Frustrations

Grievances, complaints, horrors, and other frustrating thoughts, ideas, and images from the contributors:


"I am not a video gamer, that is until taking the class Digital Literacies. Playing Minecraft has caused me great stress because I knew that my abilities in scrambling around the domain were substandard. I was afraid of having to compete with natives who have spent whole childhoods becoming gaming adept. After reading Gee’s introduction in “What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy,” I grew to understand that Minecraft will have to be a game that goes at my pace. I would have benefited greatly had we been able to play the game together in class. Per our studies, I have understood that gaming with others can be a richer experience and after the class is finished, I will find my affinity group at my leisure. It seems that my laptop has not been providing me with the superior game handling that my son experiences from Xbox and other gaming platforms."

At first, I was afraid to play Minecraft. After giving it a try, I can now create various structures and I find it terrific!

"There is something about technology that makes gaming absolutely impossible sometimes. Often, it comes from not understanding the underlying processes (unit operations) that guide our actions (outcomes). Those frustrations occur. A wise teacher of mine once said to me, "If it doesn't work, just step away from it and come back later." This is the best advice that I can give you when something doesn't work. (That and [|Google]your problem... the solution might be one search away!) We aren't computer programmers (at least no one mentioned they were) so we, unfortunately, cannot go into the code of this game and "fix" what might be broken. However, this does not stop us from reflecting and analyzing our frustrations. Please write them here. (And if you can, please try to connect your responses to our readings."

In Minecraft you are dumped in a world as asked to create it or to survive in it. How many of us have ever been asked to do that before?

"Dying and losing all of your items sucks especially if you get ambushed out of no where by two spiders with low health because you're hungry and you couldn't make it back home in time before dark and then you don't know where you died and can't find your items and know that all of your recently rare items are about to disappear and that you can't do load a previously saved game because everything is autosaved.

Preparation before the game "I tried to purchase the game and the first time it would not recognize my password, and the next time I tried, I used another email address to sign up for the second time and there was a message stating that I needed cookies. Later, I decided to purchase the game from the school computer, hoping that I will be able to play the game. Now I am frustrated because I have to talk about something that I did not have a chance to learn. I was able to have insights by reading emails of those who played it successfully. One of my classmates built a huge space and was able to put one of the danger in jail, and he was able to build a roller coaster. I am hoping to play something this weekend and be able to respond to all the pages."

There must be a way...

"When you like to discover things on your own without reading detailed rules, frustration can lead your way. Technology can get you stock, and you are talking to a computer as if someone will popup out of that screen and give you answer to your questions. Talking about minecraft, who knew that when you do not sign out your username will be saved for who knows how long? My new computer asked me to allow cookies in order to purchase the game from home, as I am not familiar with what those types of cookies are, I waited and decided to come and use the school computer to purchase the game. The person who used the same computer the day we opened our account did not sign out. We could use all the web browsers without a problem and logged in and out. And when I visited minecraft site, I fill all the necessary information to purchase minecraft, and as I ended the transaction, the confirmation notice stated that I was sign in as another person. I tried to sign in later, and there was no sign that I have purchased the game. After trying hard to contact customer service without success,

I emailed and called whoever I believe would be able to help, I come to learn that my ID was sent to the classmate who was using the machine the first day of our class. I emailed the mojang people to see if they could fix the problem, they are still not responding to my request. I have already learned that I could allow cookies to my mac computer and purchased the game for the second time. Even if I was not understanding what I was doing, I just decided to run whatever they where asking me to run until I saw the page that gave me the option to sign in and play the game.

I have been watching the tutorial episodes, and tried to do what I have learned. Who said that learning is never acquisition? I was experiencing incompetence into gaming: I drowned, It turned dark, the landscapes had no wood and was filled with snow or animals moving all over, my computer got to hot and the target sign could not move. When the landscape looked good, I was able to dig but, the time was up before I was able to built anything. I went on youtube to look for tutorial videos on how to make tools. I learned, but could not apply. Using a laptop makes it harder, I could not do the right clicks and the left clicks as accurate as a regular mouse. My 8 years son who has been playing other video games gave me some hints on how to move using the letters A, W, and D. I am still a long way to doing what I have seen other people do with minecraft. Gaming is a brand new world to me, I have to adjust to change, otherwise, I am dead!

Frustrating, but still fun and shared...

"I am frustrated with not being able to access Minecraft and there are several annoying reasons that this is not working for me. For one, the closing school that I work for decided that they could not pay me because they don't have money till the end of the month, I filed for unemployment and I am still waiting, and my financial aid will not come in until the last week of school. I tried to play Minecraft on my old Mac but somehow I cannot access the Free version. Well this is not true, I can access instructions about how to play the game, advertisements to buy t-shirts for geeks, but not the game itself. I will second one of my classmates, in that I am frustrated that I have to talk about something that I did not have the opportunity to learn."

"Playing on a Mac laptop with no mouse is kind of frustrating because I can't look around and view my surroundings easily. I have to agree with David: Somehow I managed to survive the first night without any shelter or light--exciting, right?!--only to die the next night and lose two days' worth of inventory because I didn't realize time elapsed while I was in "crafting mode". Grrrrrrrrr

"My frustration was learning how to find my sense of direction initi. I built myself a little hide out suvived the first night, with a crafting table, shovel and pick. I was excited!!!!!! Daylight came I went out for resources. If my Avatar could skip... she would have. It is true what James Gee says. The learner (me) must achieve some meaningful success when he or she has expended effort. Hold on!!!!!! I got lost and could not find my way back to my hide out!!! I had to make another hiding place... another craft table and tools....Yes I got killed in the process !! NOT WINNING!!... All while dealing with a lagging computer."

AHHHHH!!!!!!!! "Lack of instructions from the developers/creators and numerous youtube tutorial not teaching what they say they would were very frustrating! Unless the video shows/explain step by step (meaning telling you were/which keys to use then it cannot be a tutorial. I guess the issue these days is not information but finding the appropriate one. Something else that can be very stresssing is playing on a laptop with a mouse. The game is not responsive to the taps and clicks of the mouse pad, meanwhile night falls and you get eaten by zombies. However, I think that one of the most frustrating thing can be motion sickness. The movements of the game can take a while to get use to and while playing there is not much time."

"It is no secret that when you enter the Minecraft world you are pretty much on your own. As you walk, wander or meander you realize at some point that you should engage yourself with the environment. What happens if I hit a tree? What if I punch this rose? Should I jump into that water? This empirical way of deciphering the "purpose" of the video game and what your are "supposed" to do can be a bit frustrating. You are given minimal direction and their is no clear "way to do things." I believe that this is the prime frustration that we all go through. Most of us have seen a competitive sport being played or have seen a sci-fi movie. Usually, when we encounter a game the goal is based on killing a nemesis to "save the planet." Or to outscore our opponents like in a football or hockey game. Most of us have participated in a competitive sport or have seen a sci-fi movie. In other words, as Gee might say our social customs dictate our skill-set and what we need to do to win."

Multiplayer Failure Trying to set up a Minecraft server for multiplayer was as exhausting as learning a new language. There are vague instructions all over the Internet and the instructions that aren't vague didn't work! A player has to have so much computer knowledge to set up multiplayer when compared to other games. Ports have to be open, VPNs have to be set up, IP addresses have to be written down and memorized...the agony. And in the end, I still haven't gotten a chance to experience multiplayer.