“Yeah that’d be great.
It’d be hard though.” Jonathan
agreed as he typed away.
“It’d be a good creation.”
Kyle’s voice fades into a series of noises and then breathing like Darth
Vader.
Jonathan and Kyle are both eleven. They’ve been friends since they were two and
they were virtually inseparable before Kyle and his family moved to Arizona a
year and a half ago. A year, maybe six
months before the move the boys discovered the online multi-player game
Minecraft. The game has saved their friendship. When Kyle moved they might have written a few
letters, made a few phone calls, and then moved on to other friends. Instead, they play Minecraft. Every day. More often than not they’re not only on the
same server, they’re also on the phone talking distractedly while focused on their virtual
world.
Kyle: “I’ve used up
two three stacks of cobblestone.”
Jonathan: “I have a
stack and fifty-five left.”
Kyle: “I think that’s
the last of our cobblestone.”
Jonathan: “Why don’t
we stop here? Why don’t we go gather
some glass? Why…….. How much do you have left?”
Kyle: “Did you just
take some?”
Jonathan: “Nope, I
just took some wood.”
Kyle: “It looked like it multiplied it, but really didn’t.”
Minecraft looks a bit like a computer version of Legos. The players use blocks to create their worlds. Diamond pick axes mine for red stone and
other materials they can build with or trade.
They design “skins” for their characters and spawn animals or plant
crops for food. The game can be played
in creative mode or survival mode where players steal from each other and kill for
resources.
Kyle hums. Jonathan
types frantically.
Jonathan: “Dude. There’s Citizen and Kit Check.”
Kyle: “Huh?”
Jonathan: “There’s,
oh that’s you. I thought that was a
person.”
Kyle: “Would you kill
me?”
Jonathan: “I would
have if you were just a random person.”
Kyle sings.
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