Why is Minecraft so popular?

A game with no clock and no score removes the pressure other games supply

Question: Why is Minecraft so popular?
Position‹2 of 3›: Minecraft is relaxing
Argument1 of 2›: A game with no clock and no score removes the pressure other games supply

The argument

Proponents of this position argue that the things which make playing a game stressful can be listed, and that this one has almost none of them. There is no timer counting down, no score to protect, no ranking against other players, no scarce supply of lives, and no sequence of attempts that a failure sends a player back to the start of. Death costs the player carried items and the walk back, which is an inconvenience rather than a punishment, and nothing is lost that cannot be recovered by someone willing to spend the time. The argument is that the absence of these features changes the player's physical state while playing. Proponents observe that competitive and timed games work by raising arousal: they create urgency, hold the player at the edge of failure, and produce the alertness that makes them exciting. The cost is that the player finishes a session keyed up, and that the game has been managing their attention rather than receiving it. A game with nothing at stake cannot do this, because there is no pressure available to apply. Holders of the view argue that this is why the game is described in terms more usually applied to a hobby than to a pastime, and why so many players come to it in the evening or after a difficult day. Proponents stress that they are not claiming it is undemanding, since building something large takes planning and persistence. The claim is that the demands are ones the player chooses and can set down at any point, which is the difference between an activity that absorbs a person and one that works on them.

Premises

[P1]The ordinary sources of pressure in games, including timers, scores, rankings, limited lives and punishing failure, are largely absent here. [P2] Games that apply those pressures work by raising arousal and holding the player near failure, which leaves a player keyed up after a session. [P3] Where nothing is at stake no such pressure can be applied, and the demands that remain are ones the player sets and can set down. [C] The game is popular because playing it relieves pressure rather than applying it, which is unusual among games.

Counter-arguments

Critics argue that this describes one way of playing and mistakes it for the game. Its harder modes, in which death is permanent, are deliberately tense, large parts of what players do involve fighting, and much of its popularity is bound up with multiplayer servers that are explicitly competitive. They also note that players often report the opposite experience, in losing hours without meaning to, in frustration at work destroyed by accident, and in the pressure that comes from building alongside others. Others object that calling a game relaxing says more about the player's circumstances than about the design, since the same features bore people who are looking for something to happen.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Harder modes make death permanent, a great deal of play involves fighting, and much of the game's popularity rests on servers that are explicitly competitive. [Rejecting C] Players frequently report losing hours unintentionally, frustration at work destroyed by accident and pressure from building alongside others, which is not the experience the conclusion describes.