Five years ago
Minecraft got an ending
and for five years
That ending has either been misinterpreted
or completely ignored
Today we change that
*Game Theory Intro Music*
Hello Internet
Welcome to game theory
And welcome to 2016
In years past I have tended to start years off with a blue period
Covering dark depressing or scary theory's
But this year. This year is gonna be different
It's 2016!
So lets start things off with a message of love
A message of hope
A message of Minecraft
Now if there is one thing youtube loves
It's this game
Just look at the success of Captain Sparkles
Or SkyDoesMinecraft
Or the recent explosion of channels like The Diamond Minecart
PopularMMOS and SSundee
It all points to one thing
That years after it's release minecraft is just as strong as ever
and the game continues to evolve
Over on GT Live i was fortunate enough to play around with one of it's newest features
A literal working phone built inside of the game
Ordering a real-life pizza through a phone built of torches and red stone
heh yeah and while we where at it we kidnapped the pizza girl.
Yhanks again Dallas
*whispering* We are going to hold her hostage its going to be amazing guys
Anyway what all of this shows is that minecraft is quite literally an endless game
Which is why when the full version of the game did come out
It was a bit odd that it had an ending
If felt strange
But it wasn't just putting an ending on the game that got people upset
It was how the game ended
In a nearly 10 minute long text scroll of 2 god like beings talking about dreams within dreams
Like they are analyzing inception
It's very cryptic, very poetic, and to most gamers very weird
We just got done surviving in a pixelated world
Block world with zombies
and exploding moss monsters
and our reward is
What
Reading? ugh
The only thing worse would have been to reward us with math
To most players it was it was a 10 minute break to reload on snacks
Before hopping into creative mode to build more towering monuments to the male genitalia
To others they interpenetrated it as the game telling gamers to get out of the house
and get a life
and to me
Well
It was an episode waiting to happen
Because the ending of minecraft has been tragically ignored.
Written off as philisophical garbage
When it is in fact a beautiful uplifting and thought provoking message to the legions of dedicated gamers
Who've taken the time to step into the blockie shoes
of Minecraft Steve
and it's long past time that we give these credits the Credit they deserve
First if you haven't read the ending to minecraft
or just need a refresher on it
I recommend doing that now
Though it's definitely not necessary to understand the episode
Regardless
BOOM!
Link in the Description
and i suppose i could read it here right now
But the thing IS 10 minutes
and my videos already pretty darn long already
Now let me start off by saying i can totally
Understand why everyones initial interpretation to this wall of text was basically
Get outside and get a life
The thing is just begging for a Too long Didn't read Summary
But in absence of that everyone latches on to key words
Things like the final words of the poem
Wake up
As well as phrases like the player was alive
you.
You
You Are Alive
Lines like this coupled with naturalistic imagery
Like shuffling leaves of the summer trees
and crisp night sky of winter
Seems to be the author telling us to wake up from the game
and experience the greater world around us
But then stop for a minute and consider this
Don't you think it would be a bit odd for the game to be telling the player to stop playing the game
Especially for a game that as we talked about earlier can be played endlessly
Seems like it would be bad business strategy right?
So let's take a look at the rest of the poem to get some context
The voices we hear throughout the ending
Speak a lot about two different dreams
The short dream of the game minecraft
and the long dream of life
It's actually explicitly stated right here
But what's it all mean
Well many gamers have theorized that calling the game a dream
is saying it's not worth their time
Hence the get a life interpretation
But notice here that the author calls life a dream too
It's the long dream of life
and this isn't just for literary effect
It's meant to be taken literally
Look at this line
Quote "They see so little of reality in their long dream" End Quote
this is the author explicitly telling us that there a layer of reality beyond what you or i think of
as out everyday lives
it would be like if Neo
and Morphious and everyone in Zion where still in the matrix
wait a min i had a theory about that exact thing
huh
Shameless cross promotion for the win
anyway
The world where we go to school
go to work
Sit in front of our computer to watch an episode of game theory
Over and over and over again
or just go outside to play with
uh
stick and a hoop
I don't know
Whatever you'd play outside with
That's all part of just another dream
Why does all of this confusing metaphysical mumbo jumbo matter?
Well if life as we know it
And Minecraft are both dreams
It means that us playing the game is just as valid a use of our time
as doing something in the Quote un Quote real world.
both are equally important
Because both are dreams
Just on happens to be slightly longer than the other.
in short it's the exact opposite of how everyone was interpreting this thing
It's not saying that playing games is a waste of time
and that we need to get a life
it's saying that the choice to play games and engage in these virtual worlds
is the same as engaging with the real world
Because by their definition
They are both virtual worlds
but then that leaves us with one huge question
if the ending the ending of minecraft is saying that this world is just another dream
then what is reality?
What are these glimpses of reality we see in the long dream of life
What are we waking up too
Well when you first read the poem it's not even clear whether we can answer that question
Because there seems to be some critical information missing.
and i don't mean these two figures are being weird and cryptic
I mean there is literally information missing
It's perhapse the most bizzare part of this already crazy convoluted ending
The intentionally omitted words within the dialogue
Quote "Sometimes i wish to tell them, this world you take for truth is merely *garbled sound*
and *Garbled sound*, i wish to tell them that they are *Garbled sound*
In the *Garbled sound*, They see so little of reality, in their long dream" End Quote
ahhh What?
They also talk about the universes original interface
Which still works after a million years
Quote"It worked, with a million others, to sculpt a true world in a fold of the *garbled sound*
and created a *Garbled sound* for *Garbled sound* in the *Garbled sound*"
It's like the lamest game of Mad Libs ever
Quote" To Sculpt a true world in a fold of the"
Penis
"And created a"
Penis for Penis in the penis
Great...
We're told that the reason these pieces are scrambled
is that they are beyond our comprehension
We haven't achieved the highest level in the long game of life yet
UGH!
I knew i should have leveled up my metaphysics skill tree
But save those experience points to level up basket weaving or something
cause let me tell you the words that fill in those blanks don't actually matter
well they do but for purposes of the theory they don't
You see the scrambled pieces are meant to be the answers to all those questions about life
people have been asking themselves since the dawn of forever
what are we
who made us
what's our reason for living
and there are tons of different relegions
and belief systems that have tried to explain it
as humans we have so many origin stories
and the minecraft poem leaves those pieces scrambled
Because ultimately it doesn't care which one of those you believe in
in an awesome way it's just like the game
Minecraft doesn't limit you to any play style
that's why some people create scale models of the Parthenon
and others just create giant mountains of boobs
when it comes to the ending of the game
it's the same thing
Whatever you believe in works
whether it's God, Allah, the flying spaghetti monster,
or the saving power of the BROFIST
you're supposed to fill in the blanks for yourself
soooooooo........
is that it
a choose your own adventure religious experience at the end of the game
are these just two god like figures casually conversing about the universe
not at all
they try to tell us what they are but like everything else in the ending
it's really complicated
because they basically seem to be everything
quote "The Spirit of the mountain, ancestral spirits, animal spirits, Jinn, Ghosts, the green man, gods, demons, angels, poltergeists, aliens, extraterrestrials,
Leptons, quarks. The words change
We do not change.
We are everything you think isn't you
End Quote. So what are they
in writing this episode i looked for what the things on the list had in common
at first it seemed like they where all just magical beings
ghosts angels and spirits
or maybe stuff people imagine
but aren't really real?
but then they mention Quarks and Leptons
Real scientific things that aren't mythology
and when you factor those guys in the explanation doesn't hold
no what they do have in common is they are all things people believe are driving forces in the universe
gods, demons, subatomic particles
Forces that change things
whether the explanation is through science or religion
they're the forces that pull the strings
the things we believe craft the universe
into what it is
but then the poem takes it one step further
it says that that these two speakers are the things we think aren't us
we believe stuff like angels and ghosts are separate from us
that they are influencing us from the outside
but the poem says that we're wrong
Quote
let's go further back
the seven billion billion billion atoms of the player's body were created
long before this game in the heart of a star
so the player, too, is, information from a star
end quote
what the poem is getting at is that everything in the universe is made up of the same stuff
this is minecraft remember we are all made up of the same basic blocks
the same set of elements
the resources for crafting don't change
the hydrogen in our bodies is no different from the hydrogen in stars
or the water in our bodies is no different from the water on another planet
and because we're all made up of the same stuff
the poem also says that we can literally do anything
this ain't no Shia LaBeouf speech
this is way bigger than that
in fact it's minecraft big
in minecraft you can literally create anything
from a cell phone
to your own planet
everything you create is just extending your imagination
and the same set of basic tools to create something new
Something real
At the end of the poem it tells you that everything you need is already within you
Since the universe is made up of the same basic stuff
You already have everything you need
You don't need angels or gods or quarks
or anyone else to help you
You're already connected to everything in the universe
and its already a part of who you are
and with that revelation we finally reach our answer
That's the reality we only see a little bit of
That's the real wake up call here
The poem has nothing to do with waking up from minecraft
It has to do with waking up to how important and powerful you are
In crafting the world
Be it in the short dream of the game
or the long dream of life
In the end the real truth
Is this Everything you need is within you
You are never alone
You are stronger than you know
Notch the creator of Minecraft has said that he agrees with the message of this poem
He's made it very clear he's an athiest
But what we've just shown is that nothing in the poem makes it so you have to ascribe to one belief
or another
As long as you recognize quite frankly
Just how awesome you are
Like the poem says
Minecraft won't tell you how to live your life
but it will remind you that you have the power to create whatever you want
to dream whatever kind of dream you want for your life
and then you have the power to make it a reality in the world
minecraft is all about empowering the player
giving them the tools they need to make anything they want
and this controversial ending stays true to that theme
reminding the player that whether it's in the game
or without
all of the power is theirs
and no matter where your coming from last year
it's a pretty awesome thought for the beginning of 2016
But hey
That's Just a Theory
A GAME THEORY
Thanks For Watching
i am litterally sitting under a desk in australia right now
in a tent made of blankets and pillows
it's very uncomfortable
Stephanie is pretending not to hear me
That's just a Theory
A *Cough* ugh that's just a Cough
Ahhh i gotta get out it is so hot
i am dying
i think im like passing out
from Co2 build up under here
*happy music* oh man it is good to be back home
and in the closet
recording this ending
recording while abroad sucks
and hey happy 2016 one more time guys
there are a lot of big episodes and surprises in the works
That i can't wait share with you over the coming weeks and months
so get hyped
it is going to be an incredible year
I think you're going to be really excited
By the way if you have not seen our Minecraft Pizza Girl Kidnapping video
that i mentioned earlier in this episode
Click here to check it out on the GT live channel
It is amazing some of the new technology that people are coming up with in virtual worlds these days
We had a blast and it was also a great chance to spotlight a lot of you theorists by playing along side you
and crafting together
although you did troll me a lot
There was a lot of trolling happening in that stream
anyway if you want some more theories check out one of my all time favorite game theories ever
where i calculate how money a suit of diamond armor would actually be worth
Hint
its a lot
also fun fact it was Ronnies first first ever episode that he edited
which is why it looks so much better than anything that came before
ugh
I love that one
So if you haven't seen it click here to check it out
Now if you will excuse me
Valentines day is coming up and i remember right
i seem to remember promising you guys a dating sim episode a couple years ago
huh i should get on writing that
if all goes according to plan i will see you guys next week
or tomorrow if you watch Film Theory
whoo hype
2016!