Minecraft and the Lost Art of Analytics

Observations on what the game used to teach us

When Aristotle first wrote about the discipline of analytics, he divided it into two distinct processes. The first, analysis, is still widely lauded today and has become the domain of deep statistics and technology. Most of the emphasis of this field is focused here. The second, synthesis, has been widely overlooked. Analyst are rarely asked to build anything more complicated than a powerpoint presentation and when they are it typically takes the format of a statistical scorecard (optimistically called a model by some).

When Minecraft first arrived on the scene, it was a game of both analysis and synthesis. It was a quaint time — before ‘creative-mode’ and ‘minecraft wikis’. In those early months and years, it included experimentation. The only way to know what you could find and what you could build was to simply explore and try different things. Oddly, for a world composed entirely of squares, it lacked structure and it was up to the player to create it.

Early minecraft required players to synthesize strategies and processes. There was experimentation, resource management, and prioritization. Before the ‘peaceful’ setting there were plenty of risks and dangers. Game play began with survival and exploration then progressed to resource collection and experimentation before moving on to pure building.

The game even included levels of segmentation in inventory management. Nine items were available for easy access. Five items could be worn and another 27 carried. So first you had to find it, but then you had to make trade-offs in what you were willing to carry and keep. There were strong trade-offs between materials for building, weapons and armor for protection, and food for… not starving to death.

Constraints could be analyzed but they also could be overcome through creating structures. Artifacts like crafting tables, furnaces, and cauldrons allow you to transform materials into formats that were both more usable but also more transportable. Creations like chests and house provided locations where material could be stored or archived for later collection.

Houses and bases also gave the player locations where they could experiment or optimize their use of daylight (by sleeping… if they learned how to make a bed). Eventually they would create farms, mines, and raise livestock. Each required numerous steps that built toward these outcomes.

In the end, analytics and minecraft went in divergent directions. Analytics has forgotten the process of synthesis — more concerned with data mining and statistical scorecards. Minecraft forgot that analysis and experimentation was part of the fun, selling out to storytelling, MMO’s, and giant sandboxes (aka creative mode).

In fairness, social games are all the rage. The original game did lack a bit in terms of storytelling. And, creative mode is a bit like having an infinite number of legos without the need to ever clean them up or search through the pile for that final grey curved piece. But the early game was a great model for aspiring analysts, it was great to watch my kids work through the challenges. It was fun to learn about their discoveries. It was also a better game than solitaire when I had a little time to kill myself. Today, like Aristotle’s Synthesis, that part of the game seems lost and overshadowed.

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