Editing Far Lands or Bust

{{short description|Online gaming video series}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = Farland or Bust Logo 2017.png
| caption              = Current logo for the series 
| creator              = Kurt J. Mac
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 11 ({{As of|2023|09|09|df=US|lc=y|url=https://www.youtube.com/user/kurtjmac}})
| num_episodes         = 841 ({{As of|2023|02|02|df=US|lc=y|url=https://www.youtube.com/user/kurtjmac}})
| channel              = [https://www.youtube.com/user/kurtjmac kurtjmac] on [[YouTube]]
| first_aired          = {{Start date|2011|3|6}}
| last_aired           = present
}}

'''''Far Lands or Bust''''' (abbreviated '''FLoB''') is an online video series created by Kurt J. Mac in which he plays the video game ''[[Minecraft]]''. The series depicts his journey to the "Far Lands", a distant area of a ''Minecraft'' world in which the terrain generation does not function correctly, creating a warped landscape.<ref name="notchblog">{{cite web |url=http://notch.tumblr.com/post/3746989361/terrain-generation-part-1 |title=Terrain Generation Part 1 |website=The Word of Notch |last1=Persson |first1=Markus |date=March 9, 2011 |access-date=November 30, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205012552/http://notch.tumblr.com/post/3746989361/terrain-generation-part-1 |archive-date=December 5, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="unwinnable">{{cite web |url=http://www.unwinnable.com/2013/10/01/far-lands/#.VFeJAjJ-eB8 |title=Far Lands |last1=Hughes |first1=Timothy |date=October 1, 2013 |website=Unwinnable |access-date=November 30, 2014}}</ref> Kurt has been travelling since March 2011 and {{As of|2018|9|lc=y}} is expected to take another 20 years to reach his destination; the show also holds the [[Guinness World Record]] for the longest journey in ''Minecraft''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Minecraft: Ten of the best block-busting world records|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2014/11/minecraft-ten-of-the-best-block-busting-world-records-61744/|website=Guinness World Records|access-date=October 13, 2017|date=November 11, 2014}}</ref><ref name="newyorker">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/a-journey-to-the-end-of-the-world-of-minecraft |title=A Journey to the End of the World (of Minecraft) |last1=Parkin |first1=Simon |date=January 23, 2014 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=November 30, 2014}}</ref>

Episodes of ''Far Lands or Bust'' typically act as a sort of [[podcast]], with the game providing a backing track while Kurt discusses recent events in his life, news and science. The show also encourages viewers to donate to charity to reach fundraising goals.<ref name="newyorker" /> This charity was originally [[Child's Play (charity)|Child's Play]], for which the show raised over $400,000.<ref name="hp">{{cite web|last1=Casti|first1=Taylor|title=Intrepid Gamer Attempts To Find Edge Of Minecraft World|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/27/edge-of-minecraft_n_4676047.html|website=Huffington Post|access-date=October 13, 2017|date=January 27, 2014}}</ref><ref name="macleans">{{cite web |url=http://www.macleans.ca/society/technology/theres-millions-in-those-minecraft-blocks/ |title=There's millions in those Minecraft blocks |last1=Racco |first1=Marilisa |date=July 15, 2014 |website=Maclean's |access-date=November 30, 2014}}</ref> From 2018 to 2019 the charity was [[Direct Relief]].<ref>{{Citation|last=kurtjmac|title=Minecraft Far Lands or Bust - #671 - New Charity & 7-Year Anniversary!|date=March 6, 2018|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apb6cW4wxXA|access-date=March 6, 2018}}</ref> Beginning in 2020 the charity is the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), from which Kurt adopted his own dog, Juno, in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.farlandsorbust.com/charity.html|title=Charity Fundraising at Far Lands or Bust - an expedition in search of adventure, exploration, and for charity!}}</ref> On August 30, 2020, Kurt announced he would no longer be using PAWS as his charity, mostly due to complications with their donation system, instead switching the charity to the [[Equal Justice Initiative]].<ref>{{Citation|last=kurtjmac|title=Minecraft Far Lands or Bust - #797 - How Numbers Work|date=August 30, 2020|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_ZapDNPS64|access-date=September 2, 2020}}</ref>

== Format ==

=== The Far Lands ===
''Minecraft'' is a [[Open world|sandbox]] video game which places players in a [[3D computer graphics|3D]] [[Procedural generation|procedurally generated]] world. As a player walks in any direction, the game generates terrain ahead of them, creating (in theory) a virtually infinite world for the player to explore.<ref name="unwinnable" /> However, due to computational limits in earlier versions of the game, at a distance of roughly 12,550,821 blocks from the center of the world the terrain generation algorithm behaves unexpectedly, creating a sudden warped landscape.<ref name="radio4">{{cite episode
| title = Broken
| url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b042jcx6
| series = Digital Human
| network = BBC
| station = Radio 4
| series-no = 5
| number = 6
| minutes = 15:18 }}</ref> [[Markus Persson]], the original developer of ''Minecraft'', commented that "Walking that far will take a very long time. Besides, the bugs add mystery and charisma to the Far Lands."<ref name="notchblog" /> The name "Far Lands" was adopted by the community to refer to this area. Persson also said it would be "impossible to reach the Far Lands" and Kurt took that as a challenge.<ref>{{cite web|title=This Dedicated Soul Has Been Walking Across 'Minecraft' Since 2011|url=http://www.techtimes.com/articles/82073/20150904/man-walking-minecraft-2011.htm|website=Tech Times|access-date=October 13, 2017|date=September 4, 2015}}</ref>

Due to changes to the game's code, recent versions of the game do not contain the same error, and terrain continues to generate normally at distances up to {{convert|30000|km|||}} from the center of the world.<ref name="unwinnable" /> Kurt has continued to record his series in version Beta 1.7.3,<ref>{{cite news |last=McGlynn |first=Anthony |date=April 10, 2021 |work=PCGamesN |title=One Minecraft player's ten-year journey to the Far Lands |url=https://www.pcgamesn.com/minecraft/far-lands-or-bust}}</ref> the latest version of the game in which the Far Lands are still present.<ref name="Yahoo">{{cite news |date=August 28, 2022 |work=Yahoo 遊戲 |title=踏上3200萬方塊第一人！《Minecraft》玩家2500小時「徒步」挑戰 |trans-title=First Person to Walk over 32 Million Blocks! Minecraft Player Finishes Challenge After 2500 Hours |url=https://games.yahoo.com.tw/news/minecraft-java-edition-far-lands-053108946.html}}</ref> Persson estimated in 2014 that walking to the Far Lands would take approximately 800 hours.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dean |first=Paul |date=May 29, 2014 |work=PCGamesN |title=Far Lands or Bust: One man and his wolf walk across Minecraft for charity |url=https://www.pcgamesn.com/minecraft/far-lands-or-bust-one-man-and-his-wolf-walk-across-minecraft-charity}}</ref> Even further out (32 million blocks), the game fails to check for collision, leading the player to fall through the map to their death.

Over 30 legitimate journeys to the Far Lands have been verified as of October 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=MMDL |title=The Far Lands Walkers 2 {{!}} COMPLETE LIST 2023 [30+ players] – Premium Minecraft Blog |url=https://premiumminecraft.com/ |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=premiumminecraft.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> About 1/3 have been completed (some using a 1/8th shortcut through the Nether dimension), 1/3 are in progress, and 1/3 have become inactive (including one death, TinfoilChef<ref>{{Cite web |title=https://twitter.com/wabbedu/status/1558483091357896709 |url=https://twitter.com/wabbedu/status/1558483091357896709 |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=X (formerly Twitter) |language=en}}</ref>). For example, in August 2022, this goal was reached by Mystical Midget, after 2,500 hours of walking.<ref name="Yahoo" />

=== F3 monuments ===
In the game, a debug screen can be opened by pressing F3, which displays the player's current coordinates in the world, plus the biome.<ref>{{cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Stephen |date=September 18, 2014 |title=The Ultimate Player's Guide to Minecraft |chapter=Getting Started |page=23 |publisher=Que Publishing |isbn=9780133900637}}</ref> In Kurt's journey to the Far Lands, he only presses F3 once the season's charity donations goal has been met to wrap up the season. Additionally, he builds a monument to commemorate the occasion.

One exception to this was when he crossed a point where the [[Loss of significance|floating-point error]] grew from two texture pixels to four. On August 8, 2020, due to witnessing an increase in the [[Floating-point arithmetic#Accuracy problems|floating-point error]] jitter, Kurt pressed F3 during a live stream (listed as episode 793.5) to confirm he'd hit the milestone of 4,194,304 blocks. In the next episode, 794, on August 11, 2020, he built a monument to mark the point.<ref>{{cite web |title=Far Lands or Bust - Episode 794 |website = [[YouTube]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE_MIp3Vx9A}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Press
!Date
!Distance (Z)
!Season
!Episode (overall)
!Donation goal
!Total raised
|-
|1
|November 17, 2011
|292,202
|2
|096
|$8,200{{ref|a}}
|$11,724
|-
|2
|September 1, 2012
|699,492
|3
|178
|$29,220
|$70,838.39
|-
|3
|March 6, 2014
|1,479,940
|4
|334
|$100,000
|$186,649.13
|-
|4
|March 28, 2015
|2,266,779
|5
|490
|$50,000
|$66,061.70
|-
|5
|January 22, 2017
|3,116,936
|6
|640
|$60,000
|$71,431.83
|-
|6
|August 31, 2019
|3,857,848
|7
|755
|$50,000
|TBD
|-
|7
|March 6, 2021 
|4,856,980
|8
|815
|$8,200
|$18,093.04<ref>{{cite web |title=Far Lands or Bust - Episode 816 |website = [[YouTube]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp9vUn4hgws}}</ref>
|-
|8
|April 1, 2022 
|5,765,878
|9
|828
|$4,200
|$4,680
|-
|9
|May 30, 2023 
|7,396,358
|10
|847
|
|
|-
|}

== Notes ==
:1.{{note|a}}Initially $820, but raised to $8,200 after goal was reached in under a week

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.farlandsorbust.com/}}
*{{YouTube|u=kurtjmac|KurtJMac}}

{{Minecraft}}

[[Category:2010s YouTube series]]
[[Category:2011 web series debuts]]
[[Category:2020s YouTube series]]
[[Category:Charity fundraisers]]
[[Category:Gaming-related YouTube channels]]
[[Category:Minecraft]]
[[Category:YouTube channels launched in 2010]]