Minecraft parody - creeper revenge

This is great, if you've played Minecraft. If not, you won't get it, I'm sure. And I don't know if I can explain it.

But note that this is the Minecraft world, more or less. That's part of the humor. The rest is all about creepers.

Creepers are monsters which are spawned in the darkness, but don't burn up in direct sunlight, like skeletons and zombies, and don't become passive during the daytime, like spiders. At any time, they can sneak up behind you and blow themselves up, killing your character and blowing a big hole in the environment - including anything you've carefully constructed.

They're the monster which Minecraft gamers love to hate. We've all experienced sudden, unexpected death from creepers. And it's not just death - after all, your character just respawns - and not just the chance of losing your entire inventory, but also the potential destruction of what you've worked hard to build.

Because Minecraft is very much a builder's game. Those buildings and sidewalks and other structures you see in the video are all constructed by the player from the basic raw materials of the world.

Imaginative players produce some very elaborate and beautiful structures in Minecraft. Did you see that streetlight? I would never have imagined building that, myself, but now that I see how it was done, it's definitely going in my next Minecraft world.

And a creeper can blow it all up in an instant. Of course, you can just build it again. You can even gather up, from the site of the explosion, the raw materials you'd used the first time, as well as your inventory items, if you can get back there from your spawn point quickly enough.

But it's still frustrating - and more than a bit funny. A moment's inattention and... BOOM!

Incidentally, Minecraft was finally released last week. Yup, all this hype, the huge fan base, the millions made by the developer - all that has happened while the game was still in development! Incredible, isn't it?

Markus Persson - "Notch" - started selling the game while it was still in alpha, so he could keep working on it. And the game's popularity is all based on word of mouth, gamers spreading the news to other gamers.

One month after reaching beta status, it had already sold a million copies. That reached 4 million copies this month, before the final game was even released. It's been a real gaming sensation and an inspiration to indie game developers everywhere.

Even though I knew all this, I was positively shocked at how many Minecraft parodies there are on YouTube. I mean, yeah, gamers love it, but... it gets this kind of notice? What's next?

Most of them are rather amateurish, of course, but you might also enjoy this one. It's clearly made by young people, but it's pretty impressive, isn't it?

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PS. One other game-related note, if you happen to be reading this on Thanksgiving Day: GameStop (formerly Impulse, formerly Stardock) is selling Sid Meier's Civilization V today only for 75% off - just $7.49.

Note that the game runs on Steam, which I hate. That's the reason I haven't bought it before now. But I have bought a few games on Steam, when they get too cheap to pass up, and I think this will be another one. Really, this is too good to miss, don't you think?