Minecraft - a new generation discovers the Forever Game

Every time my daughter tells me about Minecraft's 1.19 update, she describes it in completely different terms. Thrilled: "One thing 1.19 introduced is these little animals, Allays, and if you give them an item they'll go and find more of them!" Frantic: "There's a new new boss called the Warden and it's the very first blind Minecraft mob. It can't see you. It only does stuff by hearing so that's why you always want to bring a sack of wool when you're trying to find one." Strangely frank: "I think a lot of people think Minecraft swamps are boring. 1.19 tries to change that."

My Minecraft expert is nine years old, and she's an expert in Minecraft in the way that only a nine-year-old can be an expert in a game. Minecraft is a ready metaphor for everything in her life, but she's also deeply engaged in the minutiae of it. She has no fear of its depths and complexities. I went through a period of thinking it was sort of sad that she didn't draw in the evenings as much any more or play with her doll's house, but now I realise: she still does this stuff. She just sometimes does it in Minecraft, and it's all evolved and started to flow together: drawing, playing, landscape and imagination.

Let's go back a bit. Like a lot of kids, ours has three or four games that come in and out of favour as the weeks pass. Minecraft, though, is the game that all the others orbit - it's always in the number one spot. In many ways it's the game she measures all other games by.

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