Why This Old Lady Plays Video Games

"People Do Not Stop Playing Because They Grow Old;

They Grow Old Because They Stop Playing"

                                                                                           Multiple attributions 

A web search will lead you to dozens of scholarly articles explaining why seniors can benefit from playing video games, but let me tell you why I play video games:

Understanding the younger generation: When my son was a pre-teen I bought him a computer because I felt that computers would be important for his future. When he started playing video games I started playing, too, in order to have something to talk to him about. Now that I am much older I think that playing video games has helped me have something in common with millions of other gamers of all ages. As for the younger generation, I don't think they will be asking me to join their games, but at least I have some idea of what they are doing.

Meeting people from around the world: In multiplayer worlds  I have met and interacted with people from foreign places like the Netherlands, Ukraine, and New York. 

Escaping the Current Reality: When the real world has seemed to be going to hell in a small portable container with a handle, I have found retreating to a 'cozy' game to be very calming.

Active Participation in Entertainment:  While watching tv or movies is a passive pastime, playing video games requires you to actively participate.  Many games allow you to control the narrative somewhat, so the outcome is up to you.

Releasing Anger: When I get angry, it relieves me to blow off steam by fighting monsters or aliens, while humming "You've got to kill a zombie or two" to the tune of "You've got to pick a pocket or two."*

Improving Memory, Stimulating my Brain, and Improving Hand/Eye Coordination: 

'Use it or lose it'. (Any improvement is welcome).

Exercise: When we were in Covid lock-down and the gym was closed, I exercised with video games like "Walk it Out","Wii Sports", and Abba 'Just Dance', and still do sometimes.

Pretending to Be Someone Else: I have enjoyed 'just pretend'. It is not just for children.  According to web sources 

"Playing games by pretending to be someone else (role-playing) offers significant cognitive, social, emotional, and personal growth benefits. It provides a safe, low-pressure environment for exploring new perspectives and practicing real-world skills."

(So, when I'm playing in a multiplayer virtual world, wearing a glamorous avatar and 'living' in a mansion with a yacht docked next door, I'm learning to understand and empathize with beautiful rich people.)

Problem Solving Practice: Sometimes the problem is as simple as "How the heck do these controls work?" Other times it is "How do I rescue the Princess from the Dragon?"

Building Confidence: Games that give positive feedback can improve your self confidence. Nothing better than hearing "Thank you, you have saved (insert place name here) from (Insert name of monster or evil force here)". Some games, like Animal Crossing, may go a little overboard but positive reinforcement of any kind is nice.

Express Creativity: In a sandbox game like Minecraft I can build large structures and complex mechanical systems without having to buy a lot of bricks or batteries. 

One of my old Java worlds with various structures.

Control a World: Maybe not the real world, but I can change virtual worlds.

Travel and Exploration without Leaving Home: I have been lucky enough to have done some traveling, but a series of unfortunate events have made it so that I can now only take short day trips. With video games, though, I can explore large predetermined worlds like Stardew Valley or visit almost limitless Minecraft worlds created by algorithms I don't pretend to understand.

If this sounds a bit too gung ho, the next blog entry will be on the downside of playing video games.

*Fagin in the musical "Oliver".

About My Blog and My Youtube Channel

I am planning on linking this blog to my future YouTube channel. While "A picture is worth a thousand words", it is hard to put a thousand words on a short video. I don't expect either the blog or the videos to get many viewers, but publishing them is my way to extend my enjoyment of Minecraft and maybe helping someone else out along the way. 

I'm doing the YouTube videos on a Mac with QuickTime and iMovie. Any videos are usually from the Java version of Bedrock unless marked otherwise. 

About sound on the future Youtube Channel. The videos do not have a spoken narrative. I did a test run and decided to spare any viewers. 

About Controls:

On my Mac (Java), the game was installed directly on the computer, but the standard Mac mouse had to be reprogrammed so it would do both left-and right-clicks.

On my PC (Bedrock) I am using either Switch or the game installed directly on my PC.

The Switch game, of course, requires you have a Switch, and the PC Version of the game requires that you download the X-Box app.

Old lady playing Minecraft

A Minecraft World That Comes With Its Own Mob Grinder

A few days ago, getting ready for 1.19, I started a new world. The seed is 7040754562661204920 (Nintendo Switch). Exploring the neighborhood, I noticed more zombies than usual - it turns out that water runs through a semi-exposed dungeon and zombies are constantly being washed downstream right past my back door. 

Spawn  point is wooded and close to water but mining straight down doesn't work because the land forms a rock wave over the deep canyon below. I'm trying to figure out the best way to take advantage of the 'zombie wash'.

Minecraft Makeover - Changing My Avatar

 Thanks to an article in Tech Advisor I found out how to change my skin in Minecraft.

Turns out that there is a place called Skindex that has a free skin editor.  FREE! 

Another site, "How To Gurus" has a video on how to use Skindex and how to transfer it to the game.

I dyed a sheep to match my new outfit.

I had several false starts - at one point I thought I was finished and found I had put the face on the back of my head - I'm hoping to do better in the future.

Minecraft - Changing Platforms

 I just downloaded the 'Java' version of Minecraft. I had been using the Bedrock version on Switch,  but I wanted to try to get Achievements and they weren't available for Switch Minecraft without significant hoop-jumping. Things are very different.  What were 'Achievements' in Bedrock are now called 'Advancements' in Java.

I started a New World without cheats and it was a big shift. I hadn't realized how using the "keep inventory" cheat had made things easy, and it was discouraging to build up XP points and inventory and then die and lose everything. 

Added 10-30-2021. I started a new world in Java and found that I could get Advancements while using "keep inventory." On Switch, I was finally able to access the Microsoft website and get 'Achievements' there.

I'm also having to learn keyboard commands - I died the second day after accidentally hitting the Trader and having his llamas spit at me and knock me back into a hole. I'm looking for a way to make keyboard commands more usable.

I understand that some things in Java work differently from Bedrock. The computer structure is different, and Redstone gadgets may not work the same. I've seen the charts on the Wiki comparing platforms. I'm sure I'll learn about more.

Java vs Bedrock:

- In Java you can't make a plain map out of paper, you have to make a locater map (using paper and a compass)

-In Java there don't seem to be fallen trees

-In Java you don't need to make an extra wooden shovel for an oar, and the boat collapses more easily.

I plan to start a New World once I feel I have learned the controls enough to navigate without thinking. I'm still doing "Vegan Minecraft" (no killing neutral mobs except for fishing) but found some leather armor in a village and enough iron so I could make shears and get wool to make a bed.

Hideyhole in New World

Journey to the Forest Mansion

(Below - supplies for the journey)  I finally found a Village Cartographer who had a Woodland Explorer Map for sale.  I wanted to make a Map Wall of the journey, so I packed supplies to make maps as I traveled. 

I put the Woodland Explorer Map in my shield spot, and created new maps in the other hand - starting with a basic blank map that could be expanded to 4x4 size on the craft table. When the marker indicated I had 'walked off the map' I started a new map.

Woodland Explorer Map on left, 0/4 map on right.

It was a long journey. It took me fifteen Minecraft days. I passed near six villages, and a ruined portal. I had to detour several times to avoid things like a pillager tower and rugged terrain.

I crossed plains, savannas, swamps, deserts, mountains, and a bit of badlands. Every time I went through a forest I wondered if this was where I would find the Woodland Mansion, since you can only find them in the thickest woods. The map gives no indication of the distance still to travel, although the pointer does start to change direction as you get closer.

In a snowy taiga I stopped at an igloo to explore the basement where an unemployed villager and a zombie villager were in separate cells. I cured the zombie villager and freed both villagers.

I didn't run into many hostile mobs, since I slept every night.

Finally, the Woodland Explorer Map started to fill in and I saw the Mansion! 

The Woodland Explorer Map starts to fill in.

I had not really come prepared to fight the hostile mobs in the Mansion, so I built a treehouse and planted wheat and sugar cane nearby while I looked on the net for information on "Easy ways to defeat the Woodland Mansion." There weren't any,  just a lot of hard ways.

Treehouse

From the forest I got wood for ladders and from an abandoned mineshaft I got coal for torches. When I felt I had procrastinated enough, I decided it was time to attack the Mansion.

Going in through the top.

I got up on the third-floor roof and made an opening, then set up a small base in a third-floor room. Between fights with vindicators, evokers, vexes and other assorted hostile mobs, I put up as many torches as I could. 

I tried to put doors on each room.

It took a while to kill all the hostile mobs. It is fortunate that Vindicators and Evokers don't respawn after you've defeated them. 

When everything was quiet I explored. Every Mansion has a random assortment of types of rooms, although I think there is always a Conference Room  The one I found had two rooms with giant statues of cats made out of bales of wool, and many rooms with growing things. There were wheat gardens, flowers in pots, and even a room with a giant tree growing to the ceiling. 

Two rooms with giant wool cats, but no wool ducks.

I did not find any loot that was not available other places in my Minecraft world, but I valued the journey itself. I also got a half-dozen Totems of Undying from killing evokers.

A room full of oak saplings.

Getting my loot back to base presented a problem. While I could have teleported, I eventually built a nether passage from a portal near my base to a portal near the Mansion. Even with this shortcut it is a long trip. 

Totems of Undying in my Potion Room.

Journey Map Wall in my Base Basement

On the map wall the path from my base (on the bottom) shows as the colored line going to the top (the Mansion). 

Minecraft Gadgets That Even An Old Lady Can Make - For Nintendo Switch Bedrock Edition

Minecraft is a popular game that has been out for a long time, has been updated multiple times, and is on several versions on at least nine different platforms.  For this reason, when you try to make "an easy build" that you read about in an article or viewed on a video it might not work for you.

Here are some things that I was able to make on Minecraft Switch Bedrock:

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Jeb Door:

The classic door is a 2x2 block door that is hidden when closed and sits flush with the wall. When activated, it slides across to reveal a secret passageway.

I got the directions for my Jeb door at Skippy 6 Gaming.

Jeb Door - Closed (Lever is at top left - could be hidden better)

Jeb Door - Open - Showing back wall of secret chamber

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Automated Sugarcane Farm 

I got directions for the automated farm from JWhisp. I made some modifications.

This farm works by using observers to trigger pistons that push the top of the cane off, where it falls into hoppers linked to a chest. It also works for bamboo.

Old-fashioned farm on left, automated farm on right.

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Old-Fashioned Sugarcane Farm

For the old-fashioned farm I was lucky to have a flat piece of land near my base that only required a little terraforming. I dug one-block irrigation channels, covered them with slabs, and added more planks and slabs to make harvest easier. I go down each double row cutting off the cane, then backtrack and pick up any stray cane and re-plant any bare areas. 

Old-fashioned Sugarcane Farm

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Both farms have their advantages and disadvantages. 

The old-fashioned farm didn't need a lot of materials, but cane has to be manually-harvested.

The 'modern' farm works automatically, but required resources (iron and Redstone) that might not be available to beginning players.  

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Cactus Farm

From Avomance. 

Cactus can be dangerous to both mobs and players, and I've read that it can break Netherite armor. It is often used in mob traps and as barrier fences. One unusual use is as a 'trash can' for items that you do not need.

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Semi-Automatic Wheat Garden  (left)

I cannot find the original tutorial for the wheat garden on the left; however, the basic concept is covered at the Minecraft Wiki.  Flipping a switch releases a wave of water,  and the wheat and wheat seeds are swept down to hoppers and transferred to a chest.  I have not found a way to automatically replant the field. 

Bonemeal tower (Lower Right)

Another build from Avomance.  This is a simple contraption. You put compostable items in the top chest, and bone meal is collected in the chest at the bottom. 

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Grandfather Clock

This design is from Biggs87x  The tutorial shows how to use pistons to force an armor stand wearing gold boots into a glass block.  Two things to be aware of: 

1. Do not touch the bottom of the armor stand while building because it will change position and you may have an armor stand arm or leg sticking out of the clock.

2. The armor stand is an 'entity' which may despawn without warning. 

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Big Mob Grinder

This is a 'classic' build. I made one I called "Wombat". 

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Taking Advantage of a Skeleton Spawner

This one gives you XP points as well as mob drops. 

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