"That's no moon."

So over a 5 day span I have been working on my biggest minecraft build to date! We will see how long it takes you to guess what I am working on.

(note: I am still not done! I have some minor details to add, and possible an interior. I will post the finished project whenever I get there.)

Priorities:

18 Hours spent building

About 4 hours a day for 5 days

Virtually Virtual:

I only had used one picture to go off of. I did use creative mode and fly, otherwise no mods, no world edits.

The first step I took was deciding how long it should be. I then tried to judge the angle of the

perimeter. There are no slanted blocks on minecraft; the most difficult part of the build was calculating the inclines. I needed to find out how many blocks to go before going inwards a block, to make a sloping effect. I overshot my first time, building the outer right outline, but got it right the second time.

In this first picture I am flying high above to try and get an idea of the outline. I was using waypoints to mark the tips and middle of the ship to know where they were. It helped a lot since the length of the build was out of the visual range. Which unfortunately means it is next to impossible to ever see the ship as a whole.

I got the middle perimeter layed out, you can already tell what its going to be! (hopefully)

Around day 3 I had finished the bottom of the ship and was nearing completion of the top. Using some simple math I figured out the incline of this 160 block long beast!

The finished product! Minus the piece in the middle that was having loading issues due to the distance.

I will post more, and a video, when I finish the trimmings.

Thoughtful gab: My Star Destroyer is so win! My wife says its cool but I can tell she is kind of just saying that. Does she realize how many blocks this took? Or how difficult it was to figure out with no blueprints?? lol anyway...

She hasn't played minecraft with me for a good while.. I will keep pestering her to do so though and when she does... she will love it.

Making a MC village

Priorities:

11:00am-9:30pm (10.5)

minecraft

11:00pm-2:00am (3)

minecraft

13.5 hours of Minecraft

Virtually virtual:

So through a series of events I made a friend that ran a village on this server I've been playing on. I helped him with some town renovations and he promoted me to the title of builder within his town. We decided to make a new town together. I was assuming he would be in charge and let him call the shots but he got off a good 5 hours before I did and under

my command the new town went from some cobble stone on the grou

nd to a legit town! Its so cool directing people and helping people and managing a town. It is a lot of work to though and can be frusterating. I am interested to see what my partner thinks of the product of my work. Also, I feel like I am in charge now, I have been for hours, which feels like weeks in the virtual world. So it will be interesting to see who really takes the throne when he comes back.

I'll put up some pictures of the old town, new town, and current progress.

The old village. My house and shop.

Villagers at work setting the foundation of our new town.

Got some houses and road up.

I was going to upload a picture of my house in the mountainside too but it was having problems. I'll do it in a later post.

Thoughtful gab:

WOW! A big day for me in Minecraft. Not only was this the most I have played in one day while writing this blog, but it is also the most I have played in one sitting. Yes my body hurts, and I am hungry, and I miss my wife. But I got a lot done and it was fun.

Why parents stink at video games

Priorities:

9:30-12:30 (3)

minecraft

4:00-5:30 (1.5)

minecraft

6:00-6:30 (.5)

minecraft

5 hours of Minecraft

Virtually Virtual:

Worked more on renovating the village. Made a lot of progress including finishing the fence around its perimeter.

This is a picture of our new neighbors at our main gate. -->

Thoughtful gab:

Gaming requires time. Certain games more than others. I don't think I could consider myself a gamer unless I was very knowledgeable about the games and felt comfortable with them. Which is nearly impossible to do unless you spend a lot of time playing them.

Take this man, Rob. He just came home at 5 PM from his full time job to his three children and wife who all demand his attention, which he is happy to oblige. But he's tired and has fleeting memories of a time when he used to play video games frequently. Later that night when the house quiets down he gets on StarCraft 2. Maybe its only the third time since he bought it 4 months ago. He plays a campaign mission, not understanding what everything does or means, but its fun because its a game again. Then he plays a match online only to be swiftly destroyed by his much superior oppenent. He closes the game realizing that he can't compete with people like that and accepts that he will never be considered a dedicated gamer again.

VS me. Who works some, still cleans around the house and still goes on date nights with his wife and hangs out with friends, who also plays video games full time. I play so much that I know how everything goes. It becomes a second nature to me. Since I have passed that level of general learning, I can focus on fine tuning my skills, exploring and being even more creative. If it were Minecraft Rob was playing, he would probably die the first night, have a little fun mining some random resources, and at the most construct a mediocre base.

I would continue saying;

Like even I did the first time. But where he stopped, I continued, getting a better feel of the game.

But this is not even accurate. Because my first time wasn't that bad. I picked it up very quickly. Yes I wasn't as generally good at it as I am now, but still.

Why is this so? Because I think like a gamer. I have played so many other games that my brain is hardwired in a way to already be thinking in the manner of the game and absorb its knowledge quicker than the average middle aged man.

This brings me to the point of the generational technology drift.

My parents are horrible at video games. They weren't to bad at Mario Cart 64. But I had both my mother and my father play portal and it was... sad. I gave them tips, I gave them time and patience. But they had a hard enough time adapting to strafing to think about the puzzles. Even when they got that down they just didn't understand the concept.

This makes me wonder, will it be the same for me when I have children? I think the answer is no, for a couple reasons.

1. I am more dedicated to technology in the realm of video games, computers, ect.. So I will continue to keep updated about them as I grow older.

2. When my parents were young they didn't have computers. Then when they did, they were simple and impractical. The technology jump from record players to super computers was massive. So much, that almost nothing can happen in my time as an equivalent. What could be so much more upgraded, so new, in the next 30 years that I just can't comprehend it unless I grew up using it? Nothing. Computers only keep getting more advanced, which leads into virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Of which I am accustomed with already, at least in some form.

My parents had nothing to compare computers to in their day, so when computers became so popular, once they were busy with their lives, they were lost and just could never grasp the thought process behind video games.

Not trying to argue any point really and I know there are middle aged men out there that can game. I was just speaking in general terms.

Life transition

Priorities:

11:00-11:30 (.5)

minecraft

1:30-5:00 (3.5)

minecraft

8:00-12:00 (4)

minecraft

8 hours of Minecraft

Virtually virtual:

I didn't really feel in the mood for minecraft during the day. I really just wanted to make a minecart system but my friend whom I'm doing it with is was busy. Nothing else sounded appealing. So I went on some servers and tried playing but they were lame. I ended up just going back to my server, mining, and expanding my farmland.

Later, my friend got on and we made a really long mine cart rail from our main base, over an ocean, forest, and dessert, to an abandoned village. The rail ate nearly all of my supplies but it was worth it. The project we are now working on is restoring the village an claiming it our own!

Thoughtful gab:

Intense gamers like to play videos games all day with little to no socialization. A married gamer can't do that. Lately my wife is asleep by the time I get to bed. Neither of us like that.

Just tonight she said, "I'm a freaking Minecraft widow."

It was a joke but I know in all actuality I spend a little to much time playing games and not enough with my wife. It's the battle between the gamer self and the married self.

She likes games and doesn't mind me playing them to much. But there needs to be a balance. The sooner I find it, the better

Today's married gamer...

Router needed. Loosing game time

Priorities:

5:30pm-7:00 (1.5)

minecraft

8:30-11:00 (2.5)

minecraft

4 hours of Minecraft

Virtually virtual:

I finished the tower. It's awesome and all. But I don't have any use for it really, got dull quick. But its still just cool that I took all that time to make it. Im just glad I don't have to burn any more sand...

Yes that tiny thing down there is my boat

The most exciting moment!

The final product

There is another 1/3 of the tower under the seabed

Thoughtful gab:

I need to get a router so we can have more than one device using internet so she can stop using my computer! I would already be started on my next Minecraft project if she hadn't taken her time watching Youtube videos of cats. I had nothing else to do besides clean the house! D:

In all actuality I like cleaning the house. Mostly because its messy and I don't like living in the mess. But I have a hard time doing it on my own when I could just play games. So if anyone, or more specifically my wife, helps me, it changes my mindset to work mode and I do it. Sure I like to play games a lot but I still take responsibility when needed.

My wife and I watched more Star Trek TNG together today. She has not seen the series where I have. And she has been showing me Dr. Who where our situations are reversed. I enjoy our time spent together watching nerdy things. She plays StarCraft 2 and shes actually not bad at it but she doesn't have an account so we cant really play together. Now only if I could get her to play Minecraft...

Inter-spacial exponential observatorium

Priorities:

12:30-2:30 (2)

minecraft

6:00-8:00 (2)

minecraft

9:00-12:00 (3)

minecraft

7 hours of Minecraft

Virtually Virtual:

I am taking a break from mapping to work on my next Minecraft project, a tower that scrapes the sky at its tip and rests in the ocean on its middle but penetrates the seabed and goes all the way down to the bedrock. I have named this mighty tower the "Inter-spacial exponential observatorium."

Note that I am not in creative mode, and the only mod I am using is the server to change the time of day. All this was mined and built the old fashion way.

The hardest part was at the

beginning. If you place a block over water, and there is no water to rush

back in, when you remove said block the water will be gone. I essentially did that but on a much larger scale. Built a solid 11x11 slab all the way down. Yes I ended up swimming up for air alot. Then I carved out the inside leaving a dry empty rectangle.

I have dug past the sea floor and hope I am close to the bottom. After I hit the bedrock im building up!

Thoughtful gab:

I was shopping at walmart with my wife today when I took this picture, on the left. I couldn't resist...

Bigger version

Minecraft build credit goes to Adam Gunsch. Thanks Adam!

Map Quest

Priorities:

11:00am-2:00pm (3)

minecraft

4:00-6:00 (2)

minecraft

11:30-2:30 (3)

minecraft

8 hours of Minecraft

Virtually Virtual:

I basically spent the whole day mapping. Meaning I walked the entire LOS in two map sectors. Meaning I walked a lot. Why would I take the time, to do somthing that does not nessisarily effect game play, and that I have to go outside of the game to edit? Because it makes me feel like I am really charting unexplored lands. When else are you going to do it? It's unrealistic to explored the unexplored in real life. But here its relatively easy, safe, and there is plenty (infinite really) land for me to explore! Who knows what crazy landscapes I will happen upon. The picture is the product of today's work.

This is a bigger version.

Click here

Thoughtful gab:

The line between real life and video games may be thinner than you think. In video games I usually don't like consumable items. Mostly when it comes to stockpiling them. In the video game Diablo 2, I hate potions because I am constantly worried I will run out of them and die. So I always have a belt full of them and 2-4 in my inventory. As soon as I use one I have to get another one immediately. If I don't then I may use more and have to use the ones in my inventory. And if that happens then I may run out and die! The only thing that brings me peace is to either overstock, or always have a set number. The silly part is that I sometimes get even more potions that I am ok with the number fluctuating just to fill into my inventory stock if I have to use any, so my belt and those 4 in my inventory are always fully stocked.

In Minecraft I always have a certain amount of stone on me just in case I have to build a bridge or something, and I always have as much food as I can get my hands on in a chest back at the base. And even if I have more than enough, I will gather food along my travels, just to be sure.

Now in real life something similar happened. To save electricity my wife wants me to turn the Air Conditioning down (warmer) during our electricity peak time, when it costs more. I hate this. I hate the fact the air conditioning can't take care of itself anymore and I now have to worry about changing it on a daily basis. So far I haven't planned on changing it. Im content with it staying the same so I don't have to worry about it, much like the potions in my inventory.