I started playing Minecraft to bond with my girlfriend’s 9-year-old daughter who is obsessed with it (over 90% of sentences of her sentences start “In Minecraft?”) little realising what a trap I had sprung for myself!

I realise I am rather late to the party but I discovered a game that appeals to the builder in me. Here is my house Mk. 3 and the field of wheat I am growing. I’m not entirely sure what I want wheat for (bread?) but I ended up with wheat seeds and figured I would grow them and see.

Here is my pyramid. I started this one on a 30×30 base which seemed insane at the time and it certainly took a lot of time to build (including maintaining ramps to get to each level as I built it, Egyptian style). Now I wish I had gone bigger. You get a pretty good view of the landscape from up there! To the left is part of the forest I planted where bees have begun to nest. Quite exciting!

A lot of things you build need resources (you can see iron and gold ore in the rock ahead if you look closely) which can only be acquired deep underground which means digging mineshafts and exploring caves. I’ve been genuinely spooked in some of these.

But sometimes I just like to sit on top of the pyramid and watch the sunrise.
In Minecraft, I have discovered a game that is both entertaining and creative in a way that few games allow you to be. Oh dear, I see that I have started doing it myself?