I started Minecraft on an Xbox360, I don’t know how many years ago. While I was playing, I was interested to see what my impact would be on the world, the whole time plying Peaceful Survivor mode. In a game where you can literally move mountains, what would I do to make this map my own? So I played the same map for years and years. I missed out on some fun updates, but seeing the toll my building took on the world, that’s an interesting experience.

This was one of my first buildings. Just had to make shelter, maybe dig some tunnels. Because how crazy is it that you can dig tunnels in a game?!?

Of course later came Croft Manor, that giant beast in the background.

Next thing I did was build a permanent staircase as high as it would allow… and then dig it down into the bedrock.

In the North-East corner of my map was a tiny jungle biomed island. The trees used to grow all the way up to the glass dome, but when I needed that red wood fast, I replaced it. Then I build the train rails that would connect it to all of my manors.

While reading Akira, I thought it would be a fun idea to build a large industrial underground system. This subway runs across the whole map.

… But at what costs?! After building three mega projects, all that sandstone and glass had to come from somewhere. I nearly destroyed the larger of my two deserts.

These hills used to be covered with trees, but when your manors call for spruce wood…

And when you’re downright desperate for ore, at the base of my staircase, I dug.