There was a larger tower built at the starting spawn point that was designed to give good views of the immediate area and be safe to get up and down. For some reason I could not get the spawn protection to work so all the blocks that made up the tower were up for grabs and very quickly they all realised this. All the safety glass put in place was smashed and they started falling off very quickly. Anyway the point is that they have started with an empty world with no resources themselves and it is up to them how they shape this world and their community. Will they build and create, will they fight and argue, seperate into small clusters or work as larger group, how will their individual personalities influence their world?
For this session we spent about 30 min at the beggining in the world. Then stopped for a community meeting and to write a reflection. The reflection was on these questions:
- What has been happening for you?
- What have you learnt? Technical/in game learning and Deep/community based learning.
- How can I apply this to my life?
Alpha Group
Alpha Group Spawn point.
Today there were small groups working together and protecting each other trying to build and mine. There were a few people still running around ignoring the rules and killing people or stealing stuff. There were a few diamond swords floating around they seemed to keep changing ownership with bursts of outrage across the room.
There were three big issues for Alpha group. People killing each other and taking their stuff, people using others names to hide their behaviour. Also people not following the rules. They had a few rules from last time like only killing at night time but not everyone followed these.
Alpha Group Rules
After the meeting today there was some good discussion about what to stop and the above rules were written up. They all have a loose plan for everyone to make a bed so that when they all sleep it will turn night to day and then they will all have a new spawn point as well. When they all went back in, most were getting angry as the rules were not being followed. To be continued...
A few reflections from the students
Student One
What Happened?
Today on Minecraft I got all iron armour and a diamond sword from mining. But it was annoying when Manny came and stole our stuff from the chest. Me, Jerry, John and Henry were working together to get heaps of stuff. I then finally made it up to my sky base with staircases and now waiting for Thane to give me a bed. At the end Patrick accidentally destroyed my chest so I had nothing.
What Did I Learn?
I learnt about brotherhood and friendship because Harry and John died from Tropical fob so I chased him and killed him to get our stuff back. We were working together and being a group because we would protect each other's stuff.
How can I apply it?
I can apply Brotherhood in the cabin and on trips with my mates and friends by helping them out and friendship every where in life on the sports field and work.
Student Two
What has happened?
So far in Alpha's Minecraft world, a lot of things have happened. But at the moment, I am in a mine with Thane digging for resources so we can continue living. As a class, we had a meeting on what's been happening in the world and talking about some things we could change or rules we could establish.
What could we learn from this?
We could learn about the privacy of others homes, we made a rule not to intrude or destroy anyone else's houses or chests. The temptation is there to just steal their stuff but we have to turn away and try find our own equipment instead of feeding off others.
How could we apply this to our life?
Learning not to invade in others space in the cabins and leave their stuff alone. You may think it's okay to go sit on their bed or use their ball to play with but they may not think its alright. Ether ask them or just don't go into their area at all.
Charlie Group
Charlie Group spawn tower
There seems to be at lease two small well organised group in the class one that has found diamond and kitted themselves out with diamond weapon and armour. They are successfully defending against others in the building. They seem to have some pretty good diplomatic and negotiating skills as well to keep people happy and are sharing their resources as well, to a degree. As these groups are working together some creating and building is starting to happen.
There seems to be at lease two small well organised group in the class one that has found diamond and kitted themselves out with diamond weapon and armour. They are successfully defending against others in the building. They seem to have some pretty good diplomatic and negotiating skills as well to keep people happy and are sharing their resources as well, to a degree. As these groups are working together some creating and building is starting to happen.
Both these house have extensive mines going underground and Im guessing 4 or 5 out of the 24 in the group building them.
The meeting with this group was very unorganised and they didn't appear to want to sort anything out. We talked about laws and how they are mainly an aggreement between people. However no progress was made and most just wanted to get back in the game.
Overall Charlie group is having fun running around and doing whatever they want some small groups have got together to help each other. They have the two main issues of people getting killed when minding their own business and people taking their names and hiding their bad deeds behind false aliases.
Students Reflection
What Happened??
So everyone logged into the game and it was night time. As soon as I spawned into the game I got killed! Which meant everyone was just killing each other, so I just decided to join because it was like every man for themselves because of that, the whole game was just killing as many people as you can.
What I learnt?
I learnt that to have a successful community, you must have laws to balance everything. Like no killing as soon as someone spawns inside the tower, or going into people's place and taking their items for your use. The worse was stealing people's name and getting all their goods. In short words what I've learnt is, laws are very important!
How could I apply this?
If I have to charge if a community doesn't matter if it's a rugby team and I'm the captain, or a whole youth. Rules and laws, without them, the world wouldn't be where it is today!🇹🇴🐎📢📢👑👑
Bravo Groups Spawn Tower
The sky tower on the left is the biggest building so far
I didn't try a whole group meeting with these guys, I did try a short open caucus style meeting where they could chat with anyone they wanted. They just stayed in their small groups and planned together and waited until they could get back in the game.
Student Reflection
What happens?
Well there was peace at the beginning of the session and then everyone started killing and then it turned into a war.
What I learnt?
I learnt that if you kill one person then others will kill you. And if u stole someone's stuff then they would steal yours.
I can apply this in life by keeping to myself and only take something if I have permission.
In Conclusion
I have been playing in the worlds with each class as a player with the same abilities as them. It is really frustrating trying to create something and having to watch your back all the time for someone to attack you and take your stuff it is very much like a world without order. I have not worked with anyone else yet just doing my own thing. From what I have seen though the successful people in whatever good or bad aims they have are the people that have teamed up and are collaborating and working together. So just like in the real world more can be achieved by a team than on your own.