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Funny enough, the original version of minecraft used to run in the browser too! It used Java applets. That was a long time ago, I remember playing it as a kid

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Yes that's how notch was able to distribute it while circumventing publishers. Very smart move at the time.

Java Applets weren't some magical "workaround" for distributing without publishers, lots (well, subjective) of indie developers were distributing binaries via websites at the point of the first alphas of Minecraft. Of course, way more popular nowadays as there are dedicated platforms for it.

the initial scope of minecraft was also in line with the java applet games of ~2005, like the ski simulator. minecraft came well after the applet era, almost to the end of the flash.

huh. Minecraft is the taylor swift of video games. the last big star before big tech took over discovery and access for an industry.

Very astute comparison. Yet somehow still both huge!

I got into Minecraft via 4chan, of all places. People used to make posts about it and how cool it was and others would naturally talk crap about the game.

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