Build For The Sake Of Building

While visiting a friend, he introduced me to the computer game Minecraft. I was familiar with the concept of it, but had never before seen it in action.

In Minecraft, you play a character in a totally open, 3-dimensional world. You can go anywhere and break down the different materials you find and collect them. You can then use those materials to build various items. Some are tools, some are weapons and armor, and there are vastly more things to make.

The purpose of the game is nothing. You simply live in an open sandbox and make or do whatever you please.

That bothered the crap out of me. The game has tasks and tools and abilities, but they are naught. There are no objectives, no puzzles to solve, no impetus to DO.

But in seeing my friend play, it got more exciting. The sheer scope and size makes exploration alone a task. Building a sweet house or fortress is a fun and creative way to generate ideas to make it and implement them.

That's when I realized that we make our own games here. This is simply the building blocks we use for it. We build not to solve a problem, but to satisfy a curiosity.

Can I do it? How would it function? What will it actually look like?

This can also be true of writing. Sure, professional and academic writing is strictly to solve problems. Even when we write personal short works, they tend to make a point.

Try doing it differently, though. Just build for the sake of building. Don't worry about what anybody says or thinks - write it because you thought about seeing it.