MineCon 2011
| MINECON | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Status | Active |
| Genre | Gamers Convention |
| Venue | Varies |
| Location(s) | Europe & North America |
 MINECON 2015 Opening Ceremony Animation
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MINECON is a convention for the video game Minecraft, hosted by Mojang. The first gathering in 2010 was known as MinecraftCon. The MINECON 2011 convention was held in Las Vegas and celebrated the launch of the game with Minecraft-related discussion panels and gaming areas. The most recent convention, held in Anaheim, had 12,000 attendees. The latest event, known as MineCon Earth, took place on 18 November and marked the first free online MineCon event.
MinecraftCon 2010 was a gathering of more than 30 people at Bellevue, Washington on 31 August. Markus Persson made an appearance at the meet-up when several requests were made for a community meet-up, so he called on the community to pick no specific venue. This was not technically a convention, but some count it as the first Minecraft convention.
5,000 people attended the first official MINECON convention held in Las Vegas on 18 November 2011. The convention focused on celebrating the game's release and hosted Minecraft-related discussion panels, and invited people to play the game with others while at the convention. There were keynote speeches from members of the community, building contests, costume contests and exhibits. One of the many events at MINECON was the "Nether Party", an event for those aged 21 and over, featuring deadmau5. This event also marked the release of Minecraft 1.0 to the public, officially taking the game out of beta.
On 2 August 2012, Mojang announced that the 2012 MINECON convention would take place in the Paris Disneyland Park on 24 and 25 November. The announcement was made over the social networking platform Twitter when the game's creator, Markus Persson, posted a short trailer revealing the new convention location. The video shows Mojang team members wearing Disney paraphernalia, and Persson comments to lead developer Jens Bergensten, "I think they are trying to tell us something".Joystiq's JC Fletcher said that the site was a "step up" from the first MINECON's location in Las Vegas. The second annual convention was the first held outside of the United States, making it available to European fans who might not have been able to attend the first. It was held in the wake of Minecraft's growing popularity as the Xbox 360 version of the game sold 3 million copies. 2012 was also the start of several in-game unofficial MINECONs, notably Virtual MINECON, which although an unofficial event, was attended by a member of the Mojang Team. Many in-game MINECONs have announced an intent to return with the start of the next MINECON.
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