Before I start off, as another warning, this is a long post. This is a story about what happened today when I played Minecraft by myself. It’s kind of a long story.

So this is a tale about adventure and exploration.

When I started a new survival world, I was placed dead center in the middle of nowhere on an island full of trees. On one side, in the distance, I could see a patch of sand. On the other, what looked like a forest. I knew immediately I didn’t want to be stuck on an island playing this game forever. I dreamt of a big house, a village, a huge farm. A real Minecraft world that I could build up. So I knew that I had to get off this island as soon as possible.

I was surrounded by water. The logical thing to do would be to make a boat. A lot of boats. I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get to where I wanted to start building, which would hopefully be a grassland. I promised not to make this little island my home, but instead, just a place to gather resources before I took off.

Like in any game I start, I always turn on the bonus chest because I like to cheat in video games and it’s also just really a morale booster. Like hey! You need to chop all that wood? Here’s a wooden axe to start off with! And hey, you need some light but you haven’t mined yet? Here’s four torches! I’m a cheater. I cut corners. Don’t look at me like that.

So I quickly took everything from the chest and got to work cutting down every tree I could before my little wooden axe ran out. And you know where it goes from there. I also knew it would be getting dark soon, so I wanted to have a shelter up as soon as possible because I’m a sissy and I think Minecraft should be labeled survival-horror because creepers are fucking scary. But, I had promised myself, this wouldn’t be a home. So I opted for digging a 4×4 hole in the dirt a couple levels down, then using the dirt to make a nice roof over my head. I didn’t even bother making a door, I simply used a piece of dirt to make a slight entrance way.

Cut to dying a few times, mining down my little hole to gather iron and other such, shearing the sheep that inhabited the island to make myself a nice bed. I was running out of food. So I beat down every single piece of grass I could find, and planted the three seeds I had received. Still not a lot of food. I took to eating apples and rotten flesh. I resolved to cut down every tree on the island, stock up, make some boats, and leave this shitty little place. I was getting impatient dreaming of a big house instead of dirt walls.

And so I did. Every day I chopped down trees, and every night I mined for iron, gold, and coal. I started gathering all my things. I made a chest to hold what I would take with me, filling my inventory only with the precious things. Soon, there was no tree in sight. I littered the island with torches, telling myself that if it was bright enough, I could find my way back and take the rest of my belongings. I had far too much wood to take.

I made eight boats. A new bed. Collected all the food I could. Made twenty torches. Made a new sword and a new pick. I got in my boat, and sailed toward what looked like a forest, swearing never to go back to that island.

The forest turned out to be an island too. So did the patch of sand on the other side. Devastated.

So I set out again, sailing far out behind there. I looked for anything I could, I even passed a sea dungeon on the way. It took a while before I saw something red in the distance. It was mountains of red sand, clay, and tumble weed. I hoped there would be green on the other side. It took two days to get through the whole region. I climbed up the mountains to the top over and over, only to find more water. So I got in my boat, and I sailed on.

It was on the fourth day of my journey to find a grassland that I finally, finally, hit a snowy mountainous region. I rejoiced, for I knew that on the other side, there would be a green. I dumped my boat, climbed up one side, and started exploring. At first, it was fun, being able to gather beef and pork, collecting new flowers, looking for my perfect place. And then, the longer I went on, not finding my perfect place, I started… missing my island. That shitty, treeless, sheep inhabited island, surrounded only by water, with a mere desert being the closest region. I was shocked.

The sixth day, I found a grassland, but it wasn’t… perfect enough. I moved on. I kept exploring, not stopping, looking for my perfect place. I started wishing I had never started this journey in the first place! My island wasn’t big, but it had been perfect. I started losing hope that I would ever find somewhere to settle down in. I walked endlessly.

And then, after traveling across mountains, rivers, swamps, more rivers, a few forests, it finally opened up.

I found my perfect place.

It was a grassy, flat plain, border on one side by a river, and the other by hills and an abundance of trees. There were cows and chicken and yellow flowers. It really was what I dreamed of. I started building right away.

And yet, I still missed my little island, where I knew where everything was. It was small. It was shitty. It was lonely. But it was still mine, rather than this one place I found out of many. I made that island into my own. This new place was already made for me.

In the end, it taught me a great lesson. I’m moving to L.A. in about a month. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of. But through a video game, I’ve learned that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. I’ll have to make my home in Los Angeles, and make it well.

TDLR; Minecraft taught me a lesson. Started on an island, journeyed off, couldn’t find a perfect place, missed the island. Learned to be thankful for what you have and where you started. Don’t know what you got till it’s gone.