One on One With wtbarce: On Blocks, Balance, and Becoming By Indigo Mapa

As I grow older, I realize that my taste in online content refines itself without me deliberately doing so. I also realize that I do not give attention to a lot of YouTubers like I did when I was a child or a teenager. Sure, I’ll watch a PewDiePie video once in a while and fawn over his family life, or I’ll doomscroll on YouTube shorts until my brain melts into goop. This was a cycle I couldn’t break until three years ago. I had come across a Minecraft series known as “HighCraft.” A group of friends, getting stoned, and an iconic game that I love? Sign me up. It was such a niche concept that I had resonated with immediately. It had reminded me of my high school friends and the games we’d play together, nostalgia winning me over as per usual. I had done a (somewhat deep) dive into the friend group and their individual channels. That’s when I came across Bryce, better known online as wtbarce or Barce. Known for his Hardcore Series, elaborately beautiful Minecraft builds, and passionate energy, Barce is a one-of-a-kind creator who is just like his videos: candid, creative, and completely unpretentious. Barce is more than just another Minecraft YouTuber; he’s a storyteller, builder, and tinkerer all in one. He’s someone who sees Minecraft as more than just a sandbox game, but as a medium. I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with him and, most of all, of telling his story.

The name “Barce” wasn’t a moment of genius, wasn’t crafted (ha) or brainstormed meticulously. It simply just happened. Stemming from one of his friends, “Barce” was the child of being locked up during COVID, and not wanting to call him “Bryce.” “That name just stuck instantly,” Barce claims, before explaining how it became his online identity. I had asked him about his old username, “vexioVEVO,” and how the shift from that to “wtbarce” had been shaped. He said that the change was college, the “separation from schooling being before college and after college.” 

The character itself was a Frankensteined combination of his two favorite subjects: space and television/movies. He wanted something more like a character than a human, because most Minecraft creators went with the human skin route. The design itself was collaborative; he imagined, he sketched, someone took the sketch, and refined it. Multiple artists, versions, tweaks, until something felt just right. This spoke on how he was as a creator as well, finding the balance between personal and visually appealing. 

Like many players, Barce’s first Minecraft experience was chaotic and pure. “I got it on my grandma’s really, really old Windows XP desktop,” he recalls. Laughing, he explains how he cracked a free version of Minecraft on it and booted up his first world. An island in the middle of a huge ocean. He played on it for years, “that’s like my earliest memory, is just living on the island, never finding diamonds or anything… no wiki or anything.” This had set the foundation for who he is as a creator today. Despite playing for years, his relationship with the game was far from linear. Naturally, he played different modes like PvP (UHC, Hypixel), went into different communities, drifted away, and then returned when COVID had hit. He had then rediscovered two YouTubers, BdoubleO100 and EthosLab, eventually finding that spark to see Minecraft as more than a multiplayer game, but as a single-player game. He started his own survival world, then began building out of creativity’s sake. Seeing the beauty and satisfaction that Minecraft’s mechanics have to offer, he saw this art form as an opportunity to share it with others. 

For Barce, building is more than just a mechanic; it’s a language. “It’s just like drawing or 

doodling. I see it no differently,” he says. The alluring aspect of building is within the process rather than the product. Building for his friends, whether it be a server spawn, a map, or a lobby, had instilled a newfound love of creating for Barce. He finds true enjoyment in utilizing the blocks themselves, thinking outside of the box, and manipulating your mind into thinking you’re looking at something specific.

Everyone has humble beginnings, from dirt huts to wood planks and cobblestone houses. Barce himself used sandstone in his first base, but found that the more he built something over and over again, he found catharsis with building in Minecraft. The repetition, the refinement, the realization that these same blocks can be used to create something completely new and different was what drew him in. One of his favorite builds? A giant monolith ethereally rising from the ocean. “It’s supposed to be a farm, but I made it more because I want to make a cool spire in the middle of the ocean,” he explains, before going into detail on the tedious process he went through. There’s a tension that showcases how Barce’s creations thrive, function versus expression.

The advice Barce gives on building isn’t hard to follow: “don’t think of the blocks as they physically are supposed to represent in the real world.” He uses mangrove planks as an example, explaining that the wooden planks in the game don’t HAVE to be just planks. Stone doesn’t have to be just stone; he challenges everyone to use what Minecraft has to offer in a broader sense. Everything has multiple purposes, in color, texture, or context. He says that another good general tip is to “think about how that block affects the block next to it.”

Though Minecraft feels limitless, endless in fact, it still has its constraints and limitations. But, isn’t that part of the point? Finite colors, vertical slabs, rigid shapes and silhouettes. Instead of seeing these as issues, Barce sees them as openings. “It limits you to think more about how you shape things together and how things connect.” He compares it to Vince Gilligan’s process when working with writers for Breaking Bad. He pushes them all into a corner. This, in Barce’s opinion, works just as well with Minecraft. New and creative ideas are born from being pushed into said corner: “It just kind of forces you into a corner where you have to work your way out of it, and that’s where you get the best results.” He believes that Minecraft is one of the better art mediums in today’s time because you have to actually think about each block placement and build with intention.

I had briefly explained what HighCraft was, and Barce is an integral part of the series. Video games and smoking weed often have the negative connotations that those who partake (especially in both) are unserious, lazy, and unproductive. Barce pushes back, “I don’t think it’s much different than drinking. Drinking is pretty normalized… I only will smoke when it’s like an event, like HighCraft, or I’m hanging out with a bunch of friends.” He talks about the parallels with drinking and smoking weed, that they both can have the same level of addiction, and that they both have the same outcome of productivity and the stigma around them. HighCraft doesn’t glorify the act of smoking weed; it captures the moment between friends and highlights their shared experience. 

Moving on to his life as a content creator, he reveals that there are pros and cons to working on your own schedule. “The pros are I don’t have to report to no one,” he says, “the cons are I have to report to no one.” Everything is self-managed, and Barce talks about how he sometimes wishes for the structure and accountability a boss can provide. He describes himself as a “professional procrastinator.” But in reality, he’s just figuring it out. 

With a growing community and audience, Barce still fails to fully grasp his impact. “I sometimes forget that I have people who just like what I put out there… I watch my videos back before I upload them, and I’m smiling because I’ve always dreamed of doing this when I was like 12 years old… But I’m sitting there watching it because I love what I created.” He then goes on to talk about how it’s hard for him to interpret how his work has affected someone’s day or mood. His disconnect might be something relatable for anyone who presents their art to the public, but it hasn’t made him cynical; if anything, it’s made him more grateful.

Outside of Minecraft, Barce is an extremely creative individual. He grew up with a penchant for arts and crafts, which has carried on throughout his life. He claims to be a tinkerer and potentially going into carpentry in 20 years. He’s also a filmmaker (who mostly made short films!), with a love for cinematic and hard-hitting stories. From Interstellar to Whiplash to Cars, Barce shares his favorites with us to give us a peek into his taste. In terms of games, his top 4 are: Portal 2, Hollow Knight, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Balatro. He considers Minecraft to be his “zero.” He’s currently blasting Kanye’s Graduation and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Show-wise, he’s really into One Piece and has been grinding the episodes for almost a year or two. 

In the future, Barce tells us to expect bigger projects. More ambition, uploads with even more depth. He gives his advice straight up, “You got to send it. You just got to do it because the only one, the only person who’s telling you not to do it is yourself.” There’s no regret in failure, but in never trying in the first place. 

One thing became clear when concluding my conversation with Barce: he isn’t chasing perfection, he’s chasing expression. If it’s building an elaborate church or mansion, editing a video, or finding that balance between work and creativity… He’s doing what he’s meant to do. 

Create. 

And maybe, that’s just it. That’s the point.

Don’t think about having it all figured out, or about optimizing every single step you take, it’s not about being the first or only one to do it… It’s to make something and maybe, just maybe, share it with the world. 

“Who cares what people think?” he concludes, smiling. “I’m over it.” 

FOLLOW BARCE: 

YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/@barce8008 

https://www.youtube.com/@whatthebarce 

https://www.youtube.com/@barceburner 

Twitch: 

https://www.twitch.tv/wtbarce 

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/wtbarce/ 

https://www.instagram.com/building.w.barce/