Spending the weekend with 12,000 Minecraft fanatics helped me understand why Microsoft paid $2.5 billion for it

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Matt Weinberger/Business Insider

Over the weekend, I made my way down to Anaheim, California, right on Disneyland's doorstep, for Minecon 2016 — the fifth annual gathering of Minecraft players and enthusiasts from all over the world. 

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I wasn't sure what to expect: I play Minecraft with my nephews, but I had never been around so many other Minecraft fans before, and I'm not a super-fan.

With an estimated 12,000 Minecraft lovers in attendance, this was digging myself in deeper than ever before. Still, it means that just about two years after Microsoft bought Minecraft developer Mojang for $2.5 billion, the game's growth has not slowed down.

The first thing I learned was that Minecraft videos on YouTube are serious business. Any time YouTube was even mentioned, the sheer level of cheering and clapping from the many kids in attendance felt like being at an Elvis Presley/One Direction double bill concert.

But the bigger thing I came away with was just how much Minecraft means to the kids of the world, and how much of a family affair the game really is. If nothing else, I'm more convinced than ever that Minecraft is here to stay for a very long time. 

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Here's what it was like on the ground at Minecon 2016.

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The day kicked off with the opening ceremonies, where all 12,000 attendees -- mostly kids with their parents -- packed into the main conference hall to hear what they were in for at Minecon 2016.

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Matt Weinberger/Business Insider

The best part of those opening ceremonies were the crowd's reaction: Any time a presenter mentioned YouTube, or a YouTube celebrity made an appearance, the crowd went wild.

stacyplays minecraft minecon 2016
Stacyplays, a Minecraft player and YouTube star with over 1.3 million subscribers, comes out on the MineCon 2016 stage to huge cheers. YouTube/Screenshot

During the opening ceremonies, the host asked three kids from the crowd what they were most excited for. All three of them said "the chance to meet YouTubers."

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Down on the show floor, Minecon did a great job bringing the world of Minecraft to life, to the total delight of the kids in attendance. I even managed to get a picture with Steve, the default male Minecraft character

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Step inside this Minecraft-y house...

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...and you'll find real-life versions of Minecraft mainstays like the enchanting book, bookshelf, wall art..

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...or this comfy bed, large enough for a kid to comfortably sit on (but not me).

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Other Minecraft setups on the show floor included a walk through a cave, where I ran into this spooky skeleton...

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...a life-size pile of dynamite and treasure (which is totally my new band name)...

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...and some life-size switches to throw around.

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There were plenty of photo opps for kids to take photos with the flora and fauna of the Minecraft world, like this Elder Guardian, which is coming to the iPhone and Android versions of Minecraft later in October.

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My favorite section was the "Forest Biome," which simulated Minecraft's blocky trees.

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In the Forest Biome area, kids could line up for their chance to "punch trees" and make the wood go flying along a track...a fitting tribute to the first thing that most players do in their Minecraft games as they start gathering resources.

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Otherwise, Minecon programming tended to fall into two general categories: YouTube stars swapping stories and giving advice on Minecraft video creation, and Minecraft game developers sharing updates and answering questions. Either way, it was a packed house.

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An absolute highlight was watching a lesser-known YouTuber get bullied into talking about Ghostbusters instead by a 7-ish-year-old heckler from the audience.

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There was even a Minecraft costume contest, like this Star Wars family.

minecon minecraft costume contest
YouTube/Screenshot

And YouTube stars Stampy (on the left, with just shy of 8 million subscribers) and his friend iBallisticSquid (3.75 million subscribers) held their annual battle to see who was the ultimate Minecraft fan. Live on stage, they held a trivia contest and then a Minecraft battle. Stampy lost and was forced to smoosh his face into a cake.

stampycat and squid minecon minecraft 2016
YouTube/Screenshot

Stampy, incidentally, is a massive celebrity within the Minecraft community. In the hotel lobby, I heard a girl of around 10 years old bragging to her friends that she had seen him in the hallway and came within a few feet of him. They didn't believe her. 

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Otherwise, two things really stood out to me. First, the massive, hours-long lines for the Minecraft-exclusive merchandise you can only get at the show...

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Matt Weinberger/Business Insider

...like this t-shirt. Mannequin and cardboard Minecraft skeleton head not included, though you can buy the head there if you wanted.

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The other notable thing lies beyond this "stone" guardian...

minecraft minecon 2016
Matt Weinberger/Business Insider

Welcome to the Minecon Arena, where the entire Anaheim Convention Center's Arena got converted into a massive coliseum for Minecraft fans to compete against each other in fortress-building, combat, and racing battles. It was intense, but the seats were a good place to unwind and observe after a long day of Minecon.

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On a final note, I want to shout out the gaming areas. At first, I thought it was weird that Minecon would devote so much of the show floor to stations for playing Minecraft, given that everybody there presumably already has the game.

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But on the second day, I realized what was really going on. These kids were making friends, and inviting them to play Minecraft together on the spot.

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That, by far, was the coolest part of Minecon, looking back. Minecraft is a game that encourages people to build. Minecon is a way for the kids who live Minecraft to bond with their parents, and with each other. I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty great.

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