I've always enjoyed computer gaming, ever since I got a Commodore 64 back in the early 1990s when I was a teenager! I spent many happy hours in my bedroom learning the basics of coding and copying out huge text programmes from Zzap64 magazine. The C64 made way for a Playstation, then a PS2 and finally an Android tablet, phone and Windows laptop. Fast forward 25 years and I am now living the Spoonie life. When my pain levels are particularly bad I find computer games really help to distract me from my pain. A couple of years ago a friend introduced me to Minecraft. I've always enjoyed 'sandbox' games: open worlds where you can go where you want, complete sidequests, collect items and roam around a virtual landscape. I've never been one for linear games - they don't allow me to be creative - and good sandbox games have always been few and far between for me. I found a couple of wonderful games for the PS2, Steambot Chronicles and Road Trip Adventure, but most games are too restrictive, and often full of gratuitous violence that doesn't interest me. Minecraft is perfect. An infinite world is generated from a handful of letters and numbers (a 'seed') and the game is infinitely customisable. You can slay monsters, build cities or simply explore. My aim in playing Minecraft is to relax and since I know that having monsters sneaking up on me is going to make me tense, I simply turn them off! I could have infinite items, but I choose to go out and find resources, giving me a challenge. I build and I explore. If I find a couple of villages, I link them together with a road, and sometimes with a little railway line. I love finding the pre-generated structures that litter the virtual worlds, particularly abandoned mineshafts. That gives me something to explore as well as lots of treasure to find! A couple of months ago I discovered 'modding' (modification) and that opened up yet another layer of customisation to me. I'm currently having great fun with the free Biomes O'Plenty mod which ups the landscape variety enormously: instead of around 20 landscape types (biomes) I have over 90 to explore. I love finding new types of trees and plants in each zone, and I've used them to build an arboretum near my base. I've always loved botanical gardens, and since it's harder to get to them these days, I'm making my own! I've started building a massive glasshouse, inspired by the Temperate House at Kew Gardens. It's a big project but I've broken it down into a series of steps: gathering materials, crafting them, assembling the roof and so on. I've almost finished the roof now (after around a fortnight of playing!). Next will be the walls and doors, and then the decoration, using loads of plants and flowers I've discovered in all the biomes around my world. I'll save that for another post.
There is good clinical evidence that computer gaming can help with pain management and it's definitely a good tool for me. Spoonie experiences are highly personal: we're all unique people with unique challenges and needs, but gaming has proven really helpful for me. And it's fun too!
2 Comments
8/19/2018 08:10:00 am
Congratulations you're blogging 😀 I think you may have inspired me to look into Minecraft if I get the chance (or possibly Simms I think that is similar isn't it?) I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts.
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Sarah
8/20/2018 01:43:59 am
Thanks Susan! It feels good to be writing again! I used to blog a looooooooong time ago and I've missed it.
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