Summary
- Minecraft's 1.21 update focuses heavily on adding new decorative copper blocks, but falls short in addressing copper's usefulness for survival gameplay.
- Recent realism adjustments in Minecraft prioritize aesthetics over functionality, leaving copper underappreciated and lacking in practical applications.
- Looking at real-world uses of copper, Minecraft could greatly benefit from incorporating the metal in Redstone systems, jewelry crafting, machinery, and more for improved gameplay.
Despite not being a live-service game, it's rather admirable just how many updates Mojang has made for its most popular title over the years. Minecraft is once again set to get another update sometime in the first half of 2024 that aims to add trial chambers, crafters, and tons of new blocks for copper in particular. There's far more to the upcoming Minecraft 1.21 update than just these blocks as well.
However, one big change found in 1.21 only makes a glaring issue with Minecraft even more obvious. Despite all of its success when it was an indie title, the sandbox crafting game has fallen into a nasty habit of being more about pretty blocks than balancing itself in terms of resource management across its three main modes. Copper is now the most obvious example of this trend, with many of the new blocks coming to the game seeming rather gorgeous in practice, but is rather useless on paper for those playing to survive rather than decorate.
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Minecraft's Recent Realism Adjustments Fall Flat When It Comes to Copper's Use
Recent updates have seen Minecraft updating its older features from how biomes are generated to achievements and how objects like the Smithing Table function. When it comes to many of these adjustments, there seems to be an underlying theme of adding more realism to Minecraft worlds, as seen with the Cliffs and Caves update that changed cave generation on its head.
With 1.21 looking to add copper grates, bulbs, doors, and trapdoors, along with chiseled copper, there's a strong push towards the metal being more decorative than useful. Compared to iron and gold, copper armor is still missing in Minecraft which leaves the overabundance of the material rather heavy on survival players' limited inventory space.
Just as Minecraft's combat features could use a fresh coat of paint compared to all the recent adjustments, copper is rather underappreciated in the game at large. If adding realism to the blocky pixel world is the goal, then copper most certainly needs to be adjusted in terms of its usefulness—the metal is so useful in reality that it has its own age in history to signify its presence in metallurgy.
There's plenty of room for the metal to get a complete upgrade reflecting how useful it is in reality.
How Minecraft Can Use Copper in the Future Based on Real-World Applications
The most frequent use of copper in the real world is with electrical wiring, which almost begs for copper to be used to create more stable wires, provided the Redstone system in Minecraft gets an update in the future. Copper is also used with silver and gold to help create jewelry, which could work well as a rare item in chests or to be given to the Trader rather than just emeralds. Most machinery relies on copper in its makeup, so if Minecraft is ever open to an official form of automation through technology, copper would be a great material to require.
Between how copper is used in building transportation, art, coins, and more, there's really no excuse for how little copper matters in Minecraft once players make enough progress through the game. It defies its usefulness in the real world which will get harder to ignore as Minecraft's biomes and gameplay systems continue to evolve, leaving the material even further behind. If Mojang wants an idea of where to start on making blocks that benefit survival-mode players, then looking at the versatility of copper is a great place to start.
Minecraft
- Released
- November 18, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
Minecraft is a game made up of blocks, creatures, and community. You can survive the night or build a work of art – the choice is all yours. But if the thought of exploring a vast new world all on your own feels overwhelming, then fear not!
Minecraft has no set goal and can be played however you’d like! This is why it’s sometimes called a “sandbox game” – there are lots of things for you to do, and lots of ways that you can play. If you like being creative, then you can use the blocks to build things from your imagination. If you’re feeling brave, you can explore the world and face daring challenges. Blocks can be broken, crafted, placed to reshape the landscape, or used to build fantastical creations.
Creatures can be battled or befriended, depending on how you play. The world of Minecraft allows for epic adventures, quiet meditations, and everything in between. You can even share your creations with other players, or play in community worlds!
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Mojang
- Publisher(s)
- Mojang
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical or Horizontal
- Platform(s)
- 3DS, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360
- Genre(s)
- Sandbox, Survival
- How Long To Beat
- 129 Hours
- File Size Xbox Series
- 1.42 GB (August 2024)
- Metascore
- 93
