Minecraft Creative mode and its consequences have been a disaster for the individual survival mode player. It has greatly increased the capacity for those who wish to limitlessly express themselves, but it has limited the achievements of the independent player.
I have been a #minecraftgamer for nearly 10 years now. I like the game. As the Official Minecraft Trailer says: "No one can tell you what you can or cannot do. With no rules to follow: this adventure, it's up to you."
Unfortunately for me, I discovered early on that it only takes 4 clicks to transform a survival world into a creative world. With creative mode, you have access to everything. Tired of searching for clay to make bricks? Bam! Infinte bricks. Wish running through your mineshaft didn't take so long? Bam! Super speed. Getting bored mining out your mountain cave house? Bam! Explosions and super fast mining speed. Unfortunatley I succumb to this pretty quickly and then lose interest in the world (more on why later).
Within Industrial Society and Its Future, Ted Kaczynski provides an explanation for why cheating in diamonds for yourself leaves you unfulfilled.
33. Human beings have a need (probably based in biology) for something that we will call the power process. This is closely related to the need for power (which is widely recognized) but is not quite the same thing. The power process has four elements. The three most clearcut of these we call goal, effort and attainment of goal. (Everyone needs to have goals whose attainment requires effort, and needs to succeed in attaining at least some of his goals.) The fourth element is more difficult to define and may not be necessary for everyone. We call it autonomy and will discuss it later.
34a. Consider the hypothetical case of a man who can have anything he wants just by wishing for it. Such a man has power, but he will develop serious psychological problems. At first he will have a lot of fun, but by and by he will become acutely bored and demoralized. Eventually he may become clinically depressed. History shows that leisured aristocracies tend to become decadent.
34b. This is not true of fighting aristocracies that have to struggle to maintain their power. But leisured, secure aristocracies that have no need to exert themselves usually become bored, hedonistic and demoralized, even though they have power. This shows that power is not enough. One must have goals toward which to exercise one’s power.
In simple terms: you cannot have success without struggle. Paragraph 34a perfectly describes the person who skips the struggle of the video game. When my Minecraft avatar becomes "clinically depressed" (due to me cheating), I tend to create a new world. This has lead to me not accomplishing a whole lot among the many scattered worlds I have created.
This translates into real life as well. Growing a garden or excercising are perfect examples as they touch upon all 4 parts of the power process. (goal, effort, attainment and autonomy) The accomplishment of your goals allows you sustained joy. In first world countries, essentials are usually provided to you by the government: slashing at the Power Process. Therefore, seeking out difficult or time-consuming things is good for you, because unfortunatley, unlike Minecraft, you can't create a new world in real life.
My easy cheat code for creative mode doesn't work on servers, and I've found that multiplayer can offer a more fun experience. Often though, I just want to work on my own stuff. My solution to this is Minecraft's hardcore mode. Within hardcore mode, you don't respawn and only have one life (woah! just like real life 😲). Locked in hard mode, there is increased challenge (increasing the effort of the power process) This then gives me the chance to try new things when I inevitably die. Lately, I have started playing in hardcore mode and have made a different style of house each time. The only other solution is willpower, just knowing that I gotta just not cheat I guess.
1. I think that youtube videos where thousands of hours are spent building "megabases" or other monolithic creations in Minecraft survival mode does a disservice to the achievements of individual people. I elaborate on this a bit here.
2. Please note that the views of Ted Kaczynski, though thought-provoking, do not reflect my own.