Minecraft has gotten so huge that even The New Yorker is covering a guy who is playing it. Kurt J. Mac has been traveling within the game off and on to find the fabled "Far Lands," a hypothetical point in the game where the coding simply can't generate more content.
Mac has been broadcasting his journey for the better part of that entire period, and has even turned his quest into dollar signs by raising money for charity.
Despite the odds against him of ever reaching his goal, he is still enjoying the trip and has even reported that the glitches are starting to appear.
"I've started to experience some of the effects of travelling so far from spawn. Items and entities are somewhat disjointed from the terrain around them, causing a jitter as I walk."
Could just be hallucinations at this point, but I'm hoping that Mac eventually reaches the "Far Lands," for his sake more so than ours. Three years is a long time to dedicate to such a product to not see results.
If there is anything to compare this to, it is the "kill screen" for classic arcade games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man. Old arcade games eventually reach a point where the decks simply can't produce any more levels and the game is over. They were never meant to be seen, but expert players have uncovered them, and only a handful of lucky people have witnessed them in person.
A Minecraft "kill screen" would put Kurt J. Mac in a very special place in gaming history.
Be sure to check out the TechnoBuffalo Minecraft server at Minecraft.TechnoBuffalo.com.
