My latest online adventure has been in the world of
Minecraft. To me, the world is a cross
between Lego and Settlers of Cataan. The
block construction and focus on building in the world brings me back to the
many hours I spent playing with Legos as a child (and, to be honest, as a young
adult). Anyone who has played a
world-building board game like Settlers of Cataan would recognize the crafting
of world elements from raw materials.
During a disastrous first attempt in world, I dug myself into a hole so deep I couldn’t
get out. I logged out of the game and
didn’t go back until I had reinforcements in the form of My 10-year old
daughter. She has played Minecraft with
a friend on Xbox, so I enlisted her help.
In another stroke of luck, our course instructor was in world at the
same time, so I was able to explore with expert guides.
In the short time we had, I was able to begin building my
house, including the glass windows. I
had gathered up sufficient supplies to build the house. One of my next steps is to find some
“recipes” online, to see what I would be able to make from the supplies
available. My daughter insists that I
have to make a bed. In the game version,
you have to concentrate on basics for survival – food to eat, a bed to sleep in
and a house to protect you from zombies and other “things that go bump in the
night”. Thankfully, so far, I haven’t
seen any zombies.
When I was able to go back into Minecraft a few days later,
I was able to finish building my house and plant some of the seeds I had in my
inventory. (Photo to come!)
I look forward to continuing to explore the educational possibilities presented by this world!
