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by rocky_raccoon 707 days ago
I'm going to be a bit vulnerable here...

I really had a difficult time parsing that, and I'm still not quite sure I fully understand it. I found myself losing concentration when I knew it was going to require my full attention to understand it. I still don't think I understand it. Perhaps I'm not trained to read this style of writing, or perhaps my brain just isn't capable.

At any rate, I'm glad other people seem to enjoy it!

1 comments

That's fine, of course. No work of art is meaningful to everyone. I think it's admirable that you earnestly tried to engage with it; you didn't dismiss it as pretentious or vapid because you didn't get much out of it.

I read the poem as elevating the player -- and humanity in general -- as 'dreamers', those who create worlds. It hints that building worlds in simulacra and in reality may not be so different, and there may be a higher consciousness yet to be discovered.

There are a few reasons why the poem is meaningful to me: it promotes a feeling of connectedness between all humans; it implies my time playing games is not time wasted; it uses imagery that conjures strong emotions of sadness and happiness; the prose and rhythm are beautiful. Also, Minecraft is one of the precious few games that's both wildly successful and also 'bares the soul' of its creators a little by including something like this. Strong creative expression is a joy to see.