini games from the Legacy Console editions. Rosenfeld had stated his intent to create a third album of music for the game in a 2015 interview with Fact, and confirmed its existence in a 2017 tweet, stating that his work on the record as of then had tallied up to be longer than the previous two albums combined, which in total clocks in at over 3 hours and 18 minutes. However, due to licensing issues with Microsoft, the third volume has since not seen release. On 8 January 2021, Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not there was still a third volume of his music intended for release. Rosenfeld responded, saying, "I have something—I consider it finished—but things have become complicated, especially as Minecraft is now a big property, so I don't know." Reception Minecraft has received critical acclaim, with praise for the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay. Critics have expressed enjoyment in Minecraft's complex crafting system, commenting that it is an important aspect of the game's open-ended gameplay. Most publications were impressed by the game's "blocky" graphics, with IGN describing them as "instantly memorable". Reviewers also liked the game's adventure elements, noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building. The game's multiplayer feature has been generally received favorably, with IGN commenting that "adventuring is always better with friends". Jaz McDougall of PC Gamer said Minecraft is "intuitively interesting and contagiously fun, with an unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences". It has been regarded as having introduced millions of children to the digital world, insofar as its basic game mechanics are logically analogous to computer commands. IGN was disappointed about the troublesome steps needed to set up multiplayer servers, calling it a "hassle". Critics also said that visual glitches occur periodically. Despite its release out of beta in 2011, GameSpot said the game had an "unfinished feel", adding that some game elements seem "incomplete or thrown together in haste". A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the Daily Record, called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it. Jim Rossignol of Rock Paper Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego Stalker". On 17 September 2010, gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game. The Xbox 360 version was generally received positively by critics, but did not receive as much praise as the PC version. Although reviewers were disappointed by the lack of features such as mod support and content from the PC version, they acclaimed the port's addition of a tutorial and in-game tips and crafting recipes, saying that they make the game more user-friendly. The Xbox One Edition was one of the best received ports, being praised for its relatively large worlds. The PlayStation 3 Edition also received generally favorable reviews, being compared to the Xbox 360 Edition and praised for its well-adapted controls. The PlayStation 4 edition was the best received port to date, being praised for having 36 times larger worlds than the PlayStation 3 edition and described as nearly identical to the Xbox One edition. The PlayStation Vita Edition received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for its technical limitations. The Wii U version received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for a lack of GamePad integration. The 3DS version received mixed reviews, being criticized for its high price, technical issues, and lack of cross-platform play. The Nintendo Switch Edition received fairly positive reviews from critics, being praised, like other modern ports, for its relatively larger worlds. Minecraft: Pocket Edition initially received mixed reviews from critics. Although reviewers appreciated the game's intuitive controls, they were disappointed by the lack of content. The inability to collect resources and craft items, as well as the limited types of blocks and lack of hostile mobs, were especially criticized. After updates added more content, Pocket Edition started receiving more positive reviews. Reviewers complimented the controls and the graphics, but still noted a lack of content. Minecraft surpassed over a million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase in early 2011. At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth, and various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic. By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version. In November 2011, prior to the game's full release, Minecraft beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases. By March 2012, Minecraft had become the 6th best-selling PC game of all time. As of 10 October 2014[update], the game had sold 17 million copies on PC, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time. On 25 February 2014, the game reached 100 million registered users. By May 2019, 180 million copies had been sold across all platforms, making it the single best-selling video game of all time. The free-to-play Minecraft China version had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. By 2023, the game had sold over 300 million copies. As of April 2025, Minecraft has sold over 350 million copies. The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first day of the game's release in 2012, when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400,000 players online. Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold a million copies. GameSpot announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012. In 2012, Minecraft was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day. As of 4 April 2014[update], the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies. In addition, Minecraft: Pocket Edition has reached a figure of 21 million in sales. The PlayStation 3 Edition sold one million copies in five weeks. The release of the game's PlayStation Vita version boosted Minecraft sales by 79%, outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest Minecraft launch on a PlayStation console. The PS Vita version sold 100,000 digital copies in Japan within the first two months of release, according to an announcement by SCE Japan Asia. By January 2015, 500,000 digital copies of Minecraft were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms, with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version. As of 2022, the Vita version has sold over 1.65 million physical copies in Japan, making it the best-selling Vita game in the country. Minecraft helped improve Microsoft's total first-party revenue by $63 million for the 2015 second quarter. The game, including all of its versions, had over 112 million monthly active players by September 2019. On its 11th anniversary in May 2020, the company announced that Minecraft had reached over 200 million copies sold across platforms with over 126 million monthly active players. By April 2021, the number of active monthly users had climbed to 140 million. In July 2010, PC Gamer listed Minecraft as the fourth-best game to play at work. In December of that year, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010, Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the "game of the year". Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for Most Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie. It was also awarded Game of the Year by PC Gamer UK. The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Technical Excellence, and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize and the community-voted Audience Award. At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, Minecraft won awards in the categories for Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game and Innovation Award, winning every award for which it was nominated. It also won GameCity's video game arts award. On 5 May 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on 16 March 2012. At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Minecraft won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category. In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Persson received The Special Award. In 2012, Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category, and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category. In 2013, it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards. During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year". Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014. In 2015, the game placed 6th on USgamer's The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list. In 2016, Minecraft placed 6th on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list. Minecraft was nominated for the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite App, but lost to Temple Run. It was nominated for the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game, but lost to Just Dance 2014. The game later won the award for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards. In addition, the Java Edition was nominated for "Favorite Video Game" at the 2018 Kids' Choice Awards, while the game itself won the "Still Playing" award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, as well as the "Favorite Video Game" award at the 2020 Kids' Choice Awards. Minecraft also won "Stream Game of the Year" at inaugural Streamer Awards in 2021. The game later garnered a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award nomination for Favorite Video Game in 2021, and won the same category in 2022 and 2023. At the Golden Joystick Awards 2025, it won the Still Playing Award - PC and Console. Minecraft has been subject to several notable controversies. In June 2014, Mojang announced that it would begin enforcing the portion of Minecraft's end-user license agreement (EULA) which prohibits servers from giving in-game advantages to players in exchange for donations or payments. Spokesperson Owen Hill stated that servers could still require players to pay a fee to access the server and could sell in-game cosmetic items. The change was supported by Persson, citing emails he received from parents of children who had spent hundreds of dollars on servers. The Minecraft community and server owners protested, arguing that the EULA's terms were more broad than Mojang was claiming, that the crackdown would force smaller servers to shut down for financial reasons, and that Mojang was suppressing competition for its own Minecraft Realms subscription service. The controversy contributed to Notch's decision to sell Mojang. In 2020, Mojang announced an eventual change to the Java Edition to require a login from a Microsoft account rather than a Mojang account, the latter of which would be sunsetted. This also required Java Edition players to create Xbox network Gamertags. Mojang defended the move to Microsoft accounts by saying that improved security could be offered, including two-factor authentication, blocking cyberbullies in chat, and improved parental controls. The community responded with intense backlash, citing various technical difficulties encountered in the process and how account migration would be mandatory, even for those who do not play on servers. As of 10 March 2022, Microsoft required that all players migrate in order to maintain access the Java Edition of Minecraft. Mojang announced a deadline of 19 September 2023 for account migration, after which all legacy Mojang accounts became inaccessible and unable to be migrated. In June 2022, Mojang added a player-reporting feature in Java Edition. Players could report other players on multiplayer servers for sending messages prohibited by the Xbox Live Code of Conduct; report categories included profane language,[l] substance abuse, hate speech, threats of violence, and nudity. If a player was found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards, they would be banned from all servers for a specific period of time or permanently. The update containing the report feature (1.19.1) was released on 27 July 2022. Mojang received substantial backlash and protest from community members, one of the most common complaints being that banned players would be forbidden from joining any server, even private ones. Others took issue to what they saw as Microsoft increasing control over its player base and exercising censorship, leading some to start a hashtag #saveminecraft and dub the version "1.19.84", a reference to the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The "Mob Vote" was an online event organized by Mojang in which the Minecraft community voted between three original mob concepts; initially, the winning mob was to be implemented in a future update, while the losing mobs were scrapped, though after the first mob vote this was changed, and losing mobs would now have a chance to come to the game in the future. The first Mob Vote was held during Minecon Earth 2017 and became an annual event starting with Minecraft Live 2020. The Mob Vote was often criticized for forcing players to choose one mob instead of implementing all three, causing divisions and flaming within the community, and potentially allowing internet bots and Minecraft content creators with large fanbases to conduct vote brigading. The Mob Vote was also blamed for a perceived lack of new content added to Minecraft since Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang in 2014. The 2023 Mob Vote featured three passive mobs—the crab, the penguin, and the armadillo—with voting scheduled to start on 13 October. In response, a Change.org petition was created on 6 October, demanding that Mojang eliminate the Mob Vote and instead implement all three mobs going forward. The petition received approximately 445,000 signatures by 13 October and was joined by calls to boycott the Mob Vote, as well as a partially tongue-in-cheek "revolutionary" propaganda campaign in which sympathizers created anti-Mojang and pro-boycott posters in the vein of real 20th century propaganda posters. Mojang did not release an official response to the boycott, and the Mob Vote otherwise proceeded normally, with the armadillo winning the vote. In September 2024, as part of a blog post detailing their future plans for Minecraft's development, Mojang announced the Mob Vote would be retired. Cultural impact In September 2019, The Guardian classified Minecraft as the best video game of the 21st century to date, and in November 2019, Polygon called it the "most important game of the decade" in its 2010s "decade in review". In June 2020, Minecraft was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Minecraft is recognized as one of the first successful games to use an early access model to draw in sales prior to its full release version to help fund development. As Minecraft helped to bolster indie game development in the early 2010s, it also helped to popularize the use of the early access model in indie game development. Social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit have played a significant role in popularizing Minecraft. Research conducted by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania showed that one-third of Minecraft players learned about the game via Internet videos. In 2010, Minecraft-related videos began to gain influence on YouTube, often made by commentators. The videos usually contain screen-capture footage of the game and voice-overs. Common coverage in the videos includes creations made by players, walkthroughs of various tasks, and parodies of works in popular culture. By May 2012, over four million Minecraft-related YouTube videos had been uploaded. The game would go on to be a prominent fixture within YouTube's gaming scene during the entire 2010s; in 2014, it was the second-most searched term on the entire platform. By 2018, it was still YouTube's biggest game globally. Some popular commentators have received employment at Machinima, a now-defunct gaming video company that owned a highly watched entertainment channel on YouTube. The Yogscast is a British company that regularly produces Minecraft videos; their YouTube channel has attained billions of views, and their panel at Minecon 2011 had the highest attendance. Another well-known YouTube personality is Jordan Maron, known online as CaptainSparklez, who has also created many Minecraft music parodies, including "Revenge", a parody of Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love". Minecraft's popularity on YouTube was described by Polygon as quietly dominant, although in 2019, thanks in part to PewDiePie's playthroughs of the game, Minecraft experienced a visible uptick in popularity on the platform. Longer-running series include Far Lands or Bust, dedicated to reaching the obsolete "Far Lands" glitch by foot on an older version of the game. YouTube announced that on 14 December 2021 that the total amount of Minecraft-related views on the website had exceeded one trillion. Minecraft has been referenced by other video games, such as Torchlight II, Team Fortress 2, Borderlands 2, Choplifter HD, Super Meat Boy, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Binding of Isaac, The Stanley Parable, and FTL: Faster Than Light. Minecraft is officially represented in downloadable content for the crossover fighter Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with Steve as a playable character with a moveset including references to building, crafting, and redstone, alongside an Overworld-themed stage. It was also referenced by electronic music artist Deadmau5 in his performances. The game is also referenced heavily in "Informative Murder Porn", the second episode of the seventeenth season of the animated television series South Park. In 2025, A Minecraft Movie was released. It made $313 million in the box office in the first week, a record-breaking opening for a video game adaptation. Minecraft has been noted as a cultural touchstone for Generation Z, as many of the generation's members played the game at a young age. The possible applications of Minecraft have been discussed extensively, especially in the fields of computer-aided design (CAD) and education. In a panel at Minecon 2011, a Swedish developer discussed the possibility of using the game to redesign public buildings and parks, stating that rendering using Minecraft was much more user-friendly for the community, making it easier to envision the functionality of new buildings and parks. In 2012, a member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab, Cody Sumter, said: "Notch hasn't just built a game. He's tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program." Various software has been developed to allow virtual designs to be printed using professional 3D printers or personal printers such as MakerBot and RepRap. In September 2012, Mojang began the Block by Block project in cooperation with UN Habitat to create real-world environments in Minecraft. The project allows young people who live in those environments to participate in designing the changes they would like to see. Using Minecraft, the community has helped reconstruct the areas of concern, and citizens are invited to enter the Minecraft servers and modify their own neighborhood. Carl Manneh, Mojang's managing director, called the game "the perfect tool to facilitate this process", adding "The three-year partnership will support UN-Habitat's Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016." Mojang signed Minecraft building community, FyreUK, to help render the environments into Minecraft. The first pilot project began in Kibera, one of Nairobi's informal settlements and is in the planning phase. The Block by Block project is based on an earlier initiative started in October 2011, Mina Kvarter (My Block), which gave young people in Swedish communities a tool to visualize how they wanted to change their part of town. According to Manneh, the project was a helpful way to visualize urban planning ideas without necessarily having a training in architecture. The ideas presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions. In April 2014, the Danish Geodata Agency generated all of Denmark in fullscale in Minecraft based on their own geodata. This is possible because Denmark is one of the flattest countries with the highest point at 171 meters (ranking as the country with the 30th smallest elevation span), where the limit in default Minecraft was around 192 meters above in-game sea level when the project was completed. Taking advantage of the game's accessibility where other websites are censored, the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders has used an open Minecraft server to create the Uncensored Library, a repository within the game of journalism by authors from countries (including Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam) who have been censored and arrested, such as Jamal Khashoggi. The neoclassical virtual building was created over about 250 hours by an international team of 24 people. Despite its unpredictable nature, Minecraft speedrunning, where players time themselves from spawning into a new world to reaching The End and defeating the Ender Dragon boss, is popular. Some speedrunners use a combination of mods, external programs, and debug menus, while other runners play the game in a more vanilla or more consistency-oriented way. Minecraft has been used in educational settings through initiatives such as MinecraftEdu, founded in 2011 to make the game affordable and accessible for schools in collaboration with Mojang. MinecraftEdu provided features allowing teachers to monitor student progress, including screenshot submissions as evidence of lesson completion, and by 2012 reported that approximately 250,000 students worldwide had access to the platform. Mojang also developed Minecraft: Education Edition with pre-built lesson plans for up to 30 students in a closed environment. Educators have used Minecraft to teach subjects such as history, language arts, and science through custom-built environments, including reconstructions of historical landmarks and large-scale models of biological structures such as animal cells. The introduction of redstone blocks enabled the construction of functional virtual machines such as a hard drive and an 8-bit computer. Mods have been created to use these mechanics for teaching programming. In 2014, the British Museum announced a project to reproduce its building and exhibits in Minecraft in collaboration with the public. Microsoft and Code.org have offered Minecraft-based tutorials and activities designed to teach programming, reporting by 2018 that more than 85 million children had used their resources. In 2025, the Musée de Minéralogie in Paris held a temporary exhibition titled "Minerals in Minecraft." Following the initial surge in popularity of Minecraft in 2010, other video games were criticised for having various similarities to Minecraft, and some were described as being "clones", often due to a direct inspiration from Minecraft, or a superficial similarity. Examples include Ace of Spades, CastleMiner, CraftWorld, FortressCraft, Terraria, BlockWorld 3D, Total Miner, and Luanti (formerly Minetest). David Frampton, designer of The Blockheads, reported that one failure of his 2D game was the "low resolution pixel art" that too closely resembled the art in Minecraft, which resulted in "some resistance" from fans. A homebrew adaptation of the alpha version of Minecraft for the Nintendo DS, titled DScraft, has been released; it has been noted for its similarity to the original game considering the technical limitations of the system. In response to Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang and their Minecraft IP, various developers announced further clone titles developed specifically for Nintendo's consoles, as they were the only major platforms not to officially receive Minecraft at the time. These clone titles include UCraft (Nexis Games), Cube Life: Island Survival (Cypronia), Discovery (Noowanda), Battleminer (Wobbly Tooth Games), Cube Creator 3D (Big John Games), and Stone Shire (Finger Gun Games). Despite this, the fears of fans were unfounded, with official Minecraft releases on Nintendo consoles eventually resuming. Markus Persson made another similar game, Minicraft, for a Ludum Dare competition in 2011. In 2025, Persson announced through a poll on his X account that he was considering developing a spiritual successor to Minecraft. He later clarified that he was "100% serious", and that he had "basically announced Minecraft 2". Within days, however, Persson cancelled the plans after speaking to his team. In November 2024, artificial intelligence companies Decart and Etched released Oasis, an artificially generated version of Minecraft, as a proof of concept. Every in-game element is completely AI-generated in real time and the model does not store world data, leading to "hallucinations" such as items and blocks appearing that were not there before. In January 2026, indie game developer Unomelon announced that their voxel sandbox game Allumeria would be playable in Steam Next Fest that year. On 10 February, Mojang issued a DMCA takedown of Allumeria on Steam through Valve, alleging the game was infringing on Minecraft's copyright. Some reports suggested that the takedown may have used an automatic AI copyright claiming service. The DMCA was later withdrawn. Minecon was an annual official fan convention dedicated to Minecraft. The first full Minecon was held in November 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The event included the official launch of Minecraft; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; Minecraft-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft-related companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the Minecraft community. In 2016, Minecon was held in-person for the last time, with the following years featuring annual "Minecon Earth" livestreams on minecraft.net and YouTube instead. These livestreams, later rebranded to "Minecraft Live", included the mob/biome votes, and announcements of new game updates. In 2025, "Minecraft Live" became a biannual event as part of Minecraft's changing update schedule.[citation needed] Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/yoruba] | [TOKENS: 3158] |
BBC News, Yorùbá - Ìròyìn Ìròyìn tó ṣe kókó Ajọ INEC ni o le ni miliọnu kan abọ ọmọ Naijiria to ti gba kaadi eto idibo, PVC, wọn ni Abuja. Ọpọ awuyewuye lo ti wa lori ẹni ti o bẹrẹ orin Fuji ni Naijira laarin oloogbe Sikiru Ayinde barrister ati Alhaji Kollington, Kebe n Kwara. Awọn ẹbi Kabiyesi naa sọ pe awọn agbebọn naa ti wọn to mẹwaa ya wọ aafin ori ade naa ti wọn si pa si iwaju aafin rẹ. Ajọ naa tun fofin de lilo papaluu isṣere Rashidi Yekini to wa ni Ilorin fun ikọ Kwara United. Latigba ti ijọba Aarẹ Bola Tinubu yii ti bẹrẹ ni iwadii awọn oloṣelu bẹẹ ti n waye, to bẹẹ ti awọn oloṣelu ẹgbẹ alatako n sọ pe APC n mọ-ọn-mọ lo ọwọ agbara lori awon ni. Dokita Oluseyi tẹsiwaju pe, ọjọ Kẹtadinlọgbọn oṣu Keje si ọjọ Keje oṣu Kẹjọ ọdun 2026 yii ni ayẹyẹ ọdun Ọṣun Oṣogbo, o si maa n to aago mẹfa asalẹ ki ayẹyẹ ọdun naa to pari lọjọ ti idibo yoo ku ọla. Kò ṣeé má gbọ̀ọ́ Awọn ti ori koyọ ṣapejuwe to ṣe ikọlu gẹgẹ bii ti awọn akọsẹmọsẹ, ti wọn si n yin ibọn kaakiri gbogbo ile. Lati ọdun 2019 lawọn agbebọn naa ti n kọlu agbegbe Titao ti iṣẹlẹ ọhun ti waye. Ogogo ní lọ́dún 2004 ni àárẹ̀ ọ̀hún bẹ̀rẹ̀ gan títí di ọdún 2012 amọ ọdún 2013 ni ara òun ṣẹ̀ṣẹ̀ bẹ̀rẹ̀ sí ní bọ̀ sípò. Iléeṣẹ́ ọlọ́pàá ní àwọn ẹ̀gbọ́n Kajal ló lù wọ́n títí tí ẹ̀mí fi bọ́ lọ́rùn wọn, tí wọ́n sì sọ pé àwọn afuarsí náà ti wà ná àhámọ́ àmọ́ àwọn afurasí náà kò ì tíì sọ ohunkóhun lórí ìṣẹ̀lẹ̀ náà. A ṣe àwárí àwọn obìnrin bíi àádọ́ta tí wọ́n ti ya fídíò wọn, tí a sì ri pé ọ̀pọ̀ wọn ni kò mọ̀ pé wọ́n ya àwọn. Móríwú Àwọn àmúyẹ fun gbígbọ́ orin ko le ṣiṣẹ lori ẹ̀rọ rẹ BBC News Yorùbá ti wà lórí ìkànnì WhatsApp Má jẹ́ kí etí rẹ ó di sí gbogbo ìròyìn ohun tó ń lọ ní Naijiria àti káàkiri àgbáyé. Mọ̀ nípa wọn lórí ìkànnì Whatsapp rẹ Ìròyìn Àkàgbádùn Ikọlu yii waye ni agbegbe Kakafu nijọba ibilẹ Patigi, ti omiran si tun waye ni agbegbe Saare, ni ijọba ibilẹ Ifelodun. A gbọ pe oniruru ohun ija oloro lawọn agbebọn naa ko lọwọ, bi wọn ṣe yinbọn pa awọn kan naa ni wọn fi ọbẹ rẹ ọrun awọn mii ti wọn si sọ ina si ọpọlọpọ ile ninu ikọlu ọhun. Ileeṣẹ ọmọ ogun Israel loun ju awọn ado oloro naa lẹyin ti awọn ọmọ ogun Hamas yẹ adehun jogun-o-mi to wa laarin wọn. Ninu atẹjade kan lọjọ Aiku, agbẹnusọ ileeṣẹ ijọba to n ri si ọrọ ilẹ okere, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, sọ pe awọn ilẹ okere kan n tan ọmọ Naijiria ẹ lati mu ki wọn lọ jagun nilẹ okeere laimọ. Wike sọ ọrọ yii niluu Abuja lasiko ọjọbi Sẹbetọ Sandy Onor, to pe ọgọta ọdun laye. Ọdun Aje yii maa n waye lọdọọdun ni Ile Ife nipinlẹ Osun, to si tun ti bẹrẹ lonii, ọjọ Kẹrindinlogun, oṣu keji ọdun 2026. Ileeṣẹ ọlọpaa lo kede eyi, ti wọn si ni Emmanuel tan awọn ọdọmọbinrin pe oun ni iṣẹ oge ṣiṣe fun wọn ni agbegbe Ajao Estate ni ọjọ Kẹjọ oṣu keji ọdun 2026. Awọn oṣisẹ naa pejọ si iwaju ẹnu ọna abawọle ile ẹkọ naa ni ilu Ọwọ nipinlẹ Ondo ti wọn si n kọ oniruru orin, pẹlu akọle pe iya yii to gẹ. Aṣoju kọroyin wa kan si awọn ile ẹkọ meji ni ilu ọhun, Muslim Primary school ati Ira Grammar School Ira, ṣe ni gbogbo ẹ da paro paro latari bawọn akẹẹkọ ati olukọ ṣe fìdi mọ le. Awọn ikọ ọmogun 32 Artillery Brigade ti wọn ko lọ si agbegbe Auga nipinlẹ Ondo lo ṣe isẹ naa lasiko ti wọn wa loju isẹ ni opopona Akunu si Auga ni ọjọ kẹrinla oṣu yii. Alaga ajọ INEC, Ọjọgbọn Joash Amupitan lo fi alakalẹ eto idibo naa lede lọjọ Ẹti, ọjọ kẹtala, oṣu Keji ọdun 2026, nibi ipade oniroyin kan l'Abuja. Aṣọ yii ni wọn fi siliki dudu ṣe, Kiswa jẹ aṣọ to ni awọn akọle Al-Qur'an lara ti wọn kọ pẹlu wura ati fadaka. O bo gbogbo awọn odi ode mẹrin ti Kaaba, eto okuta ni aarin Mossalassi nla ni Mekka. Ìròyìn Pàtàkì Kọ́milẹ́kọ̀ọ́ Ẹ tẹ̀lé wa lórí ìkànnì ayélujára Móríwú Ìwádìí kíkún lóríi kókó ìròyìn Igbakeji gomina Oyo, Bayo Lawal to soju fún Makinde lo gbe ọ̀pá àṣẹ fún àwọn baalẹ tó di ọba náà. Ọpọ eeyan lo ti n beere wi pe ki ni ipade Makinde to jẹ ọmọ ẹgbẹ PDP ati Atiku ti i ṣe ọmọ ẹgbẹ oṣelu ADC pẹlu Babangida le da le lori. Láti fi owó ṣe òdòdó, wọ́n máa ká owó, tí wọ́n sì máa to àwọn owó náà papọ̀ dáadáa láti lè jẹ́ kó dàbí òdòdó. Oṣere ti ọpọ eeyan mọ si Anti Ajara naa jade laye lọjọ karun-un oṣu Keji ọdun 2026 yii, lẹyin aisan to ni I ṣe pẹlu ẹdọ, to si tun wa nipo iloyun lasiko ti ọlọjọ de naa. Ilé ẹjọ́ ní tàbí káwọn èèyàn náà san owó ìtanràn mílíọ̀nù márùndínlọ́gọ́ta náírà. Gẹgẹ bi Kọmiṣanna eto iroyin ni Kogi, Kingsley Femi Fanwo, ṣe wi, ikilọ yii n waye lati dena ikọlu awon agbebọn fun awon olujọsin lasiko ti wọn ba n ṣe isin to pẹ ju lọwọ. Ọjọ kẹta osu Keji, ọdun 2026 yii ni awọn agbebọn ṣakọlu si ilu Woro ni ijọba ibilẹ Kaiama ni ipinlẹ Kwara ti wọn si pa ọgọọrọ eeyan, wọn si tun gbe aimọye awọn obinrin ati awọn ọmọde gbe lọ. Ayajọ naa bẹrẹ pẹlu awọn ọmọlẹyin Kristi nigba ti wọn maa n ranti agbaọjẹ kan ninu igbagbọ ti wọn n pe orukọ rẹ St. Valentine ẹni ti wọn gbagbọ wi pe o fi ifẹ han sawọn eeyan. INEC ṣalaye ninu atẹjade kan to fi sita eyi ti ọkan lara awọn ọga agba ajọ naa, Muhammed Kudu Haruna, buwọlu wi pe asiko to wa ninu iwe ofin Naijiria ti ọdun 1999 ni awọn fi ṣe agbekalẹ ọjọ idibo ọhun. Ọpọ iroyin lo jade lọjọ Aje pe Usman kọwe fipo rẹ silẹ nitori ọpọ ẹsun ti wọn fi kan. Ní ọjọ́ Kẹwàá, oṣù Kejì, ọdún 2026 ni aṣòfin ilẹ̀ Amẹ́ríkà, Riley Moore kéde lójú òpó X rẹ̀ pé òun àtàwọn akẹgbẹ́ òun, Chris Smith, Brian Mast àti Bill Huizenga ti gbé àbá kan dìde láti kojú bí wọ́n ṣe ń pa àwọn ọmọlẹ́yìn Kristi ní Nàìjíríà. Gẹgẹ bi a ṣe gbọ, ilu Eko ni ọkọ baaluu Arik Air Boeing 737-700 naa ti gbera, ṣugbọn ko le de Port Harcourt to n lọ to fi koju iṣoro laaarin ọna. Eré Ìdárayá Àwọn Ìròyìn Kàyééfì míràn Ìròyìn tí àwọn ènìyàn fẹ́ràn jùlọ © 2026 BBC. BBC kò mọ̀ nípa àwọn ohun tí ó wà ní àwọn ojú òpó tí ó wà ní ìta. Ọwọ́ tí a fi mú ìbáṣepọ̀ ti ìta. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft#cite_note-73] | [TOKENS: 12858] |
Contents Minecraft Minecraft is a sandbox game developed and published by Mojang Studios. Following its initial public alpha release in 2009, it was formally released in 2011 for personal computers. The game has since been ported to numerous platforms, including mobile devices and various video game consoles. In Minecraft, players explore a procedurally generated world with virtually infinite terrain made up of voxels (cubes). They can discover and extract raw materials, craft tools and items, build structures, fight hostile mobs, and cooperate with or compete against other players in multiplayer. The game's large community offers a wide variety of user-generated content, such as modifications, servers, player skins, texture packs, and custom maps, which add new game mechanics and possibilities. Originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java programming language, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten was handed control over the game's development following its full release. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion; Xbox Game Studios hold the publishing rights for the Bedrock Edition, the unified cross-platform version which evolved from the Pocket Edition codebase[i] and replaced the legacy console versions. Bedrock is updated concurrently with Mojang's original Java Edition, although with numerous, generally small, differences. Minecraft is the best-selling video game in history with over 350 million copies sold. It has received critical acclaim, winning several awards and being cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Social media, parodies, adaptations, merchandise, and the annual Minecon conventions have played prominent roles in popularizing it. The wider Minecraft franchise includes several spin-off games, such as Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Dungeons, and Minecraft Legends. A film adaptation, titled A Minecraft Movie, was released in 2025 and became the second highest-grossing video game film of all time. Gameplay Minecraft is a 3D sandbox video game that has no required goals to accomplish, giving players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. The game features an optional achievement system. Gameplay is in the first-person perspective by default, but players have the option of third-person perspectives. The game world is composed of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes, referred to as blocks—representing various materials, such as dirt, stone, ores, tree trunks, water, and lava. The core gameplay revolves around picking up and placing these objects. These blocks are arranged in a voxel grid, while players can move freely around the world. Players can break, or mine, blocks and then place them elsewhere, enabling them to build things. Very few blocks are affected by gravity, instead maintaining their voxel position in the air. Players can also craft a wide variety of items, such as armor, which mitigates damage from attacks; weapons (such as swords or bows and arrows), which allow monsters and animals to be killed more easily; and tools (such as pickaxes or shovels), which break certain types of blocks more quickly. Some items have multiple tiers depending on the material used to craft them, with higher-tier items being more effective and durable. They may also freely craft helpful blocks—such as furnaces which can cook food and smelt ores, and torches that produce light—or exchange items with villagers (NPC) through trading emeralds for different goods and vice versa. The game has an inventory system, allowing players to carry a limited number of items. The in-game time system follows a day and night cycle, with one full cycle lasting for 20 real-time minutes. The game also contains a material called redstone, which can be used to make primitive mechanical devices, electrical circuits, and logic gates, allowing for the construction of many complex systems. New players are given a randomly selected default character skin out of nine possibilities, including Steve or Alex, but are able to create and upload their own skins. Players encounter various mobs (short for mobile entities) including animals, villagers, and hostile creatures. Passive mobs, such as cows, pigs, and chickens, spawn during the daytime and can be hunted for food and crafting materials, while hostile mobs—including large spiders, witches, skeletons, and zombies—spawn during nighttime or in dark places such as caves. Some hostile mobs, such as zombies and skeletons, burn under the sun if they have no headgear and are not standing in water. Other creatures unique to Minecraft include the creeper (an exploding creature that sneaks up on the player) and the enderman (a creature with the ability to teleport as well as pick up and place blocks). There are also variants of mobs that spawn in different conditions; for example, zombies have husk and drowned variants that spawn in deserts and oceans, respectively. The Minecraft environment is procedurally generated as players explore it using a map seed that is randomly chosen at the time of world creation (or manually specified by the player). Divided into biomes representing different environments with unique resources and structures, worlds are designed to be effectively infinite in traditional gameplay, though technical limits on the player have existed throughout development, both intentionally and not. Implementation of horizontally infinite generation initially resulted in a glitch termed the "Far Lands" at over 12 million blocks away from the world center, where terrain generated as wall-like, fissured patterns. The Far Lands and associated glitches were considered the effective edge of the world until they were resolved, with the current horizontal limit instead being a special impassable barrier called the world border, located 30 million blocks away. Vertical space is comparatively limited, with an unbreakable bedrock layer at the bottom and a building limit several hundred blocks into the sky. Minecraft features three independent dimensions accessible through portals and providing alternate game environments. The Overworld is the starting dimension and represents the real world, with a terrestrial surface setting including plains, mountains, forests, oceans, caves, and small sources of lava. The Nether is a hell-like underworld dimension accessed via an obsidian portal and composed mainly of lava. Mobs that populate the Nether include shrieking, fireball-shooting ghasts, alongside anthropomorphic pigs called piglins and their zombified counterparts. Piglins in particular have a bartering system, where players can give them gold ingots and receive items in return. Structures known as Nether Fortresses generate in the Nether, containing mobs such as wither skeletons and blazes, which can drop blaze rods needed to access the End dimension. The player can also choose to build an optional boss mob known as the Wither, using skulls obtained from wither skeletons and soul sand. The End can be reached through an end portal, consisting of twelve end portal frames. End portals are found in underground structures in the Overworld known as strongholds. To find strongholds, players must craft eyes of ender using an ender pearl and blaze powder. Eyes of ender can then be thrown, traveling in the direction of the stronghold. Once the player reaches the stronghold, they can place eyes of ender into each portal frame to activate the end portal. The dimension consists of islands floating in a dark, bottomless void. A boss enemy called the Ender Dragon guards the largest, central island. Killing the dragon opens access to an exit portal, which, when entered, cues the game's ending credits and the End Poem, a roughly 1,500-word work written by Irish novelist Julian Gough, which takes about nine minutes to scroll past, is the game's only narrative text, and the only text of significant length directed at the player.: 10–12 At the conclusion of the credits, the player is teleported back to their respawn point and may continue the game indefinitely. In Survival mode, players have to gather natural resources such as wood and stone found in the environment in order to craft certain blocks and items. Depending on the difficulty, monsters spawn in darker areas outside a certain radius of the character, requiring players to build a shelter in order to survive at night. The mode also has a health bar which is depleted by attacks from mobs, falls, drowning, falling into lava, suffocation, starvation, and other events. Players also have a hunger bar, which must be periodically refilled by eating food in-game unless the player is playing on peaceful difficulty. If the hunger bar is empty, the player starves. Health replenishes when players have a full hunger bar or continuously on peaceful. Upon losing all health, players die. The items in the players' inventories are dropped unless the game is reconfigured not to do so. Players then re-spawn at their spawn point, which by default is where players first spawn in the game and can be changed by sleeping in a bed or using a respawn anchor. Dropped items can be recovered if players can reach them before they despawn after 5 minutes. Players may acquire experience points (commonly referred to as "xp" or "exp") by killing mobs and other players, mining, smelting ores, animal breeding, and cooking food. Experience can then be spent on enchanting tools, armor and weapons. Enchanted items are generally more powerful, last longer, or have other special effects. The game features two more game modes based on Survival, known as Hardcore mode and Adventure mode. Hardcore mode plays identically to Survival mode, but with the game's difficulty setting locked to "Hard" and with permadeath, forcing them to delete the world or explore it as a spectator after dying. Adventure mode was added to the game in a post-launch update, and prevents the player from directly modifying the game's world. It was designed primarily for use in custom maps, allowing map designers to let players experience it as intended. In Creative mode, players have access to an infinite number of all resources and items in the game through the inventory menu and can place or mine them instantly. Players can toggle the ability to fly freely around the game world at will, and their characters usually do not take any damage nor are affected by hunger. The game mode helps players focus on building and creating projects of any size without disturbance. Multiplayer in Minecraft enables multiple players to interact and communicate with each other on a single world. It is available through direct game-to-game multiplayer, local area network (LAN) play, local split screen (console-only), and servers (player-hosted and business-hosted). Players can run their own server by making a realm, using a host provider, hosting one themselves or connect directly to another player's game via Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or Nintendo Switch Online. Single-player worlds have LAN support, allowing players to join a world on locally interconnected computers without a server setup. Minecraft multiplayer servers are guided by server operators, who have access to server commands such as setting the time of day and teleporting players. Operators can also set up restrictions concerning which usernames or IP addresses are allowed or disallowed to enter the server. Multiplayer servers have a wide range of activities, with some servers having their own unique rules and customs. The largest and most popular server is Hypixel, which has been visited by over 14 million unique players. Player versus player combat (PvP) can be enabled to allow fighting between players. In 2013, Mojang announced Minecraft Realms, a server hosting service intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and safely without having to set up their own. Unlike a standard server, only invited players can join Realms servers, and these servers do not use server addresses. Minecraft: Java Edition Realms server owners can invite up to twenty people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at a time. Minecraft Realms server owners can invite up to 3,000 people to play on their server, with up to ten players online at one time. The Minecraft: Java Edition Realms servers do not support user-made plugins, but players can play custom Minecraft maps. Minecraft Bedrock Realms servers support user-made add-ons, resource packs, behavior packs, and custom Minecraft maps. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016, support for cross-platform play between Windows 10, iOS, and Android platforms was added through Realms starting in June 2016, with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch support to come later in 2017, and support for virtual reality devices. On 31 July 2017, Mojang released the beta version of the update allowing cross-platform play. Nintendo Switch support for Realms was released in July 2018. The modding community consists of fans, users and third-party programmers. Using a variety of application program interfaces that have arisen over time, they have produced a wide variety of downloadable content for Minecraft, such as modifications, texture packs and custom maps. Modifications of the Minecraft code, called mods, add a variety of gameplay changes, ranging from new blocks, items, and mobs to entire arrays of mechanisms. The modding community is responsible for a substantial supply of mods from ones that enhance gameplay, such as mini-maps, waypoints, and durability counters, to ones that add to the game elements from other video games and media. While a variety of mod frameworks were independently developed by reverse engineering the code, Mojang has also enhanced vanilla Minecraft with official frameworks for modification, allowing the production of community-created resource packs, which alter certain game elements including textures and sounds. Players can also create their own "maps" (custom world save files) that often contain specific rules, challenges, puzzles and quests, and share them for others to play. Mojang added an adventure mode in August 2012 and "command blocks" in October 2012, which were created specially for custom maps in Java Edition. Data packs, introduced in version 1.13 of the Java Edition, allow further customization, including the ability to add new achievements, dimensions, functions, loot tables, predicates, recipes, structures, tags, and world generation. The Xbox 360 Edition supported downloadable content, which was available to purchase via the Xbox Games Store; these content packs usually contained additional character skins. It later received support for texture packs in its twelfth title update while introducing "mash-up packs", which combined texture packs with skin packs and changes to the game's sounds, music and user interface. The first mash-up pack (and by extension, the first texture pack) for the Xbox 360 Edition was released on 4 September 2013, and was themed after the Mass Effect franchise. Unlike Java Edition, however, the Xbox 360 Edition did not support player-made mods or custom maps. A cross-promotional resource pack based on the Super Mario franchise by Nintendo was released exclusively for the Wii U Edition worldwide on 17 May 2016, and later bundled free with the Nintendo Switch Edition at launch. Another based on Fallout was released on consoles that December, and for Windows and Mobile in April 2017. In April 2018, malware was discovered in several downloadable user-made Minecraft skins for use with the Java Edition of the game. Avast stated that nearly 50,000 accounts were infected, and when activated, the malware would attempt to reformat the user's hard drive. Mojang promptly patched the issue, and released a statement stating that "the code would not be run or read by the game itself", and would run only when the image containing the skin itself was opened. In June 2017, Mojang released the "1.1 Discovery Update" to the Pocket Edition of the game, which later became the Bedrock Edition. The update introduced the "Marketplace", a catalogue of purchasable user-generated content intended to give Minecraft creators "another way to make a living from the game". Various skins, maps, texture packs and add-ons from different creators can be bought with "Minecoins", a digital currency that is purchased with real money. Additionally, users can access specific content with a subscription service titled "Marketplace Pass". Alongside content from independent creators, the Marketplace also houses items published by Mojang and Microsoft themselves, as well as official collaborations between Minecraft and other intellectual properties. By 2022, the Marketplace had over 1.7 billion content downloads, generating over $500 million in revenue. Development Before creating Minecraft, Markus "Notch" Persson was a game developer at King, where he worked until March 2009. At King, he primarily developed browser games and learned several programming languages. During his free time, he prototyped his own games, often drawing inspiration from other titles, and was an active participant on the TIGSource forums for independent developers. One such project was "RubyDung", a base-building game inspired by Dwarf Fortress, but with an isometric, three-dimensional perspective similar to RollerCoaster Tycoon. Among the features in RubyDung that he explored was a first-person view similar to Dungeon Keeper, though he ultimately discarded this idea, feeling the graphics were too pixelated at the time. Around March 2009, Persson left King and joined jAlbum, while continuing to work on his prototypes. Infiniminer, a block-based open-ended mining game first released in April 2009, inspired Persson's vision for RubyDung's future direction. Infiniminer heavily influenced the visual style of gameplay, including bringing back the first-person mode, the "blocky" visual style and the block-building fundamentals. However, unlike Infiniminer, Persson wanted Minecraft to have RPG elements. The first public alpha build of Minecraft was released on 17 May 2009 on TIGSource. Over the years, Persson regularly released test builds that added new features, including tools, mobs, and entire new dimensions. In 2011, partly due to the game's rising popularity, Persson decided to release a full 1.0 version—a second part of the "Adventure Update"—on 18 November 2011. Shortly after, Persson stepped down from development, handing the project's lead to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten. On 15 September 2014, Microsoft, the developer behind the Microsoft Windows operating system and Xbox video game console, announced a $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, which included the Minecraft intellectual property. Persson had suggested the deal on Twitter, asking a corporation to buy his stake in the game after receiving criticism for enforcing terms in the game's end-user license agreement (EULA), which had been in place for the past three years. According to Persson, Mojang CEO Carl Manneh received a call from a Microsoft executive shortly after the tweet, asking if Persson was serious about a deal. Mojang was also approached by other companies including Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts. The deal with Microsoft was arbitrated on 6 November 2014 and led to Persson becoming one of Forbes' "World's Billionaires". After 2014, Minecraft's primary versions received usually annual major updates—free to players who have purchased the game— each primarily centered around a specific theme. For instance, version 1.13, the Update Aquatic, focused on ocean-related features, while version 1.16, the Nether Update, introduced significant changes to the Nether dimension. However, in late 2024, Mojang announced a shift in their update strategy; rather than releasing large updates annually, they opted for a more frequent release schedule with smaller, incremental updates, stating, "We know that you want new Minecraft content more often." The Bedrock Edition has also received regular updates, now matching the themes of the Java Edition updates. Other versions of the game, such as various console editions and the Pocket Edition, were either merged into Bedrock or discontinued and have not received further updates. On 7 May 2019, coinciding with Minecraft's 10th anniversary, a JavaScript recreation of an old 2009 Java Edition build named Minecraft Classic was made available to play online for free. On 16 April 2020, a Bedrock Edition-exclusive beta version of Minecraft, called Minecraft RTX, was released by Nvidia. It introduced physically-based rendering, real-time path tracing, and DLSS for RTX-enabled GPUs. The public release was made available on 8 December 2020. Path tracing can only be enabled in supported worlds, which can be downloaded for free via the in-game Minecraft Marketplace, with a texture pack from Nvidia's website, or with compatible third-party texture packs. It cannot be enabled by default with any texture pack on any world. Initially, Minecraft RTX was affected by many bugs, display errors, and instability issues. On 22 March 2025, a new visual mode called Vibrant Visuals, an optional graphical overhaul similar to Minecraft RTX, was announced. It promises modern rendering features—such as dynamic shadows, screen space reflections, volumetric fog, and bloom—without the need of RTX-capable hardware. Vibrant Visuals was released as a part of the Chase the Skies update on 17 June 2025 for Bedrock Edition and is planned to release on Java Edition at a later date. Development began for the original edition of Minecraft—then known as Cave Game, and now known as the Java Edition—in May 2009,[k] and ended on 13 May, when Persson released a test video on YouTube of an early version of the game, dubbed the "Cave game tech test" or the "Cave game tech demo". The game was named Minecraft: Order of the Stone the next day, after a suggestion made by a player. "Order of the Stone" came from the webcomic The Order of the Stick, and "Minecraft" was chosen "because it's a good name". The title was later shortened to just Minecraft, omitting the subtitle. Persson completed the game's base programming over a weekend in May 2009, and private testing began on TigIRC on 16 May. The first public release followed on 17 May 2009 as a developmental version shared on the TIGSource forums. Based on feedback from forum users, Persson continued updating the game. This initial public build later became known as Classic. Further developmental phases—dubbed Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev—were released throughout 2009 and 2010. The first major update, known as Alpha, was released on 30 June 2010. At the time, Persson was still working a day job at jAlbum but later resigned to focus on Minecraft full-time as sales of the alpha version surged. Updates were distributed automatically, introducing new blocks, items, mobs, and changes to game mechanics such as water flow. With revenue generated from the game, Persson founded Mojang, a video game studio, alongside former colleagues Jakob Porser and Carl Manneh. On 11 December 2010, Persson announced that Minecraft would enter its beta phase on 20 December. He assured players that bug fixes and all pre-release updates would remain free. As development progressed, Mojang expanded, hiring additional employees to work on the project. The game officially exited beta and launched in full on 18 November 2011. On 1 December 2011, Jens "Jeb" Bergensten took full creative control over Minecraft, replacing Persson as lead designer. On 28 February 2012, Mojang announced the hiring of the developers behind Bukkit, a popular developer API for Minecraft servers, to improve Minecraft's support of server modifications. This move included Mojang taking apparent ownership of the CraftBukkit server mod, though this apparent acquisition later became controversial, and its legitimacy was questioned due to CraftBukkit's open-source nature and licensing under the GNU General Public License and Lesser General Public License. In August 2011, Minecraft: Pocket Edition was released as an early alpha for the Xperia Play via the Android Market, later expanding to other Android devices on 8 October 2011. The iOS version followed on 17 November 2011. A port was made available for Windows Phones shortly after Microsoft acquired Mojang. Unlike Java Edition, Pocket Edition initially focused on Minecraft's creative building and basic survival elements but lacked many features of the PC version. Bergensten confirmed on Twitter that the Pocket Edition was written in C++ rather than Java, as iOS does not support Java. On 10 December 2014, a port of Pocket Edition was released for Windows Phone 8.1. In July 2015, a port of the Pocket Edition to Windows 10 was released as the Windows 10 Edition, with full crossplay to other Pocket versions. In January 2017, Microsoft announced that it would no longer maintain the Windows Phone versions of Pocket Edition. On 20 September 2017, with the "Better Together Update", the Pocket Edition was ported to the Xbox One, and was renamed to the Bedrock Edition. The console versions of Minecraft debuted with the Xbox 360 edition, developed by 4J Studios and released on 9 May 2012. Announced as part of the Xbox Live Arcade NEXT promotion, this version introduced a redesigned crafting system, a new control interface, in-game tutorials, split-screen multiplayer, and online play via Xbox Live. Unlike the PC version, its worlds were finite, bordered by invisible walls. Initially, the Xbox 360 version resembled outdated PC versions but received updates to bring it closer to Java Edition before eventually being discontinued. The Xbox One version launched on 5 September 2014, featuring larger worlds and support for more players. Minecraft expanded to PlayStation platforms with PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 editions released on 17 December 2013 and 4 September 2014, respectively. Originally planned as a PS4 launch title, it was delayed before its eventual release. A PlayStation Vita version followed in October 2014. Like the Xbox versions, the PlayStation editions were developed by 4J Studios. Nintendo platforms received Minecraft: Wii U Edition on 17 December 2015, with a physical release in North America on 17 June 2016 and in Europe on 30 June. The Nintendo Switch version launched via the eShop on 11 May 2017. During a Nintendo Direct presentation on 13 September 2017, Nintendo announced that Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition, based on the Pocket Edition, would be available for download immediately after the livestream, and a physical copy available on a later date. The game is compatible only with the New Nintendo 3DS or New Nintendo 2DS XL systems and does not work with the original 3DS or 2DS systems. On 20 September 2017, the Better Together Update introduced Bedrock Edition across Xbox One, Windows 10, VR, and mobile platforms, enabling cross-play between these versions. Bedrock Edition later expanded to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, with the latter receiving the update in December 2019, allowing cross-platform play for users with a free Xbox Live account. The Bedrock Edition released a native version for PlayStation 5 on 22 October 2024, while the Xbox Series X/S version launched on 17 June 2025. On 18 December 2018, the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions of Minecraft received their final update and would later become known as "Legacy Console Editions". On 15 January 2019, the New Nintendo 3DS version of Minecraft received its final update, effectively becoming discontinued as well. An educational version of Minecraft, designed for use in schools, launched on 1 November 2016. It is available on Android, ChromeOS, iPadOS, iOS, MacOS, and Windows. On 20 August 2018, Mojang announced that it would bring Education Edition to iPadOS in Autumn 2018. It was released to the App Store on 6 September 2018. On 27 March 2019, it was announced that it would be operated by JD.com in China. On 26 June 2020, a public beta for the Education Edition was made available to Google Play Store compatible Chromebooks. The full game was released to the Google Play Store for Chromebooks on 7 August 2020. On 20 May 2016, China Edition (also known as My World) was announced as a localized edition for China, where it was released under a licensing agreement between NetEase and Mojang. The PC edition was released for public testing on 8 August 2017. The iOS version was released on 15 September 2017, and the Android version was released on 12 October 2017. The PC edition is based on the original Java Edition, while the iOS and Android mobile versions are based on the Bedrock Edition. The edition is free-to-play and had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. This version of Bedrock Edition is exclusive to Microsoft's Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems. The beta release for Windows 10 launched on the Windows Store on 29 July 2015. After nearly a year and a half in beta, Microsoft fully released the version on 19 December 2016. Called the "Ender Update", this release implemented new features to this version of Minecraft like world templates and add-on packs. On 7 June 2022, the Java and Bedrock Editions of Minecraft were merged into a single bundle for purchase on Windows; those who owned one version would automatically gain access to the other version. Both game versions would otherwise remain separate. Around 2011, prior to Minecraft's full release, Mojang collaborated with The Lego Group to create a Lego brick-based Minecraft game called Brickcraft. This would have modified the base Minecraft game to use Lego bricks, which meant adapting the basic 1×1 block to account for larger pieces typically used in Lego sets. Persson worked on an early version called "Project Rex Kwon Do", named after the character of the same name from the film Napoleon Dynamite. Although Lego approved the project and Mojang assigned two developers for six months, it was canceled due to the Lego Group's demands, according to Mojang's Daniel Kaplan. Lego considered buying Mojang to complete the game, but when Microsoft offered over $2 billion for the company, Lego stepped back, unsure of Minecraft's potential. On 26 June 2025, a build of Brickcraft dated 28 June 2012 was published on a community archive website Omniarchive. Initially, Markus Persson planned to support the Oculus Rift with a Minecraft port. However, after Facebook acquired Oculus in 2013, he abruptly canceled the plans, stating, "Facebook creeps me out." In 2016, a community-made mod, Minecraft VR, added VR support for Java Edition, followed by Vivecraft for HTC Vive. Later that year, Microsoft introduced official Oculus Rift support for Windows 10 Edition, leading to the discontinuation of the Minecraft VR mod due to trademark complaints. Vivecraft was endorsed by Minecraft VR contributors for its Rift support. Also available is a Gear VR version, titled Minecraft: Gear VR Edition. Windows Mixed Reality support was added in 2017. On 7 September 2020, Mojang Studios announced that the PlayStation 4 Bedrock version would receive PlayStation VR support later that month. In September 2024, the Minecraft team announced they would no longer support PlayStation VR, which received its final update in March 2025. Music and sound design Minecraft's music and sound effects were produced by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. To create the sound effects for the game, Rosenfeld made extensive use of Foley techniques. On learning the processes for the game, he remarked, "Foley's an interesting thing, and I had to learn its subtleties. Early on, I wasn't that knowledgeable about it. It's a whole trial-and-error process. You just make a sound and eventually you go, 'Oh my God, that's it! Get the microphone!' There's no set way of doing anything at all." He reminisced on creating the in-game sound for grass blocks, stating "It turns out that to make grass sounds you don't actually walk on grass and record it, because grass sounds like nothing. What you want to do is get a VHS, break it apart, and just lightly touch the tape." According to Rosenfeld, his favorite sound to design for the game was the hisses of spiders. He elaborates, "I like the spiders. Recording that was a whole day of me researching what a spider sounds like. Turns out, there are spiders that make little screeching sounds, so I think I got this recording of a fire hose, put it in a sampler, and just pitched it around until it sounded like a weird spider was talking to you." Many of the sound design decisions by Rosenfeld were done accidentally or spontaneously. The creeper notably lacks any specific noises apart from a loud fuse-like sound when about to explode; Rosenfeld later recalled "That was just a complete accident by Markus and me [sic]. We just put in a placeholder sound of burning a matchstick. It seemed to work hilariously well, so we kept it." On other sounds, such as those of the zombie, Rosenfeld remarked, "I actually never wanted the zombies so scary. I intentionally made them sound comical. It's nice to hear that they work so well [...]." Rosenfeld remarked that the sound engine was "terrible" to work with, remembering "If you had two song files at once, it [the game engine] would actually crash. There were so many more weird glitches like that the guys never really fixed because they were too busy with the actual game and not the sound engine." The background music in Minecraft consists of instrumental ambient music. To compose the music of Minecraft, Rosenfeld used the package from Ableton Live, along with several additional plug-ins. Speaking on them, Rosenfeld said "They can be pretty much everything from an effect to an entire orchestra. Additionally, I've got some synthesizers that are attached to the computer. Like a Moog Voyager, Dave Smith Prophet 08 and a Virus TI." On 4 March 2011, Rosenfeld released a soundtrack titled Minecraft – Volume Alpha; it includes most of the tracks featured in Minecraft, as well as other music not featured in the game. Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku chose the music in Minecraft as one of the best video game soundtracks of 2011. On 9 November 2013, Rosenfeld released the second official soundtrack, titled Minecraft – Volume Beta, which included the music that was added in a 2013 "Music Update" for the game. A physical release of Volume Alpha, consisting of CDs, black vinyl, and limited-edition transparent green vinyl LPs, was issued by indie electronic label Ghostly International on 21 August 2015. On 14 August 2020, Ghostly released Volume Beta on CD and vinyl, with alternate color LPs and lenticular cover pressings released in limited quantities. The final update Rosenfeld worked on was 2018's 1.13 Update Aquatic. His music remained the only music in the game until 2020's "Nether Update", introducing pieces from Lena Raine. Since then, other composers have made contributions, including Kumi Tanioka, Samuel Åberg, Aaron Cherof, and Amos Roddy, with Raine remaining as the new primary composer. Ownership of all music besides Rosenfeld's independently released albums has been retained by Microsoft, with their label publishing all of the other artists' releases. Gareth Coker also composed some of the music for the game's mini games from the Legacy Console editions. Rosenfeld had stated his intent to create a third album of music for the game in a 2015 interview with Fact, and confirmed its existence in a 2017 tweet, stating that his work on the record as of then had tallied up to be longer than the previous two albums combined, which in total clocks in at over 3 hours and 18 minutes. However, due to licensing issues with Microsoft, the third volume has since not seen release. On 8 January 2021, Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not there was still a third volume of his music intended for release. Rosenfeld responded, saying, "I have something—I consider it finished—but things have become complicated, especially as Minecraft is now a big property, so I don't know." Reception Minecraft has received critical acclaim, with praise for the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay. Critics have expressed enjoyment in Minecraft's complex crafting system, commenting that it is an important aspect of the game's open-ended gameplay. Most publications were impressed by the game's "blocky" graphics, with IGN describing them as "instantly memorable". Reviewers also liked the game's adventure elements, noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building. The game's multiplayer feature has been generally received favorably, with IGN commenting that "adventuring is always better with friends". Jaz McDougall of PC Gamer said Minecraft is "intuitively interesting and contagiously fun, with an unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences". It has been regarded as having introduced millions of children to the digital world, insofar as its basic game mechanics are logically analogous to computer commands. IGN was disappointed about the troublesome steps needed to set up multiplayer servers, calling it a "hassle". Critics also said that visual glitches occur periodically. Despite its release out of beta in 2011, GameSpot said the game had an "unfinished feel", adding that some game elements seem "incomplete or thrown together in haste". A review of the alpha version, by Scott Munro of the Daily Record, called it "already something special" and urged readers to buy it. Jim Rossignol of Rock Paper Shotgun also recommended the alpha of the game, calling it "a kind of generative 8-bit Lego Stalker". On 17 September 2010, gaming webcomic Penny Arcade began a series of comics and news posts about the addictiveness of the game. The Xbox 360 version was generally received positively by critics, but did not receive as much praise as the PC version. Although reviewers were disappointed by the lack of features such as mod support and content from the PC version, they acclaimed the port's addition of a tutorial and in-game tips and crafting recipes, saying that they make the game more user-friendly. The Xbox One Edition was one of the best received ports, being praised for its relatively large worlds. The PlayStation 3 Edition also received generally favorable reviews, being compared to the Xbox 360 Edition and praised for its well-adapted controls. The PlayStation 4 edition was the best received port to date, being praised for having 36 times larger worlds than the PlayStation 3 edition and described as nearly identical to the Xbox One edition. The PlayStation Vita Edition received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for its technical limitations. The Wii U version received generally positive reviews from critics but was noted for a lack of GamePad integration. The 3DS version received mixed reviews, being criticized for its high price, technical issues, and lack of cross-platform play. The Nintendo Switch Edition received fairly positive reviews from critics, being praised, like other modern ports, for its relatively larger worlds. Minecraft: Pocket Edition initially received mixed reviews from critics. Although reviewers appreciated the game's intuitive controls, they were disappointed by the lack of content. The inability to collect resources and craft items, as well as the limited types of blocks and lack of hostile mobs, were especially criticized. After updates added more content, Pocket Edition started receiving more positive reviews. Reviewers complimented the controls and the graphics, but still noted a lack of content. Minecraft surpassed over a million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase in early 2011. At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth, and various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic. By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version. In November 2011, prior to the game's full release, Minecraft beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases. By March 2012, Minecraft had become the 6th best-selling PC game of all time. As of 10 October 2014[update], the game had sold 17 million copies on PC, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time. On 25 February 2014, the game reached 100 million registered users. By May 2019, 180 million copies had been sold across all platforms, making it the single best-selling video game of all time. The free-to-play Minecraft China version had over 700 million registered accounts by September 2023. By 2023, the game had sold over 300 million copies. As of April 2025, Minecraft has sold over 350 million copies. The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first day of the game's release in 2012, when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400,000 players online. Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold a million copies. GameSpot announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012. In 2012, Minecraft was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day. As of 4 April 2014[update], the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies. In addition, Minecraft: Pocket Edition has reached a figure of 21 million in sales. The PlayStation 3 Edition sold one million copies in five weeks. The release of the game's PlayStation Vita version boosted Minecraft sales by 79%, outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest Minecraft launch on a PlayStation console. The PS Vita version sold 100,000 digital copies in Japan within the first two months of release, according to an announcement by SCE Japan Asia. By January 2015, 500,000 digital copies of Minecraft were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms, with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version. As of 2022, the Vita version has sold over 1.65 million physical copies in Japan, making it the best-selling Vita game in the country. Minecraft helped improve Microsoft's total first-party revenue by $63 million for the 2015 second quarter. The game, including all of its versions, had over 112 million monthly active players by September 2019. On its 11th anniversary in May 2020, the company announced that Minecraft had reached over 200 million copies sold across platforms with over 126 million monthly active players. By April 2021, the number of active monthly users had climbed to 140 million. In July 2010, PC Gamer listed Minecraft as the fourth-best game to play at work. In December of that year, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010, Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year as well as the eighth best indie game of the year, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun named it the "game of the year". Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for Most Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie. It was also awarded Game of the Year by PC Gamer UK. The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Technical Excellence, and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize and the community-voted Audience Award. At Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, Minecraft won awards in the categories for Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game and Innovation Award, winning every award for which it was nominated. It also won GameCity's video game arts award. On 5 May 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on 16 March 2012. At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Minecraft won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category. In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Persson received The Special Award. In 2012, Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category, and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category. In 2013, it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards. During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year". Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014. In 2015, the game placed 6th on USgamer's The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list. In 2016, Minecraft placed 6th on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list. Minecraft was nominated for the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite App, but lost to Temple Run. It was nominated for the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game, but lost to Just Dance 2014. The game later won the award for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards. In addition, the Java Edition was nominated for "Favorite Video Game" at the 2018 Kids' Choice Awards, while the game itself won the "Still Playing" award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, as well as the "Favorite Video Game" award at the 2020 Kids' Choice Awards. Minecraft also won "Stream Game of the Year" at inaugural Streamer Awards in 2021. The game later garnered a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award nomination for Favorite Video Game in 2021, and won the same category in 2022 and 2023. At the Golden Joystick Awards 2025, it won the Still Playing Award - PC and Console. Minecraft has been subject to several notable controversies. In June 2014, Mojang announced that it would begin enforcing the portion of Minecraft's end-user license agreement (EULA) which prohibits servers from giving in-game advantages to players in exchange for donations or payments. Spokesperson Owen Hill stated that servers could still require players to pay a fee to access the server and could sell in-game cosmetic items. The change was supported by Persson, citing emails he received from parents of children who had spent hundreds of dollars on servers. The Minecraft community and server owners protested, arguing that the EULA's terms were more broad than Mojang was claiming, that the crackdown would force smaller servers to shut down for financial reasons, and that Mojang was suppressing competition for its own Minecraft Realms subscription service. The controversy contributed to Notch's decision to sell Mojang. In 2020, Mojang announced an eventual change to the Java Edition to require a login from a Microsoft account rather than a Mojang account, the latter of which would be sunsetted. This also required Java Edition players to create Xbox network Gamertags. Mojang defended the move to Microsoft accounts by saying that improved security could be offered, including two-factor authentication, blocking cyberbullies in chat, and improved parental controls. The community responded with intense backlash, citing various technical difficulties encountered in the process and how account migration would be mandatory, even for those who do not play on servers. As of 10 March 2022, Microsoft required that all players migrate in order to maintain access the Java Edition of Minecraft. Mojang announced a deadline of 19 September 2023 for account migration, after which all legacy Mojang accounts became inaccessible and unable to be migrated. In June 2022, Mojang added a player-reporting feature in Java Edition. Players could report other players on multiplayer servers for sending messages prohibited by the Xbox Live Code of Conduct; report categories included profane language,[l] substance abuse, hate speech, threats of violence, and nudity. If a player was found to be in violation of Xbox Community Standards, they would be banned from all servers for a specific period of time or permanently. The update containing the report feature (1.19.1) was released on 27 July 2022. Mojang received substantial backlash and protest from community members, one of the most common complaints being that banned players would be forbidden from joining any server, even private ones. Others took issue to what they saw as Microsoft increasing control over its player base and exercising censorship, leading some to start a hashtag #saveminecraft and dub the version "1.19.84", a reference to the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The "Mob Vote" was an online event organized by Mojang in which the Minecraft community voted between three original mob concepts; initially, the winning mob was to be implemented in a future update, while the losing mobs were scrapped, though after the first mob vote this was changed, and losing mobs would now have a chance to come to the game in the future. The first Mob Vote was held during Minecon Earth 2017 and became an annual event starting with Minecraft Live 2020. The Mob Vote was often criticized for forcing players to choose one mob instead of implementing all three, causing divisions and flaming within the community, and potentially allowing internet bots and Minecraft content creators with large fanbases to conduct vote brigading. The Mob Vote was also blamed for a perceived lack of new content added to Minecraft since Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang in 2014. The 2023 Mob Vote featured three passive mobs—the crab, the penguin, and the armadillo—with voting scheduled to start on 13 October. In response, a Change.org petition was created on 6 October, demanding that Mojang eliminate the Mob Vote and instead implement all three mobs going forward. The petition received approximately 445,000 signatures by 13 October and was joined by calls to boycott the Mob Vote, as well as a partially tongue-in-cheek "revolutionary" propaganda campaign in which sympathizers created anti-Mojang and pro-boycott posters in the vein of real 20th century propaganda posters. Mojang did not release an official response to the boycott, and the Mob Vote otherwise proceeded normally, with the armadillo winning the vote. In September 2024, as part of a blog post detailing their future plans for Minecraft's development, Mojang announced the Mob Vote would be retired. Cultural impact In September 2019, The Guardian classified Minecraft as the best video game of the 21st century to date, and in November 2019, Polygon called it the "most important game of the decade" in its 2010s "decade in review". In June 2020, Minecraft was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Minecraft is recognized as one of the first successful games to use an early access model to draw in sales prior to its full release version to help fund development. As Minecraft helped to bolster indie game development in the early 2010s, it also helped to popularize the use of the early access model in indie game development. Social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit have played a significant role in popularizing Minecraft. Research conducted by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania showed that one-third of Minecraft players learned about the game via Internet videos. In 2010, Minecraft-related videos began to gain influence on YouTube, often made by commentators. The videos usually contain screen-capture footage of the game and voice-overs. Common coverage in the videos includes creations made by players, walkthroughs of various tasks, and parodies of works in popular culture. By May 2012, over four million Minecraft-related YouTube videos had been uploaded. The game would go on to be a prominent fixture within YouTube's gaming scene during the entire 2010s; in 2014, it was the second-most searched term on the entire platform. By 2018, it was still YouTube's biggest game globally. Some popular commentators have received employment at Machinima, a now-defunct gaming video company that owned a highly watched entertainment channel on YouTube. The Yogscast is a British company that regularly produces Minecraft videos; their YouTube channel has attained billions of views, and their panel at Minecon 2011 had the highest attendance. Another well-known YouTube personality is Jordan Maron, known online as CaptainSparklez, who has also created many Minecraft music parodies, including "Revenge", a parody of Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love". Minecraft's popularity on YouTube was described by Polygon as quietly dominant, although in 2019, thanks in part to PewDiePie's playthroughs of the game, Minecraft experienced a visible uptick in popularity on the platform. Longer-running series include Far Lands or Bust, dedicated to reaching the obsolete "Far Lands" glitch by foot on an older version of the game. YouTube announced that on 14 December 2021 that the total amount of Minecraft-related views on the website had exceeded one trillion. Minecraft has been referenced by other video games, such as Torchlight II, Team Fortress 2, Borderlands 2, Choplifter HD, Super Meat Boy, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Binding of Isaac, The Stanley Parable, and FTL: Faster Than Light. Minecraft is officially represented in downloadable content for the crossover fighter Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with Steve as a playable character with a moveset including references to building, crafting, and redstone, alongside an Overworld-themed stage. It was also referenced by electronic music artist Deadmau5 in his performances. The game is also referenced heavily in "Informative Murder Porn", the second episode of the seventeenth season of the animated television series South Park. In 2025, A Minecraft Movie was released. It made $313 million in the box office in the first week, a record-breaking opening for a video game adaptation. Minecraft has been noted as a cultural touchstone for Generation Z, as many of the generation's members played the game at a young age. The possible applications of Minecraft have been discussed extensively, especially in the fields of computer-aided design (CAD) and education. In a panel at Minecon 2011, a Swedish developer discussed the possibility of using the game to redesign public buildings and parks, stating that rendering using Minecraft was much more user-friendly for the community, making it easier to envision the functionality of new buildings and parks. In 2012, a member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab, Cody Sumter, said: "Notch hasn't just built a game. He's tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program." Various software has been developed to allow virtual designs to be printed using professional 3D printers or personal printers such as MakerBot and RepRap. In September 2012, Mojang began the Block by Block project in cooperation with UN Habitat to create real-world environments in Minecraft. The project allows young people who live in those environments to participate in designing the changes they would like to see. Using Minecraft, the community has helped reconstruct the areas of concern, and citizens are invited to enter the Minecraft servers and modify their own neighborhood. Carl Manneh, Mojang's managing director, called the game "the perfect tool to facilitate this process", adding "The three-year partnership will support UN-Habitat's Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016." Mojang signed Minecraft building community, FyreUK, to help render the environments into Minecraft. The first pilot project began in Kibera, one of Nairobi's informal settlements and is in the planning phase. The Block by Block project is based on an earlier initiative started in October 2011, Mina Kvarter (My Block), which gave young people in Swedish communities a tool to visualize how they wanted to change their part of town. According to Manneh, the project was a helpful way to visualize urban planning ideas without necessarily having a training in architecture. The ideas presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions. In April 2014, the Danish Geodata Agency generated all of Denmark in fullscale in Minecraft based on their own geodata. This is possible because Denmark is one of the flattest countries with the highest point at 171 meters (ranking as the country with the 30th smallest elevation span), where the limit in default Minecraft was around 192 meters above in-game sea level when the project was completed. Taking advantage of the game's accessibility where other websites are censored, the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders has used an open Minecraft server to create the Uncensored Library, a repository within the game of journalism by authors from countries (including Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam) who have been censored and arrested, such as Jamal Khashoggi. The neoclassical virtual building was created over about 250 hours by an international team of 24 people. Despite its unpredictable nature, Minecraft speedrunning, where players time themselves from spawning into a new world to reaching The End and defeating the Ender Dragon boss, is popular. Some speedrunners use a combination of mods, external programs, and debug menus, while other runners play the game in a more vanilla or more consistency-oriented way. Minecraft has been used in educational settings through initiatives such as MinecraftEdu, founded in 2011 to make the game affordable and accessible for schools in collaboration with Mojang. MinecraftEdu provided features allowing teachers to monitor student progress, including screenshot submissions as evidence of lesson completion, and by 2012 reported that approximately 250,000 students worldwide had access to the platform. Mojang also developed Minecraft: Education Edition with pre-built lesson plans for up to 30 students in a closed environment. Educators have used Minecraft to teach subjects such as history, language arts, and science through custom-built environments, including reconstructions of historical landmarks and large-scale models of biological structures such as animal cells. The introduction of redstone blocks enabled the construction of functional virtual machines such as a hard drive and an 8-bit computer. Mods have been created to use these mechanics for teaching programming. In 2014, the British Museum announced a project to reproduce its building and exhibits in Minecraft in collaboration with the public. Microsoft and Code.org have offered Minecraft-based tutorials and activities designed to teach programming, reporting by 2018 that more than 85 million children had used their resources. In 2025, the Musée de Minéralogie in Paris held a temporary exhibition titled "Minerals in Minecraft." Following the initial surge in popularity of Minecraft in 2010, other video games were criticised for having various similarities to Minecraft, and some were described as being "clones", often due to a direct inspiration from Minecraft, or a superficial similarity. Examples include Ace of Spades, CastleMiner, CraftWorld, FortressCraft, Terraria, BlockWorld 3D, Total Miner, and Luanti (formerly Minetest). David Frampton, designer of The Blockheads, reported that one failure of his 2D game was the "low resolution pixel art" that too closely resembled the art in Minecraft, which resulted in "some resistance" from fans. A homebrew adaptation of the alpha version of Minecraft for the Nintendo DS, titled DScraft, has been released; it has been noted for its similarity to the original game considering the technical limitations of the system. In response to Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang and their Minecraft IP, various developers announced further clone titles developed specifically for Nintendo's consoles, as they were the only major platforms not to officially receive Minecraft at the time. These clone titles include UCraft (Nexis Games), Cube Life: Island Survival (Cypronia), Discovery (Noowanda), Battleminer (Wobbly Tooth Games), Cube Creator 3D (Big John Games), and Stone Shire (Finger Gun Games). Despite this, the fears of fans were unfounded, with official Minecraft releases on Nintendo consoles eventually resuming. Markus Persson made another similar game, Minicraft, for a Ludum Dare competition in 2011. In 2025, Persson announced through a poll on his X account that he was considering developing a spiritual successor to Minecraft. He later clarified that he was "100% serious", and that he had "basically announced Minecraft 2". Within days, however, Persson cancelled the plans after speaking to his team. In November 2024, artificial intelligence companies Decart and Etched released Oasis, an artificially generated version of Minecraft, as a proof of concept. Every in-game element is completely AI-generated in real time and the model does not store world data, leading to "hallucinations" such as items and blocks appearing that were not there before. In January 2026, indie game developer Unomelon announced that their voxel sandbox game Allumeria would be playable in Steam Next Fest that year. On 10 February, Mojang issued a DMCA takedown of Allumeria on Steam through Valve, alleging the game was infringing on Minecraft's copyright. Some reports suggested that the takedown may have used an automatic AI copyright claiming service. The DMCA was later withdrawn. Minecon was an annual official fan convention dedicated to Minecraft. The first full Minecon was held in November 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The event included the official launch of Minecraft; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; Minecraft-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and Minecraft-related companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the Minecraft community. In 2016, Minecon was held in-person for the last time, with the following years featuring annual "Minecon Earth" livestreams on minecraft.net and YouTube instead. These livestreams, later rebranded to "Minecraft Live", included the mob/biome votes, and announcements of new game updates. In 2025, "Minecraft Live" became a biannual event as part of Minecraft's changing update schedule.[citation needed] Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/pages/subscription-terms] | [TOKENS: 5024] |
BBCGN Subscription TermsPage updated: 26 June 2025Version 1.0These subscription terms (“Subscription Terms”) govern purchases you may make or have made of BBC Global News US LLC’s (“BBCGN”, “we”, or “us”) and/or its affiliate’s digital subscriptions (the “Digital Subscriptions”) offered via www.bbc.com (the “Site”) and the BBC mobile app (the “App”). In these Subscription Terms, all references to “you” and “your” mean you as an individual, unless the context requires otherwise.By purchasing or using Digital Subscription(s) or otherwise using the Site and/or App, in connection with or in relation to any Digital Subscription(s), you are agreeing to these Subscription Terms and BBC.com’s Terms of Use and you understand that your information will be used as described in BBC.com’s Privacy Policy.1. ELIGIBILITY. Digital Subscriptions are available only to individuals who are physically located in the United States and have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence 2. BBC ACCOUNT. In order to purchase a Digital Subscription, you will need a free BBC account. If you do not already have a BBC account, you may follow the instructions at this link to create one. Only one person may use the email address and password associated with a BBC account. By creating a BBC account, you represent that all information that you provide during registration and in connection with your account is current, complete and accurate and you agree to maintain and promptly update your account information in your BBC account so that it remains current, complete, and accurate. Your BBC account and any Digital Subscription purchased or accessed therein are personal to you and, to the extent permissible under applicable law, cannot be resold, licensed, or transferred. If you believe someone else has used your BBC account or you are being charged for a product or service you do not have, please contact Customer Service through the following link: https://help.bbc.com/hc.3. DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Digital Subscriptions provide a term-limited and revocable license to access the content and features included in the applicable Digital Subscription for personal use only in accordance with these Subscription Terms. You understand and agree that your subscription does not constitute a transfer of ownership to you in any content or features. To review BBCGN’s Digital Subscription offerings, click here. BBCGN reserves the right to modify the type, content, and availability of any Digital Subscription, at any time, for any reason, without notice. All descriptions, images, references, features, content, specifications, and prices described or depicted on the Site and App are subject to change at any time, without notice. Certain descriptions are approximate and are provided for convenience purposes only. The inclusion of any products or services on the Site or the App does not imply or warrant that these products or services will be available. In the event of any error, including inadvertent pricing errors, as determined by BBCGN in its sole discretion, we reserve the right to modify, cancel, terminate, or not process orders (including accepted orders) for any Digital Subscription. If you do not agree to any modifications to your Digital Subscription, you may be able to cancel your Digital Subscription through the methods provided herein. You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining all connectivity, computer software, hardware and other equipment needed for access to and use of the Digital Subscriptions and any associated or related costs. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, BBCGN DOES NOT MAKE ANY GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY WITH RESPECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OR PERFORMANCE OF ANY DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS.4. TERRITORY RESTRICTIONS. You may only access or otherwise use your Digital Subscription(s) in the United States and only for your own personal, non-commercial purposes. You will not be able to access your Digital Subscription(s) while traveling outside of the United States, though you will still be able to access the Site and the App as they exist in the country in which you are located. We and our vendors may use your certain technologies and methods to determine your location. You understand and agree that if we are unable to determine your location, we will not be able to provide you with access to your Digital Subscription(s).5. PAYMENT. You agree to pay the price stated at the time of your order, as well as any applicable taxes and service fees. You also agree to the billing frequency and related automatic renewal terms stated at the time of your order, if any. All prices are in U.S. dollars. Applicable taxes may vary depending on the jurisdiction. We may not be able to notify you in advance of changes in applicable taxes. When you use your Digital Subscription, you may incur other additional charges from third party service providers, such as telecommunications fees or data fees. You are responsible for paying any additional charges.6. CHANGES TO TERMS, FEES AND FEATURES. BBCGN reserves the right to, in its sole discretion, change these Subscription Terms, relevant subscription or account terms, and fees at any time, to be applicable prospectively from the date of such change. When such changes are made to these Subscription Terms, we will make a copy of the new Subscription Terms available to you on the Site. BBCGN reserves the right to, in its sole discretion, add, modify, or remove benefits and features from any Digital Subscription, on a temporary or permanent basis. If you do not cancel your Digital Subscription, if applicable as described herein, or you continue to use your Digital Subscription or BBC account after the changes become effective, you will be deemed to have accepted any such modifications. Any modified subscription terms will apply at your next scheduled renewal and any subsequent renewals.a. Changes to Price of Automatically Renewing Digital Subscriptions. BBCGN will notify you if the price of your automatically renewing Digital Subscription increases, and you will be provided with a reasonable opportunity (of no less than thirty (30) days’ notice) to cancel or modify your Digital Subscription before such changes are applied to your account or before the increased price is charged to your payment method. If you do not take action or you continue to use the relevant Digital Subscription past the time provided to cancel or modify your subscription, you will be deemed to have accepted the price increase.7. PURCHASES. To purchase a Digital Subscription from BBCGN, you may be asked to supply certain information relevant to a transaction including, without limitation, information about your method of payment (such as your payment card number and expiration date), your billing address, your first and last name, and your shipping information. YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT YOU HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO USE ANY PAYMENT CARD(S) OR OTHER PAYMENT METHOD(S) UTILIZED IN CONNECTION WITH ANY TRANSACTION AND THAT ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED BY YOU IS VALID. By submitting such information, you grant to BBCGN the right to provide such information to third parties for purposes of facilitating the completion of transactions initiated by you or on your behalf. BBCGN will process your purchase as promptly as commercially reasonable. Delivery and/or activation of a Digital Subscription requires validation of your payment details. Accepted payment methods may vary based on your location. We reserve the right to reject any purchase at any time. If your initial payment authorization is later revoked, your subscription, or Digital Subscription access may be terminated. You may contact Customer Service if you believe your account or access was terminated in error. You understand and agree that you are charged at the time you place your order for Digital Subscriptions, and the sale is final and complete at the time you are charged. By purchasing a Digital Subscription or placing an order, you represent that the Digital Subscriptions purchased will be used only in a lawful manner in accordance with these Subscription Terms. In the event that your payment details change or are about to expire, BBCGN may obtain or receive updated payment details from your payment card issuer. You authorize us to use these updated payment details in order to help prevent any interruption to your access. If you would like to use a different payment method or if there is a change in payment method, visit your account settings page to update your billing information.a. Purchases of Automatically Renewing Digital Subscriptions. BBCGN may offer Digital Subscriptions that automatically renew on a monthly or yearly basis. When you purchase such a subscription, you agree to automatic subsequent payments and related terms as outlined during the purchase process. See Section 8(a) below for more information.8. BILLING AND DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONSa. Automatically Renewing Subscriptions. When you purchase an automatically renewing subscription from BBCGN, you are agreeing to recurring automatic payments at the specified frequency (e.g., monthly or annually) until you cancel as outlined herein. You hereby authorize BBCGN to charge your initial subscription fee and any applicable taxes and fees on or after the date of your subscription purchase. BBCGN may change subscription terms or subscription fees for future payments at any time at its sole discretion. Your subscription will automatically renew at the chosen interval, and you will continue to be charged (including any applicable taxes) to the payment card you provided to BBCGN in connection with the Digital Subscription unless, before the end of the current subscription period: (i) you terminate your account; (ii) you cancel your subscription in accordance with the cancellation policies herein; (iii) BBCGN chooses not to renew your subscription; or (iv) these Terms of Sale are otherwise terminated as expressly permitted herein. If you purchased your subscription through a third-party (such as Google Play or iOS) (each, a “Subscription Provider”), your billing will be processed by such Subscription Provider or its authorized vendor(s) and separate terms and conditions with that Subscription Provider will apply in addition to these Terms of Sale.b. Gift Subscriptions. Gift subscriptions are a one-time purchase that do not automatically renew. If you redeem a gift subscription, you may be given the option to enter into an automatically renewing subscription, to begin at the conclusion of your gift subscription term. These Subscription Terms apply to any beneficiary of a gift subscription.c. One-Time Purchases. If you make a one-time purchase directly from BBCGN, your payment method will be charged or debited at the time of purchase. d. Failure to Pay. If any fee due hereunder is not paid in a timely manner, or your transaction cannot be processed, we reserve the right to suspend, disable, cancel, or terminate your account, access to the product or services, or cancel your subscription. The foregoing is without limitation to BBCGN’s rights or remedies.e. Promotions. We may provide various promotions, each with its own specific terms outlined at the time of the offer. The details of each promotion will vary. Promotions cannot be combined unless otherwise stated by BBCGN in BBCGN’s discretion. We may, in our discretion, extend promotional pricing or credits to new or existing subscribers.9. REFUND POLICY.a. Refund Policy. EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE STATED IN THESE SUBSCRIPTION TERMS OR AS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOUR SUBSCRIPTION FEE IS NONREFUNDABLE. To the extent permissible by applicable law and without affecting your statutory rights, if you cancel your subscription, you are not entitled to receive any refund or credits for the time remaining in your subscription period. If any or all of our Digital Subscriptions are temporarily unavailable, you will not receive a refund except to the extent required by applicable law. BBCGN reserves the right to issue refunds at our sole discretion. If we issue a refund for any reason, we are under no obligation to issue the same or similar refund in the future. BBCGN does not have the ability to initiate, cancel, or refund a subscription through a Subscription Provider; subscriptions and other purchases through a Subscription Provider are managed directly by the applicable Subscription Provider. b. Cancellation, Suspension, or Termination by BBCGN. BBCGN reserves the right to suspend or terminate your subscription for any reason at any time. If your purchase is not successfully processed by BBCGN for any reason, BBCGN may, in its sole discretion, attempt to contact you at the email address associated with your BBCGN account to resolve the issue. If we are unable to contact you or unable to resolve the issue, we may cancel the order. We will not be obligated to grant you a refund if we terminate your subscription because we determine, in our sole discretion, that your actions or your use of the products or services violate these Subscription Terms or our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, any applicable law, or has harmed the service, product, or another user.c. Cancellation by You. YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AT ANY TIME. By cancelling your subscription, you cancel only future charges associated with your subscription. In order to avoid future charges, you must cancel your subscription prior to the end of your current subscription period. If you cancel prior to the deadline, you will not be charged. Your cancellation will be effective at the end of your current subscription period. For clarity, cancellation of your subscription will not result in cancellation of your BBC account.d. Cancellation Methods. You have the following cancellation options, which methods of cancellation are subject to change. (i) Via Account. When logged in, go to the “My Account” page on the Site. You may select “Cancel” to cancel your subscription. Upon cancellation, you will continue to receive access to your subscription for the remaining time in the current billing cycle (subject to these Subscription Terms); you will not receive a refund for the remaining time in the current billing cycle except to the extent required by applicable law. (ii) Contact Customer Service Support Center. Contact Customer Service by visiting https://help.bbc.com/hc. (iii) If you purchased your subscription through a Subscription Provider, you will need to contact the Subscription Provider directly to cancel or make changes to your subscription.10. ENTIRE AGREEMENT. These Subscription Terms, together with the Terms of Use, comprise the entire agreement between the parties and supersede all prior or contemporaneous understandings, agreements, negotiations, representations and warranties, and communications, both written and oral. These Subscription Terms constitute an agreement between you and BBCGN, and not between you and any Subscription Provider.11. CHOICE OF LAW AND VENUE; WAIVER OF CLASS ACTIONS. These Subscription Terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States of America and the State of New York without regard to conflicts of law principles. You agree that any claim or dispute arising under or relating to these Subscription Terms and/or any Digital Subscription(s) shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state or federal courts located in New York, New York and you further agree and expressly consent to the exercise of personal jurisdiction in the courts located in New York, New York in connection with any such claim or dispute. YOU AND BBCGN AGREE THAT, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ANY AND ALL DISPUTES, CLAIMS, AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED WITH THESE SUBSCRIPTION TERMS AND/OR ANY DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION(S) WILL BE RESOLVED WITHOUT RESORT TO ANY FORM OF CLASS ACTION. 12. SEVERABILITY. If any provision of these Subscription Terms is deemed invalid, void, or for any reason unenforceable, that section will be deemed severable and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. BBCGN Subscription Terms Page updated: 26 June 2025 Version 1.0 These subscription terms (“Subscription Terms”) govern purchases you may make or have made of BBC Global News US LLC’s (“BBCGN”, “we”, or “us”) and/or its affiliate’s digital subscriptions (the “Digital Subscriptions”) offered via www.bbc.com (the “Site”) and the BBC mobile app (the “App”). In these Subscription Terms, all references to “you” and “your” mean you as an individual, unless the context requires otherwise. By purchasing or using Digital Subscription(s) or otherwise using the Site and/or App, in connection with or in relation to any Digital Subscription(s), you are agreeing to these Subscription Terms and BBC.com’s Terms of Use and you understand that your information will be used as described in BBC.com’s Privacy Policy. 1. ELIGIBILITY. Digital Subscriptions are available only to individuals who are physically located in the United States and have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence 2. BBC ACCOUNT. In order to purchase a Digital Subscription, you will need a free BBC account. If you do not already have a BBC account, you may follow the instructions at this link to create one. Only one person may use the email address and password associated with a BBC account. By creating a BBC account, you represent that all information that you provide during registration and in connection with your account is current, complete and accurate and you agree to maintain and promptly update your account information in your BBC account so that it remains current, complete, and accurate. Your BBC account and any Digital Subscription purchased or accessed therein are personal to you and, to the extent permissible under applicable law, cannot be resold, licensed, or transferred. If you believe someone else has used your BBC account or you are being charged for a product or service you do not have, please contact Customer Service through the following link: https://help.bbc.com/hc. 3. DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Digital Subscriptions provide a term-limited and revocable license to access the content and features included in the applicable Digital Subscription for personal use only in accordance with these Subscription Terms. You understand and agree that your subscription does not constitute a transfer of ownership to you in any content or features. To review BBCGN’s Digital Subscription offerings, click here. BBCGN reserves the right to modify the type, content, and availability of any Digital Subscription, at any time, for any reason, without notice. All descriptions, images, references, features, content, specifications, and prices described or depicted on the Site and App are subject to change at any time, without notice. Certain descriptions are approximate and are provided for convenience purposes only. The inclusion of any products or services on the Site or the App does not imply or warrant that these products or services will be available. In the event of any error, including inadvertent pricing errors, as determined by BBCGN in its sole discretion, we reserve the right to modify, cancel, terminate, or not process orders (including accepted orders) for any Digital Subscription. If you do not agree to any modifications to your Digital Subscription, you may be able to cancel your Digital Subscription through the methods provided herein. You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining all connectivity, computer software, hardware and other equipment needed for access to and use of the Digital Subscriptions and any associated or related costs. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, BBCGN DOES NOT MAKE ANY GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY WITH RESPECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OR PERFORMANCE OF ANY DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. 4. TERRITORY RESTRICTIONS. You may only access or otherwise use your Digital Subscription(s) in the United States and only for your own personal, non-commercial purposes. You will not be able to access your Digital Subscription(s) while traveling outside of the United States, though you will still be able to access the Site and the App as they exist in the country in which you are located. We and our vendors may use your certain technologies and methods to determine your location. You understand and agree that if we are unable to determine your location, we will not be able to provide you with access to your Digital Subscription(s). 5. PAYMENT. You agree to pay the price stated at the time of your order, as well as any applicable taxes and service fees. You also agree to the billing frequency and related automatic renewal terms stated at the time of your order, if any. All prices are in U.S. dollars. Applicable taxes may vary depending on the jurisdiction. We may not be able to notify you in advance of changes in applicable taxes. When you use your Digital Subscription, you may incur other additional charges from third party service providers, such as telecommunications fees or data fees. You are responsible for paying any additional charges. 6. CHANGES TO TERMS, FEES AND FEATURES. BBCGN reserves the right to, in its sole discretion, change these Subscription Terms, relevant subscription or account terms, and fees at any time, to be applicable prospectively from the date of such change. When such changes are made to these Subscription Terms, we will make a copy of the new Subscription Terms available to you on the Site. BBCGN reserves the right to, in its sole discretion, add, modify, or remove benefits and features from any Digital Subscription, on a temporary or permanent basis. If you do not cancel your Digital Subscription, if applicable as described herein, or you continue to use your Digital Subscription or BBC account after the changes become effective, you will be deemed to have accepted any such modifications. Any modified subscription terms will apply at your next scheduled renewal and any subsequent renewals. 7. PURCHASES. To purchase a Digital Subscription from BBCGN, you may be asked to supply certain information relevant to a transaction including, without limitation, information about your method of payment (such as your payment card number and expiration date), your billing address, your first and last name, and your shipping information. YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT YOU HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO USE ANY PAYMENT CARD(S) OR OTHER PAYMENT METHOD(S) UTILIZED IN CONNECTION WITH ANY TRANSACTION AND THAT ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED BY YOU IS VALID. By submitting such information, you grant to BBCGN the right to provide such information to third parties for purposes of facilitating the completion of transactions initiated by you or on your behalf. BBCGN will process your purchase as promptly as commercially reasonable. Delivery and/or activation of a Digital Subscription requires validation of your payment details. Accepted payment methods may vary based on your location. We reserve the right to reject any purchase at any time. If your initial payment authorization is later revoked, your subscription, or Digital Subscription access may be terminated. You may contact Customer Service if you believe your account or access was terminated in error. You understand and agree that you are charged at the time you place your order for Digital Subscriptions, and the sale is final and complete at the time you are charged. By purchasing a Digital Subscription or placing an order, you represent that the Digital Subscriptions purchased will be used only in a lawful manner in accordance with these Subscription Terms. In the event that your payment details change or are about to expire, BBCGN may obtain or receive updated payment details from your payment card issuer. You authorize us to use these updated payment details in order to help prevent any interruption to your access. If you would like to use a different payment method or if there is a change in payment method, visit your account settings page to update your billing information. 8. BILLING AND DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS 9. REFUND POLICY. 10. ENTIRE AGREEMENT. These Subscription Terms, together with the Terms of Use, comprise the entire agreement between the parties and supersede all prior or contemporaneous understandings, agreements, negotiations, representations and warranties, and communications, both written and oral. These Subscription Terms constitute an agreement between you and BBCGN, and not between you and any Subscription Provider. 11. CHOICE OF LAW AND VENUE; WAIVER OF CLASS ACTIONS. These Subscription Terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States of America and the State of New York without regard to conflicts of law principles. You agree that any claim or dispute arising under or relating to these Subscription Terms and/or any Digital Subscription(s) shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state or federal courts located in New York, New York and you further agree and expressly consent to the exercise of personal jurisdiction in the courts located in New York, New York in connection with any such claim or dispute. YOU AND BBCGN AGREE THAT, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ANY AND ALL DISPUTES, CLAIMS, AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED WITH THESE SUBSCRIPTION TERMS AND/OR ANY DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION(S) WILL BE RESOLVED WITHOUT RESORT TO ANY FORM OF CLASS ACTION. 12. SEVERABILITY. If any provision of these Subscription Terms is deemed invalid, void, or for any reason unenforceable, that section will be deemed severable and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. Copyright 2026 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. |
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[SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/pages/privacy-policy] | [TOKENS: 17043] |
BBC Studios Privacy PolicyPage updated: 19th August 2025Version 1.0This policy describes what personal information (also known as personal data) BBC Studios collects, how we’ll use it, the circumstances in which it may be shared, and your rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you.We may also provide additional notices to provide more information about what we will do with your information. For example, our Cookies Notice explains how we use web technologies such as cookies.If you are a California resident, see here for our California Notice at Collection and information provided pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act.1. WHAT THIS POLICY COVERS2. HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU3. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION4. WHEN WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION5. WHERE WE STORE YOUR INFORMATION6. HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION7. HOW WE SECURE YOUR INFORMATION8. CHILDREN USING OUR SERVICES9. YOUR RIGHTS & CHOICES10. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY11. CONTACT US12. ADDITIONAL NOTICES1. WHAT THIS POLICY COVERSBBC Studios is the commercial production and distribution arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation (the ‘BBC’). We are a global business operating as BBC Studios Distribution, BBC Studios Productions, and BBC Global News (and their subsidiaries). Find out more about our group of companies and their locations.This Privacy Policy relates to our global content distribution and marketing activities, including:International version of the BBC website, BBC.com, and app (English-language).Advertising on BBC World Service websites.Portfolio of international BBC channels and on-demand services.Digital services and events for our shows (e.g. topgear.com, bluey.tv, doctorwho.tv, bbcearth.com and bbcshop.com). Industry events, like BBC Showcase.Sale of advertising and sponsorship solutions across the BBC’s international and branded services.What’s not covered in this policy?BBC Public Service: The use of your personal information by the BBC Public Service, which is a publicly funded service in and for the UK and therefore operates differently to BBC Studios which is a commercially funded business. This includes the BBC website in the UK (bbc.co.uk), any UK BBC account (as explained in more detail below), UK public services that are not geo-restricted (such as BBC Bitesize and the BBC programme pages), and the international World Service language sites. It also includes personal information collected when you comment on BBC News and BBC Sport articles or send in your photos and videos to News teams. These are all covered by the BBC Public Service privacy policy, which you can view here.Linked Services: Sometimes we link to other companies’ services, like articles published on other sites. Similarly, you might engage with our content and brands via another platform or company. For example, we publish our content on other platforms, like YouTube, Facebook and other social media, and news aggregators. These external services will have their own privacy policies which will apply to their collection and use of your personal information.Third-Party Services: We also license our brands and content to other companies who produce their own websites, events, products and digital content. These companies are responsible for any personal information they collect about you in this context. Your personal information is not shared by these companies with BBC Studios unless it is a joint activity or you are otherwise informed that it will be shared. For example, if you have opted in to receive branded newsletters from us, your email address will be shared to enable us to send this to you as you have requested.Contributors: If you are a contributor to one of our programmes, the processing of your information by BBC Studios Productions is covered by its Contributor Privacy Policy, unless expressly indicated otherwise.Employees: Employees, workers and contractors should refer to the BBC People Privacy Notice.Candidates: Candidates and applicants for roles at BBC Studios should refer to the BBC Careers Site Privacy Notice.Back to top2. HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUThe types of information we collect depends on the circumstances and the service you are using. We may collect information relating to you and/or your use of our services in the following ways:A. Information collected from you directlyWhen you use our services, register for a BBC account (outside the UK), submit comments or other content, attend one of our events or you otherwise interact with us (such as through social media platforms, our apps or engaging with our sales teams, responding to surveys), we will ask you for information relevant to the circumstances. If it isn’t obvious why we are asking for certain information, we will explain this to you at the time we collect it. In section 3, we explain in more detail about the types of information we collect.B. Information collected automatically during your use of our servicesWhen you use or receive services from us over the internet, we automatically record information about your use of those services, your interaction with our adverts and our emails as well as information about the device you are using and your internet connection. This is done through log data, cookies and similar technologies. See our Cookie Notice for more details.C. Information we infer about youWe use information we know about you and how you use our services to predict things about you (“Inferred Information”). For example, we use data about what you read, how long you stay on a particular page, how often you visit, when you visit, and the type of device you use. We won’t infer sensitive information about you.D. Information we collect when you interact with us via a third party (e.g. social media and other platforms)When you choose to participate in or receive a service from us via social media and similar third party platforms, for example by posting comments, interacting with us, signing up to a newsletter or entering a competition, we may collect information from you directly or the social network may share with us personal information about you depending on the privacy notice and any choices you have on that platform. E. Information collected via other third partiesWe use specialist companies to provide us with information they hold about you or to collect information on our behalf. For example:We use market research agencies to provide us with consumer insights to help shape BBC Studios programmes, products and services.We also use data from data brokers such as Experian mosaic data.We also collect information from social media platforms, for example when you engage with us on our social media accounts or mention our brands in your posts, we may collect your social media handles and the content of your posts to or about us.Back to top3. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATIONDepending on which of our services you are using, or how you are otherwise interacting with us, we use your information in ways which are consistent with our relationship with you (i.e. as a consumer or in a business context). In this section, we have set out a description of the ways we use your personal information and the types of data this includes. Under UK and European data protection law, we are required to tell you our “lawful basis” for processing your personal data and we have included this in each description. For Canadian residents, please review the additional information at section 12 of this policy, to learn about our consent practices and your rights to withdraw consent, depending on the circumstances.BBC accountsBBC account underpins many of our services, including BBC.com, BBC Shop and TopGear.com. The data we collect when you are signed in with a BBC account is used in a number of different ways. If you are in the UK and have a BBC account, when you sign-in to one of our branded services, BBC Public Service will share your account information with us to support the purposes described below. We use your BBC account to recognise you when signing into our services, including on new devices and applications. Connecting and understanding your usage across our services, allows us to make improvements and recommendations, and offer you a more seamless experience.If you don't have an account, we’ll assign you a unique identifier which (subject to your cookie choices in your territory) will allow us to recognise you on a new device or through a different application. If you later create an account, we will connect this ID to your account ID to enable us to continue to personalise your experience.Incognito mode (or private browsing) is a feature in web browsers that may help you to browse the internet without saving your browsing history, cookies and similar technologies, site data, or information entered in forms. If you are using incognito mode and do not wish to be tracked, you should not sign in to your BBC account as doing so will still enable us to link your activity to you as described above.Purposes for which we will use your informationA. To provide the products and services requested by you and manage our relationship with youFor example: to register and administer your account and, if you have one, your subscription; to fulfill an order; to invite you and arrange your attendance at an event you have registered for; to deal with your queries, submissions, feedback, requests or complaints; to manage competitions; to ask you to leave a review or take a survey; to send service-related communications, such as notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy; and for internal and statutory accounting and reporting.Information we use:NameEmail addressPhone numberDate of birth and/or age (if we need to verify age)Country (which may be declared by you or determined from your IP address)Transaction(s) and/or usage historyCommunication preferencesGenre/content preferencesCommunication historyAnd, when you buy things or sign up for a paid subscription, we also collect:For physical goods (e.g. from BBC Shop): Billing and delivery addressFor subscriptions (e.g. BBC.com in the US): Zip codeOur Lawful Basis:gitimate interests in keeping our records updated, to manage our services effectively, and ensure you have a good experience in using our services, to keep our records updated and to respond to communications you send to us.Performance of a contract with you when you have bought something from us, registered your account, signed up for our events, entered a competition or taken out a subscription.Legal obligation for certain statutory accounting and reporting.B. To operate and secure our servicesFor example: troubleshooting and testing; system maintenance, reporting, and data hosting; preventing fraud or other potentially illegal activities (including copyright infringement); blocking disruptive users and protecting the safety of users; and enforcing our terms of service.Information we use:Device identifiers (e.g. IP address, user agent, and cookie IDs)Account IDTransaction(s) and/or usage historyLog dataLawful Basis: Our legitimate interests in running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, and to prevent fraud.C. To facilitate conversation, engage with our audiences and enrich our contentWhen you leave a comment on one of our services or share your photos and videos with us, we will collect and process the information you provide, and we may publish or share your content on our services or other platforms. Sometimes you might choose to share content with us via our social media pages or otherwise comment on social media about our brands (i.e. simply to show your love for our brands). When you do this, we may contact you (via the relevant platform) to ask if we can publish or use your content on our services or other platforms. We may use the information you provide, or your social media handle, to contact you if we want to find out more, to ask if we can use or share your content or to verify your age.Before we can accept or use your content, you must ensure you have the consent of anyone else featured. We may ask you to provide your email address to verify your age and that you are the legal parent or guardian of any children who may be featured in the content, as may be applicable under section 8 of this Privacy Policy (“Children Using Our Services”).If you contribute to the BBC’s editorial output on BBC.com, like BBC News, Sport or Radio (for example, if you comment on an article or send a photo or video to one of the News teams) this will be subject to the BBC Public Service privacy policy and terms, and not ours.Information we use:NameSocial media handle/username and contact detailsThe content you submit, which may feature you and/or othersDate of birth and/or age (e.g. for age verification)Lawful basis:Our legitimate interest in engaging with our audiences and promoting our brands and services.The performance of a contract and relationship between you and us.D. To send you news, offers and promotionsIn accordance with your preferences, we will send you newsletters you request and relevant offers and promotions relating to our content, brands and services and other companies in the BBC Studios group, like UKTV and Britbox International.These communications may be personalised to you based on what we think may interest you.You may need a BBC account to receive some newsletters and if you don’t have one, we will create one for you as part of the sign-up process.You can unsubscribe from newsletters and marketing emails by clicking on the link in the footer of the relevant email.We may also send notifications via your device or web browser, where you have specifically given permission when requested by your browser or device.Information we use:NameEmail addressAge range and/or birthday (e.g. to send a birthday email)Broad location (e.g. city or country)Profile (e.g. your preferences and interests inferred from your interactions with our services)Transaction(s), usage history and interactions (e.g. what you viewed, when, and how often, whether you opened or clicked an email etc)Communication historyMarketing and communications preferencesLawful Basis:Consent to send you newsletters you are subscribed to.Our legitimate interests to promote our content, brands and services, and those of our partners, and to manage your preferences.E. To personalise our content and newslettersWe use machine-learning based on aggregated usage data to recommend content we think you may be interested in. Data about your use of our services will be used to train the aggregate models used to create recommendations. We’ll also use an algorithm to decide when to show you prompts to register or subscribe, based on how likely we think you are to do so.To provide a better and more relevant service, we personalise your experience across our services and the emails you receive, in accordance with your cookie preferences. To do this, we rely on the usage data described in the “BBC Accounts” section above.Information we use:BBC account ID or device-level IDContact detailsAge range and/or birthdayAccount registration detailsBroad location – e.g. city or countryDevice identifiers, which may include your device’s IP address, user agent, and cookie IDs (see the Cookies Notice for the service you are using to learn more).Transaction(s), usage history and interactions (e.g. what you viewed, when, and how often, whether you opened or clicked an email etc)Profile (e.g. your preferences and interests inferred from your interactions with our services)Log dataLawful Basis:Our legitimate interests to promote our services and engage our consumers and audiences.Consent for the use of cookies, similar technologies and device identifiers in the UK/EEA.F. To market our products and services to you on social media and other sitesWe promote our shows and services on social media and other platforms subject to user settings and preferences on those platforms. Personalised messages and promotions on third party sites and platforms: We use different forms of targeting:(i) Where allowed by law and/or according to your selected preferences, we may use information such as your email address and usage behaviour to show you relevant marketing and promotional posts on social media and other sites such as retail outlets. For example, if you consume a lot of sport content, we might promote a new sports newsletter to you on your social media feed. When we do this, an encryption technique is applied to the data so the other platform can only read the data that it already knows about you to create a match to show you the relevant marketing message. We also use this process to exclude you from marketing campaigns that are not relevant to you. For example, if you already have an account with us, we will use this information to exclude you from promotions about registration.(ii) Sometimes we use IP address and usage information to establish a connection between our data and the data processed by social media platforms like Meta (Facebook and Instagram). This allows us to provide you with more relevant and tailored advertisements in your social media feeds and helps us track and measure how you interact with our advertisements on social media, ensuring that the content you see is more aligned with your interests.(iii) Sometimes we use social media technologies to track users from our services to the third-party platforms subject to your preferences and settings.If you have a BBC account, you can opt out from personalised messages on other sites.General audience segmentation: We may also use the audience segmentation tools of the third party platform to help us find a suitable audience – for example, we may use some information about our existing users to find new audiences on third party platforms. When we do this, we only receive aggregated anonymous reports on the performance of these posts, no personal information is shared with us.Any use of your information by third party platforms will be subject to their Privacy Policy and the preferences you have set for their platform(s).Information we use:For general marketing on social media, we use targeting tools available within the platform, such as to target a particular age band or location. Where we use your data to target particular audiences on third party platforms, we use the following data from your use of our services:Transaction(s), usage history and interactions (e.g. what you viewed, when, and how often, whether you opened or clicked an email etc)Device identifiers, which may include your device’s IP address, user agent, and cookie IDs (see the Cookies Notice for the service you are using to learn more)Profile (e.g. your preferences and interests inferred from your interactions with our services)Hashed email address (transformed into a unique identifier that is used to match our data to those known also by the platform)Lawful Basis:Our legitimate interests to promote our services and engage our consumers and audiences on third-party platforms subject to your marketing preferences and/or BBC Account settings.Consent to receive newsletters and targeted advertising.G. To show advertising to you on our services and understand how effective it isOur digital services feature advertising, including personalised advertising. This means the advertising you see is more relevant to you. It also means we can receive more revenue from our advertisers, allowing us to invest in our content. To create an ad profile for personalisation, unique identifiers (IDs) are used to tell your device apart from others – such as an ID stored by a cookie, or your Mobile Ad ID (a unique code set by your mobile operating system). We also use your BBC account information. For example, we may display adverts based on your age band or the country you registered in.We sometimes use hashed identifiers created from email or IP addresses to facilitate this matching process. A hashed identifier is one which has been transformed into a unique string of characters using a mathematical process called hashing. This process makes the identifier unreadable and secure, and the original email address cannot be easily retrieved thereby matching data in a more privacy-friendly way. We and our advertising partners use hashed email addresses to match users across different platforms without sharing actual email addresses. This helps to securely deliver personalised ads based on user preferences and behaviour.We will also show you ads relevant to the content you are consuming (contextual advertising). For example, if you are reading an article about travel then we might show you ads for airlines.Our advertising is generally managed in three ways:1. Premium in-house advertisingWe sell premium advertising space on our services directly to our advertising clients. This advertising is managed in-house driven by our own first party data that we collect from you or your device, subject to your privacy settings. This data includes registration information collected when you sign-up for our services (e.g. BBC Account), data based on what you consume on our services (e.g. articles read, adverts clicked on), technical information (e.g. browser, device and Internet Service Provider) and your location (at a country level). We use this data to create cohorts of users with shared characteristics (age, interests). These cohorts are then used to select relevant ads to show to you.We sometimes enable our clients to use their own customer data to personalise their ads. They may do this by matching data to their known customers or to look for ‘lookalike’ customers based on similar characteristics such as interests. When we do this, we use specialist technologies to keep data separated and secure, such as hashed identifiers.2. Automated advertising trading and personalisationWe (and our clients) work with a range of companies to show you ads, both personalised and non-personalised. This includes specialist platforms and networks to:sell our ad space in online auctions, e.g., ‘real-time bidding’select and deliver the ads, andcollate and manage the data needed to personalise ads.Generally, these companies will be acting as separate data controllers or may be acting under the instruction of their advertiser client rather than us.Depending on your browser and cookie settings, we share the following data when ads are requested and delivered on our digital services:IP addressCookie IDs or Mobile Ad IDPage URLDevice manufacturer, model and operating systemBrowser type and version and preferencesAdvertising delivered via our service providers can also include the use of data that has been collated and synced across multiple sites and sources. This may include the advertiser client’s own marketing database, demographics (e.g. from data brokers and credit reference agencies), online cross-site browsing behaviour, social media data, and offline data (e.g. loyalty card and retail transactions). We do this to create “cohorts” of particular types of audiences, i.e., groups of people who share similar characteristics, habits or interests.3. Advertising on third party servicesSometimes we buy ad space on other websites and services to run ads for our advertisers. For example, we might show you an ad before a video on our social media channels. That ad could be personalised in the same way as when you use our services directly.We also run ads in the podcasts we publish on a variety of different platforms, such as Spotify, Audible and Apple Podcasts. Subject to applicable law, we allow third parties such as our service providers and those of our advertiser clients to directly collect aggregated data or other information that is not reasonably linkable to you personally, in order to measure the performance of the ads and the effectiveness of the campaigns. For example, whether you go on to listen to another podcast after hearing an ad for it within a different podcast.Ad personalisation settingsOn all of our services that show personalised ads, you can opt out of the personalisation at any time in a variety of ways:By adjusting your browser settings,By adjusting your cookie settings for the particular website/service you are using and/orDisable the use of your email address for advertising in your BBC Account settings.If you opt-out or make any changes to your browser settings, you may continue to see non-personalised and contextual ads. Information we and our advertising partners use:Hashed email address (transformed into a unique identifier that can be used to personalise advertising across the internet)Age range Broad location – e.g. city or countryAdvertising ID (IDs created by us for sharing with advertising platforms to personalise and measure advertising)Device identifiers, which may include your device’s IP address, user agent, and cookie IDs (see the Cookies Notice for the service you are using to learn more).Page URL and referrer URL (i.e. the page that sent you, or referred you, to the page featuring the relevant ad)Usage history and interactions (e.g. the ad shown to you, when it was shown, and whether you clicked on it)Ad Profile (e.g. demographics and interests inferred from your interactions with our services and elsewhere online)Log dataSegmentation data from third parties (e.g. from data brokers and credit reference agencies like Experian)Lawful Basis:Our legitimate interests to generate revenue to help fund services (including supporting the BBC Public Service in the UK) and to promote our brand partners.Consent for the use of cookies and similar technologies in the UK/EEA.H. To measure how our services perform and are used in order to improve and innovateFor example, analysing your use of our products and services, what kind of services you might use in the future, the effectiveness of our marketing and emails and our customer relationships and experiences. We use specialist measurement and IT service providers to help us to do this. We and the BBC Public Service may also do this to facilitate research and development and support product/content innovation.We use machine learning, large language models and algorithms to derive meaning from our data, to segment our audiences (for example based on demographics and frequency of visits) and to create new products and services. We may use Inferred Information to do this.BBC Public Service tracks usage across BBC.com so it can report on how the BBC serves audiences globally to show it is fulfilling its public purposes, and for editorial purposes. This is subject to the BBC’s own privacy policy.Information we use:Device identifiers, which may include your device’s IP address, user agent, and cookie IDs (see the Cookies Notice for the service you are using to learn more)Page URL and referrer URL (i.e. the page that sent you, or referred you to our service)Transaction(s), usage history and interactions (e.g. what you viewed, when, and how often, whether you opened or clicked an email etc)Demographics, such as gender, age range, interests (e.g. through market research)Log dataLawful Basis:Our legitimate interests in studying how customers use our products and services, to keep our services updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy.Consent where your personal information is shared/disclosed directly in response to a research questionnaire/survey.Consent for the use of cookies and similar technologies in the UK/EEA.I. To conduct market research into our brands and services and to invite you to take partWe may use specialist agencies to carry out market research on our behalf. When we do this, the agencies usually just share information with us which does not identify individuals. If this is not the case (for example because you appear in a video or a name is included alongside a comment), then this would be explained to you before you participate.If we are carrying out our own research, we may directly collect some information from you in order to facilitate the project, e.g., name, contact details and demographic information.We also carry out research relating to actors and public figures and when we do this, we will receive information about public opinion of such people.Information we use:For consumers and audiences: Sometimes a first name and age/location, but generally no identifiable information unless otherwise explained to you at the time you take part.For public figures: name and public opinions and perceptions about them.Lawful Basis: Our legitimate interest to better understand how our brands and on-screen talent are perceived and to engage with our customers and audiences.J. To measure how people perceive and engage with our brands on social mediaWhen you post about us, our brands or programmes on social media, we may collate and report on this using a specialist platform so that we can better understand public perception of our brands. This is sometimes known as “social listening”.Information we use:Social media username/handlePost contentsLawful Basis:Our legitimate interest to better understand how our brands are perceived and to engage with our customers/audiences.If you choose to include sensitive information then we rely on the fact that this has been manifestly made public when you choose to share your personal information publicly on social media.Where we propose using your personal information for any other uses or for any other lawful basis, we will ensure that we notify you first and get your consent as appropriate.Back to top4. WHEN WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATIONA. Information shared within the BBC groupTo improve your experience of our services and brands, and to enable us to cross-promote our services, your information may be shared between companies in the BBC group (including BBC Public Service and BBC Studios companies such as UKTV and Britbox International) for the purposes of research, analysis, marketing and ad-serving. Wherever possible this information will be anonymised or aggregated.In addition, the different companies within the BBC Studios group and the BBC Public Service provide data processing services to each other. For example, most of our newsletter subscription services are managed by a team in the BBC Studios Distribution UK headquarters on behalf of the group. As explained in section 3 above, the BBC account service is managed by BBC Public Service in the UK. If you are in the UK and register for an account with one of the commercial services run by us, BBCS Public Service will therefore share a copy of your data with us. Read more about data sharing by BBC Public Service.B. Information shared with our suppliersWe use third parties to perform business functions on our behalf, such as sending our newsletters, hosting our online services, providing our customer services and fulfilling product orders and processing payments. Our suppliers must comply with our instructions, and not use your personal information for their own business purposes.C. Information shared via third party embedded contentInformation shared through cookies and similar technologiesWe work with third parties who use cookies and similar technologies to provide a variety of services to us, including to: measure and analyse use of and engagement with our services and emails; deliver and personalise our online marketing and third-party advertising on our services. These companies may be independently making decisions about how and why your personal information is processed, meaning they are a separate “Data Controller”. To learn more, please read the Cookies Notice provided for the service you are using.D. Information shared with other partiesWhere required or allowed by law, we may disclose your personal information to law enforcement agencies, government/regulatory bodies, internet service providers and content protection organisations without your consent. For example, if you post inappropriate or objectionable content on our services or where we reasonably believe you may be in breach of the law or there is a safety concern, we may report your content and behaviour to relevant parties.E. Sale or transfer of all or part of our business or assetsWe reserve the right to transfer your personal information in the event we sell or transfer all or a part of our business or assets so that the buyer can continue to offer you the services. We will make reasonable efforts to provide you with advance notification of the transfer of your information in such circumstances.Back to top5. WHERE WE STORE YOUR INFORMATIONAs a British company, most of our services are operated from the UK but we have teams across the world, including the USA. As described in the previous section, we may share your information with other companies in the BBC Group or with contracted third-party service providers. These companies may be located in, or use IT equipment located in, a country where the data protection laws are different to the UK. Where this is the case, we will take steps to ensure that your information receives an appropriate level of protection.We use service providers, and share data with advertising platforms, that are located outside the UK and European Economic Area (EEA), primarily in the USA. We require recipients of your personal information to provide a similar level of protection when transferring personal information out of the EEA.We will only transfer your personal information outside the UK and EEA to countries with equivalent levels of data protection and/or with appropriate safeguards in place to help ensure a level of protection, as approved by the UK Government and European Commission. This means that we may use companies based in the USA that have certified with the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (and UK Extension) or we use contractual terms approved by the UK Government and European Commission.Back to top6. HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATIONWe will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant service or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us, in accordance with our retention policy.If you have a BBC account, your account will be deleted after 18 months of inactivity, unless you have an active subscription with us. You will receive reminders before this happens.Where you contribute to one of our online services, we will generally only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted. After this time, your personal information will either be securely deleted or anonymised so that it can be used for analytical purposes. Back to top7. HOW WE SECURE YOUR INFORMATIONWe protect your information in many different ways. These include staff training, investing in technology and following strict handling and storing procedures. We maintain appropriate organisational and technological safeguards to help protect against loss, misuse or unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction of the information we hold about you. We also seek to ensure our service providers do the same. Even though we have taken steps to help protect the information in our control, you should be aware that security measures cannot provide absolute protection.If you believe that your personal information under our control has been compromised, including access to any accounts you hold with our services, please contact us immediately using the details under ‘Contact Us’ below.Back to top8. CHILDREN USING OUR SERVICESMost of our services are aimed at general audiences, except our Kids and Family brands (e.g. Bluey and Hey Duggee) which are aimed at parents or carers to use with their children.Some of our services are age restricted. This is either due to the nature of the service, for example we do this for some competitions, or due to child privacy or contracting rules in certain countries. If appropriate, we will take steps to determine the age of people submitting their information to us and may seek to obtain the authorisation of a parent or guardian. If you are the parent or guardian of a child and you become aware that your child has provided us with information without your authorisation, please contact us at dataprotection@bbc.com.Back to top9. YOUR RIGHTS & CHOICESYou have a number of rights and choices available to you in relation to personal information we hold about you. If you would like to exercise any of these, please follow the instructions provided or submit a request to us in writing using the contact details provided below.Where permitted by applicable law, we may require you to prove your identity before we carry out your request, e.g. if you have requested access to, or deletion of, your information.You may nominate an authorised agent to make a request on your behalf. When submitting the request, please ensure they are identified as acting on your authority.We will not discriminate against you because you made any of these requests.We may deny certain requests, or fulfil a request only in part, based on our legal rights and obligations. Certain requests may also be subject to exceptions under applicable law. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request, you may submit an appeal by sending an email to dataprotection@bbc.com with “Data Privacy Appeal” in the subject line. A. Change your communication preferencesIf you wish to stop receiving marketing communications from us, please click on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the relevant email. This link will enable you to unsubscribe from the newsletter or will take you to a preference centre. Please note that you cannot unsubscribe from some service-related messages (which are not used to send marketing materials).In accordance with industry standards, we reserve the right to retain a minimal amount of data necessary to ensure we do not contact you in the future – for example by adding your email address to a ‘suppression list’.B. Change your settings for cookies and similar technologiesPersonalised advertising cookies and similar technologiesThe choices you have around consents and opting out may vary from territory to territory but will be presented on the relevant website or app. A link is available in each website footer or app settings, which is labelled as ‘cookie settings’, ‘do not share or sell my info’, or similar.You can also choose how cookies (across all websites) are handled on your device via your browser settings. Some browsers also have a setting called Do Not Track, which sends a signal to websites asking them not to track you. However, as there isn’t a common standard for interpreting this signal, our websites do not respond to them. Instead, you should use the settings described above. Your selections are specific to the device, website, and browser you are using. Your selections may be deleted whenever you clear your cookies or browser’s cache.You can also disable the sharing of your encrypted/hashed email address for marketing and advertising purposes in your BBC Account settings.Please see the Cookies Notice for more information about the technologies we use and the options available to you.C. Access information we hold about youYou can request to confirm what information we hold about you and can receive a copy of it. When submitting a request, please provide us with enough information to enable us to locate your record(s), including the email address we may hold for you and the details of the service you use.You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights detailed below). However, we may be entitled to charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.We will process your request within applicable legal timeframes. For the UK and the EEA, this is one calendar month, but we can extend this time if your request is particularly complicated or large.Request information about your BBC account: To see what information exists about your BBC account and activities, you can make a request via your account.D. Correct your informationYou can request to correct any incomplete or inaccurate personal information we hold about you, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.If you have a BBC account: You can update your “personal details” in your account settings.E. Delete your informationYou can ask us to delete information we hold about you. For example, when we no longer need it because you initially gave us consent and you wish to withdraw it. Sometimes we may not be able to delete your information because (i) we are legally required to keep it; or (ii) we need it for our own legitimate business purposes, for example if you were to unsubscribe from an email list, we would need your email address to add to a suppression list to ensure you were not contacted. Where applicable, we will explain the reasons for refusing your request.If you have a BBC account: You can delete your BBC account at any time, unless you have an active subscription. If you have a subscription, you need to cancel this before we’ll let you delete your account. Deleting your account will erase any personal information we have about you. Any data about how you’ve used the BBC online will be made anonymous.F. Stop us from using your personal informationYou can ask us to stop using your information for direct marketing purposes (see communication preferences). You can also ‘object’ to us processing your information where we are relying on a legitimate interest. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.G. Restrict the processing of your personal informationYou can ask us to suspend the processing of your personal information if you are concerned about its accuracy or how it is being used. You can also ask us not to delete your information (for example because you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims). H. Transfer your personal information in a machine-readable format (to you or a third party)This right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you. I. Request information about how your personal information is handledSpecifically, you may ask what personal information has been collected, how and why it is processed, the categories of parties who have access to that information, the applicable retention period, and the source of personal information if it was collected from a third party. Delaware, Minnesota, and Oregon residents may also request a list of third parties (as defined in applicable law) to whom we have disclosed personal data.J. Opt-out of targeted advertising and the “sale” or “sharing” of personal informationWhen you use our services, third parties may use personal information obtained from or in connection with your activities on our services and across unaffiliated sites to show more relevant advertising to you. This may include the categories of personal information described in sub-section G of Section 3 above. In certain jurisdictions, these activities may be considered a “sale, “sharing”, or “targeted advertising”.You can request that we stop using or sharing your personal information for such targeted advertising; you can also request that we not “sell” or “share” your personal information. By “sell”, we mean the sale of your personal information to an outside party for monetary or other valuable consideration. By “share”, we mean the disclosure of your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes or for cross-context behavioural advertising purposes, subject to certain exceptions under applicable law.If you would like to opt out of behavioural or targeted advertising, follow the instructions in the Change your settings for cookies and similar technologies section above. You can also communicate your preference by sending a Global Privacy Control signal, on browsers or browser extensions that support such a signal.We do not knowingly “sell” or “share” the personal information of minors under 16 years of age.K. Complain to a regulatorIf you have raised a concern with us and feel we have not resolved it, you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk).If you think that some, or all, of the issues you are concerned about have taken place in your country or state of residence, you can complain to your local data protection and/or privacy regulator. For contact details of national data protection regulators in the EU, please refer to the European Data Protection Board website.Back to top10. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICYThis Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in law, best practice or in our practices regarding the treatment of personal information. If material changes are made to this Privacy Policy we will notify you by placing a notice on our relevant services. The date of the most recent revision will appear at the top of this page. If you do not agree to the changes, please do not continue to use our services. You should check this policy frequently for updates.Back to top11. CONTACT USWe have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, or you wish to raise a concern, please contact the DPO by email at: dataprotection@bbc.com. We aim to reply to any queries within five working days.Alternatively, you can complete the form via the customer services helpdesk.You can also write to us by post:Data Protection Officer, Regulatory Affairs , BBC Studios, 1 Television Centre, 101, Wood Lane, London W12 7FAIf you’re in the US:BBC Studios Americas Inc, 1120 Avenue of the Americas, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10036-6700 USABack to top12. ADDITIONAL NOTICESA. CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS:California residents have the right to receive notice of certain of our privacy practices, including the categories of personal and sensitive personal information we may collect (see Section 2), the purpose for which we collect or use such information (see Section 3), whether such information is "sold" or "shared" (as those terms are defined in California law (see Section 9)), and how long such information is retained (see Section 6). You can make requests regarding your personal information as described in Section 9.Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information: follow the instructions in Section 9 (J) to exercise your right to request that we not “sell” or “share” your personal information as such terms are defined in applicable California law.California Shine the Light: California residents may request one time each year if we have disclosed your personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes. While we do not generally disclose your personal information as defined in California’s “Shine the Light” law, you may opt out of such sharing by emailing us at dataprotection@bbc.com and indicating that you are a California resident making a “Shine the Light” inquiry.B. RESIDENTS OF OTHER U.S. STATESResidents of other U.S. states with data privacy laws (including, for example, residents of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah or Virginia), have certain rights with respect to your personal information. The scope of these rights are covered by the rights and choices set out in Section 9. We make these available to all, regardless of their location, except where indicated.C. CANADIAN RESIDENTS:We use service providers, and share data with advertising platforms, that are located outside Canada and the Province of Quebec, primarily in the USA. For more information about our policies and procedures regarding transferring personal information outside of Canada, including with our service providers, please contact us using the information outlined at Section 11.If you are a resident in Canada, you also have the following additional rights regarding your personal information:Right to withdraw consent. In Canada, subject to any exemptions, express or implied consent is the legal basis upon which organisations may collect, use and disclose personal information. Accordingly, subject to any exemptions, personal information will only be collected, used, and/or disclosed by us for the purposes described above in this policy, with your express or implied consent, as applicable.Where you have provided your consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information, you may have the legal right to withdraw your consent under certain circumstances. Please note that if you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide our services to you, or your user experience may not be as useful or enjoyable. We will explain the impact to you at the time to help you with your decision.You may also refuse the collection of certain personal information by opting for:In-person inquiries instead of email.Refusing cookies, though this may affect certain site functionalities.Exercising your rights: If you wish to contact us to exercise any of your privacy rights or have any queries about how we use your personal information, please see Section 11.Back to top BBC Studios Privacy Policy Page updated: 19th August 2025 Version 1.0 This policy describes what personal information (also known as personal data) BBC Studios collects, how we’ll use it, the circumstances in which it may be shared, and your rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you. We may also provide additional notices to provide more information about what we will do with your information. For example, our Cookies Notice explains how we use web technologies such as cookies. If you are a California resident, see here for our California Notice at Collection and information provided pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act. 1. WHAT THIS POLICY COVERS BBC Studios is the commercial production and distribution arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation (the ‘BBC’). We are a global business operating as BBC Studios Distribution, BBC Studios Productions, and BBC Global News (and their subsidiaries). Find out more about our group of companies and their locations. This Privacy Policy relates to our global content distribution and marketing activities, including: What’s not covered in this policy? Back to top 2. HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU The types of information we collect depends on the circumstances and the service you are using. We may collect information relating to you and/or your use of our services in the following ways: A. Information collected from you directly When you use our services, register for a BBC account (outside the UK), submit comments or other content, attend one of our events or you otherwise interact with us (such as through social media platforms, our apps or engaging with our sales teams, responding to surveys), we will ask you for information relevant to the circumstances. If it isn’t obvious why we are asking for certain information, we will explain this to you at the time we collect it. In section 3, we explain in more detail about the types of information we collect. B. Information collected automatically during your use of our services When you use or receive services from us over the internet, we automatically record information about your use of those services, your interaction with our adverts and our emails as well as information about the device you are using and your internet connection. This is done through log data, cookies and similar technologies. See our Cookie Notice for more details. C. Information we infer about you We use information we know about you and how you use our services to predict things about you (“Inferred Information”). For example, we use data about what you read, how long you stay on a particular page, how often you visit, when you visit, and the type of device you use. We won’t infer sensitive information about you. D. Information we collect when you interact with us via a third party (e.g. social media and other platforms) When you choose to participate in or receive a service from us via social media and similar third party platforms, for example by posting comments, interacting with us, signing up to a newsletter or entering a competition, we may collect information from you directly or the social network may share with us personal information about you depending on the privacy notice and any choices you have on that platform. E. Information collected via other third parties We use specialist companies to provide us with information they hold about you or to collect information on our behalf. For example: Back to top 3. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION Depending on which of our services you are using, or how you are otherwise interacting with us, we use your information in ways which are consistent with our relationship with you (i.e. as a consumer or in a business context). In this section, we have set out a description of the ways we use your personal information and the types of data this includes. Under UK and European data protection law, we are required to tell you our “lawful basis” for processing your personal data and we have included this in each description. For Canadian residents, please review the additional information at section 12 of this policy, to learn about our consent practices and your rights to withdraw consent, depending on the circumstances. BBC accounts BBC account underpins many of our services, including BBC.com, BBC Shop and TopGear.com. The data we collect when you are signed in with a BBC account is used in a number of different ways. If you are in the UK and have a BBC account, when you sign-in to one of our branded services, BBC Public Service will share your account information with us to support the purposes described below. We use your BBC account to recognise you when signing into our services, including on new devices and applications. Connecting and understanding your usage across our services, allows us to make improvements and recommendations, and offer you a more seamless experience. If you don't have an account, we’ll assign you a unique identifier which (subject to your cookie choices in your territory) will allow us to recognise you on a new device or through a different application. If you later create an account, we will connect this ID to your account ID to enable us to continue to personalise your experience. Incognito mode (or private browsing) is a feature in web browsers that may help you to browse the internet without saving your browsing history, cookies and similar technologies, site data, or information entered in forms. If you are using incognito mode and do not wish to be tracked, you should not sign in to your BBC account as doing so will still enable us to link your activity to you as described above. Purposes for which we will use your information A. To provide the products and services requested by you and manage our relationship with you For example: to register and administer your account and, if you have one, your subscription; to fulfill an order; to invite you and arrange your attendance at an event you have registered for; to deal with your queries, submissions, feedback, requests or complaints; to manage competitions; to ask you to leave a review or take a survey; to send service-related communications, such as notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy; and for internal and statutory accounting and reporting. Information we use: And, when you buy things or sign up for a paid subscription, we also collect: Our Lawful Basis: B. To operate and secure our services For example: troubleshooting and testing; system maintenance, reporting, and data hosting; preventing fraud or other potentially illegal activities (including copyright infringement); blocking disruptive users and protecting the safety of users; and enforcing our terms of service. Information we use: Lawful Basis: Our legitimate interests in running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, and to prevent fraud. C. To facilitate conversation, engage with our audiences and enrich our content When you leave a comment on one of our services or share your photos and videos with us, we will collect and process the information you provide, and we may publish or share your content on our services or other platforms. Sometimes you might choose to share content with us via our social media pages or otherwise comment on social media about our brands (i.e. simply to show your love for our brands). When you do this, we may contact you (via the relevant platform) to ask if we can publish or use your content on our services or other platforms. We may use the information you provide, or your social media handle, to contact you if we want to find out more, to ask if we can use or share your content or to verify your age. Before we can accept or use your content, you must ensure you have the consent of anyone else featured. We may ask you to provide your email address to verify your age and that you are the legal parent or guardian of any children who may be featured in the content, as may be applicable under section 8 of this Privacy Policy (“Children Using Our Services”). If you contribute to the BBC’s editorial output on BBC.com, like BBC News, Sport or Radio (for example, if you comment on an article or send a photo or video to one of the News teams) this will be subject to the BBC Public Service privacy policy and terms, and not ours. Information we use: Lawful basis: D. To send you news, offers and promotions In accordance with your preferences, we will send you newsletters you request and relevant offers and promotions relating to our content, brands and services and other companies in the BBC Studios group, like UKTV and Britbox International. These communications may be personalised to you based on what we think may interest you. You may need a BBC account to receive some newsletters and if you don’t have one, we will create one for you as part of the sign-up process. You can unsubscribe from newsletters and marketing emails by clicking on the link in the footer of the relevant email. We may also send notifications via your device or web browser, where you have specifically given permission when requested by your browser or device. Information we use: Lawful Basis: Consent to send you newsletters you are subscribed to. Our legitimate interests to promote our content, brands and services, and those of our partners, and to manage your preferences. E. To personalise our content and newsletters We use machine-learning based on aggregated usage data to recommend content we think you may be interested in. Data about your use of our services will be used to train the aggregate models used to create recommendations. We’ll also use an algorithm to decide when to show you prompts to register or subscribe, based on how likely we think you are to do so. To provide a better and more relevant service, we personalise your experience across our services and the emails you receive, in accordance with your cookie preferences. To do this, we rely on the usage data described in the “BBC Accounts” section above. Information we use: Lawful Basis: F. To market our products and services to you on social media and other sites We promote our shows and services on social media and other platforms subject to user settings and preferences on those platforms. Personalised messages and promotions on third party sites and platforms: We use different forms of targeting: If you have a BBC account, you can opt out from personalised messages on other sites. General audience segmentation: We may also use the audience segmentation tools of the third party platform to help us find a suitable audience – for example, we may use some information about our existing users to find new audiences on third party platforms. When we do this, we only receive aggregated anonymous reports on the performance of these posts, no personal information is shared with us. Any use of your information by third party platforms will be subject to their Privacy Policy and the preferences you have set for their platform(s). Information we use: For general marketing on social media, we use targeting tools available within the platform, such as to target a particular age band or location. Where we use your data to target particular audiences on third party platforms, we use the following data from your use of our services: Lawful Basis: G. To show advertising to you on our services and understand how effective it is Our digital services feature advertising, including personalised advertising. This means the advertising you see is more relevant to you. It also means we can receive more revenue from our advertisers, allowing us to invest in our content. To create an ad profile for personalisation, unique identifiers (IDs) are used to tell your device apart from others – such as an ID stored by a cookie, or your Mobile Ad ID (a unique code set by your mobile operating system). We also use your BBC account information. For example, we may display adverts based on your age band or the country you registered in. We sometimes use hashed identifiers created from email or IP addresses to facilitate this matching process. A hashed identifier is one which has been transformed into a unique string of characters using a mathematical process called hashing. This process makes the identifier unreadable and secure, and the original email address cannot be easily retrieved thereby matching data in a more privacy-friendly way. We and our advertising partners use hashed email addresses to match users across different platforms without sharing actual email addresses. This helps to securely deliver personalised ads based on user preferences and behaviour. We will also show you ads relevant to the content you are consuming (contextual advertising). For example, if you are reading an article about travel then we might show you ads for airlines. Our advertising is generally managed in three ways: 1. Premium in-house advertising We sell premium advertising space on our services directly to our advertising clients. This advertising is managed in-house driven by our own first party data that we collect from you or your device, subject to your privacy settings. This data includes registration information collected when you sign-up for our services (e.g. BBC Account), data based on what you consume on our services (e.g. articles read, adverts clicked on), technical information (e.g. browser, device and Internet Service Provider) and your location (at a country level). We use this data to create cohorts of users with shared characteristics (age, interests). These cohorts are then used to select relevant ads to show to you. We sometimes enable our clients to use their own customer data to personalise their ads. They may do this by matching data to their known customers or to look for ‘lookalike’ customers based on similar characteristics such as interests. When we do this, we use specialist technologies to keep data separated and secure, such as hashed identifiers. 2. Automated advertising trading and personalisation We (and our clients) work with a range of companies to show you ads, both personalised and non-personalised. This includes specialist platforms and networks to: Generally, these companies will be acting as separate data controllers or may be acting under the instruction of their advertiser client rather than us. Depending on your browser and cookie settings, we share the following data when ads are requested and delivered on our digital services: Advertising delivered via our service providers can also include the use of data that has been collated and synced across multiple sites and sources. This may include the advertiser client’s own marketing database, demographics (e.g. from data brokers and credit reference agencies), online cross-site browsing behaviour, social media data, and offline data (e.g. loyalty card and retail transactions). We do this to create “cohorts” of particular types of audiences, i.e., groups of people who share similar characteristics, habits or interests. 3. Advertising on third party services Sometimes we buy ad space on other websites and services to run ads for our advertisers. For example, we might show you an ad before a video on our social media channels. That ad could be personalised in the same way as when you use our services directly. We also run ads in the podcasts we publish on a variety of different platforms, such as Spotify, Audible and Apple Podcasts. Subject to applicable law, we allow third parties such as our service providers and those of our advertiser clients to directly collect aggregated data or other information that is not reasonably linkable to you personally, in order to measure the performance of the ads and the effectiveness of the campaigns. For example, whether you go on to listen to another podcast after hearing an ad for it within a different podcast. Ad personalisation settings On all of our services that show personalised ads, you can opt out of the personalisation at any time in a variety of ways: If you opt-out or make any changes to your browser settings, you may continue to see non-personalised and contextual ads. Information we and our advertising partners use: Lawful Basis: H. To measure how our services perform and are used in order to improve and innovate For example, analysing your use of our products and services, what kind of services you might use in the future, the effectiveness of our marketing and emails and our customer relationships and experiences. We use specialist measurement and IT service providers to help us to do this. We and the BBC Public Service may also do this to facilitate research and development and support product/content innovation. We use machine learning, large language models and algorithms to derive meaning from our data, to segment our audiences (for example based on demographics and frequency of visits) and to create new products and services. We may use Inferred Information to do this. BBC Public Service tracks usage across BBC.com so it can report on how the BBC serves audiences globally to show it is fulfilling its public purposes, and for editorial purposes. This is subject to the BBC’s own privacy policy. Information we use: Lawful Basis: I. To conduct market research into our brands and services and to invite you to take part We may use specialist agencies to carry out market research on our behalf. When we do this, the agencies usually just share information with us which does not identify individuals. If this is not the case (for example because you appear in a video or a name is included alongside a comment), then this would be explained to you before you participate. If we are carrying out our own research, we may directly collect some information from you in order to facilitate the project, e.g., name, contact details and demographic information. We also carry out research relating to actors and public figures and when we do this, we will receive information about public opinion of such people. Information we use: Lawful Basis: Our legitimate interest to better understand how our brands and on-screen talent are perceived and to engage with our customers and audiences. J. To measure how people perceive and engage with our brands on social media When you post about us, our brands or programmes on social media, we may collate and report on this using a specialist platform so that we can better understand public perception of our brands. This is sometimes known as “social listening”. Information we use: Lawful Basis: Our legitimate interest to better understand how our brands are perceived and to engage with our customers/audiences. If you choose to include sensitive information then we rely on the fact that this has been manifestly made public when you choose to share your personal information publicly on social media. Where we propose using your personal information for any other uses or for any other lawful basis, we will ensure that we notify you first and get your consent as appropriate. Back to top 4. WHEN WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION A. Information shared within the BBC group To improve your experience of our services and brands, and to enable us to cross-promote our services, your information may be shared between companies in the BBC group (including BBC Public Service and BBC Studios companies such as UKTV and Britbox International) for the purposes of research, analysis, marketing and ad-serving. Wherever possible this information will be anonymised or aggregated. In addition, the different companies within the BBC Studios group and the BBC Public Service provide data processing services to each other. For example, most of our newsletter subscription services are managed by a team in the BBC Studios Distribution UK headquarters on behalf of the group. As explained in section 3 above, the BBC account service is managed by BBC Public Service in the UK. If you are in the UK and register for an account with one of the commercial services run by us, BBCS Public Service will therefore share a copy of your data with us. Read more about data sharing by BBC Public Service. B. Information shared with our suppliers We use third parties to perform business functions on our behalf, such as sending our newsletters, hosting our online services, providing our customer services and fulfilling product orders and processing payments. Our suppliers must comply with our instructions, and not use your personal information for their own business purposes. C. Information shared via third party embedded content Information shared through cookies and similar technologies We work with third parties who use cookies and similar technologies to provide a variety of services to us, including to: measure and analyse use of and engagement with our services and emails; deliver and personalise our online marketing and third-party advertising on our services. These companies may be independently making decisions about how and why your personal information is processed, meaning they are a separate “Data Controller”. To learn more, please read the Cookies Notice provided for the service you are using. D. Information shared with other parties Where required or allowed by law, we may disclose your personal information to law enforcement agencies, government/regulatory bodies, internet service providers and content protection organisations without your consent. For example, if you post inappropriate or objectionable content on our services or where we reasonably believe you may be in breach of the law or there is a safety concern, we may report your content and behaviour to relevant parties. E. Sale or transfer of all or part of our business or assets We reserve the right to transfer your personal information in the event we sell or transfer all or a part of our business or assets so that the buyer can continue to offer you the services. We will make reasonable efforts to provide you with advance notification of the transfer of your information in such circumstances. Back to top 5. WHERE WE STORE YOUR INFORMATION As a British company, most of our services are operated from the UK but we have teams across the world, including the USA. As described in the previous section, we may share your information with other companies in the BBC Group or with contracted third-party service providers. These companies may be located in, or use IT equipment located in, a country where the data protection laws are different to the UK. Where this is the case, we will take steps to ensure that your information receives an appropriate level of protection. We use service providers, and share data with advertising platforms, that are located outside the UK and European Economic Area (EEA), primarily in the USA. We require recipients of your personal information to provide a similar level of protection when transferring personal information out of the EEA. We will only transfer your personal information outside the UK and EEA to countries with equivalent levels of data protection and/or with appropriate safeguards in place to help ensure a level of protection, as approved by the UK Government and European Commission. This means that we may use companies based in the USA that have certified with the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (and UK Extension) or we use contractual terms approved by the UK Government and European Commission. Back to top 6. HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant service or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us, in accordance with our retention policy. If you have a BBC account, your account will be deleted after 18 months of inactivity, unless you have an active subscription with us. You will receive reminders before this happens. Where you contribute to one of our online services, we will generally only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted. After this time, your personal information will either be securely deleted or anonymised so that it can be used for analytical purposes. Back to top 7. HOW WE SECURE YOUR INFORMATION We protect your information in many different ways. These include staff training, investing in technology and following strict handling and storing procedures. We maintain appropriate organisational and technological safeguards to help protect against loss, misuse or unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction of the information we hold about you. We also seek to ensure our service providers do the same. Even though we have taken steps to help protect the information in our control, you should be aware that security measures cannot provide absolute protection. If you believe that your personal information under our control has been compromised, including access to any accounts you hold with our services, please contact us immediately using the details under ‘Contact Us’ below. Back to top 8. CHILDREN USING OUR SERVICES Most of our services are aimed at general audiences, except our Kids and Family brands (e.g. Bluey and Hey Duggee) which are aimed at parents or carers to use with their children. Some of our services are age restricted. This is either due to the nature of the service, for example we do this for some competitions, or due to child privacy or contracting rules in certain countries. If appropriate, we will take steps to determine the age of people submitting their information to us and may seek to obtain the authorisation of a parent or guardian. If you are the parent or guardian of a child and you become aware that your child has provided us with information without your authorisation, please contact us at dataprotection@bbc.com. Back to top 9. YOUR RIGHTS & CHOICES You have a number of rights and choices available to you in relation to personal information we hold about you. If you would like to exercise any of these, please follow the instructions provided or submit a request to us in writing using the contact details provided below. Where permitted by applicable law, we may require you to prove your identity before we carry out your request, e.g. if you have requested access to, or deletion of, your information. You may nominate an authorised agent to make a request on your behalf. When submitting the request, please ensure they are identified as acting on your authority. We will not discriminate against you because you made any of these requests. We may deny certain requests, or fulfil a request only in part, based on our legal rights and obligations. Certain requests may also be subject to exceptions under applicable law. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request, you may submit an appeal by sending an email to dataprotection@bbc.com with “Data Privacy Appeal” in the subject line. A. Change your communication preferences If you wish to stop receiving marketing communications from us, please click on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the relevant email. This link will enable you to unsubscribe from the newsletter or will take you to a preference centre. Please note that you cannot unsubscribe from some service-related messages (which are not used to send marketing materials). In accordance with industry standards, we reserve the right to retain a minimal amount of data necessary to ensure we do not contact you in the future – for example by adding your email address to a ‘suppression list’. B. Change your settings for cookies and similar technologiesPersonalised advertising cookies and similar technologies The choices you have around consents and opting out may vary from territory to territory but will be presented on the relevant website or app. A link is available in each website footer or app settings, which is labelled as ‘cookie settings’, ‘do not share or sell my info’, or similar. You can also choose how cookies (across all websites) are handled on your device via your browser settings. Some browsers also have a setting called Do Not Track, which sends a signal to websites asking them not to track you. However, as there isn’t a common standard for interpreting this signal, our websites do not respond to them. Instead, you should use the settings described above. Your selections are specific to the device, website, and browser you are using. Your selections may be deleted whenever you clear your cookies or browser’s cache. You can also disable the sharing of your encrypted/hashed email address for marketing and advertising purposes in your BBC Account settings. Please see the Cookies Notice for more information about the technologies we use and the options available to you. C. Access information we hold about you You can request to confirm what information we hold about you and can receive a copy of it. When submitting a request, please provide us with enough information to enable us to locate your record(s), including the email address we may hold for you and the details of the service you use. You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights detailed below). However, we may be entitled to charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances. We will process your request within applicable legal timeframes. For the UK and the EEA, this is one calendar month, but we can extend this time if your request is particularly complicated or large. Request information about your BBC account: To see what information exists about your BBC account and activities, you can make a request via your account. D. Correct your information You can request to correct any incomplete or inaccurate personal information we hold about you, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us. If you have a BBC account: You can update your “personal details” in your account settings. E. Delete your information You can ask us to delete information we hold about you. For example, when we no longer need it because you initially gave us consent and you wish to withdraw it. Sometimes we may not be able to delete your information because (i) we are legally required to keep it; or (ii) we need it for our own legitimate business purposes, for example if you were to unsubscribe from an email list, we would need your email address to add to a suppression list to ensure you were not contacted. Where applicable, we will explain the reasons for refusing your request. If you have a BBC account: You can delete your BBC account at any time, unless you have an active subscription. If you have a subscription, you need to cancel this before we’ll let you delete your account. Deleting your account will erase any personal information we have about you. Any data about how you’ve used the BBC online will be made anonymous. F. Stop us from using your personal information You can ask us to stop using your information for direct marketing purposes (see communication preferences). You can also ‘object’ to us processing your information where we are relying on a legitimate interest. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms. G. Restrict the processing of your personal information You can ask us to suspend the processing of your personal information if you are concerned about its accuracy or how it is being used. You can also ask us not to delete your information (for example because you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims). H. Transfer your personal information in a machine-readable format (to you or a third party) This right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you. I. Request information about how your personal information is handled Specifically, you may ask what personal information has been collected, how and why it is processed, the categories of parties who have access to that information, the applicable retention period, and the source of personal information if it was collected from a third party. Delaware, Minnesota, and Oregon residents may also request a list of third parties (as defined in applicable law) to whom we have disclosed personal data. J. Opt-out of targeted advertising and the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information When you use our services, third parties may use personal information obtained from or in connection with your activities on our services and across unaffiliated sites to show more relevant advertising to you. This may include the categories of personal information described in sub-section G of Section 3 above. In certain jurisdictions, these activities may be considered a “sale, “sharing”, or “targeted advertising”. You can request that we stop using or sharing your personal information for such targeted advertising; you can also request that we not “sell” or “share” your personal information. By “sell”, we mean the sale of your personal information to an outside party for monetary or other valuable consideration. By “share”, we mean the disclosure of your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes or for cross-context behavioural advertising purposes, subject to certain exceptions under applicable law. If you would like to opt out of behavioural or targeted advertising, follow the instructions in the Change your settings for cookies and similar technologies section above. You can also communicate your preference by sending a Global Privacy Control signal, on browsers or browser extensions that support such a signal. We do not knowingly “sell” or “share” the personal information of minors under 16 years of age. K. Complain to a regulator If you have raised a concern with us and feel we have not resolved it, you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). If you think that some, or all, of the issues you are concerned about have taken place in your country or state of residence, you can complain to your local data protection and/or privacy regulator. For contact details of national data protection regulators in the EU, please refer to the European Data Protection Board website. Back to top 10. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in law, best practice or in our practices regarding the treatment of personal information. If material changes are made to this Privacy Policy we will notify you by placing a notice on our relevant services. The date of the most recent revision will appear at the top of this page. If you do not agree to the changes, please do not continue to use our services. You should check this policy frequently for updates. Back to top 11. CONTACT US We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, or you wish to raise a concern, please contact the DPO by email at: dataprotection@bbc.com. We aim to reply to any queries within five working days. Alternatively, you can complete the form via the customer services helpdesk. You can also write to us by post: Data Protection Officer, Regulatory Affairs , BBC Studios, 1 Television Centre, 101, Wood Lane, London W12 7FA If you’re in the US: BBC Studios Americas Inc, 1120 Avenue of the Americas, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10036-6700 USA Back to top 12. ADDITIONAL NOTICES California residents have the right to receive notice of certain of our privacy practices, including the categories of personal and sensitive personal information we may collect (see Section 2), the purpose for which we collect or use such information (see Section 3), whether such information is "sold" or "shared" (as those terms are defined in California law (see Section 9)), and how long such information is retained (see Section 6). You can make requests regarding your personal information as described in Section 9. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information: follow the instructions in Section 9 (J) to exercise your right to request that we not “sell” or “share” your personal information as such terms are defined in applicable California law. California Shine the Light: California residents may request one time each year if we have disclosed your personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes. While we do not generally disclose your personal information as defined in California’s “Shine the Light” law, you may opt out of such sharing by emailing us at dataprotection@bbc.com and indicating that you are a California resident making a “Shine the Light” inquiry. Residents of other U.S. states with data privacy laws (including, for example, residents of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah or Virginia), have certain rights with respect to your personal information. The scope of these rights are covered by the rights and choices set out in Section 9. We make these available to all, regardless of their location, except where indicated. We use service providers, and share data with advertising platforms, that are located outside Canada and the Province of Quebec, primarily in the USA. For more information about our policies and procedures regarding transferring personal information outside of Canada, including with our service providers, please contact us using the information outlined at Section 11. If you are a resident in Canada, you also have the following additional rights regarding your personal information: Right to withdraw consent. In Canada, subject to any exemptions, express or implied consent is the legal basis upon which organisations may collect, use and disclose personal information. Accordingly, subject to any exemptions, personal information will only be collected, used, and/or disclosed by us for the purposes described above in this policy, with your express or implied consent, as applicable. Where you have provided your consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information, you may have the legal right to withdraw your consent under certain circumstances. Please note that if you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide our services to you, or your user experience may not be as useful or enjoyable. We will explain the impact to you at the time to help you with your decision. You may also refuse the collection of certain personal information by opting for: Exercising your rights: If you wish to contact us to exercise any of your privacy rights or have any queries about how we use your personal information, please see Section 11. Back to top Copyright 2026 BBC. All rights reserved. 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BBC Global Terms of UsePage updated: 26 June 2025Version 1.01. HelloThese are BBC.com’s terms of use (“Terms”). These Terms tell you:The rules for using our Services (as defined below);What you can do with our Content (as defined below);What we can do with things you post or upload;What disclaimers may apply to our own liability; andThe protections you provide to us for your breach of these Terms.Your rights and responsibilities, basically – important stuff.It’s important to read these Terms and check in for updates as the latest version always applies.When we reference “BBC.com”, we mean the digital news properties operated by or on behalf of BBC Global News Limited, BBC Studios Distribution Limited, or their parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliates (each a part of the BBC Studios, the commercial production and distribution arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation) which may be accessible in several manners, including via the web on BBC.com, mobile phone, and the BBC: World News & Stories mobile app (collectively, “the BBC”, “BBC.com”, “we”, “our”, or “us”). In these Terms, “Affiliated Entities” means any direct or indirect parent, subsidiaries, sponsors, licensees or affiliated companies of BBC.com. Find out more about our group of companies and their locations.In whatever manner you access BBC.com, you agree to be bound by these Terms.If you have accessed BBC.com from the United States of America, you also agree to be bound by the additional terms contained at the end of these Terms.BBC.com may, in its sole discretion, and at any time, discontinue the Services or any part of the Services, with or without notice, or may prevent your use of the Services or access to Content with or without notice to you. You agree that you do not have any rights in the Services and that BBC.com will have no liability to you if the Services are discontinued or your ability to access the Services or any Content you may have posted on the Services is terminated. All restrictions, rights granted by you, and all disclaimers and limitations of liability will survive any termination.Except as otherwise expressly set forth in these Terms, the Services and the Content are provided only for your personal, non-commercial use. Non-commercial use does not include the use of Content, without prior consent from us, in connection with the development, training, fine tuning, or grounding of any software program, model, algorithm, artificial intelligence system, or machine learning or generative artificial intelligence tool.2. When these Terms applyRead these Terms before using our Services. As stated above, whenever you use our Services you agree to these terms.Without limiting our rights, if you don’t stick to all these Terms then we can suspend or terminate your use of Services and your account.3. What’s not covered in these Terms?BBC Public Service: Digital properties and services provided directly by the BBC Public Service, which is a publicly funded service in and for the UK and therefore operates differently to BBC Studios which is a commercially funded business. This includes the BBC website in the UK (bbc.co.uk), any UK BBC account (as explained in more detail below), UK public services that are not geo-restricted (such as BBC Bitesize and the BBC programme pages), and the international World Service language sites. These are all covered by the BBC Public Service privacy policy and terms of use, which you can view here and here.Linked Services: Sometimes we link to other companies’ services, like articles published on other sites. Similarly, you might engage with our content and brands via another platform or company. For example, we publish certain Content on other platforms, like YouTube, Facebook and other social media, and news aggregators. These external services will have their own terms of service which will apply to your use of such services, and we are not liable for any of your interactions with such services.Additional terms that may be applicable to certain BBC.com Services, like when you enter a competition or a sweepstakes: If there are extra terms, we’ll let you know. Any promotions or offers set forth on the Services are void where prohibited and are subject to any applicable additional terms.Data Privacy: To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our privacy policy at bbcstudios.com/privacy.4. Changes to these TermsWe may modify these Terms, or add or remove terms at any time, and such modifications, additions, or deletions will be effective immediately upon posting. Your use of the Services after such posting shall constitute acceptance by you of such modifications, additions or deletions.5. What are the "Services" and "Content" addressed in these Terms?a. “Services”Digital services offered by the BBC that links to or references these Terms. Such as:BBC.comBBC: World News & Stories Mobile AppBBC Sport Mobile App (International)BBC Global News US LLC’s digital subscription servicesb. “Content”Anything that’s available through the Services. Including:Text ArticlesAudioVideoImagesGamesAnything made by people using our Services, which is often referred to as User-generated content, or in these Terms as User Content and Your Contributions.Nothing contained on the Services or in the Content should be construed as granting, by implication, or otherwise, any licence or right to use any trade mark displayed on the Services or in the Content without our written permission or that of such third party that may own the trade mark displayed on the Services or in the Content.Images, photographs, or illustrations displayed on the Services are either the property of, or used with permission by, us. The use of these materials by you, or anyone else authorised by you, is prohibited unless specifically permitted by these Terms or specific permission provided elsewhere on the Services or by BBC.com.In some instances, Content may represent the opinions and judgments of providers or users, such as User Content (as defined below). BBC.com and the Affiliated Entities do not endorse nor shall they be responsible or liable for the accuracy or reliability of any statement made on the Services by anyone other than authorised BBC.com employees acting in such capacity. Content is not intended to substitute for, nor does it replace, professional legal, financial, tax or medical advice. Seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding personal health or medical conditions.6. Third party advertisingYou may see advertising from third parties on our Services. Each advertiser is responsible for its own content, and we are not liable for any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in their ads, or for your engagement with such advertiser.If you’re interested in advertising on our Services, please contact our sales team at internationalsales@bbc.com.7. Terms for using our Services and ContentA few rules to stop you (and us) from getting in trouble. These apply to our Services and Content.You may not use the Services in violation of applicable laws, including export controls and sanctions, or in violation of our or any third party’s rights. You also agree that you will not make any unauthorized use of the Services and you will not attempt to circumvent, reverse engineer, decrypt, or otherwise alter or interfere with the Services or any Content. a. Don’t mess with our ServicesWhat do we mean by that? It is a breach of these Terms to do this sort of thing:Hacking our Services or use robots, spiders, scripts, or any tool or process designed to data mine or scrape the Content or collect the Content, data or information from the Services using automated meansTrying to get around our Content security technology (software that stops people copying our Content)Trying to get around geographical restrictions that we put on some Content and products, for example using a VPN service to watch BBC iPlayer (which is only legally available in the UK) when you’re outside the UK.Refusing to remove our Content, games or apps from your device when we ask you to. This might happen when we take down Services, which we can do at any time, without notice.b. Don’t harm or offend other people......while using our Services or Content. That means:Don’t damage our reputation by associating us with sexism or racism, for instanceDon’t get us sued – by defaming (damaging the reputation of) someone, say, or commenting on an active lawsuitDon’t harass or upset peopleDon’t post or upload anything offensive or obsceneIf you disagree with someone, attack the argument, not the person.c. Don’t pretend to be the BBCPretending to be the BBC may include:Recreating a service or copying the look of a ServiceUsing our brands, trade marks or logos without our permissionUsing or mentioning our Content in press releases and other marketing materialsMaking money from our Content or Services. You can’t charge people to watch our shows, for exampleSharing our Content except as allowed in these Terms.8. Using ContentYou agree not to download, display, or use any Content for use in any publication, in public performances, on websites other than the Services, in connection with products or services that are not those of BBC.com, or in any other manner that is likely to cause confusion among consumers, that dilutes the strength of BBC.com’s or its licensors’ intellectual property, or that otherwise infringes BBC.com’s or its licensors’ intellectual property or other rights. a. When you need permissionTo use any of the following Content, you need to get permission from us or BBC Public Service first:Whole showsClipsPhotosContent from BBC.com or other ServicesOur logo and other brandingMetadataAnything taken from our Services to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysisAnything else that’s protected by copyright.b. How to get permission from BBC Public Service:For logos and branding, read this.For metadata and RSS feeds, read this.For business use, read this. Bear in mind: you normally need to ask permission and there may be a fee to pay.For everything else, read this. There are exceptions to some of these sharing restrictions for Content that’s made to be shared, which we will refer to in these Terms as “Shareable Content” or “Shareables”– which has some different rules. Read more about Shareable Content below. In addition, we don’t always own the copyright. Click here for information about open-source code. 9. Shareable Content - what it isContent that’s shareable will have one or more of these buttons next to it:ShareSocial media buttons for posting to Facebook, X (Twitter), or other social media platforms.When you share to a social media platform, their terms of use and privacy policy will apply.10. Shareable Content - what you can doa. Use sharing buttons to share a link to our Content on your website or social media.b. Post comments and views about certain Content that has commenting available, subject to the rules contained in these Terms11. Shareable Content - what you can't doa. Don’t use it to harm or offend. And don't put Shareable Content with harmful or offensive stuff.Here’s a non-exhaustive list of what may harm or offend:Insulting, misleading, discriminating or defaming (damaging people’s reputations)Promoting pornography, tobacco or weaponsPutting children at riskAnything illegal, which could include using hate speech, inciting terrorism or breaking privacy lawb. Don’t share it in a setting that makes the Shareable Content more prominent than non-BBC contentc. Don’t exaggerate your relationship with the BBCYou can’t say we endorse, promote, supply or approve of you. And you can’t say you have exclusive access to our Content.d. Don’t associate Shareable Content with advertising or sponsorshipThat means you can’t:Put any other content between the link to the Shareable Content and the Shareable Content itself (meaning no ads or short videos people have to sit through)Put ads next to or over the Shareable ContentPut any ads in a web page or app that contain mostly Shareable ContentPut ads related to their subject alongside Shareable Content (meaning no trainer ads with a piece of Shareable Content about shoes)Add extra content that means you’d earn money from theme. Don’t be misleading about where the Shareable Content came fromYou can’t remove or alter the copyright notice or imply that someone else made them.12. Metadata and RSS feedsYou’re not allowed to export metadata from our Content or RSS feeds without a licence from BBC Public Service.If you are an individual, you can add the BBC News RSS feed to your website or social media account, provided:You don't change the RSS feed or remove any of our branding or logosYou credit us by saying it's from BBC News or BBC.com putting the text and hyperlink in a prominent place nearbyYou don't add our branding, logos and so on, except for any branding that's already embedded in the RSS feed.Read about how to set up a BBC News RSS feed here.If you are a business, you’ll need a licence from BBC Public Service to use metadata (such as images, text, media and the links to them) or our RSS feeds. Apply for a metadata licence. For business use of our RSS feeds, there may be a fee to pay. 13. Your Contributions - what they areWhen you create your own content by:Uploading or posting something of yours to one of our Services – like uploading or posting to comment boards and forumsUploading your clip or photo of a breaking story to contribute to our (or BBC Public Service) editorialUsing a service to make something and then uploading it to the ServicesWe call these “Your Contributions” or “User Content”.Please note that by sharing Your Contributions through the Services, Your Contributions may become publicly accessible and will not be subject to any confidentiality restrictions.By displaying, publishing, or otherwise posting any User Content on or through the Services, you hereby grant to BBC.com and its Affiliated Entities a non-exclusive, sub-licensable, worldwide, fully-paid, perpetual, irrevocable, and royalty free licence to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, create derivative works of, adapt, remove, delete, reproduce, and distribute such User Content in any and all media now known or hereafter developed without the requirement to make payment to you or to any third party or the need to seek any third party permission. This licence includes, without limitation, the right to host, index, cache, distribute, and tag any User Content, as well as the right to sublicense User Content to third parties, including other users, for use on other media or platforms known or hereafter developed. You continue to retain your ownership rights in your User Content, and you continue to have any right to use your User Content in any way you choose, subject to these Terms and the licence described herein.The foregoing licences shall survive any termination of your use of the Services. For all User Content you share through the Services, you represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary for you to grant these licences, and that such User Content, and your provision or creation thereof through the Services, complies with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations and does not infringe or otherwise violate the copyright, trade mark, trade secret, privacy or other intellectual property or other rights of any third party, and is furthermore free from cookies, pixels, and viruses and other malware. 14. Your Contributions - the termsAll of Your Contributions you send through the Services are submitted directly to the BBC Public Service, and as such, you can find the terms related to such User Content submissions here (see references to “Creations”).Please note that we do not solicit or encourage submissions of User Content containing suggestions relating to the Services, our business or our Affiliated Entities’ businesses. If you send us any ideas or suggestions, regardless of the topic, we and our Affiliated Entities may use them for any purpose whatsoever and will not have any obligations with respect to such User Content (including, but not limited to, confidentiality). You understand and acknowledge that we have both internal resources and other external resources which may have developed, or may in the future develop, ideas identical or similar to any ideas or suggestions or comments to suggestions you may submit. Any idea or suggestion you submit to us shall be subject to these Terms.15. Your Contributions - what you can't post or send us or BBC Public ServiceThere are certain rules of conduct regarding User Content that you post in comments on the Services or submit to us or to BBC Public Service. Don’t send, post, share, or otherwise make available on our Services anything that:a. Was made by someone else, or that copies someone else's creationb. Is illegal or defamatory (damaging to someone else’s reputation)c. Is inappropriate (offensive, off-topic, disruptive, advocates violence, or spreads false information)d. Contains personal detailse. Contains spamf. Puts children or others at riskg. Infringes anyone’s rights (that includes privacy rights and intellectual property rights)h. You’ve made as part of your job or for your businessi. Promotes a businessj. Identifies someone (unless you have their consent or, if they’re under 18, the consent of their parent or guardian)k. Disrespects the rules or orders of a court (in contempt of court)l. Contains links to content that can't be seen easily, may be unsafe (viruses, worms, spyware and Trojans) or automatically launches lots of windowsm. Doesn’t comply with these Terms.You acknowledge and agree that we and our Affiliated Entities reserve the right (but have no obligation) to do one or all of the following, at our sole discretion: (i) evaluate User Content before allowing it to be uploaded on the Services; (ii) monitor User Content; (iii) alter, remove, reject, or refuse to post or allow to be posted, without notice to you, any User Content, for any reason or for no reason whatsoever; provided, however, that we shall have no obligation or liability to you for failure to do so or for doing so in any particular manner; and/or (iv) disclose any User Content, and the circumstances surrounding their transmission, to any third party in order to operate the Services, to protect ourselves, the Affiliated Entities, and our or their respective employees, officers, directors, shareholders, agents, and representatives, and the Services’ users and visitors, to comply with legal obligations or governmental requests, to enforce these Terms, or for any other reason or purpose.These Terms do not apply to waive your right to make statements regarding BBC.com or its employees or agents, or concerning any of BBC.com’s Content and Services.16. Your BBC Accounta. Registering for an accountYou need an account to use some of our Services, like saving and bookmarking Content, newsletters, and subscriptions.b. Get your BBC accountGet your BBC account here.To keep your account safe, don’t:Tell anyone your username or passwordGive us false informationTry to log in as someone elseTry to bypass our security measuresCreate more than one accountCreate an account for someone elseAnd be sure to keep your details up-to-date.By creating a BBC account, you represent that all information that you provide during registration and in connection with your account is current, complete and accurate and you agree to maintain and promptly update your account information in your BBC account so that it remains current, complete, and accurate. You are responsible for all usage or activity on your BBC account. If you believe someone else has used your BBC account, please contact us.c. Changing settings and deleting your accountFind out how to modify or delete your account on your “My Account” homepage.17. WARRANTIES AND DISCLAIMER OUR SERVICES AND THE CONTENT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ON AN "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATION OR ENDORSEMENT OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS AND OTHER TERMS OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN CONNECTION WITH OUR SERVICES AND YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, AS TO SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, COMPATIBILITY, SECURITY AND ACCURACY).WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN ANY CONTENT ON OUR SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED OR THAT OUR SERVICES OR THE SERVERS THAT MAKES THEM AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR BUGS.IT IS POSSIBLE THAT APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW FOR LIMITATIONS ON CERTAIN IMPLIED WARRANTIES; TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH LAW APPLIES TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.18. LIMITATION OF LIABILITYA. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE ACCEPT NO LIABILITY IN RESPECT OF ANY USER CONTENT. YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.B. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL WE, THE AFFILIATED ENTITIES AND THIRD PARTIES CONNECTED TO US BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR EXEMPLARY LOSS OR DAMAGE (WHETHER SUCH LOSSES WERE FORESEEN, FORESEEABLE, KNOWN OR OTHERWISE) ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF OUR SERVICES OR CONTENT OR INABILITY TO USE OUR SERVICES OR ACCESS OUR CONTENT, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION: (I) INJURY AND/OR DAMAGE TO PERSONS OR PROPERTY AS A RESULT OF ANY STATEMENT, INCLUDING ANY ACTUAL OR ALLEGED DEFAMATORY STATEMENT; (II) LOSSES SUFFERED BY ANY THIRD PARTY, INCLUDING INFRINGEMENT OF ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OR PRIVACY RIGHTS; (III) LOSS OF DATA; (IV) LOSS OF REVENUE OR ANTICIPATED PROFITS; (V) LOSS OF BUSINESS OR CONTRACTS; (VI) LOSS OF OPPORTUNITY; (VII) LOSS OF ANTICIPATED SAVINGS; (VIII) WASTED MANAGEMENT OR OFFICE TIME; OR (IX) LOSS OF GOODWILL OR INJURY TO REPUTATION.C. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAWS OR REGULATIONS.D. WE SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY BREACH OF THESE TERMS CAUSED BY CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL.19. Mobile AppsYou may download certain BBC apps, including “BBC: World News & Stories”, either from the Services or from third party app stores or shops (each, an “App”). The following additional terms and conditions are applicable with respect to your use of a third party platform to access and download an App, such as Apple, Inc., Google, Inc., or any other similar third party “app store” or platform (each a “Provider”):a. You acknowledge and agree that (i) these Terms are binding between you and BBC.com only, and the Providers are not a party to these Terms, and (ii) as between BBC.com and such Provider, it is BBC.com that is responsible for the App and the content thereof. Your use of the App must comply with the terms of use applicable to the Provider source from which you obtain it. You acknowledge that the Provider has no obligation to furnish you with any maintenance and support services with respect to the App. The App is licensed to you only on a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicense basis solely to be used for your private, personal, non-commercial use on a device that you own or control. b. You acknowledge that the Provider is not responsible for addressing any claims you have or any claims of any third party relating to the App or your possession and use of the App, including, but not limited to: (i) product warranty or liability claims; (ii) any claim that the App fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement; (iii) claims arising under consumer protection or similar legislation; or (iv) claims that the App infringes a third party’s intellectual property rights, such that you will not hold such Provider responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement and discharge of any such intellectual property infringement claims.c. You acknowledge and agree that, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Provider will have no warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the App. The Providers and their subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms. Upon your acceptance of the Terms, such Providers and their subsidiaries will have the right to enforce the Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary thereof. There are no other third-party beneficiaries of the Terms.d. You represent and warrant that you are not located in a country subject to a government embargo, or that has been designated by a government as a “terrorist supporting” country, and that you are not listed on any government list of prohibited or restricted parties.e. BBC.com may, at its discretion, automatically upload App updates to your device. You agree to accept these App updates, and to pay for any costs associated with receiving them. You must comply with all domestic and international export laws and regulations that apply to the Services and App updates. These laws include restrictions on destinations, end users, and end use.20. Chatbot FeaturesYou are prohibited from submitting personal information to a chat feature available on the Services. You also agree not to ask a chat feature any questions that include any personal or sensitive information. Records of chat sessions, including the date and time of your chat session, may be collected and shared with our Affiliated Entities and vendors and otherwise used in accordance with our Privacy Policy.21. Final stuffA quick recap and a few extra legal bits:a. If you use a Service on behalf of a business, that business agrees to these terms. So your business has to stick to these Terms if you use a Service:substantially to do your job – as an employee, contractor or consultantfor commercial purposes – to make a profit orfor educational, non-profit, charitable or government uses.b. As we said earlier, read these Terms before using our Services. When you use our Services and Content, you’re agreeing to:These TermsAny other terms we’ve let you know about.And those things replace all previous agreements between you and us about using our Services or Content.c. This is a contract between you and us. Except as otherwise expressly set forth herein with respect to Providers, no one else has any rights to enforce its terms. Both you and BBC.com acknowledge and agree that no partnership, joint venture or agency is formed hereunder. If any provision of these Terms shall be unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severed from these Terms and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.d. Order of Precedence. If there is any conflict between these Terms and any specific terms appearing elsewhere on our Services relating to specific access (including any or subscription terms), then the specific terms will prevail.e. . Except with respect to users in the United States, English law governs these Terms, and only English courts can make judgments about them. Except with respect to users in the United States, any disputes arising from or related to our Services shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.f. Our Services and Content are made available to you by BBC Studios Distribution Limited, company number 01420028, 1 Television Centre, 101 Wood Lane, London, United Kingdom, W12 7FAC and our Affiliated Entities.22. Additional Terms for Users in the United StatesThe following terms shall only apply to you if you are accessing the Services from the United States.a. Digital Millenium Copyright Act and Copyright AgentWe respect the rights of copyright holders, and because of that, we have a policy that facilitates the termination in appropriate circumstances of users and account holders who infringe the rights of US copyright holders. If you are a US copyright owner or an agent of a US copyright owner and believe that any Content infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(3), the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) by providing our designated copyright agent with the following information in writing:(i) identification of the copyrighted work or works claimed to have been infringed;(ii) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;(iii) your contact information including your name, an address, telephone number, and, if available, an email address;(iv) a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the owner of the work, its agent, or the law;(v) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed; and(vi) a physical or electronic signature of a person authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;BBC’s designated copyright agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement is:Brand Protection Team, BBC Studios1 Television Centre101 Wood LaneLondon W12 7FA UKEmail: copyright@bbc.comPhone: +44 0208 433 2000Only DMCA notices should go to the designated copyright agent. You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements of this Section, your DMCA notice may not be valid.When we receive an infringement notice with all the required information and are able to locate the allegedly infringing material, we will remove or disable access to the subject material. We also will take reasonable steps to promptly notify the person who posted the subject material. We will give them the opportunity to send a counter-notification. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Services for someone determined to be a repeat infringer of these Terms.b. Governing law & jurisdiction (for US users)If you have accessed the Services from the US, these Terms are governed by the laws of the United States of America and the laws of the State of New York. 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[SOURCE: https://www.fast.ai/posts/2020-04-13-masks-summary.html] | [TOKENS: 2275] |
Masks for all? The science says yes. Professor Trisha Greenhalgh OBE and Jeremy Howard April 13, 2020 On this page Update: Jeremy has now written an article about masks in The Conversation lengthy FAQ. Trisha and Jeremy are two of over hundred of the world’s top academics who released an open letter to all U.S. governors asking that “officials require cloth masks to be worn in all public places, such as stores, transportation systems, and public buildings.” Confused about mask wearing? Sure, it’s complicated. But not as complicated as some people imply. We’ve been looking at the science (see our papers Face Masks Against COVID-19: An Evidence Review — with 104 references! — and Masks for the public: laying straw men to rest). Here’s a summary of the different streams of evidence, and our take on what it all means. Translations We’d love your help translating this article! Please at-mention @jeremyphoward on Twitter with your translation, and I’ll retweet it and add it here. The epidemiology of disease spread You’ve probably seen the videos of closely-packed dominos and mousetraps, where a single item fires off a huge cascade. The closer the dominos (or mousetraps), the more chaos gets generated. Every infectious disease has a transmission rate (R0). A disease with an R0 of 1.0 means that every infected person, on average, infects one other person. A disease whose R0 is less than 1.0 will die out. The strain of flu that caused the 1918 pandemic had an R0 of 1.8. The R0 of the virus which causes COVID-19 was estimated at 2.4 by Imperial College researchers, although some research suggests it could be as high as 5.7. This means that without containment measures, COVID-19 will spread far and fast. Importantly, COVID-19 patients are most infectious in the early days of the disease (To et al. 2020; Zou et al. 2020; Bai et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2020; Doremalen et al. 2020; Wei 2020), during which they generally have few or no symptoms. The physics of droplets and aerosols When you speak, tiny micro droplets are ejected from your mouth. If you’re infectious, these contain virus particles. Only the very largest droplets end up surviving more than 0.1 s before drying out and turning into droplet nuclei (Wells 1934; Duguid 1946; Morawska et al. 2009) that are 3-5 times smaller than the original droplet itself, but still contain some virus. That means that it’s much easier to block droplets just as they come out of your mouth, when they’re much larger, compared to blocking them as they approach the face of a non-infected person who is on the receiving end of those droplets. But this isn’t what most researchers have been looking at… The material science of masks Debates about the effectiveness of masks often assume that the purpose of the mask is to protect the wearer, since this is what all doctors learn about in medical school. Cloth masks are relatively poor (though not entirely ineffective) at this. For 100% protection, the wearer needs a properly fitted medical respirator (such as an N95). But cloth masks, worn by an infected person are highly effective at protecting the people around them. This is known as “source control”. And it is source control that matters in the debate about whether the public should wear masks. If you have COVID-19 and cough on someone from 8 inches away, wearing a cotton mask will reduce the amount of virus you transmit to that person by over 90%, and is even more effective than a surgical mask. The researchers who did this experiment described the reduction as “ineffective”, partially based on an inappropriate analysis in which the patients where the cotton masks were perfectly effective were deleted. We disagree with their conclusion. It means you’ll transmit less than 1/10th of the amount of virus you would otherwise have done, decreasing the viral load, which is likely to lead to a lower probability of infection, and fewer symptoms if infected. The mathematics of transmission Mathematical modeling by our team, supported by other research (Yan et al. 2019), suggests that if most people wear a mask in public, the transmission rate (“effective R”) can go beneath 1.0, entirely stopping the spread of the disease. The mask doesn’t have to block every single viral particle, but the more particles it blocks, the lower the effective R. Just how effective mask-wearing is depends on three things illustrated in the diagram: how well the mask blocks the virus (‘efficacy’: horizontal axis), what proportion of the public wear masks (‘adherence’: vertical axis), and the transmission rate of the disease (R0: the black lines on the graph). The blue area of the graph indicates an R0 below 1.0, which is what we need to achieve to wipe out the disease. If the mask blocks 100% of particles (the far right of the graph), even low adherence rates will lead to containment of the disease. Even if masks block a much lower proportion of viral particles, the disease could still be contained – but only if most or all people wear masks. The political science of mask-wearing How do you get all or most people to wear masks? Well, you can educate them and try to persuade them, but a more effective approach is to require them to wear a mask, either in specific settings such as public transportation or grocery stores or even at all times outside the home. Research on vaccination (Bradford and Mandich 2015) shows that jurisdictions which set a higher bar for vaccine exemptions have higher vaccination rates. The same approach is now being used to increase mask wearing compliance, and early results (Leffler et al. 2020) suggest that these laws are effective at increasing compliance and slowing or stopping the spread of COVID-19. Mask-wearing experiments: artificial and natural An artificial experiment is when a researcher allocates people (usually at random – hence the term ‘randomized controlled trial’ or RCT) to either wearing a mask or not wearing a mask (the control group). There have been no RCTs of mask-wearing by members of the public in COVID-19. RCTs of mask-wearing to prevent other diseases (such as influenza or tuberculosis) have tended to show a small effect which in many studies was not statistically significant. In most such studies, people assigned to the mask-wearing group didn’t always wear their masks. A natural experiment is when we study something that is really happening – for example when a country introduces a policy of wearing masks. South Korea, for example, had rapid community spread that tracked the trajectory in Italy in the initial weeks. Then, in late February 2020, the government provided a regular supply of masks to every citizen. From that point, everything changed. As Italy’s death count accelerated to horrific levels, South Korea’s actually started decreasing. Here’s South Korea’s number of reported cases (red), and Italy’s (blue); take a close look at what happened in early March, as the impact of the mask distribution kicked in (this South Korean analysis is thanks to Hyokon Zhiang and visualization by Reshama Shaikh: Natural experiments are scientifically imperfect, because there is no direct control group so we can’t be sure that any change is due to the masks. In some countries that introduced mask-wearing, other measures such as strict social distancing, school closures, and cancellation of public events happened at around the same time. Even in these cases, we can find relevant comparisons. For instance, European neighbors Austria and Czechia introduced social distancing requirements on the same date, but Czechia also introduced mandatory mask wearing. The Austrian case rate continued its upward trajectory, whilst Czechia’s flattened out. It wasn’t until Austria also introduced mask laws weeks later that the two counties returned to similar trajectories. Importantly, in every country and every time period where mask usage has been encouraged through laws, or where masks were provided to citizens, case and death rates have fallen. The behavioral science of mask wearing Some have claimed that making (or strongly encouraging) people to wear masks will encourage risky behavior (Brosseau et al. 2020) (for example, going out more, washing hands less), with a net negative result, and this effect was seen in some experimental trials of masks. Similar arguments have previously been made for HIV prevention strategies (Cassell et al. 2006; Rojas Castro, Delabre, and Molina 2019) and motorcycle helmet laws (Ouellet 2011). However, real-world research on these topics found that even though some individuals responded with risky behavior, at a population level there was an overall improvement in safety and well-being (Peng et al. 2017; Houston and Richardson 2007). The economics of mask-wearing Economic analyses consider how much it costs to provide masks with how much value (both financial and non-financial) might be created – and, potentially, lost – if they are provided. Such economic studies (Abaluck et al. 2020) indicate that each mask worn by one person (which costs almost nothing) could generate economic benefits of thousands of dollars and save many lives. The anthropology of mask-wearing Mask-wearing by the public has been normalized in many Asian countries, partly for individual reasons (to protect against pollution) and partly for collective ones (as a result of recent MERS and SARS epidemics). My mask protects you; yours protects me. However, in most of these countries the norm has been to only wear a mask if you have symptoms; it’s only in recent weeks, as awareness of asymptomatic spread has become better understood, that mask wearing regardless of symptoms has become common. Conclusion Whilst not every piece of scientific evidence supports mask-wearing, most of it points in the same direction. Our assessment of this evidence leads us to a clear conclusion: keep your droplets to yourself – wear a mask. You can make one at home, from a t-shirt, handkerchief, or paper towel, or even just wrap a scarf or bandana around your face. Ideally, use tightly woven fabric that you can still breathe through. Researchers recommend including a layer of paper towel as a disposable filter; you can simply slide it between two layers of cloth. There is no evidence that your mask needs to be made with any particular expertise or care to be effective for source control. You can put a cloth mask in the laundry and reuse it, just like you re-use a t-shirt. If it turns out that you’re incubating COVID-19, the people you care about will be glad you wore a mask. Epilogue: Jeremy’s Illustration of Source Control Here’s a little illustration of source control from Jeremy! References |
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[SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/usingthebbc/cookies/how-can-i-change-my-bbc-cookie-settings/] | [TOKENS: 445] |
Accessibility links How can I change my BBC cookie settings? Cookie settings Some essential features on BBC sites just wonât work without cookies. And having other cookies switched off can seriously affect the way youâll be able to enjoy our services. Please check your cookie settings below and turn on any cookies youâre happy with. âStrictly necessaryâ cookies are on by default but can be turned off in your browser settings. Functional and Performance cookies can be turned on or off below and your preferences are automatically saved. You can learn more about cookies and what they do on our other pages. If you've chosen to block third-party cookies on your browser, your cookie preferences won't carry over from bbc.co.uk to bbc.com and vice versa. Please make sure to set your cookie preferences on this page at both bbc.com and bbc.co.uk. Strictly Necessary Cookies These cookies are essential so that you can move around the website and use its features. Without these cookies services you have asked for cannot be provided. See list of strictly necessary cookies You cannot disable strictly necessary cookies. They are essential for the site to work. Functional Cookies These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make to give you better functionality and personal features. See list of functional cookies Performance Cookies Performance cookies help us to improve the performance of the BBC Online. See list of performance cookies Advertising Cookies for Users Outside the UK You have been detected as being outside the UK. BBC Online outside the UK features advertising, including commercial content recommendations, sponsored content and promotional messages. We use the income from advertising to help fund BBC services, including making BBC Online available outside the UK. Find out more about personalised advertising cookies. Change your settings for personalised advertising Please note, the above link will only work if you are viewing the international version of this page from outside the UK. If you are outside the UK and it does not work, please ensure you are viewing the correct page. The page will automatically reload. You may need to reload again if the build takes longer than expected. Hides preview environment warning banner on preview pages. Select a theme and theme mode and click "Load theme" to load in your theme combination. Explore the BBC |
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[SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/usingthebbc/cookies/] | [TOKENS: 102] |
Accessibility links Take control of your cookies Cookies help us remember you and show you more things we think youâll like. Have a browse to see what we use them for and how you can change your settings to suit you. About Cookies Cookie Settings The page will automatically reload. You may need to reload again if the build takes longer than expected. Hides preview environment warning banner on preview pages. Select a theme and theme mode and click "Load theme" to load in your theme combination. Explore the BBC |
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