Girl Game Theorist: Theory Two: Minecraft - A Showcase for Human Evolution?

(Part One: In-Game Examples; "Part Two: Game Development Examples" coming soon!)

Minecraft - A Showcase for Human Evolution?

Minecraft: quirky, popular 3D survival game for PC, Xbox, Android, iOS, Mac, Linux and PlayStation where the main goal is - to be blunt - domination. "Kill sheep, dig deep, get diamonds" is Steve's motto. The main objective of the game being at first to build a dwelling to escape from the rabid zombies and bow-wielding skeletons and - horror of all horrors - the dreaded exploding creepers, the player can then extend his home with a variety of materials - creating farms and weapons and increasingly sophisticated tools from a simple wooden shovel to a full-blown redstone reloadable machine gun turret along the way. 

However, does this much-loved game showcase something much more sophisticated than how to avoid being blown to smithereens by hoards of fantasy green moss creatures with a grudge against guys called Steve? 

Impossible as it may sound I propose that Mojang have inadavertently created the perfect example - and explanation - of human evolution. 

Natural history states that humans became recognisable as humans around the Paeleolithic era - which ended around 10,000 years ago and began approximately 35,000 ago - with the first appearance of the Cro-Magnon, or "Early Modern Human" being around this time. These early members of our race dwelled in caves and tents constructed of leather and animal bones (such as mammoth, which so-called Cro-Magnons hunted excessively) and allegedly had not gained universal use and understanding of fire. They ate many types of plants, as well as the meat of a wide variety of untamed wild herbivores such as wildebeast, mammoth and an early version of the modern horse (which was not domesticated until around 2,000 years ago).  The carcasses of these creatures were also harvested for leather, bones and other helpful commodities that could be used by these early Homo-sapiens - does this not remind you of the early stages of a Minecraft survival game, where the player is fighting the odds, gathering as much as he can from his environment without the need to craft? Just as an inexperienced Steve will not attempt any sophisticated crafting recipes until he is more at home in the Minecraft world, Early Modern Humans did not excessively craft things - instead opting to make do with whatever they could commandeer from the natural world. 

As they gained knowledge, Cro-Magnons began experimenting with crafting: they invented a spear-thrower which enabled them to hurl their rudimentary spears much further than was previously possible, and created harpoons using small fragments of bone carved into sharp arrow-head-like constructions. As well as these, they also started designing little pieces with nothing more than a decorative function such as necklaces and other jewellery out of sculpted bone and wood as well as tattooing themselves with natural dyes; this is similar to a Steve's progression from hastily-made wooden blades to leather armour and stone weapons, and carpet made from flowers and sheeps' wool. This is also true of cave paintings as Cro-Magnons are famous for their detailed depictions of primitive variants of the Przewalski's (or Dzungarian) horses, deer and even other members of their own species; just the same as primitive Homo-sapiens painted caves, Steve will venture underground in search of rare stones with which to craft coveted objects of great strength: diamonds. 

In reality, diamonds are in fact very weak, but this is not important: it's just another representation of how the Cro-Magnons gradually progressed: from pitiful brittle sticks to stone axes and eventually to metal swords and strong protective armour, just the same as Minecraft Steve will go from wooden hoes to iron pickaxes and finally a full suit of glittering diamond armour, complete with a shining diamond sword; all this concludes that Minecraft is a novel explanation of human evolution - although its makers perhaps did not intend it this way.....