Minecraft is now a subject at a High School

[Teufel_in_Blau]

http://imgur.com/gallery/166TA

Who cares for physics and math if you can play Minecraft instead?

[JJXB]

...they would have a field day with my effort then:

not worked on it in a while.

[ryu]

i really want to flip my table right now

[Blackbird]

Is that the original Diablo o_O?

[louisg]

It can't be any less educational than the shit they made us play on the Apple ][, like that monster maker game

[Opethian]

"i just don't understand why our high school students aren't prepared for the real world "

best comment ever

[maxlords]

Look! A screenshot from Populous!

[Drum]

An MC community would actually make an *excellent* project in school. An entire subject in high school is just dumb though.

[BPzeBanshee]

This is pretty neat. Being a Minecraft player I can see exactly what they're trying to do here, and while it sounds like being a bum because it's Minecraft, hosting an RP server with Minecraft isn't exactly the easiest thing to administrate at all.

[duckman]

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/web/minecraft/

...the game that really trounces Minecraft is a very obscure little gem that only a few old timers like me are aware of: it is an amazing little indie game called AutoCAD, launched in December 1982 by independent game developer John Walker and a handful of close friends. This is an insanely complex sandbox-type game that has existed for twenty-nine FUCKING years, during which time it has received countless additions and modifications, and is still being updated today!

...AutoCAD completely trounces Minecraft; if you find the screens in this review amazing, the stuff players have been making with John Walker's little gem for the past three decades will blow your fucking mind away.

So I mean, yeah, you can certainly "build" some blocky bullshit little abortion of a thing in Minecraft, if you so desire, and controls are so basic and dumbed down it's no wonder contemporary subhumanity has given a few millions in the past year to that fat Swedish fuck who made it — but some of mankind's smartest and most creative individuals have been giving BILLIONS to John Walker and his associates for DECADES, and what these players have been creating with his game is not blocky bullshit little abortions of things but stunningly complex engineering MASTERPIECES (which, moreover, also obey the laws of physics... this is the beauty of 1BCing) that will remain as testaments to the power and ingenuity of the human spirit for centuries if not millennia to come, and certainly a long time after this ridiculous little Minecraft fad has died down and come to nothing.

So the choice is really simple: what we have here are two games that aim to provide the same experience, that of designing things — one of them extremely plain and crude things, the other insanely elaborate and complex ones. If, then, you are a plain and crude person you'll choose the former; if an elaborate and complex one the latter, and that will be the end of that. I, for one, made my choice a long time ago, in all those hours I spent as a child dicking around with my uncle's computers in his office. The time has come now for you to make yours.

[RNGmaster]

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/web/minecraft/

Stop that. Tired of Kierkegaard's poisonous bullshit.

Guy's just angry that his ideas aren't as successful. It's a sign of a good reviewer when he denigrates a game designer by calling them fat.

[Drum]

icycalm is clearly mentally ill. Please stop making a spectacle of his ravings.

[Ruldra]

I suppose if this was an extra-curricular project it'd be a nice idea. It'd be interesting to see everyone working together to get a big village or a castle done by the end of the semester.

Oh, and that Minecraft version of Tristram posted above looks awesome. Wonder how long it took to build.

[Udderdude]

An entire Minecraft highschool class is silly.

That said, icyclam's Minecraft review is retarded for like a zillion reasons, the least of which is that he doesn't even realize there's a non-sandbox mode where you have to build everything from scratch, and monsters try to kill you/blow your shit up. Which reveals that he did not even bother to play the game before typing out his review.

And then he compares it to AutoCAD. So I guess legos are useless now too since they've been supplanted by building materials used in real construction projects .. uh huh.

Edit: lol http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 25#p718125

[RNGmaster]

You can totally make music and engineer miniature working computers in AutoCAD, too.

[duckman]

That said, icyclam's Minecraft review is retarded for like a zillion reasons, the least of which is that he doesn't even realize there's a non-sandbox mode where you have to build everything from scratch, and monsters try to kill you/blow your shit up. Which reveals that he did not even bother to play the game before typing out his review.

He actually did mention those things in his review, when he compared Minecraft to Photoshop:

That sound like a far-fetched claim to you? Wait until I am done! You 'aint heard nothing yet! And, very well, MS Paint is basically a two-dimensional image creation program, but what about FUCKING PHOTOSHOP? Or, to be more precise, Photoshop Extended, which features "3D image creation, motion graphics editing, and advanced image analysis features". What about THAT, fuckfaces? Oh, it's not a game, you say, so perhaps it doesn't count? Would it count if we called it "Marioshop" or "Super Mario Photo" or some shit, and plastered Mario's mug all over the start-up screen? Or if someone who looked like this had launched it in the TIGSource forums? Or if, every time you wanted to use one of the drawing tools, you had to play a stupid little mining mini-game? And if, whenever you saved your data and closed the application, you lost a few of your hoarded up "drawing tool resources" to random "critters" that Adobe inserted to help you avoid SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FACE FROM THE SHEER BOREDOM? Would Photoshop count as a game then, fuckfaces? How many of these utterly retarded modifications would we have to make to Photoshop for you to realize that it does more or less the same things that Minecraft does ONLY A BILLION TIMES BETTER?

So I guess legos are useless now too since they've been supplanted by building materials used in real construction projects .. uh huh.

LEGO is a children's toy for christsake; no sane person is going to take away Little Joey's blocks and tell him to go get some cement and steel rebars if he wants to build something.

Edit: lol http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 25#p718125

I was being sarcastic in that post you linked to. If you were smart you'd be reading insomnia as well, instead of slandering icy and calling his readers a "cult" like everyone here (and everywhere else) does.

You can totally make music and engineer miniature working computers in AutoCAD, too.

So AutoCAD is more specialized for designing buildings. But that's exactly why professional architects use it instead of Minecraft.

[Drum]

Cut your dick off and bleed to death.

[Ruldra]

Another thread derailed by icybots *sigh* I'm sick of it already.

Comparing Minecraft to AutoCAD or Photoshop is just plain idiocy. And you still try to defend his reasoning? Give me a break.

I see where this thread is going so I'm outta here. Enjoy the lock.

[Udderdude]

.

[Elixir]

Alex Kierkegaard wrote:

Are people seriously still calling him that.

[duckman]

In any case, any creative program/toy (From Minecraft to Photoshop or anything else) is boring when you lack any and all creativity (protip: It's not the guys playing Minecraft instead of drawing stuff in Photoshop).

The problem is not that Minecraft players aren't creative but that Minecraft is extremely limited and can't do as much as Photoshop and AutoCAD.

So I guess legos are useless now too since they've been supplanted by building materials used in real construction projects .. uh huh.

LEGO is a children's toy for christsake; no sane person is going to take away Little Joey's blocks and tell him to go get some cement and steel rebars if he wants to build something.

Yet Icyclam is arguing exactly that you should take away Little Joey's copy of Minecraft and replace it with AutoCAD, because it's so much more superior.

It's not about telling Little Joey he can't have fun unless he makes something to rival the Sagrada Família. It's about giving him the better toy to mess around with.

Here's another way to think about it: if you were a kid and your uncle was a music producer, you'd probably want to mess around with his cool and complicated mixing console, right? Or would be content to just play with your Fisher-Price xylophone?

Edit: lol http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 25#p718125

I was being sarcastic in that post you linked to. If you were smart you'd be reading insomnia as well, instead of slandering icy and calling his readers a "cult" like everyone here (and everywhere else) does.

If you'd been here longer than 40some posts you'd realize I've extensively laughed at .. er, read icyclam's site and forum. Also there is no hint of sarcasm in your post.

I've read your old posts and you sometimes say you agree with him but complain about his "bad behavior". You sound like a guidance counselor, lol. "Oh, he's such a smart boy, but he just won't behave!"

About that post of mine...yeah, I guess it's not really sarcasm. Really, I was just twisting the "cult of icycalm" accusations around to sound better. P.S.: I've always thought the Masons were cool because their members include presidents, politicians, authors, and other important people. (Compare that to Scientology, in which the most famous members are actors, a.k.a. professional clowns.) Plus all the world-domination conspiracy theories surrounding them make them sound even cooler.


---

Alex Kierkegaard wrote:

Are people seriously still calling him that.

Not this Anthony Zirbas shit again.

[Teufel_in_Blau]

Enjoy the lock.

[Blade]

I hate mouse-clickey games....

[DJ Incompetent]

[RNGmaster]

icycalm logic: getting angry at a game for not being something it's not trying to be

[Siren2011]

Are people seriously still calling him that.

You need to end a sentence with a question mark whenever you ask a question, not a period. It makes you look dense and lazy.

icycalm logic: getting angry at a game for not being something it's not trying to be

You've gotten considerably cooler since your early posts, but I must suggest use of a period when it is needed.

My evil grammar Nazi ways are expended for the time being. Carry on.

Personally, I tend to think any game that my 9 year old cousin can enjoy should typically not be enjoyed by dudes in their thirties, let alone dudes in their late teens. Shit, I would never, ever go back to Super Mario Brothers, nor Duck Hunt because I know there are much more challenging games out there waiting to be played and discovered by me. This game is obviously a retrogression from what is aesthetically possible in this day and age, and the game wears it like it's something to be proud of. That in itself is a problem. But then you have the whole building ugly crap feature, as well as digging for stupid shit. Sounds like a blast. Do you guys enjoy RuneScape, too? What about playing in the sand, or eating bugs?

[nZero]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38701 ← No.

Let's return the topic of discussion to the article in the OP, instead of the insomnia.ac review of Minecraft, or your personal opinions of other posters.

[Skykid]

Also, it's pretty weird for a one of icycalm's worthless codependents to be so stuck on grammar - icycalm can't write for shit. He does not know what commas are for.

I've highlighted the same point several times over, but yes, always worth re-clarification.

Personally, I tend to think any game that my 9 year old cousin can enjoy should typically not be enjoyed by dudes in their thirties, let alone dudes in their late teens. Shit, I would never, ever go back to Super Mario Brothers, nor Duck Hunt because I know there are much more challenging games out there waiting to be played and discovered by me. This game is obviously a retrogression from what is aesthetically possible in this day and age, and the game wears it like it's something to be proud of.

You have inherited a failure. The entire notion that a game with the ability to appeal to the broadest range of demographics is somehow inferior is a complete fallacy. It undermines a considerable back catalogue of the finest software ever written.
Simplicity is a virtue in gaming, that's why we play games with the three same buttons and basic logic over and over.

[Siren2011]

The entire notion that a game with the ability to appeal to the broadest range of demographics is somehow inferior is a complete fallacy.

This is not even something we disagree on. I remember you mentioning in another thread (I think it was the "Recommended Anime and Manga" thread) that the majority of people have poor taste, and their tastes are a direct reflection of their mental processing power. It was a very smart quote. I've even thought about it quite a few times when reviewing games.

It undermines a considerable back catalogue of the finest software ever written.

There's a good reason for that. We live in a universe of evolution. That "fine software" that you speak of was great for its time, but it is completely and utterly obsolete today. At least the most primitive ones are. For example, I can play Garegga (1996) all day, but Space Invaders (1978) is just grossly simple and boring. No one would want to revert to a neanderthal either.

Simplicity is a virtue in gaming, that's why we play games with the three same buttons and basic logic over and over.

Hmm...that first part is not something I see plausible at all. What I said was not a fallacy at all, but a different subjective standard than the one you now hold. If you like games simple, that's totally fine. It's just odd considering that the best games are the most deep and richly rewarding ones. In other words, high complexity trumps all. Name one true modern masterpiece that isn't complicated as shit to master. Then take into consideration that all of the old masterpieces (Zelta, etc.) are so inferior it takes an extreme case of denial to claim that they are superior to the new ones. I'm not saying that's what you're saying, though. Of course you are entitled to your beliefs as well.

The second part kind of makes sense, but I can't make heads or tails of it.

[Skykid]

Hmm...that first part is not something I see plausible at all. What I said was not a fallacy at all, but a different subjective standard than the one you now hold. If you like games simple, that's totally fine. It's just odd considering that the best games are the most deep and richly rewarding ones. In other words, high complexity trumps all. Name one true modern masterpiece that isn't complicated as shit to master.

Dude, Space Invaders is complicated as shit to master.

Try it.