"We Don''t Sell Blocks" Exploring Minecraft''s Commissioning Market

In recent years, we have witnessed the growth of videogames that include, as their primary method of play creating in-game content. Even though the literature on the subject has examined the different aspects of these games, one of the aspects that warrants further exploration is the monetisation practices that are possible to observe in their environment. Our ethnographic research revealed a vibrant market for commissioning in the Minecraft creative community. Our findings highlight the 3 main actors that constitute this market: the clients who are the owners of Minecraft servers and the contractors who manage the client''s orders of Minecraft maps; and the builders, who are responsible for the creation of said maps. the swiss rocketman Our research has revealed that the primary product at stake is not in-game content as one might expect, but rather the service of creating it. These findings show that Minecraft''s current structure is influenced by commissioning, a well-organised process initiated and sustained by the community that plays the game. Moreover, they challenge the belief that content generation in gaming environments is a free-labor process that is exploited by game''s creators.