My latest is up at Da Tech Guy Blog: Minecraft Obsessions

Below a reposting of the original.

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By A.P. Dillon

Today I’m not hitting a political story. In an effort to unwind, I’ve been sucked into another world and frankly, have gotten a little obsessed. So has my oldest son. What am I talking about?

Minecraft.

Some of you instantly know what I am talking about, others need to get up to speed. Minecraft, in a nutshell, is legos for the computer. It’s breaking, placing and building with blocks. There are other neat features about it as well like being able to craft armor, fight zombies and more. You can play solo or with friends. Find out what I mean and check out their video:

How we became obsessed

We had no idea how hugely popular it was and that Minecraft recently passed over 35 million copies sold worldwide. Friends of ours mentioned their son was playing Minecraft and described it to us. A few months later, we finally checked it out as an early birthday present to our oldest.  We immediately liked that our son could play solo and in various modes — his favorite being the creative mode. I admit, that’s my favorite too. As a fan of city building games like Caesar III and Sim City, this was up my alley.

Once we downloaded it and started playing, we were hooked. Anyone with obsessive compulsive disorder will be an instant addict. I even find myself compulsively “tidying” up areas, weeds, lines of blocks and buildings. My son on the other hand likes his worlds messy.

Anyway, what we have seen in this game and what our son has done with it since we first downloaded it has amazed us. Anything he can think of, he can pretty much do. I’ve been impressed with the things he has come up with as a seven-year old. He’s also gleaned ideas from a set of videos my husband and I have approved created by an enthusiastic player named Stampylonghead. Be sure to check out his YouTube Channel Trailer. I love this guy.

Only draw back I’ve found with the game itself is that it sometimes crashes randomly. By crashing, I mean it locks up my computer completely and forces me to do a hard reboot. I’ve tried the multitude of tips or tricks listed in forums online that mention this problem, but none of them really seem to make a difference. Making sure my computer wasn’t overheating by cleaning it out seemed to help. Maybe it’s a processor overheating issue that freezes it, not sure. I’ve played way more graphics intense games than this with no issue. Perhaps it could be a game population issue; something is spawning somewhere in the world causing a crash. If anyone out there reading this knows, drop a comment below!

The creativity capacity is incredible. Our son has even created airplanes, detailed traps for monsters, whole towns, and an amusement park. He is now currently exploring the various resource packs that are available. Resource packs are like add-ons that change the look, textures and feel of the images.  There is so much more I could go into detail about, but it would fill several tomes. My suggestion is to check it out for yourself, but be prepared for the obsession that follows!

A.P. Dillon (Lady Liberty 1885), is a Conservative minded wife and mother living in the Triangle area of North Carolina. A.P. Dillon founded the blog LadyLiberty1885.com in 2009. After the 2012 election, she added an Instapundit style blog called The ConMom Blog. Mrs. Dillon’s writing, in addition to Da Tech Guy’s Magnificent 7, can also be found at StopCommonCoreNC.org, WatchdogWireNC and WizBang. Non-political writing projects include science fiction novellas that are, as of yet, unpublished. Her current writing project is a children’s book series.