A Walk to the End of the World: One Man’s Trek to “The Far Lands” of Minecraft

January 29, 2014

Minecraft is an immensely popular game where players use rudimentary blocks to create custom (and sometimes incredibly elaborate) worlds. The game is procedurally generated, with the environment an ever-changing one so that no two games are alike.

Markus Persson, the game’s creator, planned for these worlds to be infinitely large: if a player kept walking in a single direction, the game would create more of the world in front of him, like an engineer forever laying track for an advancing train.

But if one were to attempt to walk across the world, issues would arise the further one got from his or her original “spawn” point. Persson acknowledged that at extreme distances… the world will begin to break down.

Kurt J. Mac set out to travel to the end of the world, and has been documenting his travels online. For over three years now, he’s been recording and sharing his journey, with a small end in sight (albeit some 22 years away).

It’s a pretty fascinating concept, made even more compelling by the fact that Mac has been able to quit his day job to continue this project full-time. You can catch up on his travels at Far Lands or Bust!

compelling read repetition and variation video game

« Privacy and MagicBands: Disney and the Meat Space Data Race

Giant, Empty Billboards in Logan Square Empty (Again?) »