Social Motivations

     The majority of my social interaction in Minecraft was with my previously existing friends or group members and not with people that I met in the game. Most players in public servers seem to either ignore other players or simply not be able to find many others in the very large open world. The few interactions that I had with other players in the servers were usually limited to PVP attacks where other player's avatars would try and kill me for experience or to loot my gear. The only positive interaction that I had with other players included compliments regarding my impressive structure as they explored it.

     I do not feel however that I was missing out much on a social experience while playing Minecraft, due to the heavy survival focus of the game, cooperation is the best way to approach many, if not all issues in the game. I cooperated with players that I communicated with outside of the game, either face-to-face or over Skype. Through proper cooperation, my friends and I were able to mine materials more efficiently and build more impressive structures.

     In "The Guild" the players were able to overcome real-life issues as well as issues within their virtual world through cooperating, both face-to-face and over voice chat while playing the game. My experience with Minecraft has been similar in that many of the objectives that I have overcome would have been impossible without the help of my friends.

Achievement and Motivation

     Minecraft, being a very unstructured affair, provides little direction for the player and as a result is not possible to "win" the game. Thus the player's motivation to continue playing the game comes from their own desire for exploration and experimentation. There is nearly infinite opportunities for both of these in the world, both from the base game and through player created mods that add new ways to play. The game does include actual achievements for certain actions, however I do not find much satisfaction or sense of accomplishment in obtaining these.

     Personally, my main motivation for playing, that provided me with the greatest sense of achievement was to create the most impressive structures that I possibly could. As I continue to play the game, my skills and understanding of the game's physical laws and potential expand, allowing me to better harness the world elements for my own functions. Due to the type of play in Minecraft, namely shaping the environment through collection and strategic placement, it is incredibly satisfying to receive positive feedback from other players in a server. Other players may be able to not only see what you build, but they may explore or otherwise interact with your structures.

OSI Model

     While playing Minecraft, myself as a user was indirectly connected to my avatar through a series of keyboard and mouse inputs that interact with the software and computer hardware. I am controlling my avatar, not just through actions, but in the personalization of my avatar's appearance and the types of objects that I choose to interact with in the game world. As a result, my avatar is an extension of myself as a user and it is as though I am controlling a part of the virtual world.

     The software, including the login page and other routes between the user and the avatar form the outer layers in the open systems interconnection (OSI) model, the outermost of which defines the user. These layers act as security as well as connection for both the player and the game's servers and information. In Minecraft, players must login to the game before the title menu is even displayed and then they may need know the server name in order to reach a multiplayer game. Other elements of the outer layers of the OSI model can be found in such things as server rules, player registration and information, and the host servers.