The Minecraft vs Roblox War is Stupid.

For many many years, the pre-teen population was fiercely divided. Middle schools were split down the... well... middle, into two teams vehemently at war with each other. Classmates turning on classmates. Friends turning on friends. If any two kids fell onto opposite sides of the dividing line, they could never simply agree to disagree. Kids on one side of the line had to constantly hurl insults at kids on the other, and if you were on one side of the dividing line, you did not DARE engage with the hobby of the kids on the other side of the line. You could never fall on both. You had to pick a side and fight by that side to the death.

An everlasting battle of Team Minecraft vs Team Roblox, clashing in the world's biggest pissing contest as to whose beloved game was better.

I thought the Minecraft vs Roblox battle was a thing of the past. It had been years since I saw people going at it over which game was better. Especially with the rise of other games that could compete with Minecraft, such as Fortnite and Among Us (neither of which I have ever actually played). But... earlier this week, I saw on a gaming Discord server, people fighting over which is better: Minecraft or Roblox?

My Experience Having Played Both a Lot

Full disclosure here: I actually love and adore BOTH games. I know right! And I always have!

Now, I have actually been playing Roblox for longer than Minecraft. I started playing Roblox in 2010, but only started playing Minecraft in 2012. And it's quite interesting that for those 2 years, I was vehemently on team Roblox. I had obviously seen and heard of Minecraft since it got big in 2010, but I had no interest in playing it. I was playing Roblox. Roblox was the game I sunk far too many hours into as a kid. And yet, here I am, running a Blog about Minecraft that one person reads. You don't see me running any Roblox blogs.

When I first actually played Minecraft in 2012, interestingly, I DID see it as "an inferior Roblox". I drowned, got killed by a spider, dug with a flower down to bedrock, then got bored and closed the game and went back to Roblox.

Two months later, I was addicted to Minecraft.... and Roblox.

In the second half of 2012, I avidly played and loved BOTH games. If one was down (which one often was back in 2012), I would simply play the other. Not a problem. Even in 2014, I was still avidly playing both games. On Roblox, I was absolutely addicted to a murder mystery game, and on Minecraft I was playing on LegitLand all the time and was going for a diamond house. Heck, even as late as 2017 I was playing both games!!

Point is, for many many years, I played both Minecraft and Roblox a LOT, side-by-side. (Well not literally side-by-side). I could even close one and hop right into the other.

It was probably not until around LAST YEAR that I stopped playing Roblox. And that's not because I now hate Roblox and finally picked team Minecraft, it's because my favourite game (Gear Wars) became dead and I haven't had the time to get addicted to another game.

I actually love both games. But this is not the MAIN reason I think the Minecraft/Roblox clash is stupid...

Apples & Oranges

MINECRAFT AND ROBLOX ARE VERY DIFFERENT GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously!!!!! I don't even know HOW you can even compare these games enough for a big pissing contest!!! Minecraft and Roblox couldn't be more different in terms of how these games are played. Their similarities basically end at being computer sandbox games composed of parts!!!!!

It's debatable whether or not Roblox is even a game, and more of a game engine. Roblox supports LUA scripting, and basically all the games you play were created by users in a studio. Mojang have chosen NOT to go in that direction with Minecraft, which is why Minecraft's "scripting" is limited to a few commands and third-party modding and creator tools. Of COURSE Roblox objectively has more "freedom" than Minecraft, because Roblox IS a game engine that is literally built for that! Minecraft was originally a SURVIVAL game as well as being a sandbox game.

Ultimately, Minecraft and Roblox offer extremely different gameplay experiences. Heck, even Minecraft creative mode and Roblox are extremely different! Roblox is essentially an empty sandbox whose entire purpose is to be a platform for users to create games of their own, whereas Minecraft essentially IS its own game. That is why on Roblox, when you "play Roblox", you could be playing anything from themed obstacle courses, to "find the X" treasure hunt games, to zombie apocalypses, to disaster survival, to jailbreaks, to murder mysteries, to domino rallies, to racing games, to literally every single god-damned thing a human brain can think of (and code). And while Minecraft (with plug-ins) CAN be manipulated to create minigames (there are PLENTY of Minecraft minigame servers, some of which are the biggest servers in the game! Think Hypixel and Mineplex!) that is not what Minecraft primarily is as a game.

Minecraft and Roblox are very different games, with very different purposes and very different goals. To me, they are so different in fact, that you cannot at all draw comparisons over which one is better. They are both very good at what they do, but what they do is too different to compare and make direct "this is better" statements.

In order to really compare games, there has to be at least SOME similarity between the games. Another game Minecraft often gets compared to is Terraria. I've not played Terraria myself, but I have seen gameplay lets plays of it. And I would say it's a lot more valid to compare these two games, since they are both survival sandbox games made of blocks, both involve mining, are not essentially game platforms, and have very similar goals. But even then, the games have vast differences. Terraria is 2D, and Minecraft is 3D. Terraria appears to be far more focused on game progression, whereas Minecraft is far more focused on creativity and exploration. Terraria extends much further downwards than Minecraft, but Minecraft extends much further outwards. See, even these two MUCH MORE SIMILAR games still have vast differences!!!

If even directly comparing two similar games is difficult, making direct comparisons between games as different as Minecraft and Roblox is quite absurd. It would be like comparing Tetris with Grand Theft Auto V.

You Are Entitled To Your Opinion...

All this being said, if you have played both, you may have a genuine opinion of which one you like more. And that's fine. We are all different and have different tastes. It might be that one of the games fits much better with how you like to spend your lonesome Saturday nights than the other. We all have preferences, and although I like both games for very different reasons, it might be that one of these games is just not your scene.

But what I cannot get behind is maliciously trashing the other game. Whether you've actually played the other game or not, trashing the other game and people who play the other game because you're on your "team" is just a trashy thing to do, no matter how old or young you are. It is not a competition. There is no competition between Minecraft and Roblox, or any competition between the people who play them. It's all just one big pissing contest to see who is most LOYAL to their game. But why? Why does there have to be loyalty to one game or the other? It's not like either game rewards you for loyalty.

People just get so attached to the game they fell in love with, and will defend it and defend it and defend it. And since Minecraft and Roblox were both huge at the same time, both games had their very loyal fanbase which often clashed. If you do happen to fall out of love with one game and get into the other, that does not make you a traitor. And it really upsets me that kids in school are literally bullied for being in one camp or the other, or being ousted from friendship groups for being a "traitor".

Defending your game is fine but there should never be a need to trash people who fell in love with a different game to you. I don't go around insulting people who love Among Us, or GTA, or Mario games, because these games ALL have something to enjoy, and they all have their fans! There sure are a lot of people who don't care for Minecraft, and that is okay. Not everyone is going to love everything. But those who don't love your game are NOT bad or wrong for loving another game. It's not up to you to decide what other people like, and what they do in their spare time.

And this is why I think the whole Minecraft vs Roblox war was and is completely stupid.

There is no direct comparison to be had between the games. They are totally different games, and people are allowed to play and love whatever game they want. Whether it's Minecraft, Roblox, both, or neither, people should never be judged for what games they play and enjoy.