A Broad Observation From Outside the Field

I took the boys to Boston the other day, as part of our April/May school vacation.  As we were riding through Somerville, a working-class city next to Boston with many old, closely-packed houses, Daniel told me that these  houses were giving him some ideas for Mine Craft.

After we went to the Museum of Science, we had supper at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown, and the lighting fixture outside of the bathroom was a bit unusual, probably having to do with the age of building, and this single set of light switches in the hall provided a small map, using arrows to show which light was for the men's room, and which one for the women's room.  Ian took the opportunity to explain to me how the light switch and its elaborate guide reminded him of Mine Craft.

Mine Craft is with us at all times.  The boys discuss what can and can't be done with Mine Craft in the car, and elsewhere, spontaneously, sporadically, extensively exploring the  mining possibilities and the considerations for contending with the cast of antagonists in the game (I could list each class of them myself, but that would be perpetuating the obsession.)  It's like having techies, or trekkies, or deadheads, or dittoheads, or some class of scientific, academic or political enthusiasts among us at all times, who can descend, deeply and enthusiastically, into their own shop jargon and ongoing questions or issues, in a way that no novice around them could ever keep up, or would ever want to.

I suppose the chauffeur shouldn't complain when the experts in the back of the minivan limo shed light on their abundant and ever-unfolding world of discoveries and possibilities.

(May, 2014)