Getting Off Minecraft Welfare

In our GamingEdus Minecraft server, the talented Praxismaxis has created a Survival World section, where we cannot turn on creative mode. Many of our players have flocked to this new area to explore and build "old skool".

If you recall my early blog posts about my initial Minecraft forays, you'll know that I had a tough time. I was stuck in a hole for two weeks. I lived in other players' houses for two months before I built my own dwelling. I decided that this time around, I was going to do it on my own. I wasn't going to mooch off the kindness of my fellow gamers; I would find my own resources, build my own dwelling, and make my way through the world. I called this "getting off Minecraft welfare".

Abandoning the "Minecraft Welfare" system is tougher than I imagined! First of all, I'm terribly out of practice when it comes to making my own tools. I had to look up my old notes to remember how to make a wood axe. Secondly, my other players are generous to a fault - they opened chests and offered their treasure without hesitation. My son wanted to shower me with all sorts of armor, weapons, and food. He asked me to live with him in survival world and I said I would stay with him for a while, but that it was important to me to make my own house. He couldn't understand my need to do this independently.

Survival mode makes you appreciate the little things you have. I tried to search farther afield than I usually do to obtain coal and I starved to death because I had no food on my journey. I have a small house, near the entrance to the new world (old habits die hard) but it's a dirt hole in the ground. I feel a bit embarrassed by my meager efforts when compared to the incredible mansions made by my fellow gamers. I have to remember not to compare - we are all at different experience levels and I should be proud of my simple abode because I made it myself.

The great thing about the game is that when I became frustrated with my inability to move forward, I could take the portal back to the original world, the place where I can use Creative Mode and avoid being killed by zombies and call up anything I need.