{"id":414,"date":"2014-02-08T22:28:19","date_gmt":"2014-02-09T04:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royfuss.com\/royfuss\/?p=414"},"modified":"2025-03-13T18:32:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T23:32:07","slug":"minecraft-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.royfuss.com\/royfuss\/2014\/02\/minecraft-withdrawal\/","title":{"rendered":"Minecraft Withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author’s Note:<\/strong> “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist” and “Super Mario 3D World” for searching reasons.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name is Roy, and I’m a Minecraft<\/em> addict. It’s been six days [1]<\/a> since I’ve placed my last pixelated block. I bought Minecraft<\/em> on December 26, 2013 at 10:51 p.m. In a little over a month, I have put in 144 hours into Minecraft<\/em>. I’ve neglected my other games that needed my attention. I’ve decided to go at least a week without Minecraft<\/em>. Let’s see how I got to this low point in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
Bottom of mine. Hehe. Get it? Low point in my life; it’s a picture of bedrock, which is the lowest layer of blocks in Minecraft<\/em>. It’s funny! Laugh!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

December 26th puts me at my Aunt’s house. The air outside had a nasty bite to it. The wind howled. It was just me and her, and we were getting ready for bed. She went to bed early. I said I was also heading to bed. This was a lie. Instead, I booted up my laptop and paid about $28 and my soul for Minecraft<\/em>. It downloaded quickly, and I promptly started playing on survival mode, albeit on peaceful difficulty. I knew what I needed to do; I had read some tutorials online. I punched my first tree. Pretty soon I had five or six wood blocks. I built a crafting table. I even found some stone, and started punching it. At the time, I didn’t know I could build tools out of wood. I mined enough stone to build some stone tools. I built a small house out of wood. This is how several Minecraft<\/em> stories begin, and I am no exception. Alas, this was just the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
My first house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I started digging a mine below my house. I made certain not to break the most important rule of Minecraft<\/em>: never dig straight down. I stair-stepped my way down. Found coal, iron, and redstone. Crafting and placing torches as I descended. I was happy. I hit bedrock. I was confused as to why it wouldn’t break. A quick search on the wiki lead me to my answer; bedrock is indestructible without mods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
What every first mine looks like… unless you break the first rule of Minecraft<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I tweaked my house. I added a second story. I didn’t know you could build stairs, so I used blocks to hop to the second story. I had windows, and a door. A bed to sleep in at night. I was living the dream. Little did I know a nightmarish addiction was taking root.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
This is where I dream about Minecraft<\/em> within Minecraft<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I got home from Christmas vacation. I promptly turned on my desktop and downloaded Minecraft<\/em>. A new start, and a new world. I still played on survival mode with peaceful difficulty. I spawned in a rainforest biome. I knew exactly what to do. I was on top of a mountain surrounded by trees. I punched trees and I leveled off a place to build a house. Pretty soon I had a replication of my first house, except bigger. I built two stories right away. The house was built upon a flat plateau, with a stair stepping of dirt for the slope, not unlike a pyramid. The plateau was only five blocks high. Just then I decided something: I would teraform this entire mountain into a square, stair-stepping plateau. On top of the plateau would be my house, a farm, and a fenced area for sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
Those eyes… they are soulless. However, those soulless beasts provide wool.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I promptly went to work clearing trees, while placing and removing dirt. It was wonderful. I had a purpose. While working on the mountain, I decided my home needed to be classier. I rebuilt my house, but this time built it out of brick. Pretty soon I didn’t have enough room for my stuff I was hoarding (mostly cobblestone and dirt). I built a bigger brick and stone house; Three stories tall above ground, two basements, and a five story tower on top so I could see it for miles. It was also wider than my old house. I can store so much stuff in it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
Today on MTV Cribs\u2122, we check out my crib.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My mountain slowly took shape. I have four corners done, but only three sides done; I have one more side to go. But I made a Minecraft<\/em> server on my home server. I invited a few friends to play on it. I should probably join them. Lord knows that I’ve been neglected them in real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
This is the bottom corner of my mountain. To the left is one of the finished sides. To the right, is the unfinished side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My Minecraft<\/em> server is hosted on a Debian virtual server. It works well for hosting a small group of friends on it. I can host up to ten people if I had ten friends who played Minecraft<\/em> on PC. I have three. I wasn’t certain as to what I wanted to do in this new world. Do I want another Mountain? Maybe. I wasn’t feeling it though. I still needed to finish my mountain on my single player world. Instead, I built a small sea shack. I found my buddies, and relocated to there. They spawned near a village. I built a large warehouse there. Dug out a mine all the way down to the bedrock. After dicking around for awhile, I finally decided what I wanted: a large island fortress. Problem was finding an island big enough for my needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
The beach shack. It’s small, but I like it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I checked out a few islands in the world, but they just weren’t big enough. I settled on creating my own island. How big should I make it? 50×50 blocks? No, too small. 64×64? No, still too small. 100×100? No, doesn’t work in Minecraft<\/em> logic. 128×128. Perfect. I set out on it. I found a land mass that I would call my home. I carved out a corner, and pretty soon had a very small island. I connected it to a larger body of land next to it. Now it wasn’t an island anymore. I carved out the land area on one side of my soon-to-be island. Probably about 30 or so blocks away from what would be my island edge. I flooded it with water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
Spoiler alert. Ignore the wall. On the other side of that wall is water. This is the first corner of my island I created.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was tedious, because I had to do it in a special way. The process is complicated, but I will try to explain. You had to hollow out an area with a one block wall separating it from water. You put a layer of blocks about one layer below sea level in the hollowed area. You than flood that top one layer with water. Then, you dig out the one layer blocks. This floods the hollowed area. You destroy the one block barrier between the rest of the water. Then you have water that isn’t running. It’s fantastic! Took forever. One of my friends helped. We finished one side. I finished another side by myself. The other two sides make it an island, but I need to shrink those two sides. It will be worth it in my addiction, twisted mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
Spoiler alert. Ignore the bridge. This is the area that we flooded. It used to be all dirt between where I’m standing and the other side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I decided to take a little break from forming the island. I wanted a wall. Not just a normal wall, but an intricate wall. This is how I got creative in Minecraft<\/em>. I designed the wall in Google Spreadsheet. I just squared the cells, and colored the cells in. It was fun! Then I built it in Minecraft<\/em>. I built the wall across the entire side of the island we had finished earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
This is my wall. It’s beautiful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I also designed a house in Google Spreadsheet, but I’m not ready to build it. I need to finish my island, and then the rest of my wall. I also designed a cool looking bridge for a mine cart rail system. I built it all the way from my island to the village (which is quite a distance).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
This is my rail bridge. It connects to the island via the wall, and goes all the way to the village, which you can see the edge of it. It’s very long, and took a long time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After completing the monstrosity of a bridge, I decided I needed a break… from Minecraft<\/em> My mind began to clear. I need to finish a few games I have been neglecting. I played some Call of Juarez: Gunslinger<\/em> the other night. I was having fun. Then I got pissed off and rage quit (stupid armored shotgunners). I also need to finish up Blacklist<\/em> and Mario 3D World<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mind is slowly clearing up, and I’m getting the ambition to play other games again. One day, I will finish that island. Maybe, then, I’ll even change the difficulty up, so mobs spawn. For now, I’ll have fun with other games. But one day, I’ll relapse…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minecraft<\/a>
One last screenshot for this post. View from the rail bridge of the wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

*Editor’s Notes:
If you want more in depth information, I’m working on a screenshot tour of my worlds. Stay posted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n