Minecraft is a time sink, but fun. (my thoughts)

[Lazybones]

Ok this is not a good game for someone who is a little OCD.

I think I am going to have to time block my self.... Over did it the last few days between feeling the need to get up to speed and just the amount of time it takes to construct some things.

[Mr. Analog]

LOL funny you guys haven't run into things I have... I have killed 6 Slime Blocks and those skinny black things that carry blocks - I have killed over 20.  But I know Mr. Analog has said in RL if not on these forums that both are rare on our server.

I put stuff in the Smelters and log out... when I log back in they are done.  This could be cause someone else has logged in since I have been there, but I don't see a reason not to do that.  When you have 8-10 smelters going making your crafting items is pretty fast.

enderman is the block carrier. I have seen him several times.. but avoided him.

As for the smelting I think it stops when no-one is online, I could be wrong, maybe it just glitched on me the one time.

I /think/ if noone is in a given chunk, it gets saved and unloaded. So nothing will run in a given chunk if no-one is there.

I think you're right, I've been on our server but away from my furnaces in another chunk and when I get back there seems to be no progress.

So far I am having fun, and spending much of my OTHER time thinking about what I could be building...

Well, that anti-convinces me


Seriously you guys are all hooked and loving it, glad to see the whole gang excited about the same game -- reminds me of the days of CoH when lots of screenshots were posted after cool missions and TFs and costume changes etc. -- but I am definitely going to play the "Know Thyself" game and not jump into the fun with you. Just not enough free time as it is for stuff I like thinking about/doing. Sounds cool, if only it was built a few years ago...

Well that's your call obviously, it would be fun to see what stuff Darren would build but I understand.

Ok this is not a good game for someone who is a little OCD.

I think I am going to have to time block my self.... Over did it the last few days between feeling the need to get up to speed and just the amount of time it takes to construct some things.

Yeah it's good to pace yourself, that's for sure, it's really easy to spend 3+ hours in a row if you aren't paying attention

[Tom]

LOL funny you guys haven't run into things I have... I have killed 6 Slime Blocks and those skinny black things that carry blocks - I have killed over 20.  But I know Mr. Analog has said in RL if not on these forums that both are rare on our server.

I put stuff in the Smelters and log out... when I log back in they are done.  This could be cause someone else has logged in since I have been there, but I don't see a reason not to do that.  When you have 8-10 smelters going making your crafting items is pretty fast.

enderman is the block carrier. I have seen him several times.. but avoided him.

As for the smelting I think it stops when no-one is online, I could be wrong, maybe it just glitched on me the one time.

I /think/ if noone is in a given chunk, it gets saved and unloaded. So nothing will run in a given chunk if no-one is there.

I think you're right, I've been on our server but away from my furnaces in another chunk and when I get back there seems to be no progress.

So far I am having fun, and spending much of my OTHER time thinking about what I could be building...

Well, that anti-convinces me


Seriously you guys are all hooked and loving it, glad to see the whole gang excited about the same game -- reminds me of the days of CoH when lots of screenshots were posted after cool missions and TFs and costume changes etc. -- but I am definitely going to play the "Know Thyself" game and not jump into the fun with you. Just not enough free time as it is for stuff I like thinking about/doing. Sounds cool, if only it was built a few years ago...

Well that's your call obviously, it would be fun to see what stuff Darren would build but I understand.

Ok this is not a good game for someone who is a little OCD.

I think I am going to have to time block my self.... Over did it the last few days between feeling the need to get up to speed and just the amount of time it takes to construct some things.

Yeah it's good to pace yourself, that's for sure, it's really easy to spend 3+ hours in a row if you aren't paying attention

Punny humans... *cough*

When I first got into minecraft there was a weekend where I did nothing but eat, sleep and minecraft. And that wasn't the only time either.

[Mr. Analog]

I do enjoy the more social side of it, I like wandering around and seeing all the peoples builds.

[Lazybones]

I do enjoy the more social side of it, I like wandering around and seeing all the peoples builds.

That's why we need a server side community map

Also I spent way more than 3hrs a day so far, thus why I have to cut back... kind of put off a bunch of stuff I should be doing that is piling up... Also was given some slack from the wife as it is nice to unwind in a game however my current pace is not sustainable...

I may pop on and off frequently but probably will not be on for long stretches unless its late or on weekends without other scheduled activities.

[Lazybones]

On the plus side the cartoon vilence is really low on this game so I don't feel bad about playing it around the kids... Unlike other games where I really need to wait till they have gone to bed first.

[Mr. Analog]

That's how I like to treat it, sort of a once or twice a week thing. The best part about time boxing is you get enough time to do other stuff around it as well.

There have been nights where I just played under an hour, got a little bit done and went onto other tasks.

I like that I can just pick up and play whenever

On the plus side the cartoon vilence is really low on this game so I don't feel bad about playing it around the kids... Unlike other games where I really need to wait till they have gone to bed first.

This is true!

[Lazybones]

On the time slice aspect however it can be very hard to meet a goal within a time limit.

Digging the last part of the square north took a really long time between burning through tools, running out of food, travel / run time (thus used up the food bar) getting more food, and dealing with under water / sand construction... And that is just a tunnel!

Decorating a fort or some other localized tasks assuming you have already gathered resources are better for jumping in and out.

[Mr. Analog]

I find the most difficult aspects of managing time around Minecraft are similar to art or even programming, sometimes you have to let unfinished stuff go.

The meta game is time management when you think about it heh, build lots of small things or do big projects, when I look at the map and see how much effort went into what's there it's pretty astounding actually.

I'm no longer afraid of something like Minecraft taking all my time as I've learnt to manage it better I think.

[Thorin]

Ok this is not a good game for someone who is a little OCD.

I think I am going to have to time block my self.... Over did it the last few days between feeling the need to get up to speed and just the amount of time it takes to construct some things.

I knew I'd remembered reading in one of the threads.  Yeah, I've overdone it as well (who needs sleep?) and have found out how long it can take to build things.

[Mr. Analog]

For sure, chipping away at projects is the only way to make big things happen I guess.

Also I think I may be overly persistent looking at how much crap I've dug up...

[Lazybones]

I knew I'd remembered reading in one of the threads.  Yeah, I've overdone it as well (who needs sleep?) and have found out how long it can take to build things.

You can't say I didn't warn you, this was also part of my primary reason for resisting the game to begin with.

Also I think I may be overly persistent looking at how much crap I've dug up...

I was a little shocked at how large your mines where once the map went online... lol You have been playing longer on the server than I have.

[Mr. Analog]

I was a little shocked at how large your mines where once the map went online... lol You have been playing longer on the server than I have.

I was pretty much alone for a long time on there yeah, Melbosa's dig is really surprising to me, I mean he's dug out a LOT of stuff given how long he's been on there...

But yes, now that I see what I've done on a map I'm surprised. I mean I'm not that far off from where Stewie eventually set up shop, I thought I wasn't quite that far along but... yeesh.

At one point I had 36 diamonds... I'm somewhat regretting not making armor out of it but ... many pickaxes and shovels died in the making of some things

I'm constantly in need of coal, if I hadn't found out about charcoal I would have been dead in the water a long time ago. I love digging below level 15 and coal is there but not as abundant (I think, I'll have to check the wiki to be sure).

[Lazybones]

I love digging below level 15 and coal is there but not as abundant (I think, I'll have to check the wiki to be sure).

Ya redstone appears to be almost more common than coal at that level... Digging stations, and transit tunnels I found lots of coal.

[Mr. Analog]

A lot of times it's just under any surface, coal is cool like that.