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With all the awesome and complex builds being posted on Planet Minecraft, how can you make your own masterpiece? You could do it all by yourself, but that would likely require way too much time. And, to be honest, what's the point of being part of a community of amazing builders if you only work by yourself? Working with others can increase creativity and decrease the time needed to finish building.
However, we've all been part of a team that was less than "functional" for any of a number of reasons: no consensus on what to actually build, no clear leadership, bad communication, individual egos getting in the way of the greater good of the project, etc. So, even though working with teams while building in Minecraftcanbe great, how can you ensure that your team won't spiral down into the dysfunctional abyss?
That's what some friends and I set out to uncover - what the most important characteristics of a team of Minecraft builders is. We surveyed more than 140 Minecraft builders and team members and have analyzed the results. Some of the results were predictable, others took us by surprise. In any case, we hope that our findings can help guide current and future teams of Minecraft builders.
Here I'll present some of the key findings that we took from the survey. If you have a specific question, please submit it in the comments section below.
Key Finding #1: Team Size Matters
It turns out that when people think of the most successful team they've ever been on, they tend to fall into one of two camps as to how many members that team had. The first school of thought, which coincides with traditional academic team size know-how, says the team should have between 3-6 people total.
The surprise was the second school of thought. A large number of Minecraft players said the best teams they had ever worked with had30 or moreteam members. Honestly, weo re not sure yet exactly why this interesting difference in opinions seems to exist, but weo re very curious to find out. If you have any insights as to why this may be or explanations of why one size of team or another is better, weo d love to hear them (use the comments section below).
Key Finding #2: Just Be a Good Person
This may or may not be surprising to some people, but when forming a team, the kind of person you are really matters to the people putting the team together. Being trustworthy, friendly, reliable, not a control freak, and able to take constructive criticism were some of the most mentioned o othero characteristics listed by those who took the survey.
Of the multiple choice options listed for survey takers to choose from, o Good Communicatoro was the most desirable trait of a potential teammate. Interestingly, some of the characteristics that were least often selected as important in a potential teammate were: that the teammate be funny, a good leader, or have lots of experience in Minecraft.
Key Finding #3: Start With an Outline
Roughly two-thirds of all survey takers agreed that one key to having a successful build when working with a team is to first build an outline of the desired structure. About one-third of survey takers thought just one person should be assigned to do the outlining before others jumped in.
Key Finding #4: Minecraft Needs Integrated Voice-Chat
Nearly everyone who took the survey agreed that if in-game voice-chat were added they would use it. Compare that to the paltry 10 percent who said they would use video-chat if it were integrated into the game. We dono t know for sure, but we think the popularity of an integrated voice-chat option may stem from the fact that players could communicate quickly without having to take their hands away from the task(s) they are involved with (mining/fighting/building) to communicate. One result that surprised us was that, when asked to rate how effective different methods of team-communication were, voice-chat was rated, on average, even more effective than having the whole team in the same room!
Key Finding #5: Practice (and watching others practice) Makes Perfect
The two most effective ways to become a better builder, according to those who took the survey, are to watch videos of others building, and to simply practice building on your own. Each method receivedalmost the same number of votes. Reading about building received the fewest number of votes, so stop reading this and start watching or building (after you leave your comments, of course)!
However, we've all been part of a team that was less than "functional" for any of a number of reasons: no consensus on what to actually build, no clear leadership, bad communication, individual egos getting in the way of the greater good of the project, etc. So, even though working with teams while building in Minecraftcanbe great, how can you ensure that your team won't spiral down into the dysfunctional abyss?
That's what some friends and I set out to uncover - what the most important characteristics of a team of Minecraft builders is. We surveyed more than 140 Minecraft builders and team members and have analyzed the results. Some of the results were predictable, others took us by surprise. In any case, we hope that our findings can help guide current and future teams of Minecraft builders.
Here I'll present some of the key findings that we took from the survey. If you have a specific question, please submit it in the comments section below.
Key Finding #1: Team Size Matters
It turns out that when people think of the most successful team they've ever been on, they tend to fall into one of two camps as to how many members that team had. The first school of thought, which coincides with traditional academic team size know-how, says the team should have between 3-6 people total.
The surprise was the second school of thought. A large number of Minecraft players said the best teams they had ever worked with had30 or moreteam members. Honestly, weo re not sure yet exactly why this interesting difference in opinions seems to exist, but weo re very curious to find out. If you have any insights as to why this may be or explanations of why one size of team or another is better, weo d love to hear them (use the comments section below).
Key Finding #2: Just Be a Good Person
This may or may not be surprising to some people, but when forming a team, the kind of person you are really matters to the people putting the team together. Being trustworthy, friendly, reliable, not a control freak, and able to take constructive criticism were some of the most mentioned o othero characteristics listed by those who took the survey.
Of the multiple choice options listed for survey takers to choose from, o Good Communicatoro was the most desirable trait of a potential teammate. Interestingly, some of the characteristics that were least often selected as important in a potential teammate were: that the teammate be funny, a good leader, or have lots of experience in Minecraft.
Key Finding #3: Start With an Outline
Roughly two-thirds of all survey takers agreed that one key to having a successful build when working with a team is to first build an outline of the desired structure. About one-third of survey takers thought just one person should be assigned to do the outlining before others jumped in.
Key Finding #4: Minecraft Needs Integrated Voice-Chat
Nearly everyone who took the survey agreed that if in-game voice-chat were added they would use it. Compare that to the paltry 10 percent who said they would use video-chat if it were integrated into the game. We dono t know for sure, but we think the popularity of an integrated voice-chat option may stem from the fact that players could communicate quickly without having to take their hands away from the task(s) they are involved with (mining/fighting/building) to communicate. One result that surprised us was that, when asked to rate how effective different methods of team-communication were, voice-chat was rated, on average, even more effective than having the whole team in the same room!
Key Finding #5: Practice (and watching others practice) Makes Perfect
The two most effective ways to become a better builder, according to those who took the survey, are to watch videos of others building, and to simply practice building on your own. Each method receivedalmost the same number of votes. Reading about building received the fewest number of votes, so stop reading this and start watching or building (after you leave your comments, of course)!
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