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Details have emerged that an unofficial Minecraft convention in Orlando, Florida, called Meeting of the Mines has provided a sub-par experience far from what was promised and seems to have aimed at making the organisers a lot of money off the backs of the thriving Minecraft community, especially parents and children. The stories now circulating the Internet are unbelievable and quite frankly appalling to hear.
MOTM was meant to have happened back in December 2013 but was delayed to March this year because of ‘red tape’ stopping them holding the event when it has been advertised. While it was supposed to have been a weekend event, many have said that the event was called off early because it had apparently ‘gotten out of hand’. Also a lot of advertised give-aways and competitions either didn’t happen or had the winners having their prizes rescinded after the event, with these cases usually being money prizes.
The kicker comes though when you hear of the specifics of the ‘StarCraft’ event. This contest had children compete to craft the best structures in the game with a fairly hefty prize at the end. A prize which can be quickly and easily summed up in two words – ‘Youtube stardom’. On par with that of CaptainSparklez and IcanHasCupquake (which they don’t even spell right in the contest text). The organisers promised for the 6 winners, their own Youtube channel, websites, branded merchandise and even ‘you first subscribers’ made up of the other attendees for the event. All set up within their ‘MOTM network’ of course. Since these things are often dreamt about by the younger viewers of such popular Youtubers, it just sounds like an almost shameless ploy to get kids to bug their parents to buy tickets for the event and make them more money.
Of course, getting refunds from the organisers has proven to be a difficult task with the organisers even beginning to accuse people of stealing the con’s décor. The MOTM website has vanished along with the head organiser’s Facebook, Twitter and pretty much every way to get in contact. Tickets have already been sold for another MOTM event supposed to be held in New York, but the venue has not been booked and no further details are available so it looks as if the organisers have taken the money and run with it. Since they took roughly $50k for the event that (sort of) happened alone, it is a LOT of money they have taken. The attendees for the event have even set up a Facebook group dedicated to sharing stories and doing their best to get their refunds or at least some sort of closure from the entire fiasco.
If you want a better, clearer picture of the entire event, BebopVox’s video sums it up pretty well (and also includes tips on how to spot conventions and events that could be potentially scams in disguise, as well as plenty of links to information in the description):
As I said above, it had to happen eventually to the Minecraft community, but that doesn’t make what happened any less terrible, especially as it has disappointed so many children. I can only hope the organisers of this event are found and made to pay for what they have done.
The last week in Britain saw the announcement of this year’s Budget from the Conservative Party Chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne in which such things such as tax, benefit and other economical announcements for the next few years are revealed to the parliament and the public of Britain.
One of the lesser known parts of this year’s budget was the announcement that from 2015, Britain is going to start adding VAT (Value Added Tax) to the price of digital media, increasing the prices consumers will have to pay to receive digital content such as television programs, music and much more. With VAT currently set at 20% in Britain, that’s not something that could be considered a small change, this will make a difference.
Personally, while I can see reasons to implement VAT upon digital media it does feel as if those with less money once again lose out. Pushing up the prices of digital media will only discourage people from buying it, especially in today’s economy when more people than ever have to watch their spending. The argument could be made that digital media is not a necessity, but I have always been of the mind that entertainment is the only thing that stops people from going insane. With a television licence costing £150 for a year and many people not being a fan of everything that is broadcast in your typical television schedule, more and more people are looking online for their entertainment and are perfectly willing to pay a little bit of money for their content so that the people who make the media they enjoy can afford to keep making it (as long as the pricing is fair for both sides).
There’s a very real chance that the addition of 20% extra fee to the price of digital media could lead to an increase in piracy, hurting the people who make the digital media in the first place.
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement about Disney buying Maker, comes another announcement about a big company acquiring a smaller, very popular company. Facebook have just issued a press release stating their intention to buy VR innovators Oculus.
More information will become available soon, but for now take a look at the press release that was issued:
“MENLO PARK, CALIF. – March 25, 2014 – Facebook today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Oculus VR, Inc., the leader in immersive virtual reality technology, for a total of approximately $2 billion. This includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock (valued at $1.6 billion based on the average closing price of the 20 trading days preceding March 21, 2014 of $69.35 per share). The agreement also provides for an additional $300 million earn-out in cash and stock based on the achievement of certain milestones.
Oculus is the leader in immersive virtual reality technology and has already built strong interest among developers, having received more than 75,000 orders for development kits for the company’s virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift. While the applications for virtual reality technology beyond gaming are in their nascent stages, several industries are already experimenting with the technology, and Facebook plans to extend Oculus’ existing advantage in gaming to new verticals, including communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas. Given these broad potential applications, virtual reality technology is a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform.
“Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow,” said Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. “Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.”
“We are excited to work with Mark and the Facebook team to deliver the very best virtual reality platform in the world,” said Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus VR. “We believe virtual reality will be heavily defined by social experiences that connect people in magical, new ways. It is a transformative and disruptive technology, that enables the world to experience the impossible, and it’s only just the beginning.”
Oculus will maintain its headquarters in Irvine, CA, and will continue development of the Oculus Rift, its ground-breaking virtual reality platform.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.”
It will be interesting to find out what Facebook could possibly have in store for Oculus when more information becomes available. Facebook’s creator has given us some idea though in a post which talks about using the VR technology of the Rift to extend beyond gaming and into places such as seats at a game and more. Either way, it does sound rather exciting but I can’t help but feel that the Rift is a long way off yet from taking us to the theatre from the comfort of our own sofas.
So, you may have heard the news. Disney has bought Maker Studios, the YouTube powerhouse that hosts stars such as PewDiePie, TotalBiscuit, The Yogscast, iJustine and many more under its subnetworks. Maker Studios generates an average of 5.5 billion views per month, and Disney is reportedly shelling out at least $500 million to acquire the network. Those are the hard numbers. But what does it actually mean?
[Full disclosure: The author of this piece is also affiliated with YouTube network Fullscreen]
As a creator and network member myself, this is an interesting turn of events. Yes, Disney is a mammoth company. And yes, Maker Studios is without a doubt the largest network on YouTube and has some of the biggest celebrities to be found on the site. But the pairing of the two is a bit concerning in my mind. Disney is primarily known as a family company, though they do own EPSN, A&E and ABC. This potentially raises a conflict, as much of the content created by members of Maker Studios is decidedly NOT family friendly. The main issue I see is whether or not Disney will allow Maker to continue operating more or less independently. If they do, it is unlikely much will change.
However, if Disney does decide to get actively involved in the operations of Maker Studios, then might we see a push towards more family friendly content on those YouTube channels? Perhaps a PewDiePie/Disney Family crossover? The crux of the matter is this: A company with little to no experience and certainly no success in the online video arena has just bought the the largest network in the single largest player for that space. Yes, YouTube is a great way to get views. But as any creator or network executive will tell you, it is NOT a stable way to grow a business money. Maker itself is rumored to have been steadily losing money recently. The big picture here is relatively easy to lay out. Disney attracts kids and teens. YouTube attracts kids and teens. The problem here is that most people go to YouTube for content that is not easily found on television. One possible way for Disney to handle this acquisition is to make Maker a distribution hub for Disney media. But really, do we need to go to a Disney/Maker channel to get our Frozen fix? Of course not. Simply typing “Frozen” in to site’s search bar yields pages upon pages of results. Will Disney set Maker up as a way for YouTube stars to make a go of it in “real media”? Again, possible. But would people like PewDiePie or TotalBiscuit even be interested? Yes, Justin Bieber got popular on YouTube. Then he got REALLY popular elsewhere. Then he went crazy. The fact is, most YouTube stars have done better when they remained on YouTube.
And Disney certainly doesn’t need to shoehorn it’s own properties into the YouTube universe. The Avengers? Thats a big risk to take with a property by cramming it into a YouTube video. If Disney keeps Maker at arm’s length and lets them run the show on their own, then things will probably be fine. I just don’t think Disney is capable of doing that. It may be that I am wrong. Or it may be that Disney has just set in motion the slow and inexorable death of YouTube as a medium where anyone can put a video out there and potentially make it big. We could be looking at a future of monster corporations deciding what gets views and what doesn’t. And wouldn’t that be a shame? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go publish my latest funny cat montage on my channel….
