Video Games as Art Part 4: Minecraft

Okay, I promise, this is the last one. I only do so many posts about video games as art because I feel that right now it's a fairly large topic.

So, the game in choice this time is Minecraft. If you remember two posts ago I talked about a game that was created by a guy named Notch (Drop) and how he got famous from Minecraft. Well, it just so turns out that the game he got famous for also happens to have sparked a lot of artistic meaning.

The basis of the game is simple: you're some nondescript character that can go around "mining" blocks. The whole world is made up or big clunky looking blocks. The trees are blocks, the ground is made of blocks, and even the water is made of blocks. Using these blocks, you can create things like houses, weapons, beds, windows, whatever you want really. It was this freedom that caused the players to become so artistic in their creations. Below, I'll show a few pictures and discuss them:

This is a good beginning image to show just how large most of these pieces are in comparison to the actual player. Additionally, you can see how much time must go in to making these, as finding these blocks and placing them just so takes hours.

Here, we can see someone has recreated "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski. Since you're dealing with blocks, this is essentially pixel art.

Another impressive piece here in which the user has decided to re-create the Mona Lisa.

Finally, the artistic limitation is not only limited to specific images. Many players have also used Minecraft to recreate locations or buildings from the real world. Here is an example of someone who has used Minecraft to recreate the Roman Colosseum.