What makes me a Minecrafter? That is a loaded question. I can’t say “Minecraft saved me from depression”, or “I play Minecraft for two hours a day, every day.” Truth be told, I haven’t even played the game this year yet. So what actually makes me a Minecrafter?

I like to think about the essence of Minecraft. Deep down, what Minecraft is, is freedom. That is all that Minecraft stands for. That is the selling-point of the game. It is literally the most open sandbox game ever created. You are not forced to do anything, you have complete control over what you do. You have no goals, no missions, nothing. All you are given is a blank world, which is completely yours. A blank slate, if you will.

That is where I come in. I am a writer by choice, but an artist by trade. I dislike rules in any of the art forms I am involved in, mainly in music and writing. I’ve always viewed art as one of the most free experiences anyone can ever take part in. I view rules, especially in art, as unneeded. I’m told “in order to be an effective poet, you have to use iambic pentameter”, or “in order to be an effective musician, you must know the scales and chords.” Believe it or not, I play about five instruments from teaching myself. I write poetry without meter or foot. It's not because I'm just a young headstrong kid who doesn't need rules, it's because each one of those rules was made to be broken. To color outside the lines, if you will. That being said, I do follow some rules. I use chords to play guitar, my poetry rhymes. Even though I color outside the lines, I still stay on the paper. The effective artist should know the rules that they feel comfortable with breaking, and the ones that keep them safe from failing.

Now, at this point you might be wondering what the heck I’m even talking about. How do you even reconcile me not using iambic pentameter to Minecraft? It's simple. Minecraft did the whole rebellion thing even before I did. A nonlinear open-world sandbox game, flying in the face of almost every popular game of the time, Minecraft was different in the amount of freedom it gave the player. But in all of its freedom, it remains a video game. Hopefully you’re noticing some similarities here.

For all of our flaws, Minecraft and I are incredibly similar. Even though we both color outside the lines, we stay on the paper. We are outlandish in most things, but remain in control in others. We show our freedom in our trades by staying unpredictable. My connection to the game is not cemented in stone by playing it. It is, instead, tied to our similarities. I am a Minecrafter because I believe in the same things that made Minecraft so popular.

So, to answer the question “What Makes Me a Minecrafter”? It isn’t that I’ve done some amazing things on the game, or become super good at playing. It isn’t even that I play the game anymore. I am a Minecrafter because I channel the same things that Minecraft values. Freedom from rules, from the norms, from being forced into coloring in the lines. I am a Minecrafter because I color outside the lines, just like Minecraft did before me.

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