Day 5

A Struggle:

Last Tuesday when Thomas came to talk to us, he mentioned how minecraft isn’t the funnest game he has ever played, but is one of the most influential ones. He also mentioned how sometimes he would love to read a book, but once it is assigned to him as homework, he might just be demotivated to read it because he then sees it as work. Honestly speaking, as a semi-gamer, minecraft isn’t a game I would normally play on my own. I do enjoy playing it, but I also see it as part of my work, something I am supposed to do and not something I would do on my own free time. I think some part of me is just not used to this type of gaming, minecraft is really open-ended. But maybe a bit too open-ended for me? That’s why I always look at what other people are doing and try to build it myself, and when I accomplish it I feel great. Yet I still don’t find myself that engaged in it like some other people in class. I just envy how they have so much patience and creativity, and I feel like I get impatient sometimes with the game. After playing for a while it gets a bit boring and flat for me, and I just don’t enjoy the process of always collecting materials first, even as Thomas said it later becomes more like a habit. I think I’m struggling to be motivated in this game, more than other problems.

An Accomplishment:

I built a small farm near my house (I’m still playing single player mode) with sheeps, cows, pigs, horses, wheat, and carrots. It actually took me a while to first grow the wheat and carrots and then try to lure the animals into my farm. But it does feel great afterwards when they’re all settled down in your farm. :) Also since I’m playing single player mode, there are a lot of resources and animals around. I love it how I know the areas in my world really well now, where to find what type of resources. I don’t feel as lost as I was before.

An Observation:

I actually took a peek inside our multiplayer world and it’s fascinating how different it is now from day 1. I’m really impressed by the houses, community farms, and everything. I read Wendy’s post before I went into the multiplayer world, and I understand what she means about the poverty and wealthy relationship between players. It’s interesting how this connects to our class goals of power dynamics too, and you can totally see that from the more “powerful” people in our multiplayer world. But they are great because they’re making so many communal things to help balance out these problems, which I think is a really positive influence to all the other players.

A Question:

I’m really curious to ask my other friends if they’ve ever played minecraft and how minecraft has influenced them. Both Alice and Thomas agree that there is something special about minecraft that is really different from other games, I want to know if other people who play minecraft also see that. Also, what games are appropriate to play for different ages? Thomas seemed to have a pretty good idea of what games he preferred that he think was more appropriate and not just simply killing and other violence activities. But when is one old enough to distinguish that difference?