Invasion of the Overworld: Book One in the Gameknight999 Series
Viii MARk chEVERTon The creative opportunity that this program of fers users is incredible with people building entire cities cliff hanging civilizations and even cities in the clouds the real game however is played in Sur vival mode In this setting users are dropped into a blocky world with nothing but the clothes on their backs Knowing that night is fast approaching us ers must gather resources wood stone iron etc in order to craft tools and weapons so that they can protect themselves when the monsters come nighttime is monster time To find resources the player must create mines digging deep into the flesh of Minecraft in hopes of finding coal and iron both necessities in order to make the metal weapons and armor that are essen tial to survival As they dig the users will encounter caverns lava filled chambers and possibly the rare abandoned mine or dungeon where treasures wait to be discovered but with passageways and cham bers patrolled by monsters zombies skeletons and spiders waiting to snare the unwary Though the land is filled with monsters the user is not alone Vast servers exist where hundreds of users play the game all sharing space and resourc es along with other creatures in Minecraft Villages dot the surface of the game with NPCs non-player characters populating these small cities The villag ers scurry about the village doing whatever villagers do with chests of treasure sometimes great some times insignificant hidden within their dwellings By talking with these NPCs it’s possible for users to trade items to get rare gems or materials for potions as well as obtain the occasional bow or sword This game is an incredible platform through which people can design machines powered by redstone
inVASion of ThE oVERwoRlD ix much like electrical circuits unique games custom maps and PvP player vs player arenas Minecraft is a game filled with exciting creativity spine tingling battles and terrifying creatures It’s a roller coaster ride through a land of adventure and suspense filled with uplifting victories and bitter defeats en joy the ride
ABoUT ThE AUThoR ve come to love playing Minecraft with my son I didn’t get here easily though in fact my son had to drag me there kicking and screaming But i now I love it You see he saw a video about Minecraft on You Tube and of course said he had to have it Over the next month he was persistent in reminding my wife and me that Minecraft was great and that he couldn’t live without it So finally we caved and bought Minecraft He selected his user name Gameknight999 and off he went At first he played it on his own but soon he was calling us into our office so that he could show us what he created and it was pretty amazing He had built a gigantic castle and then an obstacle course with moving parts and then an underground village his creations blew us away As an engineer anything that offers me a chance to build something sounds instantly intriguing So I sat there with my son and let him teach me how to play Minecraft In no time at all I bought a license for me to use Monkeypants271 being my user name and off we went into the digital realm together building towers fighting with zombies and dodging creepers
inVASion of ThE oVERwoRlD xi He loved playing Minecraft so much that we bought a server for him the next Christmas He spent months building things on his server castles bridges underwater cities factories everything and anything his imagination could conceive Next he brought in his friends from school to build some really gigantic structures Of course I helped too partially to monitor what was going on but also because I’m a big geek and like playing the game I was overwhelmed with how proud he was about his creations He made videos showing off his cre ations and posted them on YouTube Well one day some other kids were able to get onto the server probably because my son or one of his friends gave out the IP address These new kids destroyed ev erything that he’d built griefed everything until only a crater was left They leveled everything to the ground obliterating months of work The next time my son logged on he saw his creations de stroyed and was crushed Then to make matters worse these kids posted the video of their griefing his server on YouTube This was the ultimate teachable moment to talk about cyber-bullying I tried to answer my son’s questions about why someone would do this what kind of person would take pride in destroy ing someone else’s creation but my answers just fell flat That was when I came up with the idea of teaching my son through his favorite thing Mine craft I wrote the first book called Invasion of the Overworld and it taught kids about cyber bullying and how it affects others as well as ham mering away at the importance of friendships using Minecraft as the tapestry on which the lesson was written
