September 20th 2015 Minecraft

The first post on this blog was back in June and outlines a little about us.


S, E and O are home educated and spend lots of time playing Minecraft. I have another blog called The Gallivanters which I have posted on everyday for the last 5 years but this one is a new departure.



What's happened in the past week on Minecraft?




Last Sunday night Minecraft went down for 3 hours! Due to a problem with the authentication servers.


Orin aka DobotAttack age 6

Has a new Realm mostly so he can play Pizza Spleef with his friends. S, E and O all have Realms atm.


O has been using mods via the Technic Launcher platform - my fave of which is Tiny Man and has introduced a new word to our family "Ensmallening" - led to lots of conversations about scale.


Watching Dan TDM again for first time in ages for mod pack ideas and projects


Etienne aka GoldenEt006 age 8


Has actually been playing another game online! League of Legends. He does also play MK8 and Mario Party but not generally on line. E played Legends at teenager J's house and was keen to play at home. His friends A  and J play too.


Don't worry there's still be hours of Minecraft


E has a Realm and a Technic Launcher server hosted by Apex set to Attack of the B team - it is a really big mod pack though and only one or two of his gang of friends can play it. I was so proud of myself for co-ordinating it all - it is a shame it hasn't worked out.



E's made a Big leap in coding - he literally pushed my hands off the keyboard when he realised what he needed to type  to modify the command for an enchantment - I wrote about this on my sister blog The Gallivanters on Wednesday - using commands outside of a command block - Definitely inspired by the Red Engineer.

thing this morning E asked for help in  making his Minecraft sword extra sharp. He is really into commands now and we talked about the instructions contained within each section - once he realised how the code was comprised and which bit did what  he was literally pushing my hands off the keyboard to make amendments himself.

Those kind of lightbulb moments are really cool to be around.

The sample code we used to copy was for a Iron Sword so he said "Why have iron when you can have diamond?"

 http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/168227/how-to-make-an-enchantment-with-more-than-standard-allowed-max-level

and swapped out the word iron for diamond and then further down the code changed the numbers .........

First time the base that E shares with his friends was  raided on Cosmic PVP - continues to really enjoy PrestonPlayz and Woofless on YouTube - E learns lots from YouTube and "my YouTubers" as he calls them.


E likes to play SkyWars on Hypixel. He does play other Hypixel games (Build Battle, Warlords, Galaxy Wars) but likes Skywars best.


Sapphire (Saff) aka CaramelTiger age 10


S's best YouTube channel remains as Aphmau Minecraft diaries and this inspires much of her play especially RolePlay.


S has been building on various friends Realm's - mostly people she's met via the HE Server and a few people she also knows IRL. She often plays with Orin 1:1 but only plays with Et when there is another person in the mix like a mutual friend.


She plays regular Minecraft on the PC in her room and Technic Launcher downstairs - Copious dogs has been a popular pack this week.


S is really keen to switch her realm to a modded server - Crazy Craft maybe with deco craft which she likes and has been discussing this with her friends to avoid some of the problems E has had.


TMO (The Mummy One)

I've been really enjoying helping E with enchantments and commands and seeing him really think about the possibility and helping O with mods- O mostly plays on the PC right by the kitchen so I can chat to him most easily of all  - S can do all of this herself and more uses my PA services to link up with friends who don't have Skype. I follow all of the trio's best YouTubers on Twitter which keeps me in the loop.

The Tiny Man mod

September 11 Minecraft Update

What's happened using the platform of Minecraft this week?

Lots of news from S - CaramelTiger (10) E GoldenEt006 (8) and O DobotAttack (6)

E met his online friends A and A from Cornwall IRL at Legoland Windsor - he's played with them nearly everyday throughout July and August on his realm, CosmicPVP, Hypixel, their realms, other servers...........and yesterday they met IRL - Minecraft makes friendships.

I've set up a Technic Launcher server for E using Apex - Minecraft pushes me to the edges of my comfort zone and I can do things I wouldn't have understood a year ago! Keeping me connected. So far he has played on it with 2 friends and S and O - it's all very new and a lot more to learn than the Realm (which was a great starting place)

S broke the B key on her new keyboard and consequently has been playing downstairs again. I miss watching her play but realise that she also wants privacy and peace. There's no work/play distinction in fact she often says "I need to work on my Realm." It has a swimming pool.

Since my last update I have helped E and O  complete a few of the Redstone Engineers' projects - The endless rollercoster, the Harry Potter Spells and one of the gun command blocks.

CosmicPVP a server E likes has been reset with a free for all give away just before and investment in new bases after. Shortly after the reset E found a free rank in a chest which he gave to a friend (he could have sold it for in game money) as  he already has a rank on Cosmic.

S has had a gathering on her realm to discuss whether her core group of friend could play mods via a Technic Launcher server like E is.

All of the animals on S's realm died due to a command block error and she put it right by remembering she could reset her realm because she had been baking it up - Minecraft encourages problem solving.

E met a friend at the NBTSP who doesn't have Skype and we talked with S too about the pros and cons on typing (you might die whilst you are typing) vs Skyping whilst playing and various parents shared their stories of kids learning to read  type using Minecraft with us. S's friends are 50/50 Skypers and not and she often now only uses chat if not everyone can skype as it has had led to parallel play and people feeling left out.

The HE server has been a good meeting place and O has been on there too. S really enjoys the Role Plays (RPs)

S continues to laugh out loud at Aphmau on YouTube and will probably chose Aphmau Minecraft Diaries as her Technic Lancher server if it is available. S also likes LD Shadow Lady and Smallish Beans and Minute Minecraft Parodies - They are pretty funny I like this one

E's best YouTubers are PrestonPlayZ, Sundee, Squid and AshDubh and also Popular MMOs


I follow all of the Trio's YouTubers on Twitter - It is a great way to stay connected to what they are watching if you don't have time to watch it all with them - they are a cool bunch with a real sense of fun.

S can type really fast now.

A few days before the reset on CosmicPVP

A parasol one of S's friends made on her realm using a Red Engineer Command blocks project

The babies on the Minecraft comes alive mod pack are so cute

Below O with his

September Update

Entropy

I've found something in Minecraft I am not terrible at! It has only taken 2 years but command blocks seem to be my calling!

In the past 24 I have built several giant DanTDM Rollercoasters and a Harry Potter magic spell set up engaging S, E and O in the process :) Turning animals upside down and all sorts. 

I am so inspired by this 17 year old Italian kid "The Red Engineer" I can see what he is doing and it makes sense and he has great taste in music.

Hooray. Once I had managed to complete one of his projects on a Mac yesterday I was inspired to do more on the PC. I even had a practise when I was the first one awake this morning. Of the many right and wrong good and bad parenting choices made along the way being connected to and understanding Minecraft is up there with co sleeping and breastfeeding :)

Last night was #homeedhour on Twitter. It was really busy. The first one was a year ago but we took a break for summer. As we had finished reading HP HBP whilst I was busy TD, E and O watched the first half of the movie together.

News today that there may be an Artemis Fowl movie has pleased S

We've booked to go to Legoland next week - a little notbacktoschool gallivant. I didn't think we were going to squeeze it in this year (for the first time since 2009) but thanks to the catalyst of E's online friends being there for an IRL meet we will.

S has had some drama on her Minecraft Realm in which all of the animals died but she remembered she could reset her Realm and the mischief was managed. I read this great post about leading questions to help your child trouble shoot Minecraft problems and when I was using some of the phrases she ran upstairs to fix it :)  See above comment about understanding Minecraft :)

O has been doing some impressive days into weeks into months into years maths - "3 months is 90 days." he said today but is rather irritated at the whole 30 days has September thing as it makes it more complicated than his logical brain would prefer.

Today's Phoenix comic lacked a lump. S gave it a good squeeze.

More dissertation work for TD this weekend so another Friday that doesn't really feel like a weekend.