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The Minecraft Journey | Minecraft
Written on October 5, 2023

Introduction

I still remember the fresh feeling of various stages of each development that occurred in a Minecraft world even in single player: the planning, resource collection, resource allocation and storage, either construction, exploration, mining, or fighting mobs in the nighttime, and an often messy conclusion involving subplots which entangle me further, escalating the difficulty in returning home and promoting the potential satisfaction in ordering and organizing the creation of a home base with all its various facilities. I still remember the vivid experiences of observing how I could incorporate my simple understanding of the unknown environment and reproduce it in my imagination in order to capitalize on the further exploitation and management of the blocks that make up the lands with the end goal of interpolating my familiar, individual, creative perceived essence within with a sense of organization in mind.

Planning

As for planning, it was moments of staring at the grass, as the passive mobs in the environment grazed and had their way in wandering, making sounds of movement which alerted me to their presence especially with regard to the reliable static yet malleable condition of the trees which revealed to me a world so vivid when coupled with the naturalistic movements of my character and those animals and the goals of the game relative to the simple Flash games that often only provided a burst of animated visuals each within a distinct but surreal and irreverent unreality.

Resource Collection

As for resource collection, the movements furthered constantly upon the earth, maybe with slight pseudo-hesitant movements which were indicative of a reflexive pause every so often when utilizing the often cumbersome thick and hard-to-press keyboard, which contributed to the surreal reality of my movements within the perspective within the game format. Nonetheless, my movements evolved with the changing environment, each visual stimulus sorting in arrays which I sequenced through the zooming sensation which I ambivalently produced when I typed on the keyboard. It was such that I began to appreciate my environment, pressing either the arrow keys or the "WASD" keys. 

When I maneuvered past a thicket of trees or jumped over a one-block elevation, it was like a skilled set of indications pressing me to make a meditated decision to advance forward in growth and self-improvement within the context of the game. In a more abstract sense, this is where the idea that the momentary hesitations usually mark the widest of margins in terms of where the game-like mechanics stop and the vividness of the experience begins like a ticking clock that only seems to tick after a brief pause after it is mentioned. Similarly, the player with his cumbersome keyboard will engage with the game in a feed-back loop, almost always guaranteeing the pause that occurs right before the elements of the game self-reference, ending with immersion. 

When I passed by the pigs and perceived their worth, it was essential that I either immediately attack them with little regard for their reference toward actual pigs or fixated on the idea that they were pigs and stretched myself out of my comfort zone toward the mines or toward the plains where I could attack the weeds instead for their seeds in order to plant them and to reap from another source of food, which is the harvest of wheat of which I was rather ignorant, only feeling that it was this rare gem that I could only gain through a series of adventures such as those in the maps which I visually studied in Youtube videos. 

Returning to the collection of resources, when I entered the cave, it was there that I understood as much as many new players to the game that I was unable to see that it was dangerous, only recognizing that it was impossible for me to navigate through that while maintaining the skills that I learned through typing on keys through playing Flash games. This time, it involved a sense of combinations of keys that would prove too challenging for me to enter the cave or the ravine coupled with the darkness and mobs, of which I recognized the threat intensely. Though, it was clear that it was highly likely that the time passed until it was night time when the mobs spawned when I began to recognize the fragility of my nature within the game and utilized my only knowledge to run, stopping against one-block cliffs rather than jumping before colliding effectively. 

Indeed, my evolution in mastering the forces of the various timed key combinations which allowed me to assert myself in complete expression of that dancing movement that I often only saw in videos with their reflective and expressionist running, head turns, and slow walking or "sneaking"—specifically with the use of the "shift" key as opposed to running which I learned to initiate unsteadily by pressing the "W" or "up arrow" key twice in quick succession. With that said, that this stage of resource allocation was the most gripping task of the stage was evidently essential to my experience, since it was founded on a multitude of expectations, the visual indications or cues of which the opaqueness of the night time often obscured, considering that my "Brightness" setting was set to Moody for probably an extended period. 

It was the beginning steps of commanding my control of "Dirt Blocks" that sequestered in me the understanding of my purpose within the game to build and to create excitedly until I gathered my own experiential properties and divulged them in this textual format, distinct from the momentary pauses that often governed a concrete life. Now, I perceive through memories and expressions which instinctively appealed to my memory formation at the time, whether it was intense or intellectually life-changing with an assured loom of emotional series of consequences. 

Either way, I completed my interpretations of the visual "comportment" of these Blocks and their seemingly byzantine functions, which only outweighed me with a sense of a challenge as if I was about to open a tear in my massive world in order to begin flight. At this time, the concept that a caterpillar had to experience 'groanings' to become a butterfly, which was related to the suffering of the Christian in their evolution toward newness in the form of "a new creature" where "old things are passed away" and "all things are become new," most likely eluded me during my first days of playing Minecraft, since I remember only associating myself with that concept through the literal example of a caterpillar at the grounds of my former main church outside the chapel more than several years later. 

When I did incorporate my understanding of a few blocks, I likely knew that any further knowledge of other blocks and items would require testing and exploration of them probably in "Creative Mode" and in the "Survival World", which took up most of my time playing Minecraft as the rest of my time was spent deliberating toward my interactions with real life and in other games such as Internet Flash games and other computer games such as "Alex the Alligator" and "Triplane", among others. 

When one completed the collection of a resource in the form of a single block, one had to re-use that block away from its initial nature as a naturally generated block and through the proposal for greater advantage taking in a sort of "dissemination" via crafting or the separation or integration of it into other blocks or items. With this defined, it was only expected that I would find myself playing the game for years. 

Though, it is important to note that I had many more experiences in real life and in other games overall even if Minecraft might command a large proportion of my influences due to its creative and sandbox nature in relation to the various maps and videos which resulted in the Internet thereof. In conclusion, regarding the topic of resource collection, whatever struggle was often complemented with a sense of rejuvenated purpose for a literally brighter future in day time where my thoughts paid anticipatory, nuanced attention to the re-exposed naturalistic environment of the game.

Resource Storage

As for resource storage, where my thoughts wandered, they often found refuge within the literal item refuges in the appearance of chests, which I would soon see gathered around every community square or center like a bunch of toads in a swamp, often scattered yet reflective of the organization which they provide through their small but colossal potential for compressing space, as they could contain 27 stacks of items in total each, which conclusively would be impossible in real life according to how the chest was less than one square meter in size and even less visually in volume. 

However, it was often torches that were the epitome of organization and "storage". As for the reason of this, mobs often created a chaotic and scattered environment, while torches, in their anthropologically undisturbed state, were the locally permanent means of preventing the appearance of monster mobs. This is why, after a long period of a seeming infinite failed fighting, running, screaming for help, and confusion, torches became the symbol of safety in the midst of flight. Though, for me, I see it as merely a given considering that my days as a newbie are long gone. However, when I was still a newbie, I was ignorant about light levels even up to much recently. 

Rather, I played in Creative Mode for the most part similar to how I created in Roblox Studio. It was much later that I started trying Survival Mode. Though, I believe I only did it when my siblings were involved through our "local area network" (LAN). When it comes to "Hardcore Mode", I played that even much more later probably in 2019, which is around 8 years since the release of "the first full version of the game", specifically "1.0.0", according to the Minecraft Fandoms wiki. Incidentally, I remember believing that furnaces had a strong enough light level to prevent monsters from spawning. 

Though, this might have happened years later. When it comes to storage in general in Survival Mode, I often relied less on chests but more on my inventory since I often explored hard and gathered resources little, most likely relying on the flesh of zombies in order to get through my hunger. Even so, I often went to the caves when I felt pressured, especially when my siblings were involved. 

Resource Allocation

Regarding allocation of resources, I nevertheless relied on others to do most of the more advanced crafting such as "Iron Pickaxes" and just relied on more primitive but trusty "Stone Pickaxes" and "Wooden Pickaxes", even receiving a warning remark from my older half-brother Kuya Paulo regarding my infancy of effectiveness in collecting resources and appreciating the efficacy of better pickaxes. This was a crucial aspect of my experiences moving forward, as I was sorely afraid of the night and often utilized makeshift bunkers as homes. 

When I did find a village, I slept on the bed, but finding a village was challenging. So, often, I just attacked trees and spent most of my time trying to find sheep, developing this early proof of concept regarding how best to play the game. Since I was mostly isolated from "Vanilla" experienced of the game in media, I was ignorant of the desire of becoming skilled in the game in an effective manner, but I did set my eyes on the rare inclusions of useful details such as crafting recipes within various Minecraft videos such as those storytelling narratives, mod showcases, and other explorations of the game in creative means outside the immediacy of Survival Mode. 

Significantly, I was typically very slow in reaching a familiar level toward adept exploitation of variegated challenging mechanics of the game, but when I did find an idea, I was quick to point it out. Moreover, when I did find myself trying out a new mechanic in the game myself, I was clinically considerate toward the result, as I was in Creative Mode, often through an experimental series of actions often including the interplay of pressing the "spacebar" key twice to fly to observe the result, landing on the ground and placing something related to the mechanic down in a repetitious manner, the opening of my inventory to get blocks and items from the "Creative Tabs", and the constant failed attempts at flying, among others. 

As for construction, exploration, mining, or fighting mobs in the nighttime, I often walked everywhere, often building from the ground, exploring via ravines or caves that generated on ground level, or fighting mobs in the most open areas such as the plains biome. Fighting mobs was learning how to attack with fast tools such as the pickaxe and the right hand to ensure a clear separation between me and the mobs. 

Even if I refrained from killing them in action, I could easily avoid them and wait until daytime when the mobs would burn under direct sunlight, which I often exploited since I was much reliant on that rather than on spending material to make swords, forgoing them even in later years when crafting sticks from felled trees with a "full" set of tools in mind which stemmed from gameplay videos.

Messy Conclusion and its Subplots

As for the often messy conclusion and its subplots, it was clear that this was where the plot or expected course of events of a Minecraft world from retrospective derailed naturally into its 'vibrational' modes of experience, allowing for every point of 'experiential space' each with a level of depth of experiential complexity to wiggle, twist, and oscillate in different ways, similar to how a person can come into contact with a seemingly infinite multitude of factors, changing their lives in currently incomputable ways. 

This maximizes the experiential entropy of events, which are the seemingly infinite seams between various 'pillars' of the game, which are each a development or improvement of one's understanding of the game in that 'instance event' of comprehension, grasping, and theoretical acquisition of each representation of blocks, items, tools, creatures, UI buttons, commands, and the source code and their interactive properties. As for a sense of organization, that is what the player creates.