Ok, one more post about Minecraft. From a SL point of view. It is still a fun world to explore, but as Orca said in the comments... it is fugly. Here's my attempt at building a beach house. The view over the ocean is beatiful - especially at sunset, but that's not the point. The point is that it took me like 5 minutes to build it and kids aged 7 can do it too.
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| Beach house in five minutes |
Now, if you can disregard the lego feeling, then it is a beautiful day at the beach house. If not then I guess the bubble breaks. The water looks pretty waterish though not half as waterish as in SL. There are no waves, but downstream water will transport things. However, the water also comes in cubes.
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| State of the art interior |
Inside the beach house you'll find state of the art furniture. Here's a shot with a view out the backside windows. It's raining outside in case you wonder what the blue things are. Table, chairs, stove in cube-design. There are two beds too. So it's a great hideout. Kinda like building a treehut. Except there's noone there to hide from. Well, there's always a few monsters around, and you can invite ppl to join your local game. That's why kids love it. It is their own world entirely. You can also join a public server, but the ppl there don't seem to be there for the conversation.
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| Wild life and sandy beaches |
Where Minecraft is short on ppl it seems full of wildlife. Rabbits, cows, horses, pigs, donkeys, wolves, sheep, squids and loads of other known and unknow creatures will meet you if you ho exploring. The black things in the water are Spongebobs cousins... square-squids. Mountains, flatlands or oceans... doesn't matter... they are crawling with animals and spooky creepers. Here's a shot of a sandy bay with a pretty lil island. I've set up a few lighthouses to help me find my way around. The world is huge even though it only takes up very little space in my harddrive.
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| Lighthouse |
Here's a simple lighthouse. Complete with three levels, a door, inside stairs, windows, a tiny marina, light on top plus beds and bookshelves for a lonely night. It took me like 10 minutes to build. Amazing but very cubistic. Just like a Picasso, though I expect he spent more than a measly 10 minutes on his masterpieces.
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| Marina |
Here's a closer look. Not too bad, huh? The cubistic thing in the foreground is a small marina, and the brown box there is... is... well, it's a boat. That's what boats look like in Minecraft. The mere fact that you can sail in a boat is fantastic, but then the fun stops. There are no oars, no engine and no sails. It just sails where ever you point it provided you tap on forward. Yes, I know there are other moving things in Minecraft... it's super easy to build an underground trainstation or a rollercoaster. It's fun but it's kinda like the sailing. Easy to build, fun to ride... for like five minutes.
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| Sailing in Minecraft |
The inhabitants are cubistic too. That's a girl right there... sitting in the boat. I won't say it's me because it isn't. It doesn't look like me and it doesn't feel like me. Still, it is me sailing. Kind off. So what's the deal here? Why is Minecraft such a huge success? Hmm... it is fun to explore. It is supereasy to build. There is a built in gameplay, and there are other quests to be found on public servers. Deathmatch. For those too afraid to try Open Arena. Parkour is big too. Hunger games are also quite big it seems. The games are great, I am sure... but if sailing is your game, then consider the next photo...
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| Sailing in Second Life |
The difference is inexplicable. To me it's the creativity that makes Minecraft interesting. The super easy building is the key. It gives you the feeling that MC is your world because you can make stuff so easily. Houses, railroads, marinas whatever... Sadly, I suspect sailing will never be big. The boats cannot be changed or improved on. I could build a huge pirateship, but I cannot bring it to life. I'll head back to SL for sailing. And for the ppl. A big part of SL is meeting ppl from all over the world. I conclude that MC and SL do not compare or compete... They are simply too different. Sometimes you feel like having an apple. Sometimes it's a pear. Both are good. I suspect the two games (if SL is a game) have very different users with different age and objectives. However, SL could learn something from MC... make it easy to build. Release the creativity. I bet that would make SL grow.
