What Is Minecraft Speedrunning? A Brief Overview Of The Popular Mode

Without a doubt, we have all heard of Minecraft. Despite being released almost 10 years ago, it is still one of the most popular video games out there, boasting over 100,000,000 monthly players.

There are many contributing factors towards Minecraft’s success, but the one of the main factors is how flexible the game is. When playing Minecraft, there are almost endless possibilities for how a player can play the game, however, there are 4 different game modes in Minecraft: Survival, Hardcore, Creative and Adventure.

Survival Mode

In survival mode, players enter a world and, well, have to survive. There are four difficulties that can be played: Peaceful, Easy, Normal or Hard. Peaceful mode allows players to enter a world without many of the dangers that are encountered on the other 3 difficulties. There are no harmful mobs, such as zombies or creepers etc, and players never lose hunger, meaning they will always regenerate health. Players can still die in peaceful mode by taking fall damage or falling into lava etc.

When a player joins a Survival world, they spawn with no loot and therefore must gather materials to craft items and tools. Within Survival mode, players have the freedom to choose to build, go mining, fight mobs, farm or go off and explore the world around them; the choice is entirely theirs. 

Although defeating the Ender Dragon is deemed as the ‘end-goal’ for Minecraft Survival, Minecraft can never really be completed. With constant updates bringing out new blocks, mobs and items, there is always something for a player to do in their world. There are some players that have had the same world for years and continue to play and progress to expand their world.

If a player dies in Survival mode, then they can respawn, either at the location they last slept in a bed, or in the same location they spawned when entering the world for the very first time. 

Hardcore Mode

Hardcore mode is very similar to survival, however, the difficulty is always set to hard and cannot be changed. More so, if a player dies in Minecraft Hardcore mode, they cannot respawn and they must delete the world forever. Before deleting the world, a player can enter spectate mode, allowing one last look over their creations in the world. 

This mode is not recommended for new or beginner players, and should really be only played by people looking to challenge themself. Hardcore mode makes for a very fun Minecraft series on YouTube or Twitch. In the past we have seen YouTubers such as TheSyndicateProject take on Minecraft’s Hardcore mode and succeed!

Creative Mode

If you are looking for a super relaxed, fun time in Minecraft, then Creative mode is the way for you. Creative mode takes away all of the survival aspects of the game. In this mode, players have no health nor hunger and are essentially in God mode. Players are able to fly and are given access to a menu that allows the player to spawn in literally anything they like. Every block can be placed and removed instantly with a single click of a button. 

The purpose of creative mode is to allow players to build whatever they like, as much as they like. They can practice building a base, or they can test out items they have not managed to obtain in survival mode. 

Many people spend their time in Creative mode building adventure or challenge maps for others to come in and enjoy. One of the coolest and most impressive builds that we have ever seen is as a 1:1 scale remake of London City.

Adventure Mode

Adventure mode is the least commonly played mode in Minecraft as is it only used in player created challenge, or parkour maps. This mode limits a part of the gameplay in Minecraft such as not being able to break blocks etc. However, players can still interact with the environment in some ways, such as opening chests and doors, and can also take damage from mobs. 

Minecraft Speedrunning

From the different game modes that are available in Minecraft, there are endless ways to play the game. One of the most challenging ways to play Minecraft is Minecraft Speedrunning. Although people have been attempting Speedruns on Minecraft for many years, thanks to streamers such as Tfue streaming their attempts on Twitch, it has become more popular than ever.

What Is Minecraft Speedrunning?

Minecraft Speedrunning is when players attempt to beat Minecraft in the fastest time possible. There are a few different Speedrun modes that are played, however, the most popular is Random Seed Speedrunning. 

For this, a player must join a brand new, randomly generated world and defeat the Ender Dragon as fast as possible. 

When attempting a Minecraft Speedrun, you must abide by the rules set by speedrun.com. These rules are set in place to create an equal and fair playing ground for all players. Speedrun.com provides leaderboards for speedrunning across thousands of games and are responsible for regulating submitted runs to ensure all they are legit.

What Is The (Current) Minecraft Speedrunning World-Record?

Currently, the world record for Minecraft Speedrunning is set at an impressive, 14 minutes, 20 seconds and 220ms (14 minutes 07 seconds in-game time). This current record is held by @0Reign. 

With players across the world constantly attempting Minecraft Speedruns, it may not be long before we see the record broken once again.