tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post3915753025951511520..comments2023-12-18T12:39:27.533+11:00Comments on Raptured Reality: Talking About Minecraft #2: Narrative ImplicationsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00626684107210848128noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-21590070774586354392017-02-18T17:19:50.446+11:002017-02-18T17:19:50.446+11:00ROBLOX is driven by a growing player base of over ...<b><a href="http://games-mmo.syntaxlinks.com/r/Roblox" rel="nofollow">ROBLOX</a></b> is driven by a growing player base of over 300,000 creators who generate an infinite variety of highly immersive experiences. <br /><br />These experiences range from 3D multiplayer games and contests, to interactive adventures where players can take on new identities to imagine what it would be like to be a dinosaur, a miner working a mine or an astronaut on a space exploration.Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07287821785570247118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-31963127022068464112013-05-18T03:34:50.902+10:002013-05-18T03:34:50.902+10:00Anonymous -- That's a really interesting way t...<b>Anonymous</b> -- That's a really interesting way to engage and approach the game.<br /><br />I approach it somewhat similarly in that I guess I also have 'roadmaps' that define my play. While I might not adhere to them as specifically as you do, I definitely try to experience all aspects of <i>Minecraft</i> as regularly as possible by doing different things at different times and, indeed, reflecting on how that impacts my overall experience with the game afterwards. Sometimes, building takes the spotlight as I work on a project or try to sort out a solution that will help me be more efficient with my goals; other times I am happy to explore the various caves and landscapes that surround me; other times again I am happy to simply mine for materials, choosing to zone out (so to speak) to some music as I harvest the various ores and deposits that I stumble across in my branch mines. Each approach is different, each yields a different type of reward, but each also make up the overall journey that defines my world(s). <br /><br />As I allude to in my post, few other games can deliver a personal narrative like that. No one else who has played <i>Minecraft</i>, anywhere in the world, will have had the same story that I have. On one hand that's a shame and why things like Let's Plays are so wonderful -- it would be terrible if some of our personal stories weren't able to be shared. But on the other hand, it's fantastic; when something is unique to you and only you, when you can <i>own</i> your experience and know that no one else can, that's a pretty special feeling. <br /><br />And then there's Creative mode, which is a whole different game again...<br /><br />Thanks for commenting despite the fact this is an old post and despite the fact I haven't updated the blog in a while. Whether you're just passing through or decide to read some of my other stuff, I appreciate the effort all the same. :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00626684107210848128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-77490012307439035972013-05-16T05:29:05.583+10:002013-05-16T05:29:05.583+10:00I was looking for greenhouse designs when I happen...I was looking for greenhouse designs when I happened upon your blog post. <br /><br />I have grappled with Minecraft and its mods as a, perhaps, too open-ended gaming experience that left me wondering how I might approach playing the game and having a good general experience of its whole potential. I wanted to spend significant time to develop my world in a manner that left it more than the sum of its parts, so to speak. I think I have realized how to do this.<br /><br />First I identify for the vanilla game a set of general aspects:<br /><br />Adventure<br />Architecture<br />Automation<br />Farming<br />Magic<br />Transportation<br />Villaging<br /><br />Then I create a list of simple goals, often in the form of items that can be crafted, for each aspect. I order these goals in groups that are generic stages in the game that I have labelled as follows:<br /><br />Wood<br />Iron<br />Diamond<br />Glowstone<br />Eye of Ender<br />Gunpowder<br /><br />Intuitively, these stages simply allow me to group goals in a rough chronology that crafting requirements tends to impose (namely, that collecting certain raw materials are required before completing a given goal).<br /><br />These lists of goals within an aspect of Minecraft I call a roadmap. I have compiled these roadmaps and I am using them to play the game. Basically, how I use them is as follows: I plan a "round" of play by reading through the roadmaps and writing down which goals I would like to accomplish for that round. As I play I check off the goals as I accomplish them, I take notes as to practical changes in the roadmap (maybe a goal is in the wrong stage), I make discoveries which I note so I can take advantage of them in the next round. Once I finish a round I take screenshots of my main architectural accomplishments and my favorite natural landmarks. I amend my roadmaps against the real experience of playing the game. I then make a new plan for my next round by selecting goals from each roadmap.<br /><br />By doing this I am not trying to determine the ultimate path to playing the game but rather having a framework for keeping my eye on the whole picture and allowing that view of the whole to inform my game play on a regular cycle (of "turns"). In this way, I find that I can work locally and act globally so to speak and that the end result will be a transformed world where adventure, architecture, automation, farming, magic, transportation and villaging are all integrated aspects designed in self-reflective turns over the course of time. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-72185559208495975892011-12-14T22:15:30.218+11:002011-12-14T22:15:30.218+11:00Max -- Thank you and thanks for reading and commen...Max -- Thank you and thanks for reading and commenting, too. It means a lot.<br /><br />Things are obviously a lot different now for <i>Minecraft</i> than how they were when I wrote this post, but the journey that players -- as individuals or as a collective through public stories like the ones I mention in the post -- embark on with the game has been the one constant throughout all its updates, and that will probably only continue as we move forward even more. In fact, I'd even argue that the personal narratives are the core of the game, despite the survival and creative aspects taking a much more prominent role in the public eye. There's just something about <i>Minecraft</i> that allows every single person who plays it the opportunity to tell their own story, and I believe that's a trait that is definitely special and in a lot of respects, unique only to Mojang's exceptionally popular game.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00626684107210848128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-19541051369284440622011-12-14T09:37:58.872+11:002011-12-14T09:37:58.872+11:00Well said. Your post captures the attitude I belie...Well said. Your post captures the attitude I believe is present, even now, in the official release of Minecraft.<br /><br />I, myself, after playing during alpha, and beta, continue to enjoy Minecraft just as always. I have kept my original Alpha world, and left it mostly untouched recently to preserve it's simple beauty. I now have an Alpha, aforementioned, Beta, and official release world. Each has it's own feel, environment, and story to tell.<br /><br />To all those out there, and to you, let Minecraft always be our story. Our world.max7238https://www.blogger.com/profile/11510229649774354260noreply@blogger.com