#minecraft essay

[alleyesony0u]

i actually LOVE the moral issue of pvp civilization. a world where you have to kill others to survive so you are forced to desensitize yourself to the horror of it? but this just brings me back to something i mentioned a while ago while thinking about it. your morals and values are reliant upon the society you live in and who you are raised by. and this applies to EVERYONE in pvp civilization. it’s a death game. kill or be killed. die or let others die. and when you are born in this society and all you know is “if i kill, i can live longer”, then what you view as right or wrong, moral or immoral, is entirely based on this. the “iron swords” claim to know what is morally correct, to be pacifist, but let’s be honest, even if you love so much and care so much, make true bonds and see murder and death as reprehensible, you still need to live. so you kill. and this applies to everyone. to tabi, to evbo, to zam, to the guy who speaks pvp, to all the diamond swords, hell, it applies to the shields even when they can’t directly kill others, just take their hits.

nobody wants to die. everyone see the death of themselves or someone they care about as bad. but when it comes to others? it’s just survival.

it’s a cycle.

the other weapons farm the swords to survive.

the iron swords farm evbo to survive.

evbo kills on every level to rank up, live longer, uncover secrets, despite immoratality. and kills the iron swords who target him after his fight with zam.

guards make weapons hit them with their weapons, wasting durability but helping the guard rank up.

you are part of the endless cycle of suffering, they pit you against each other, and live like kings on your pain. you think, if i cause more pain, i can reach that level of power and joy and longevity. i can live.

you’re just stupid, they think.

but go back to your fighting and killing and the morals you’ve known all your life. go. go. you only fuel them more with the pain.

[tossawary]

I just know in my heart of hearts that in "Star Trek" at one point, there was some moral panic somewhere on Vulcan (among the uppity sorts) because Human culture was "infecting" the local youth with their overly emotional, destructive, unproductive, frivolous, and uneducational ways.

And what was actually happening was that a bunch of Vulcan kids got really into 23rd-century "Minecraft" or something.

Small Vulcan child @ another Vulcan child: (in a tone that sounds flat to Humans but angry as hell to Vulcans) "You have compromised the optimization of my fortress. I am having an emotional urge to blow up your house... in Minecraft."

[awbublie]

garroth used some funds to buy a proper lords dress

OKAYOKAY

i get how this might be out of character for garroth. using towns funds to buy a dress of all things?

this might be me pushing the garmau agenda. BUT i think this would be an interesting look on how garroth would be grooming aphmau to become a proper lord. She already has leadership abilities and a way of reasoning with people. that's what got her this far and how she rose to power (forming allegiances with those around her, helping them, standing her ground). But shes foreign to playing the part, she doesn't have any prior knowledge on how to "look" the part.

which, unfortunately for her, matters a whole ton, especially in relations with other lords. Something that she doesn't realize at first, but garroth does. He came from that life, he knows the sick opinions they have of people, the rumors that go around if a lord is caught looking "unkempt", especially one that doesn't have any lineage.

while aphmau just views the purchase as a waste. becoming what shes fighting against. she doesn't want the village to look up to her because she has authority, she didn't want them to look up to her at all! but she can't just leave them like this. it isn't out of obligation, its more she's found purpose in rebuilding this town. As a lord though? wasn't quite what she had in mind.

aph has heart in the game but doesn't know how to even fit into it. garroth does. everything he does is for the sake of the village. buying those seeds or even trying to push aphmau into lordship. he wants to secure phoenix drop in a time where its safety is constantly being threatened. appearance in this game is everything; a shield even.

so if it means spending his life savings on a stupid dress is it really all that bad?

[ink-ghoul]

now to my fave minecraft worldbuilding topic

what can you cook? what's edible? what's possible with enough imagination?

I'd like to start with things that are present in-game (vanilla), first, the foods and drinks (ingredients too), having a loaf of bread with a nice mushroom stew seasoned with dandelions for breakfast is an option taken straight from the game

now let's say that I take the apples, wheat, milk, sugar and eggs to make an apple pie, that isn't in the game, but it's something possible to craft

in an extend things like salt can exist because the presence of sea water, same as things like bacon (pigs), cheese (milk) and so on

what if I throw the existing leaves in hot water to make tea?

or since all the dyes have an organic source can I make a rainbow cake?

how you cook things must be important too I imagine, maybe steak cooked in the smoker tastes way better than cooked with a fire aspect sword

[blacknight7890]

The Power of Control

An essay on Victim

Spoilers for Animator vs. Animation VI - Ep 2

So, our dear boy Victim, of animator vs animation ONE fame, has officially returned.

We have been waiting half a year for this guy to return, and here he is. Now we finally get to see what he can really do in the only thing that matters in this series. How much ass can this stick kick?

Well, as it turns out, not a whole lot.

Victim is not a strong physical fighter. But, what he lacks in strength, he makes up in something else.

Control

The express purpose of this white box, is to ensure that he has full, and unambiguous, control. You could say that everything he has built is for the express purpose of control. He is the CEO of a gigantic, very well funded corporation, and is the boss of probably thousands of employees.

he has dedicated money and men towards researching and replicating animation tools to give him direct power over the world around him. He gave his top Merc the ability to Stop Time. His tech is all to extend his reach of control.

And this idea of control is shown no better than his signature weapon.

A lasso. An unusual choice at first but it makes perfect sense. Its entire point is to restrain, constrain, and control another.

Victim is not a powerful stick, its why he was initially never able to escape the flash program he was created in. How he got out, and how he survived is still unknown, but I'm sure future episodes will show us.

What we do know however, is that after all these years he has took to heart one thing. True power, is control. The more you have, the more powerful you are.

Which is why Alan nearly deleted him. Alan had the cursor, so he had control, which made him powerful.

Of course, that power has an equally potent weakness. When you lose your control, you lose your power.

The lasso he has wrapped around so many, breaks, and he loses control. Without control, he is vulnerable. Without control, he is powerless.

Its no wonder he seemed so scared when he learned what The Second Coming was truly capable of.

And now, Second has also learned what he can do.

So, what does he do? He tries to reestablish his precious control.

But unlike before, this control is flawed. He never knew what our dear orange could do, he never planned for it. His cage was likely never designed to hold someone as powerful as he is.

Victim may have locked him away, but its clear his grip on the situation has slipped. A lasso can only restrain what it can hold after all. When the rope snaps, when control is lost, he has nothing.

It makes sense why he would be after someone with more control than anyone.

[lightningonatether]

awesamdrittens. dont worry too hard about how those happened

[helianss]

Two birds on a wire / One tries to fly away and the other watches him close from that wire / hes says that he will but he is a liar

[pumpkinprincess22]

Lady Zianna Ro’Meave has not always been a Ro’Meave, though she has been one for more than half her life. If she told you of her name before you wouldn’t recognise it. Her family were royalty back home in Tu’La Her grandmother was the daughter of a king, her cousins sit on the throne now.

When she was around 17/18 an internal struggle for the throne caused panic, betrayal and death within the Tu’lan royal family. Fearing for their lives and the life of their daughter Zianna’s parents fled Tu’la and ended up in the city state of O’Khasis. To secure their positions and wealth in a new continent her parents sought an advantageous marriage for their daughter.

Ru’aun did away with monarchy centuries ago meaning that nobility works differently in O’Khasis. In Tu’la Zianna was a Lady, the granddaughter of a princess but in O’Khasis she was no one. She ended up married to a Ro’Meave cousin with wealth and position enough to allow her to live in comfort, though it was not a match her parents would ever have considered for her in Tu'la.

She did not love her husband but he was kind to her and she was happy enough. He had grown up children of his own to be his heirs so while Zianna herself would have loved to be a mother someday he did not pressure her into having children right away and she was largely given freedom to do as she wished, living amicably with her husband.

Less than a year into her marriage her husband died suddenly leaving her a widow at only 19. As she had not had his children her position was precarious and her parents urged her to marry one of her adult stepsons in order to keep her money and home but Zianna was reluctant to follow their advice.

See Zianna had fallen in love. Her freedom allowed her to roam the markets and parks of O’Khasis and during one of her many trips she fell in love with a young merchant. His name is unimportant to this story. He was young, handsome and wealthy and most importantly Zianna loved him. Her parents, however, did not but after many months she convinced them to allow her to marry her beloved.

That would have been the end of the story if only it hadn’t been for Garte Ro’Meave. Zianna’s parents refused to let her marry or announce her engagement until the traditional one year mourning period was up. She was one month to being free when she was invited to The Party.

The Party was a 21st birthday party for the Ro’Meave heir Garte. As she was still technically part of the family Zianna was expected to attend, and that was when she caught the eye of the man who would become her husband. Garte knew the moment he saw her that he had to have her. He asked her parents for their permission to marry her and they granted it instantly.

Zianna was forced to break off her engagement and within the year she was Lady Ro’Meave, Garte's father having died unexpectedly mere months into Garte and Zianna’s marriage. This marriage was more restrictive than her first had been and Garte less kind, Zianna struggled without the freedom her previous marriage, and widowhood, had afforded her. Things became easier when her eldest son was born, motherhood filled the stretches of loneliness and soon a second son followed. She loved her boys but she couldn’t ignore her husband’s cruelty, she never forgot her fiancé either.

He had moved on too but his wife had died giving birth to their son and he hadn’t remarried. Once, when Garte had been particularly awful to her her handmaid helped her flee to her old lover’s home. Zianna found parts of herself in his arms that she hadn’t known she had lost. He convinced her to flee Garte and O’Khasis and go with him on his next trade journey setting sail in the morning but when the sun rose she was gone, having returned to the Ro’Meave estate in the middle of the night.

For all her talk of freedom she had never been without the comforts of nobility and she was afraid of how to live without it, that and she feared for her boys should she flee, already at four years old Garte was shaping her eldest boy into his image.

Many months later when Zianna found herself to be pregnant once again she thought nothing of it, she loved her sons and she would love this child too. And when he was born, a healthy baby boy her husband was pleased that he had another heir, but as the years passed and he grew up to look like neither Zianna nor Garte as their elder two children did, but her old lover, Garte grew suspicious. Zianna had never spoken of her night with him to anyone but rumours flew regardless.

Eventually news reached her of a ship lost at sea, its crew missing and presumed dead, among them her former fiance. Zianna wasn’t sure if it was something her husband had orchestrated but when the man's 10 year old son showed up in the O’Khasis Guard Academy, hand picked by the Lord himself, she had her doubts that the shipwreck had been an accident.

The boy grew up, as did her own sons each taking their own paths. Her eldest joined the boy at the Guard Academy, her middle son joined the church of Irene and started training to be a priest, and her baby boy, her songbird was content just to live.

The boy became the youngest Jury of Nine member in O’Khasis history, Sir Jeffory the Goldenheart: executed for treason. Her eldest boy graduated from the Guard Academy with full marks, Sir Garroth Ro’Meave: missing and presumed dead, a traitor to O'Khasis. Her middle son became High Priest at only 25, Zane Ro'Meave: died a heretic. Her youngest son, her songbird, Vylad Ro'Meave: was murdered in his home before he even reached adulthood.

And Zianna endured. It is a horrid thing to outlive one's children, but Zianna survived it with the grace and charity expected of someone with her upbringing. She tempered her husband's mood, steered him away from starting wars and generally ruled her city from the sidelines. She tended to her garden, full of poppies and foxgloves and all sorts of berries, and if a rather unpleasent merchant or guard or ally of Garte's died suddenly not long after spending time with her the blame never found its way to her feet.

She also sought out Jeffory's orphan daughter. In another life, another world, Abby could have been her granddaughter. Zianna couldn't bring the girl into her home and offer the maternal love that she needed, but she could give Abby jobs, point her in the direction of work and give her a ring with the Ro'Meave seal which got Abby out of a tough spot on more than one occassion.

Zianna Ro'Meave has not always been a Ro'Meave, but it has been the role that suited her best.

[urfavcrime]

seeing tommyinnit mature i feel like a proud dad (he is older than me)

[nomsfaultau]

The Lambs Wolves Wear!Philza and Gendered Horror

This is an essay detailing my thoughts on gendered horror in my fic The Lambs Wolves Wear, wherein Philza’s children are replaced by monsters and he’s forced to maintain the mask of a family to survive. And I’d just like to put a disclaimer for tumblr “reading comprehension” dot com that I’m not a raging misogynist that believes men and women are separate species with no experience overlap, but instead observing societal expectations.

Gendered horror is about who is allowed to experience fear. The archetypical example being a final girl, as women are allowed to be emotional and scared and crying when being murdered, but men are often not afforded that. Because of societal pressure to repress their emotions, men are allowed fear but not allowed to show it. Furthermore, gendered horror is about what types of fears are narratively allowed to be done to different genders. This is blatant in topics like sexual violence, but it goes far deeper into the themes horror explored through different genders. Thus, I see merit in examining the types of horror Philza experiences in The Lambs Wolves Wear through a gendered lens, particularly as it pertains to his role as a father. This essay is going to be centered on the traditional Western paradigm of fathers as bread winners/protectors and mothers as nurturers/homekeepers, and how that pertains to gendered horror.

At the start of the story, Philza does not fall cleanly into the false societal dichotomy of father/mother roles. He can’t, given his status as a single parent, forced to provide both physically and emotionally, and excelling at both. Thus, he is in a position to explore horror from both the roles of father and mother within their societal archetypes.

Philza’s story is about the horror of failing to be a father.

Imbedded within the very premise of The Lambs Wolves Wear is Philza’s failure as a father to protect his family from external threats. He has already lost. He could not prevent his children from being taken, either through violence or threat thereof. Finding himself within the archetype of a vengeance hero with a classic slaughtered family, Philza naturally seeks violent retribution as is expected of him. However, it is not something he can deliver. Every second is a constant pounding reminder that he’s both too weak to protect his family and too weak to avenge them. Even worse, as time goes on he finds it increasingly difficult to even want to fulfill this expected violence in a deep betrayal of his missive to protect. Not only is he physically weak, but morally so as well. It’s an incredibly emasculating experience for him.

Second, as the damage the monsters inflict mounts, Philza loses the ability to provide sustenance to his family due to the razed cropland and slaughtered livestock. He is cut off from his work and left without a way to fulfill his family’s needs. This represents a second failure in protecting his family, albeit from a non physical threat. This aspect of fatherhood he weaponizes against the monsters, admitting his insecurities to manipulate them. It is the only grief that Philza is actually allowed to express, becoming an outlet for some of his fear. But not much, because men are expected to be unwavering and shoulder the responsibility without appearing weak. As a father he is not meant to be scared. But Philza spends the entire story so deeply, harrowingly afraid. This is the only place he succeeds as a father, in suppressing his emotions so others don’t know how badly he’s doing.

Still, Philza ultimately fails his duties as a father, unable to provide safety, physical needs, or vengeance.

Philza’s story is about the horror of being a mother.

First, establishing he fills an archetypal female role. While Philza outwardly suppresses emotional displays of fear as is expected from him, as the reader we’re privy to his harrowing terror and imposing sense of helplessness, which means from a narrative standpoint he’s still failing to hide his emotions. This emotional vulnerability is more permitted with women. Next put a check mark next to physical weakness compared to giant hellbeasts and undead armies. While male weakness compared to a foe is often explored given the aforementioned duties of protection, as a man Philza is still expected to try to fight back. He doesn’t. This emphasizes his powerlessness. And lastly, he is expected to preform massive amounts of emotional labor and other duties associated with motherhood. So, he is well positioned to explore certain (societal) aspects of female horror (though obviously not all).

The sole thing Philza can provide is emotional comfort, which falls within the traditional motherly role of nurturer. It becomes his only use, stripped of independence from the loss of his livelihood and the strict expectation that he will be a good parent (or else). He is put on a pedestal, expected to have no flaws, to never get angry or frustrated or overwhelmed, to have desires or ambitions outside of a motherly role. The wants of his “children” always comes first, even when it’s destroying him by violating what he needs. His only use is as a mother, and so he must be a perfect one or die. This aligns heavily with classic females roles in fiction (Being thus: Mother, damsel, whore, witch). Mothers in fiction are typically defined exclusively by what they provide for their far more important children, or what they fail to provide through their death. They are not people outside of their defined role. Philza is allowed no identity outside of nurturer.

Where once Philza had a role as a breadwinner, he is quickly stripped of that work, his domain becoming the household. He cannot leave, because why would he need to? That would get in the way of always being present and emotionally available to help his “children”. This cuts Philza off both from his community and from independence, as he is now reliant on the “children” to bring in food and water. Furthermore, the “children” are questionable providers yet Philza doesn’t have any other means of securing resources. This reflects the financial dependence that many women have been trapped in due to societal constraints limiting/forbidding jobs, bank accounts, being single/familyless. With no other option of survival, Philza has to pretend to be in love or be destitute (or murdered). The domestic abuse he experiences is endured because he is utterly dependent on the “people” abusing him, much like many, many, many women. And even should he escape, Philza was a subsistence farmer dependent upon his land, now the territory of the “children”. Razed as it is, it’s still the only means of survival he knew before he was forced to become a stay at home dad. So he stays. Home is a prison, but it is the only way he can survive.

Philza is forced to be responsible for the emotional state of others at the cost of his own mental health, and is expected to be perfect and exclusively dedicated to nurturing. He is controlled through dependence, isolation, the thin veneer of a family unit, and physical intimidation/abuse, which are themes deeply related to the horror of motherhood.

Closing thoughts:

In general media, there is a trend I’ve noticed in one gender adopting the role of another, specifically not in a trans context. A woman adopting a man’s role is empowerment. This is the marvel action girl heroes, the girlbosses, the ‘I learned to fight from my brothers’. But a man adopting a woman’s role is horror. It is the fear of the oppressor that they could be oppressed. Male horror is becoming dependent, the assumption dependence is inherently horrific because it can be abused so readily. And so in male horror, being a final girl is not just the horror of the experience, but of physical and EMOTIONAL weakness. Becoming a final girl -becoming a girl- is an unimaginable horror. If and only if you define womanhood as weak, crying, fragile, dependent, and identity-less outside their singular archetypal role.

The Lambs the Wolves Wear concerns itself with exploring those power inversions, a parent being abused by children, a father discovering the horror of motherhood. And. Well obviously I’m trans, so the message isn’t preventing said gender role transitions (well perhaps dismantling the roles into something healthy each individual decides but! Not the essay for that!). Similarly, children become caretakers for their elderly parents, or become parents themselves. It is a hierarchy that already naturally subverts itself. The horror is not from change, it is from power and lack thereof.

Crucially, as Philza desperately reaches for the vengeance hero archetype, we will likewise explore the horror of trying to maintain the man>woman and parent>child power hierarchy/expectations. The question becomes not forbidding these dynamic shifts, but how to facilitate them. How to REMOVE the horror, remove the abuse of said power dynamics both in their status quo and in their subversions.

So yeah. the gendered horror of Philza Minecraft, everyone.

[cactusringed]

Something fascinating about what could have been, about what has been but isn't anymore.

Did you know very early versions of Minecraft - I'm talking pre alpha - had gigantic pyramids of bricks at set spaces of the world? They would go all the way to world height and would be completely solid, and the only way for players to get bricks.

There used to be scraggly walls of obsidian who would spawn in the world for... No reason at all. When the end was introduced, eyes of ender didn't use to point players to it's direction, and so there used to be a gigantic pillar of glass all the way to world height to signify the stronghold

Nowadays Minecraft structures need to have a reason to exist, need to have a use, need to be rooted in reality. But there's something so special to me about those nonsensical, surreal structures that acknowledge the world as a video game - something removed from reality, something that exists within its own rules.

Something that can break if pushed too far, turning the world into stripes of land, distorting it's objects - something that can break time and physics itself. Idk there's something about it

[alleyesony0u]

literally cannot stop thinking about how intentional it is in pvp civilization that people refer to evbo as "kid" or tell him he is "just a kid". it isn't just a headcanon that he is probably a teenager he IS a teenager. he's impulsive like a teenager, he's naive like a teenager, he doesn't understand romance like a teenager, he's materialistic and looking for anything that will give him comfort or happiness like a teenager because he IS A TEENAGER. he's a kid. he's a kid cursed with immortality, and what do people do with that? abuse it. evbo is a kid in a horrible, violent society, and he knows nothing else, but he still believes, naively, like a kid, that there are people who are better than this society. he tells zam that he and the iron swords don't need to farm him, that it will do them no good. what about his life? what about tabi's? and he forgets where he is. what he is.

in this society, evbo is not a child. in this society, evbo is not the "chosen one". he is a tool. he is an object. what do you do with tools and objects? you use them.

and yet evbo still stands there, a kid. and the adults of this society exploit that. he is just a kid, he doesn't get it. he is just a kid, he doesn't realize how many lives he's saving. he is just a stupid, naive, vulnerable kid with too much love and too much hope in his heart. we can use that.

he is a calf standing on wobbly knees born knowing it is destined for the slaughterhouse.

[mcd-brainrot-hours]

army dreamers by kate bush… the ro’bros…

“what could he do? should’ve been a rockstar/but he didn’t have the money for a guitar.” -garroth but he didn’t have the freedom to be a guard

“what could he do? should’ve been a politician/but he never had a proper education.” -zane except he didn’t have enough education to be a proper lord

“what could he do? should have been a father/but he never even made it to his twenties.” -vyladddDDDDDDDD AUGHHH he died young. he barely had time to be a child.

“what a waste.”

[becker-call]

since the first episode of ava 6 premiered not too long before summer break and the rainstorm actual short kinda implies that red still goes to monster school it's my personal headcanon that ava 6 happens during red's summer break

mainly because i think it'd be fucking hilarious if someone asked red what he did over the summer and he explains the entirety of ava 6 to them

[bellshazes]

this might look like a proper webweave but mostly once again i'm procrastinating by recreating my preferred ender chest storage system in rainbow-coded organized shulkers & thinking about the entropy of storage systems vs. georges perec's incredibly funny piece on the art and craft of arranging one's bookshelves (original fr text here)

[thecohenpazo]

Reasons The Minecraft Movie Will Be Terrible:

*LIVE ACTION*

This is the first mistake Warner Brothers made. Minecraft is a game that is known best for being an open, desolate world, without human life to interact with. What little of the world is made for you is ruined and abandoned. To see people here is to discredit the heart and soul of this game, which is that there is no one. You make the rules, you create the story.

*VISUALS*

Not only did they pull 0 real textures, geometry, lighting, colors, world generation, *anything*, they made it look like one of those, "Minecraft Realistic TexturePacks". The lighting changes between different shots of the same scene. The creatures look nothing like the games.

*AUDIO*

Minecraft is not a loud, booming game. It's a quiet, lonely setting, where you explore and build to settle yourself into a world. The music is absent most times, and when it fades in it makes one feel like what you've done has meaning. When you find a music disc, suddenly you have control over the noise around. The ambience of cave noises scared you when you were younger. The iconic sounds of mining, placing blocks, ring out in the minds of half the world.

The protagonists, don't need to speak. In fact, it detracts from the story if they do. Steve could be anyone, he tells all of our story's. Put a voice in him, and now he's just Jack Black.

*PLOT*

-Jokes: Usuallly, in a trailer for a movie, the humor can be quite telling of the whole experience. If two of the only trailer worthy jokes are animals making funny sounds, what does that mean for the rest? Minecraft isn't a funny game. It can be, of course, but for the most part, it's about finding some semblance of self in a world of no one.

-Cast: Piglins, in recent years, have become a sort of mascot for Minecraft as an antagonist. However, we've had far better antagonists that fit with Minecraft's design much better. A quiet, taunting menace. One who's been here from the start; Herobrine. The spiders and skeletons and creepers and zombies. The loneliness of the big world. The claustrophobia of the caves. The friends we lost along the way.

-Characters: Not very long ago, there were but two characters in Minecraft: Steve and Alex. But now there is a whole slew of misfits to include. I think something key about all these characters is, none of them need a voice. You don't need a celebrity actor to play Steve (sorry Jack). You can just have him be, show his emotions by how he interacts with the world.

-The True Story Of Minecraft: It's quite simple really. It's whatever you make of it. Sure, there are puzzle pieces, ruins strewn about, audio in discs, a poem at the end of the game, but truly, there is no real end. When you decide you've done what you came to do, you log out, and that's that. A movie about a silent character, moving through a world empty of kinship, creating something beautiful that others may never see. Or a movie about a group of friends, working together to make a mark on the land. Whatever it may be, *that*, is Minecraft. Minecraft is a story built on common experiences. Remember breaking a painting over and over to get the one you want? Remember trying a million ways to craft things? Remember believing in herobrine, trying to summon him?

This movie is just a cheap cash grab, meant to capitalize of the youths inability to judge a quality movie, and a lack of understanding of what this game means.

Go fuck yourselves, Warner Bros.

If you want some good alternatives, check out DAWN - A Minecraft Fan Film from Skyminer, Minecraft Anime Opening from DinxieMintie, Minecraft From The Mobs Perspective from Jackson Field, and many more!