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Microsoft's Minecraft Set To Launch Its Own Currency (bloomberg.com)
Minecraft's popularity shows no signs of slowing down. Microsoft, which acquired the game's maker, Mojang, in 2014, has recently launched the game in China and continues to market it well in the U.S. The next big step for the game is the introduction of a new marketplace and brand new currency -- within the game itself. What this does is it "[opens] up the opportunity for businesses to sell their original content and creations to tens of millions of the game's players for the first time," writes Nate Lanxon via Bloomberg. From the report: Set to go live in the spring, nine businesses will be selling feature packs within Minecraft -- such as new storylines, in-game activities or landscapes to explore -- with prices ranging between about $1 and $10 per creation. Other companies can apply to be allowed into the marketplace over subsequent months. Users wishing to purchase content will need to buy a form of new currency -- Minecraft Coins. A store within the game does already exist but is limited to only items created by the Minecraft development team. The change to allow third-party developers to sell their wares within the same ecosystem opens up an entirely new business model for independent creatives.
Sad, but true. I'm old enough to remember when every boy had a knife in his pocket. We carried them everywhere, even to school. In twelve years of school, I never saw one person pull out his knife during a fight, and there were plenty of fights. It was as if there were a code of honor about fighting fairly. I averaged getting into about one fight per school year, winning about half of them. Never used a knife even though I always had one in my pocket.
Most teenage boys back then had a shotgun or rifle in their vehicle at school. It made it easier to go hunting before or after class. Nobody ever used one on a person. Times have changed and not for the best.