"We Don't Sell Blocks" Exploring Minecraft's Commissioning Market

In recent times, we have seen the growth of videogames that have, as their main game mode creating in-game content. While there are books that have looked at a variety of aspects of these games, it is vital to examine the potential methods of monetisation that could arise from their environment. Our ethnographic research has revealed a vibrant market for commissioning in Minecraft's creative community. Our findings reveal three principal players in this market: the clients, who are the owners of Minecraft servers and the contractors who handle the clients' orders of Minecraft maps; and the builders, who are the ones responsible for the creation of said maps. Furthermore,minecraft whitelist servershas revealed that the commodity at play is not the game's in-game content, as one might expect, but the service of creating this content. These findings suggest that commissioning in Minecraft - a well-organised process that is initiated and maintained solely by the members of the game's community - plays a crucial part in the game's current structure. Furthermore, they challenge the belief that content creation in gaming settings is free-labour that is exploited by the developers of those games.