Mojang's title Minecraft has shattered multiple records as the most popular title in the history of the video game industry. Enjoyed by kids and adults alike, the title offers nearly unparalleled freedom for gamers to do with as they wish, including landscaping the near-infinite virtual world. One United Kingdom landscaping company looks to take advantage of this, but could have bitten off more than it could chew.
The idea is unique: a landscaping company named WhatShed aims to offer professional gardening and landscaping advice to Minecraft, expanding the company's reach into the virtual realm. While many players would watch YouTube videos for inspiration, or perhaps read through a wiki or two, the company is banking on players just wanting to contract design out. The price-point seems steep: WhatShed is offering payment of "upwards of £50 an hour." The unique idea had only one drawback that WhatShed might not have considered.
The game job posting has garnered the attention of hundreds of children, eager to turn the Minecraft experience into tangible cash. Dozens of comments have been added to the job listing since it went up, with children offering their years of expertise in the digital world and occasionally arguing with each other as to who the best landscaper is. WhatShed is only offering the fully-remote position to applicants twenty years of age or older, but this hasn't stopped comments from eager kids around the world.
The United Kingdom has laws on what age kids can work, with the minimum being fourteen years of age. The responsibilities of the job posting include evaluating the scope of work and client desires, and offering multiple creative solutions to the client while explaining the reasoning behind the concepts. Also, a justification of the costs is needed to be included with the package offered to clients, and this could be where things begin to fall apart: how does one justify over $70 per hour for a virtual world?
As mentioned, while WhatShed is offering "upwards of £50 an hour" for a task that many find to be one of the joys of the sandbox game, the number of players willing to offer that much cash is likely few and far between, if not entirely null. To have enough clients willing to pay for the minimum one-hour consultation, enough for the position to make financial sense for WhatShed to continue offering the service, may seem extremely unlikely. The position, offering some entertaining fodder, is more than likely a vie for backlinks and a modicum of attention. It just so happens that the entertainment is worth the effort.
Minecraft is available on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.