The unofficial Minecraft event Nethermined is set to return to the North East next month at Event Northumbria, after a resounding debut last year. Over 5th and 6th of March, Minecraft fans will have the opportunity to meet, greet and game with their favourite UK based YouTubers.
Michelle Poller (the Director of Nethermined) says it was her daughter that started the ball rolling, 'Just over a year ago she became Minecraft mad. She started asking us to take her to conventions, but they were in Coventry and some were even further South.'
When Michelle and her partner Michael realised there weren't any events for Minecraft fans in the North East, they decided to make their own.'We got a few YouTubers to agree to come along, and once we had the first couple it just snowballed. It was amazing how keen they were to meet northern fans.'
The response from Minecraft fans was overwhelming, and the first Nethermined was a great success. Michelle says that this year will be even better, 'We had some issues with queues last year, so this year we have decided to make the event much more content driven.'
'We have a cosplay competition, live gaming sessions with the YouTubers playing on stage, various panels and adult educations sessions, and the Parents Zone. There will be some small scale signings too, so fans can get autographs and photos taken.'
Michelle says the the YouTube community is hugely important to Nethermined, 'What a lot of parents and kids don't realise is that YouTubers invest a lot of time to plan their videos, record, edit and collaborate with others. It's thanks to the YouTubers that Minecraft is so popular and continues to grow.'
'The game is unlike any other. It spans ages, abilities and disabilities, more than any other game I have heard of. It has different aspects, action mode, building more, story telling mode, and can be used in education. What other games can do all that?'
Tickets for Nethermined are now available at £15 a day. For more information, and to see which YouTubers are attending visit the Nethermined website.