How Minecraft's music makes us Feel.
Ringo Wilson
[{'start': '1.120', 'end': '2.466', 'text': "it's 2013"}, {'start': '2.466', 'end': '4.298', 'text': "you've just gotten home from school"}, {'start': '4.400', 'end': '9.618', 'text': 'and are far too exhausted to do your homework so\xa0\ninstead you turn on your computer'}, {'start': '9.618', 'end': '15.440', 'text': 'you click the\xa0little block icon on the screen almost bouncing\xa0\nin your seat with excitement and as you boot it\xa0up'}, {'start': '15.440', 'end': '17.821', 'text': 'you hear the first notes of your favorite tune'}, {'start': '18.650', 'end': '20.811', 'text': 'you feel the feeling wash over you'}, {'start': '22.729', 'end': '29.770', 'text': "you can't quite\xa0\xa0discern what the feeling is you don't have the\xa0\nwords yet you're only 12 after all but that's okay"}, {'start': '30.274', 'end': '34.833', 'text': 'you load up the game spawn in a random taiga and\xa0\nset to work punching down the first tree'}, {'start': '35.369', 'end': '39.080', 'text': 'settling into the same peaceful rhythm as you always do'}, {'start': '39.324', 'end': '44.227', 'text': "you don't know yet that you're going to get carpal\xa0tunnel from just how much you play this game"}, {'start': '44.227', 'end': '47.920', 'text': 'you\xa0lose yourself in it, building a cute little house'}, {'start': '47.920', 'end': '53.506', 'text': "killing mobs for food and despite how many times\xa0\nthe game scares you you've never felt more alive"}, {'start': '57.999', 'end': '60.178', 'text': "i'm sure I don't really have to contextualize too\xa0\nmuch"}, {'start': '60.178', 'end': '62.469', 'text': 'given that Minecraft is the bestselling game\xa0 of all time'}, {'start': '62.469', 'end': '65.000', 'text': 'but I will anyway'}, {'start': '65.000', 'end': '66.980', 'text': 'created by\xa0Marcus "Notch" Persson, Minecraft emerged'}, {'start': '66.980', 'end': '71.474', 'text': 'on  May 17th 2009 as a humble public build'}, {'start': '71.474', 'end': '74.383', 'text': 'what\xa0began in obscurity rapidly captured players'}, {'start': '74.383', 'end': '78.630', 'text': "imaginations transforming Persson's side\xa0\nproject into his primary focus"}, {'start': '78.630', 'end': '80.175', 'text': 'as community interest soared'}, {'start': '80.175', 'end': '84.400', 'text': "the game's grassroots\xa0momentum culminated in its official 1.0"}, {'start': '84.400', 'end': '87.039', 'text': 'release on November 18th 2011'}, {'start': '87.039', 'end': '93.019', 'text': 'alongside\xa0Minecraft Volume Alpha, created by Daniel "C418"\xa0Rosenfeld'}, {'start': '93.019', 'end': '97.153', 'text': "unlike conventional game soundtracks\xa0C418's compositions"}, {'start': '97.153', 'end': '100.636', 'text': 'were designed with the\xa0intent to contrast the visual experience'}, {'start': '100.636', 'end': '104.000', 'text': 'his\xa0minimalist piano pieces and ambient acoustic\xa0soundscapes'}, {'start': '104.000', 'end': '108.665', 'text': "float through Minecraft's\xa0\nchaotic blocky landscape like a gentle fog"}, {'start': '114.160', 'end': '117.200', 'text': 'minecraft is capable of capturing something\xa0\nentirely unique'}, {'start': '117.200', 'end': '122.657', 'text': "in the past I've tried to call it many things: nostalgia, hiraeth, yearning, dreamy,"}, {'start': '122.657', 'end': '127.201', 'text': 'and plenty of other descriptors that are not nearly apt enough to describe the feeling'}, {'start': '127.201', 'end': '129.493', 'text': 'this track is\xa0simply titled Minecraft'}, {'start': '129.493', 'end': '133.124', 'text': "and it's one of the pieces of music that is most heavily associated with the\xa0game"}, {'start': '133.124', 'end': '137.277', 'text': 'the entire official soundtrack captures many differing shades of this feeling'}, {'start': '137.277', 'end': '141.688', 'text': 'they all cast\xa0the game in this liminality of sorts'}, {'start': '141.688', 'end': '144.806', 'text': 'it feels like a constant neverending journey'}, {'start': '144.806', 'end': '145.793', 'text': 'and it is'}, {'start': '145.793', 'end': '149.366', 'text': 'the\xa0world is procedurally generated it theoretically goes on forever'}, {'start': '149.366', 'end': '153.120', 'text': 'you can play the game for\xa0thousands of hours and nothing would repeat'}, {'start': '153.120', 'end': '155.932', 'text': "it's an endless sandbox, literally."}, {'start': '156.029', 'end': '158.333', 'text': 'sheer potential\xa0cast in voxels'}, {'start': '160.381', 'end': '163.725', 'text': 'this potentiality is what makes the game transcendent i think'}, {'start': '163.954', 'end': '166.664', 'text': 'it harbors a deeprooted\xa0nostalgia to be sure'}, {'start': '166.664', 'end': '171.181', 'text': 'but it also contains within it so many possibilities that they become almost\xa0overwhelming'}, {'start': '171.181', 'end': '174.372', 'text': 'a vastness that simultaneously comforts and challenges'}, {'start': '174.372', 'end': '176.399', 'text': 'familiar yet forever\xa0uncharted'}, {'start': '177.203', 'end': '180.161', 'text': 'what other game makes you feel so small yet so powerful?'}, {'start': '180.161', 'end': '183.383', 'text': 'you begin with nothing but\xa0your hands punching trees for wood'}, {'start': '183.383', 'end': '188.963', 'text': "and eventually you're building elaborate structures, automated\xa0\nfarms, complex redstone contraptions,"}, {'start': '188.963', 'end': '192.073', 'text': 'all while C418 soundtrack ebbs and flows around you'}, {'start': '192.073', 'end': '196.360', 'text': 'sometimes\xa0absent for long stretches making its return all the more poignant'}, {'start': '196.360', 'end': '209.093', 'text': '[Music]'}, {'start': '209.093', 'end': '211.843', 'text': "the music doesn't\xa0\nmanipulate you into feeling something"}, {'start': '211.843', 'end': '215.318', 'text': 'it creates space for you to feel whatever naturally emerges'}, {'start': '215.318', 'end': '219.097', 'text': 'sometimes melancholy sometimes hopeful sometimes just'}, {'start': '219.097', 'end': '220.111', 'text': 'there'}, {'start': '220.111', 'end': '223.492', 'text': 'like the world itself the music simply\xa0\nexists alongside you'}, {'start': '223.492', 'end': '227.275', 'text': "i've spent countless nights lost in these blocky landscapes"}, {'start': '227.275', 'end': '230.720', 'text': 'mining deep\xa0underground where the darkness feels tangible'}, {'start': '230.720', 'end': '234.040', 'text': 'only the soft glow of torches keeping the monsters\xa0\nat bay'}, {'start': '234.040', 'end': '236.040', 'text': 'building homes at top mountains'}, {'start': '236.160', 'end': '238.170', 'text': 'watching\xa0the square sun rise and set'}, {'start': '238.170', 'end': '242.250', 'text': 'sailing across\xa0vast oceans wondering what awaits on distant\xa0shores'}, {'start': '244.086', 'end': '249.120', 'text': 'the true magic of Minecraft lies in how\xa0\nit dissolves the barrier between game and player'}, {'start': '249.120', 'end': '250.936', 'text': 'there are objectives sure'}, {'start': '250.936', 'end': '252.727', 'text': 'defeat the Ender\xa0Dragon if you wish'}, {'start': '252.727', 'end': '255.479', 'text': "but they're secondary to the experience itself"}, {'start': '255.479', 'end': '257.390', 'text': 'the game never rushes you'}, {'start': '257.390', 'end': '258.590', 'text': 'it simply waits'}, {'start': '258.590', 'end': '259.175', 'text': 'patient'}, {'start': '259.175', 'end': '261.808', 'text': 'as you carve your own path through its world'}, {'start': '261.808', 'end': '266.148', 'text': 'and that world is somehow both\xa0abstract and incredibly real'}, {'start': '266.148', 'end': '268.674', 'text': 'the blocky aesthetic that initially seems simplistic'}, {'start': '268.674', 'end': '271.994', 'text': 'reveals itself\xa0to be the perfect canvas for imagination'}, {'start': '271.994', 'end': '274.844', 'text': "there's\xa0something almost primal about these environments"}, {'start': '274.844', 'end': '278.063', 'text': 'reduced to essential forms yet endlessly evocative'}, {'start': '279.182', 'end': '282.036', 'text': "perhaps that's why the music resonates so deeply"}, {'start': '282.036', 'end': '284.240', 'text': 'like the visuals it strips away complexity to'}, {'start': '284.240', 'end': '285.666', 'text': 'reveal something essential'}, {'start': '285.872', 'end': '288.241', 'text': 'piano notes hanging in\xa0the air like stars'}, {'start': '288.241', 'end': '291.257', 'text': 'ambience that feels like the breath of the world itself'}, {'start': '292.346', 'end': '295.000', 'text': "this isn't just a game\xa0it's a place"}, {'start': '295.000', 'end': '297.969', 'text': 'somewhere that exists between memory and dream'}, {'start': '297.969', 'end': '300.000', 'text': 'between the tangible and the imagined'}, {'start': '300.357', 'end': '304.776', 'text': 'a refuge of infinite possibility where the only true limitation is yourself'}, {'start': '305.394', 'end': '308.276', 'text': 'this is where the\xa0communion comes in'}, {'start': '308.910', 'end': '312.114', 'text': 'the way people have played Minecraft has evolved over time'}, {'start': '312.114', 'end': '316.109', 'text': 'but almost always\xa0it somehow involves sharing the experience with\xa0others'}, {'start': '316.109', 'end': '320.560', 'text': 'capturing the unique magic of it and\xa0\nholding your hands out to show your friends'}, {'start': '320.560', 'end': '324.960', 'text': 'just like you do when you capture a lightning bug\xa0\ntrying to share it without letting it escape just\xa0yet'}, {'start': '326.471', 'end': '330.508', 'text': 'my first experience with multiplayer\xa0\nis something I still remember to this day'}, {'start': '330.508', 'end': '337.120', 'text': 'playing on LAN servers with my friends while\xa0\navoiding school work building... whatever we wanted'}, {'start': '337.120', 'end': '340.138', 'text': 'creating a new world completely of our own design'}, {'start': '340.138', 'end': '342.382', 'text': 'i think about those servers a lot actually'}, {'start': '342.382', 'end': '343.272', 'text': 'those dead worlds that I can no longer reach'}, {'start': '343.272', 'end': '348.471', 'text': 'the\xa0empty eternity of potential energy that will never be made kinetic'}, {'start': '348.845', 'end': '349.645', 'text': 'It makes me sad'}, {'start': '350.000', 'end': '351.426', 'text': 'melancholy'}, {'start': '351.932', 'end': '354.838', 'text': 'a beautiful memory and a childhood I can never go back to'}, {'start': '355.290', 'end': '357.819', 'text': 'those servers stand frozen in time\xa0now'}, {'start': '357.819', 'end': '359.287', 'text': 'buildings half finished'}, {'start': '359.287', 'end': '362.438', 'text': 'chests filled with materials for projects never completed'}, {'start': '363.400', 'end': '365.948', 'text': 'sometimes\xa0I wonder if they still exist somewhere'}, {'start': '365.948', 'end': '368.463', 'text': "in a hard drive forgotten in someone's closet"}, {'start': '368.463', 'end': '370.650', 'text': 'or backed up\xa0on some distant server'}, {'start': '370.650', 'end': '372.195', 'text': 'digital ghosts of who we were'}, {'start': '373.738', 'end': '377.847', 'text': 'the beauty of Minecraft has always been\xa0this shared experience'}, {'start': '377.847', 'end': '382.752', 'text': 'the ability to point at something and say "I made this." \nOr "We built\xa0this together."'}, {'start': '383.581', 'end': '384.960', 'text': "Whether it's a simple dirt house"}, {'start': '384.960', 'end': '386.520', 'text': 'or an elaborate cathedral'}, {'start': '386.520', 'end': '390.926', 'text': 'each block placed is\xa0a tiny piece of yourself left in this virtual world'}, {'start': '394.365', 'end': '395.426', 'text': 'and the music'}, {'start': '395.426', 'end': '397.400', 'text': 'always the music'}, {'start': '397.400', 'end': '399.265', 'text': 'hanging\xa0in the background like mist'}, {'start': '399.265', 'end': '401.681', 'text': 'ties these memories together'}, {'start': '401.681', 'end': '405.600', 'text': 'the same haunting piano notes that\xa0\naccompanied our adventure the sparse melodies that'}, {'start': '405.600', 'end': '409.132', 'text': 'somehow captured both the vastness and intimacy of\xa0\ncreation'}, {'start': '409.555', 'end': '411.115', 'text': "i can't hear those familiar soundscapes"}, {'start': '411.115', 'end': '413.338', 'text': 'without the echo of a pickaxe in my hand'}, {'start': '413.338', 'end': '415.271', 'text': 'the\xa0shared laughter over voice chat'}, {'start': '415.271', 'end': '419.086', 'text': 'the collective gasp when someone discovers a cave system near our\xa0home'}, {'start': '419.671', 'end': '421.724', 'text': 'the soundtrack became a communal heartbeat'}, {'start': '421.724', 'end': '424.304', 'text': 'rising and falling with our triumphs and losses'}, {'start': '425.165', 'end': '428.394', 'text': 'even now years later when a random track plays on my playlist'}, {'start': '428.394', 'end': '429.864', 'text': 'time collapses'}, {'start': '430.000', 'end': '433.392', 'text': "suddenly I'm back in\xa0those blocky landscapes"}, {'start': '433.502', 'end': '437.360', 'text': 'watching the square sun\xa0set with friends across a pixelated horizon'}, {'start': '438.131', 'end': '439.821', 'text': 'our inventories full of possibilities'}, {'start': '439.821', 'end': '443.060', 'text': 'and\xa0our hearts synchronized to those gentle wistful\xa0tones'}, {'start': '443.499', 'end': '445.705', 'text': 'the music preserves what screenshots cannot'}, {'start': '446.257', 'end': '450.551', 'text': 'the feeling of being together in a world\xa0\nwe shaped with our collective imagination'}, {'start': '450.811', 'end': '454.719', 'text': "c418's compositions don't just accompany\xa0\nthat experience"}, {'start': '455.000', 'end': '456.599', 'text': 'they become inseparable from it'}, {'start': '456.778', 'end': '462.183', 'text': 'forever linked to those moments of\xa0\ncreation exploration and connection'}, {'start': '464.880', 'end': '475.280', 'text': '[Music]'}]