I absolutely love learning about video games, but I don’t think there’s a single game I’ve consistently played for a decade. In fact, I can’t recall ever sticking with a game for more than a few months at a time. One Minecraft streamer in Seattle, Washington, was finally rewarded for his efforts after actively playing and streaming the game for the last 14 years. In that entire time, not only has he surpassed nearly 12 million in-game blocks, but he has also raised over $500,000 for charity and published hundreds of episodes of his series, Far Lands of Bust. This is one of the reasons I’m glad to be a part of the gaming community.
YouTube streamer KurtJMac has been posting to YouTube for nearly 15 years, focusing on his Minecraft series, Far Lands or Bust. The series focuses on his journey to the Far Lands, which is almost like a mythical location in the world of Minecraft. Basically, there comes a point in the procedural generation of world seeds where the math simply fails, resulting in these massive, archipelago-like structures of stretched blocks and distorted terrain. The Far Lands have existed since before Java Edition 1.8, and have been patched out, though it is clearly still available to reach if you have the gusto.
For a bit of context, the distance required to reach the Far Lands is nearly 12 and a half million blocks from wherever you spawned, basically resulting in the journey of a lifetime. As you’d expect, this also meant that KurtJMac endured instability, lag, and general glitching as he approached his target. Even the above clip shows just how slow he has to move in order to move just a few blocks. However, he was determined to reach it, and as he neared the fourth hour of Day 69 of his sub-a-thon, it finally happened. He even had balloons blown up to celebrate the occasion.
Fans of the series were thrilled to finally see it come to an end. One commentator expressed their excitement, saying, “I remember hearing about this guy in the beginner’s handbook. I’m glad to see he finally made it (‘:.” It’s fantastic to see everything come full circle and to witness that he never gave up, ensuring he completed his journey. He even ensured that the moment was commemorated via an in-game sign that read, ‘Here Farlanders First Set Foot Upon Far Lands!‘ and placed it at the entrance to the Far Lands before exiting the game and ending his nearly 15-year-long journey.
