roomthily

An open invitation to the chisel fest

Minecraft seems to capture and embody the ennui and attraction of empty space better than any other computer game, be it a simulation or MMPORG. An open sandbox, it is visually pitched at a point at which imagination is still vital to fill in the gaps. And what gaps. From the Me-Fi comments: ‘It reminds me of a favorite book of mine, Thomas Glavinic’s Night Work, in which the protagonist awakens in a Vienna that is, inexplicably, completely devoid of life. After wandering aimlessly looking for someone else, he spends his time reconstructing his childhood home, moving old furniture into his old house and rummaging in the attic for old photographs of his missing loved ones…. Minecraft’s infinite geography conveys the same feeling — you’ve got the small familiar territory you’ve scouted out for yourself, maybe even a broad region you’ve colonized with friends. But no matter how far you penetrate into the frontier, no matter how many aqueducts and railroads and towering sculptures you construct, you’ll always find yourself at the edge of wilderness, all alone in this incomprehensibly vast space riddled with caverns and teeming with monsters. It’s like all the most terrifying ideas about deep space, brought back to earth.’

via things magazine