“It’s just like a world where you can basically do whatever you want. There’s blocks that you can use to make different structures and build things and such.”

Most teenagers make their paycheck scooping ice cream or cashiering at a retail store. Donned in khakis and a “Hello, my name is” badge, high schoolers everywhere punch in at their local workplace Saturday mornings.

During this time junior Keenan Thompson is at home, busy to work at his computer. He decided that the typical weekend job was not for him when he began managing a Minecraft server in August of 2012.

Minecraft is basically a video game consisting of lego-like building blocks and limitless freedom. In retrospect, the game should have no appeal. The graphics are not high-tech. There is no story line or characters in the game. The only objective is to survive, build and explore.

In reality, the game is one of the most popular video games in existence, especially among young and teenage boys.

“About three years ago now, my friends told me about the game, and I just started getting into it,” said Thompson. “It’s just like a world where you can basically do whatever you want. There’s blocks that you can use to make different structures and build things and such.”

In Minecraft there are smaller games within the game, and players can go on from around the world to participate. One example is Nebula, which consists of two teams that try to destroy a specific block on the other team’s side. Players can come together on things called servers, which people can run to develop and create new games.

“Shortly after, I found that there were servers that players play on to just have fun together with friends, just to experience the game together,” said Thompson. Once he knew this, he looked into starting up one of these servers.

“It was really easy to start out; Minecraft makes it really easy. Anyone can just download the file and start the server, and if you know some just basic code it’s simple,” he said.

Simple to Thompson, that is. Most people do not know basic code, and if one googles how to start a Minecraft server, a severe red warning message pops up stating, “Before following these instructions please note that running server software on your computer without a clear understanding of what you are doing may seriously harm your system and lead to vulnerabilities.”

Where most people would see this message and turn back, Thompson was willing to take the challenge. The problem was Minecraft was in a specific code language that he did not know. This did not stop him, though, as he taught himself the code with online tutorials and YouTube videos. He said there were a lot of websites out there that helped him out.

“It was pretty easy to learn since I’ve used previous ones, called Ruby, which is quite similar to Java,” said Thompson.

After learning the ins and outs of the business, Thompson officially started his Minecraft server in August of 2012. As the owner of the server, it is his job to develop and manage games. He really likes it, and is glad he got into it.

“It’s a fun game, its developed by a really fun community around the game. I enjoy programming, making games and seeing what comes out of it,” said Thompson.

When he first started he did not think much would come out of it. But his server soon became popular, and suddenly Thompson found himself with money coming in, a welcome surprise. The players themselves can play on the online server for free, but if they want to have a more full experience they can pay money to get new items, such as weapons or tools.

Compared to a regular part-time job, managing the server pays extremely well. But it is not all fun and games. It is a lot harder and takes more skills than waiting tables at a cafe.

‘[Managing the server] is the only thing I do. It’s a lot of work, but I can choose to do it whenever I want to, unless there’s some issues with the server or something,” said Thompson.

The hours are more flexible than the typical eight-hour shift. Thompson can decide when he wants to work on it, sometimes pulling out his laptop in the middle of class to check on how things are going.

He has always had an interest in computers and the technology field, before programming he used to work on creating videos and video editing. He said, “It’s kind of similar areas, building something and seeing what comes of it.”

Thompson plans to carry on his passion in his future, hoping to go into the programming field in college.