The World of Minecraft - A Lifetime of Exploration

Towards the end of March 2011 a man called Kurt J. Mac loaded a brand new game of Minecraft. He set himself a simple goal; to reach the edge of the universe. Happy with his task he set off walking and to this day he is still going.

It is now nearly three years later and Mac has racked up over 700 virtual kilometers, taking him over 180 hours of game time. At this pace it is estimated that it will take him another 22 years to reach the edge of the world, over 12,000km away.

Minecraft is a phenomenon that is is played by over 40,000,000 people around the world. The game is like a giant building set in which you are the creator. Anything you see can be broken down and rebuilt. However rather than being a sandbox with no consequences Minecraft also expects you to survive. Your creations will keep you safe when night comes.

The Minecraft universe is procedurally generated. This means that every hill, cave, mountain and valley is unique to the person playing. It is also designed to be almost infinitely large. Markus Persson, Minecraft's creator, programmed the game so the world would unfold as you walked ever onwards, like laying a track for a train which never stops.

However at extreme distances from a player's starting point the landscape begins to fracture due to a glitch in the underlying mathematics.

Pretty early on, when implementing the ‘infinite’ worlds, I knew the game would start to bug out at long distances. But I did the math on how likely it was people would ever reach it, and I decided it was far away enough that the bugs didn’t matter.

- Markus Persson, Minecraft Creator

A blog post written in 2011 explains in more detail how the world begins to warp and disintegrate at a certain point. Persson designated these areas "The Far Lands". It was at the time of this blog that Mac started a YouTube channel to document his adventures. Inspired by the post he set out to see the "Far Lands" for himself. Naming his channel Far Lands or Bust! he started his journey.

In my ignorance, I thought the journey might take a year or so. Had I known that the Far Lands were so many thousands of kilometres away, I might have been more hesitant.

- Kurt J. Mac, Minecraft Explorer

Mac prepared only on a basic level. He crafted a sword, for protection, and a pickaxe, to dig rudimentary shelters. These offer his only source of protection against the games nocturnal terrors. He also took a compass to ensure he is going in the right direction, opposite to the needles point.

Mac has filmed his entire odyssey, breaking it up into separate YouTube episodes, which now make up four seasons.These seasons transformed into a podcast with Mac talking about anything and everything as he makes his epic journey.

He now has over 300,000 subscribers and virtual exploration is his sole career. In June, 2011 he partnered with the charity Child’s Play. He accepts donations and in return displays the exact distances he has travelled, almost like a never ending sponsored marathon. To date, Mac’s journey has raised more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for charity.

The date and time of Mac's arrival into the Far Lands is still debated and given it is estimated that a completely flat Minecraft world it would take a player eight hundred and twenty hours of continuous walking to reach the edge of the universe it will still be some time yet.