Now that I’ve nearly sorted out all my photos, retagged my music and rewrote a load of posts I find myself with a little free time. I have plenty of life improving tasks I could undertake but instead I am being drawn back to a game I promised I would never get into because I could see it was a time sink.
I already know what games like Football Manager or The Sims can do to a person’s time and did not want to get drawn in again. Not only that, but I still fight against the urge to play one more game or stop a digital avatar from using the toilet.
I see the icon there for Minecraft and think to myself, don’t build a rabbit hole to enter.
Now it’s not really my fault I got sucked in, the blame lies with the manager at work who insists that telling me in my end of year appraisal that “You should really play Minecraft” was in no way him trying to sell me hours of breaking digital blocks. I’ve basically been missold a Home Building Policy but with no Digital Construction Ombudsman to complain to what can I do other than spend three hours searching for diamonds?
Minecraft almost nearly made me feel old, I had to resort to asking a ten-year old on advice setting up a private multiplayer environment for me and Mrs V to play on. Thankfully I could set up a server and alter the settings before all my technological skills deserted me, I was five minutes away from ringing my cousin’s five-year-old son on how to change the clock on the microwave.
The one advantage Minecraft has is that is a perfect game for me and Mrs V to play together as either FIFA or any shooter requires a few years of practice to be able to get to a proficient level and neither of us have that patience (with the game or each other). So being able to smash blocks on my laptop while she is making iron on hers is a perfect game for both of us to play. It lets us play together without actually relying on the other person.
Unlike a game like Football Manager it does require you to be doing something all the time, I can’t be watching a match and also writing/reading/eating/drinking tea. This means it monopolises my time because if I am not playing Minecraft, then I am reading about Minecraft, and if not either of them I am thinking about Minecraft.
Don’t get me wrong I like being right, and I like playing co-op computer games, so I am hoping that this is but a brief fling with the game before I get too involved and plan to recreate the Mines of Moria or the Titanic. I can’t afford to get drawn in, and I’m already starting to see cubes before my eyes.
Viva Ergo Sum 