I will preface this blog/rant - my first and likely my last - by saying that the blame lies on nobody in particular, and especially not the moderators who are hard at work trying to reign in a large - and ever-expanding - community. Though moderators could, in an ideal world, go through each texture pack prior to its being uploaded, I am a realist and realize that this is inconvenient. Are we all examining this issue from the same angle yet? No? Move a little to the left - okay, perfect. We may now begin.

"Nobody in particular," the group I have absolved from blame, excludes the group of people towards whom this rant is targeted, and who will herein be referred to as a hypothetical character by the name of "N00b."

Now, N00b is new to PMC. Heck, s/he is new to the internet, and to computers, and maybe even to life. Fresh from the womb - or rather, good as fresh - N00b has just figured out how to unzip the default minecraft texture. "oh goody!" thinks N00b. "ill have a textr pak dun in a snap, n evry1 will luv it cuz itll be amazin!!" N00b opens up some of the folders and realizes just how much stuff there is to texture; the blocks, the mobs, the sun, the particles..! "ohno, i dun wanna do all dat wrk!" cries N00b. "but i wanna be luved n i want xp n lvls!! wat do i do?"

Here, "N00b" will split into two characters (actually, three - but the third N00b rises out of their newbie-hood by actually going and learning how to make textures, uploading a well-put-together pack that makes the pop reel and not ticking anyone off in the slightest - so they are of no interest to this story, and we will instead focus mostly on the antics of N00b1 and N00b2.)

N00b1, blinded by his/her vain lust for recognition, then may then do one of several things: s/he can scribble randomly on a few blocks; s/he can apply a "sharpen" or "noise-reducing" filter on everything; s/he can fiddle with the hue sliders; s/he can turn certain mobs (i.e. creepers) invisible; s/he can drag the saturation down or make everything sepia; s/he can texture one block, get bored, and leave the rest default; and take any one of countless routes, all of which lead to the capital city smack in the middle of the country of Mediocrity. Exorbitant at the completion of "my 1st textr pak"/"Simplecraft II"/"Sillycraft"/"Antiquecraft"/"N00b's Texture Pack"/"download it plz thnx!!!", N00b proceeds to upload the pack (usually, but not always, with an unrelated picture as preface.)

Meanwhile, N00b2 has been hard at work - not creating their own pack, but finding someone else's pack. Their target must have actual aesthetic appeal, but not have become so famous as to be instantly recognizable (though N00b2 may have a negative IQ and - I kid you not I just saw this happen - upload a pack such as Jolicraft and claim it to be their own.) Finding a suitable pack, N00b2 downloads it, changes the name if they are feeling particularly cunning that day, and re-uploads it - voilà , instant fame! Who cares about abstract concepts such as "copyright" and "property of an idea," N00b2 is now excited because they hit one hundred downloads!

We will now shift our attention to the "Latest" page of the texture pack browsing section of PMC. What has happened here, you may ask, while N00b1 was innocently experimenting with their first-ever texture pack and N00b2 was stealing someone's work? Well, you see, the issue is that I was not talking about two users named "N00b1" and "N00b2," but rather an entire, very vocal population in PMC. This results in the first "Latest" page having - at the very moment of the inception of this rant - 2 re-uploaded default packs, 2 blatantly stolen packs (the aforementioned Jolicraft and someone who actually admits he doesn't own the pack), 4 re-coloured default packs, 2 packs with no screen-shots or relevant description, and 1 pack which I will withhold judgement from because, though it might be a legitimate pack, the lack of screen-shots and description makes me suspicious that the person might be N00b2 in a slightly better disguise. (EDIT: It was a painterly pack, I was right.) That's it. Zero to one legitimate packs on the page, and I would make similar breakdowns of subsequent pages, but I'm already quite depressed so I shan't.

So I propose a toast - to all the N00b1s who, when prodded, say "omg, chilllll, this is just my experiment pack i uploaded it so ppl cud seeee"; to all the N00b2s who say that the pack took a long time to make, jabbing a metaphorical finger into the eye of the true artist's work; to all the N00b3s, who slave away at their pack only to have it buried in the slush puddle that are the conglomerated uploaded Texture Packs of the laziest of their peers.

"This is what we have become," I would cry, if this toast ever reached ears beyond my own. "Because of laziness and incompetence, here we are. Drink to your demise."