Friday, February 01, 2013

Naked in a New World


I started Minecraft.  It was rather daunting being plopped down into a strange world with no weapons, food, instructions, map, or compass. I would have been completely lost and clueless had not watched Minecraft Tutorials: E01 How to Survive Your First Night by Paul Soares Jr. With the knowledge I gleaned from that video I managed to survive 3 nights in a snowy world with plenty of resources around me. Then I died, and lost all of my stuff, after I made the mistake of standing under something I was mining. I respawned, but I couldn't find my place. I desperately searched for it, but with it getting dark, and me with no tools or weapons, I just exited, deleted, and restarted. However, the new world was all sand, dirt, and water; I just could not find any cobblestone, coal, or iron.  Again, it got dark and I had neither weapons nor tools, and no place to hide. 

I didn't relish the thought of evading the mobs until the sun came up. So, I restarted. After a few minutes of wandering I managed to find a decent area in a jungle zone to begin my adventure. I had to move quickly, though, because the sun was setting. So, I gathered some wood, fashioned a pickaxe, and hastily dug out both coal and a hidey-hole to wait out the night.

Night passed, and I emerged to explore my surroundings. Apparently, though, it was much too soon, because a creeper was still in the area, and it came right for me. Fortunately, I was able to escape into my refuge before it exploded. I re-emerged to explore my surroundings, and discovered that some resources were scarce. Sure, there was lots of wood, stone, and dirt, but coal and iron ore were hard to find, as were animals for food and wool.

I eventually found some iron ore, but I still couldn't see any animals around. This was worrisome because my hunger and health were rapidly dropping, and I was tiring of having to wait out the night rather than sleeping through it. Much searching yielded nothing, so I figured I'd just go back to my hole and die.

With my hunger depleted and my health down to half a heart, I sat in my little place and waited for the end to come --- but it didn't. I continued to live, and twitch a little. I was surprised, but relieved, so I ventured farther out into the wild. I searched far and wide and, success of successes, I found some pigs, sheep, and a few chickens. Cold-hearted man that I am, I killed enough sheep for 3 wool and enough pigs for 8 pork. I hurried back to my place, with the brilliant orange sunset at my back

I quickly threw that pork into the furnace to cook. As it did so, I constructed a simple bed out of junglewood planks and wool. A zombie or two pounded on my door to let them in, but I was having none of that. I turned back to the furnace. I collected my pork chops, and gobbled down three of them like an emaciated stray dog. It was with much relief that I watched my hunger and health return to 100%. I stepped towards my bed, pleased with my minor successes, unsettled by my silly failures, and anxious for more adventure.