About

As the fifth episode in Unstable Universe, "I Uncovered Minecraft's Greatest Secret", by Parrot, starts off by introducing the driving factor of the events to come, a quest, presented by Spokeishere through the form of a music disc, to learn Minecraft’s greatest secret. To complete this quest and learn the secret in question, Parrot must recruit a friend, Wifies, to help him complete the scavenger hunt and quests he has been given. As Parrot and Wifies attempt to complete these quests, they are chased by two players, Wemmbu and PrinceZam, who are desperate to get a lead on where Spoke is hiding and in turn, kill him. Before Spoke’s final trial, he reveals that only one person can know the secret, and that the other will be chunkbanned to ensure that no one else finds out. This final trial leads to Parrot and Wifies finally being put against one another, and since they are so evenly matched in skill, their final score is tied. In the end, Wifies sacrifices himself for Parrot to learn the secret. Only once Spoke has led Parrot out of the bunker does he reveal that there was no secret, that Wifies had sacrificed himself for nothing, and Spoke has finally gotten what he has wanted, for Parrot to be completely alone. Spoke’s monologue is interrupted by Wemmbu and Zam showing up, and Parrot helps them chase Spoke down now that they have a shared goal. The episode ends with Spoke running back into the bunker and chunkbanning himself in the same area as Wifies, guaranteeing that if Parrot tries to free Wifies, he will also, in turn, free Spoke.

The Cast

The Mastermind

After experimenting with exploits, trying and failing to cover up such research, having those exploited items fall into the wrong hands, and being abandoned by his closest friend, JamatoP, Spokeishere is on the run. This does not mean he will not find the time to take out his frustrations on an unsuspecting target.

The Travelers

Over the course of the quest, Parrot and Wifies have developed a close bond, one full of trust and mutual respect. This raises the question, would Parrot be willing to sacrifice his closest friend for the life-changing information being offered to him?

The Hunters

After nearly being imprisoned by Spoke, Wemmbu is looking to get his revenge. Coincidentally, as he is questioning Jamato on Spoke’s whereabouts, he encounters guards from the PrinceZam Empire. With a mutual goal of finding and killing Spoke, Wemmbu and PrinceZam decide to team up for convenience.

Works Cited

Barahona Martínez, Jaime, et al. “NARRATIVE STRUCTURES AND TECHNIQUES OF TRADITIONAL SERIES IN DIGITAL PLATFORM CONTENT The Case of Role-Playing Series in Minecraft.” Visual Review, vol. 16, no. 3, Mar. 2024, pp. 321–32. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.proxy1.library.eiu.edu/10.62161/revvisual.v16.5271.

Kenadian The Cat. “‘Debunking Wifies’ Q&A + Behind The Scenes.” YouTube, YouTube, 3 July 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=60FWvNX6EKY&t=18536s (2:31:41-2:34:06)

Martinelli, Dario. “Creativity and Visuality of Closed Spaces: The Case of Ettore Scola.” Creativity Studies, vol. 15, no. 2, July 2022, pp. 376–88. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.proxy1.library.eiu.edu/10.3846/cs.2022.15539.

Mer. “Barrier Blocks: On Minecraft Roleplay and the Fourth Wall, Part One: Introduction.” Mering, Neocities, 5 Nov. 2023, mering.neocities.org/posts/2023-11-05-Barrier-Blocks-Introduction.

Parrot. “I Uncovered Minecraft’s Greatest Secret.” YouTube, 17 May 2024, youtu.be/J0Jj6A72OoE?si=k6GwKXcRuxk2x9Lk.

Perchtold-Stefan, Corinna M., et al. “Failure to Reappraise: Malevolent Creativity Is Linked to Revenge Ideation and Impaired Reappraisal Inventiveness in the Face of Stressful, Anger-Eliciting Events.” Anxiety, Stress & Coping, vol. 34, no. 4, July 2021, pp. 437–49. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.proxy1.library.eiu.edu/10.1080/10615806.2021.1918682.

Q-Nihachu. “I’ve Been Thinking about What It Is so Specifically about Minecraft Roleplay That Involves so Much Sharing of Interpretation between Creator and Audience.” Tumblr, 15 Jan. 2024, www.tumblr.com/q-nihachu/739617495075504128/ive-been-thinking-about-what-it-is-so?source=share.

randomminecraftguy. “I Had a Thought...” Tumblr, 3 Nov. 2024, www.tumblr.com/randomminecraftguy/766143182134247424/these-are-some-very-good-thoughts-he-ran-into?source=share.

Research Synthesis

“NARRATIVE STRUCTURES AND TECHNIQUES OF TRADITIONAL SERIES IN DIGITAL PLATFORM CONTENT The Case of Role-Playing Series in Minecraft”, by Jaime Barahona Martínez, et al., Tumblr user randomminecraftguy’s post “I Had a Thought...”, Kenadian The Cat’s “‘Debunking Wifies’ Q&A + Behind The Scenes”, “Barrier Blocks: On Minecraft Roleplay and the Fourth Wall, Part One: Introduction”, by Mer, and “I’ve Been Thinking about What It Is so Specifically about Minecraft Roleplay That Involves so Much Sharing of Interpretation between Creator and Audience”, by Tumblr user Q-Nihachu all deal with Minecraft roleplay related media, such as Unstable Universe itself or another SMP within the genre. Barahona Martínez’s “NARRATIVE STRUCTURES AND TECHNIQUES OF TRADITIONAL SERIES IN DIGITAL PLATFORM CONTENT The Case of Role-Playing Series in Minecraft”, “Creativity and Visuality of Closed Spaces: The Case of Ettore Scola”, by Dario Martinelli, and “Barrier Blocks: On Minecraft Roleplay and the Fourth Wall, Part One: Introduction”, by Mer, deal directly with narrative. “Failure to Reappraise: Malevolent Creativity Is Linked to Revenge Ideation and Impaired Reappraisal Inventiveness in the Face of Stressful, Anger-Eliciting Events”, by Corinna M. Perchtold Stefan, et al. and Tumblr user randomminecraftguy’s post “I Had a Thought...” discuss character motivations. “I’ve Been Thinking about What It Is so Specifically about Minecraft Roleplay That Involves so Much Sharing of Interpretation between Creator and Audience”, by Tumblr user Q-Nihachu, “Barrier Blocks: On Minecraft Roleplay and the Fourth Wall, Part One: Introduction”, by Mer, Kenadian The Cat’s “‘Debunking Wifies’ Q&A + Behind The Scenes”, and Barahona Martínez’s “NARRATIVE STRUCTURES AND TECHNIQUES OF TRADITIONAL SERIES IN DIGITAL PLATFORM CONTENT The Case of Role-Playing Series in Minecraft” discuss the way game mechanics are interwoven with storytelling in this genre. “Creativity and Visuality of Closed Spaces: The Case of Ettore Scola”, by Dario Martinelli and Kenadian The Cat’s “‘Debunking Wifies’ Q&A + Behind The Scenes” discuss different aspects of setting the scene, Martinelli’s focusing on cinema, specifically Italian cinema, and Kenadian’s discussing scene building within Unstable Universe itself.

Some of these sources are studies, others are discussions on narrative and design, and some are discussions on Minecraft roleplay as a medium and the ambiguity the audience must work with to better understand its story. All of these sources can be used to build off each other to better understand Unstable Universe’s storyline, the genre and medium it is a part of, and the audience’s interpretation of the series and similar works within its niche. Due to the limitations within the medium itself, the audience is left, and encouraged, to interpret interactions and such as they wish, which in turn sometimes leads to content creators expanding or building off of their audiences’ interpretations of their characters.

The common ground these sources share is that they can all be used to discuss media, albeit focusing on different aspects of it. “Failure to Reappraise: Malevolent Creativity Is Linked to Revenge Ideation and Impaired Reappraisal Inventiveness in the Face of Stressful, Anger-Eliciting Events”, by Corinna M. Perchtold Stefan, et al. and Tumblr user randomminecraftguy’s post “I Had a Thought...” focus on the psychological aspect, while sources “Creativity and Visuality of Closed Spaces: The Case of Ettore Scola”, by Dario Martinelli and Kenadian The Cat’s “‘Debunking Wifies’ Q&A + Behind The Scenes” discuss setting the scene. “I’ve Been Thinking about What It Is so Specifically about Minecraft Roleplay That Involves so Much Sharing of Interpretation between Creator and Audience”, by Tumblr user Q-Nihachu, “Barrier Blocks: On Minecraft Roleplay and the Fourth Wall, Part One: Introduction”, by Mer , Kenadian The Cat’s “‘Debunking Wifies’ Q&A + Behind The Scenes”, Tumblr user randomminecraftguy’s post “I Had a Thought...”, and Barahona Martínez’s “NARRATIVE STRUCTURES AND TECHNIQUES OF TRADITIONAL SERIES IN DIGITAL PLATFORM CONTENT The Case of Role-Playing Series in Minecraft” discuss the genre itself.