The best tools for helping people to learn how to code are those that let you see results quickly, which is why Minecraft has been such a vital tool on so many young programmers’ journeys.

It has ultimately proven influential on other game developers as well; aside from the success of Fallout London and the Frostpunk 2 mod context, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is the latest huge game to embrace the modding scene, with publisher Sega embracing any mods that do not allow cheating.

Part of the reason why this might be the case could be related to Minecraft, which coincidentally happens to feature heaving in one of the game’s downloadable content packs, and a decision that was made relatively early in the game’s life and not without some degree of apprehension.

In 2009, Minecraft’s very earliest releases came online, but within a year, there were already mods appearing from enthusiastic programmers who wanted to improve the game’s functionality or add features to the then very young game.

By the time Minecraft entered its beta phase in 2011, many of the most crucial modding tools and development platforms were already being developed for it, including support for pistons, railways and more advanced and elaborate building projects.

This left Mojang with a dilemma surrounding the future of the game; the fear was that modders could supersede the original vision for a game that was still in active development and heading towards what would become one of the most successful game releases of all time.

Ultimately, the choice was either to block or heavily restrict modding or embrace it and let the community move forward without fearing any restrictions.

This openness did the opposite to harming the success of Minecraft; one of the reasons it remains such a popular game is because it is a platform to learn how coding works and learn the building blocks to creating your own games and programs thanks to easy-to-use tools.