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The Best YouTube Video of 2025 Was Filmed in Minecraft

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It was November of 2023 when Ish, a 23-year-old native of Illinois, announced a new entry in his "Minecraft Civilization" event series. Over 8,000 of his fans rushed to apply to join. The prize: the chance to become one of 1,000 players invited to "simulate a realistic civilization" on one of two Minecraft islands hosted by Ish and his team across a more than weeklong event. Being accepted to join one of Ish's events brought the opportunity for not just fun, but real fame: earlier videos in the series had earned upwards of 10 million, 20 million, and even 38 million views on Ish's YouTube channel. These videos, often presented as "experiments," defy typical YouTube video genre conventions. They're not scripted beyond the initial scenario devised by Ish, nor are they truly "real" simulations of a digital civilization, because players that get invited to join the events are often self consciously roleplaying, yucking it up either as fictional characters or as heightened versions of thems

Players convene to debate going to war with inhabitants of an opposing island. It was November of 2023 when Ish, a 23-year-old native of Illinois, announced a new entry in his "Minecraft Civilization" event series. Over 8,000 of his fans rushed to apply to join. The prize: the chance to become one of 1,000 players invited to "simulate a realistic civilization" on one of two Minecraft islands hosted by Ish and his team across a more than weeklong event. The original call for applications in Ish’s Discord server Being accepted to join one of Ish's events brought the opportunity for not…

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