Community Service in the DayKnight Minecraft Server

Well, hi. It’s been a minute, or rather, it’s been three weeks, and I have wonderful news! I didn’t finish my project, not even close! Let me explain. As might be obvious by now, this was not a productivity project. Although it was expressed in terms of a long-term goal broken down into smaller steps, my unstated intention for this DK30 was to give my free time a similar treatment to more mandatory projects, and to examine how I respond. In particular, I hoped to learn something about which parts of leisure activities make me happy and at ease, and which specific aspects of work make me anxious and miserable. I expect I could come up with an essay’s worth to say about what how it’s felt to go through this process and what it all means for me going forward, and I may well do that in the near future, but it is late and as fascinated as I am about this, I am also tired. So for now I’ll just be reflecting in an outliney, brainstormy kind of way – that’s best to do when you’re sleepy, right?

Pleasures: Tedium (surprisingly), small design decisions, research, progress, sharing thoughts and intentions, composing pictures

Pains: Open-endedness (as well as decision fatigue), planning and the consequences of not doing so, comparing progress to the target, obligatory documentation (especially getting behind on it), unexpected distractions, time sink and burnout, deadlines (how could I forget!?)

So what have I been doing with my time since I fell off this bandwagon two weeks ago? Well, see, that’s the best part! Maybe it’s me procrastinating this project that I (in theory) enjoy, maybe it’s this little bit of deeper understanding about how “what I like” intersects with “what’s good for me”, and maybe it’s just simple coincidence, but these past two weeks have had perhaps the best and most hopeful days I’ve experienced since long before the 'ronatimes began. I picked up crocheting again, and I’m learning and experimenting with it constantly; I’ve hiked along paths I’ve never visited before; I made chili for the first time, and it was delicious! I’ve been present, and feeling, and drinking water, and writing, and talking with friends like I didn’t remember I could, and living. It’s been amazing, and although I couldn’t even say if this DK30 had an inkling of influence on this turnaround, I’m finding it impossible to look back on any of this time as any kind of failure. So, to whomever might see this, I don’t have much more to say, except thanks for being the void I’ve screamed into. It’s been all the more comforting to have you staring back.

An update on the DayKnight Interfaith Center:

In the past several weeks, I have touched the DayKnights server twice, maybe thrice, to put in place some slightly belated and fairly naїve supplies and decorations for Diwali (I believe I logged in on the 8th, two days after celebrations ended), and to fill out the details of the interfaith center. In particular, I added an open barrel of tree oil (which I vaguely remember having a reason for using, although the particulars of the decision escape me now), a stock of sparkling fireworks, and a brightly colored rangoli outside the front door, made from tiny chiseled pieces of colored concrete powder. I have been at a loss for ways to elegantly create and hang a toran or other wall hangings, especially with the windows being so large, so I may decide in the future to replace the window panes with chiseled window panels, and craft chiseled decorations by hand out of appropriate materials. However, I am, and I cannot stress this enough, an incredibly unqualified amateur when it comes to creating anything of religious significance to anyone, even (and perhaps especially) in Minecraft! So please, should anyone reading this have any guidance to offer, reach out to me on Discord! Especially if it’s to tell me I’m crossing a line, or even if you just think I’m wasting my time, I want to know!

Besides Diwali postparations, a little of my effort was spent removing Halloween decorations from the area around spawn, and replacing them with more generally festive and apt oil lamps. However, I mostly focused on the interfaith center itself. I spent a great deal of time on the roof of the building, hand-designing a slatted configuration that would let even more light in during the day, and that would give the lobby a dynamic view of the sky, making it more clearly visible as you move upstairs. I have not yet decided on a roofing pattern for the assembly hall, since I want the space to be very naturally lit. Additionally, the assembly hall’s upper floor (which I expanded somewhat during this time) does not extend in such a way as to make a slatted roof in this area appear much different from the lower floor. Finally, I stocked one of the storage closets with chests, and nearly two of those chests full of carpet pads for general use by visitors.

On a more personal note, I want to take a moment to address how difficult it was for me to write that last update. It’s almost silly, but I got myself so stuck that my progress came screeching to a complete stop for a few days there. It all started with a day of scattershot but engrossing work replacing the cobblestone framework. I became so captivated that I worked much longer than I intended to and only stopped when I knew I needed sleep. Besides my tired mind, my efforts were rather eclectic, meaning that I bounced around enough to half-finish a bunch of more granular tasks, but didn’t have anything I felt was worth reporting.

By the end of the next session, I was almost done with a lot of things, but they were still not quite the way I wanted them to be, and I had gotten it into my head that I would much prefer to write an update outlining all the changes I had made, once I had actually made them. Even now, on the other end of writing that harrowing, bloated update, I still see the allure of this line of thinking. Maybe it was just the sunk cost fallacy messing with me at the time, but it seems very easy to romanticize the idea of a “What’s New” style of update that only shows the successful product of hard work well done, instead of the messy way everything came together along the way.

By the time I had gotten the building looking ‘presentable’ by whatever metric I was using, I had put in so much effort that a couple of problems were presenting themselves. Perhaps most predictably, I was feeling tired, both physically (as you tend to after staring at a screen for hours) and with the game, the project, and anything to do with the DK30. On top of that, I had changed so much that I was forgetting not only the things I had done over the previous few days, but also what the place had looked like before this round of meddling. All of this contributed to a massive sense of overwhelm, and I began pushing the idea of writing an update to the back of my mind.

Procrastination had me, first for hours, then days. The time passing only exacerbated my problems though, especially the forgetfulness. A day or two after finishing my work, I managed to get a few screenshots that I figured I could write descriptions for, just to get the writing process started. But I was so uncertain of the extent of the changes that I needed to reference my earlier updates, and just assumed that pictures taken from the same locations would prove sufficient. I wrote descriptions for them, hoping for the best, and kinda just sat there, worrying.

I should mention that for all this time, I was outright refusing to work more on the interfaith center, the spawn Halloween decorations, or indeed anything on the server at all. It seemed obvious to me that any more progress I made would be progress I’d have to document, and, like I said, I was feeling pretty substantially overwhelmed already.

I’d love to say I know exactly what changed to get me reporting again. While it’s true that the spirit of the DK30 lies in the doing and not the documenting, it’s still important to me to record my progress, not just for my own future nostalgia but also because it’s something I so frequently struggle to do. As I mentioned in Discord, since this project ultimately boils down to doing something fun that I’d probably do anyway, it’s acting as more of an experiment, a case study of my own habits. I’m starting to see ways in which I struggle regardless of the difficulty of the task, and the kinds of challenges I create for myself. I might even be able to come up with some actually effective strategies for getting past these roadblocks, which would be a huge step forward.

I think any more analysis on this will have to wait until tomorrow, though. It’s late, and I once again need sleep. And… Speaking of tomorrow, I wonder if there’ll be time to sling up any last-minute Halloween decorations I might have forgotten. It might be nice to custom-make a few things, at least? No, no. No more thinking. It’s time for sleep.

I hope y’all have got your snacks ready, because boy howdy is this update a big one. I’m about to do my best to summarize about three days’ worth of effort all at once (and several days since last touching the project), since I decided that I would focus on finishing the structure of the interfaith center, and that, foolishly, I wasn’t going to report in until I felt like my progress on this step had reached its end. In particular, my intention was to replace and fill out the cobblestone framework I had already built with more permanent and aesthetically pleasing materials. For the most part, I succeeded in that task, although there are still some minor alterations to the building that I’d like to make. For now, I’m going to break form a little and include pictures in their respective sections (shocking, I know), so that I can really break down the changes I’ve made, one location at a time.

Exterior/Overall Structure:

The cobblestone framework of the interfaith center has now been almost completely replaced (with the exception of some foundation blocks) with better materials. I kept the woods used restricted to those collected upon clearing the land for the center and the path up to it (specifically spruce and fir). However, needing at least one kind of stone, I decided on andesite, since it is more neutral in color than either granite or diorite in the base texturepack, and has a lovely dark and somewhat modern pattern in the texturepack I use. Moreover, chiseling the andesite allowed me to vary its color, since the texturepack did not affect all variations, however this effect will probably not translate for most players.

Anywhere I wanted the roof to be transparent, I used only clear framed (via chiseling) glass blocks, however for the vertical windows I used white stained glass window panes, with the goal of providing softer, more diffuse light. It doesn’t seem to be working very well, and the inconsistency in glass types has been bugging me significantly, so I imagine I will change this soon if possible.

Interfaith center, exterior. As seen from a red maple tree to the southeast.

Interfaith center, exterior. As seen from a tall fir tree to the northeast. Framework has been replaced with final materials, and white glass windows have been added.

Lobby:

As with the exterior, I went through and fully replaced all of the cobblestone framework with more aesthetic materials. Notably, the dirt floor has been replaced with chiseled andesite bricks of several different styles, so as to differentiate the hallways, the ‘dirty zone’ around the shoe rack, and the ‘clean zone’ in the majority of the space. Additionally, I added several more structures to the area, namely stairs (from both the entrance up into the lobby and between the lower and upper floors), and an additional office and additional storage room on the upper level. Doors were installed at the entrances of all of the explicit rooms, but these rooms remain unfurnished for the time being.

Interfaith center, interior. As seen from the outer corner of the building next to the entrance. Note the doorways to offices (B, G) and storage rooms (D, I), and hallways leading to the washrooms (F) and main assembly hall (C, H). The nature overlook is also visible (A), as is the shoe rack near the entryway (E). I would ideally have labeled this image much more clearly, but it’ll be alright.

The nature overlook on the upper level still has a recessed floor, making that space somewhat taller than the rest of the second floor, but I added half-block slabs along the edge of the space to facilitate stepping both down into the overlook area and up along the windows for better views.

Interfaith nature overlook, interior. A meditative space that features open views out over the surrounding forest and nearby river. I have yet to decide what I’d like to do regarding windows in this space.

Hallways:

In order to minimize the perceived narrowness of the hallways, I replaced their square entrance blocks with angled blocks typically used for roofing, hopefully encouraging exploration of the building, even into the more claustrophobic spaces. There was also a large section of both upper and lower levels that connected diagonally with the main assembly hall, so I used similarly angled blocks to give those areas a smoother appearance. This does however mean that I can’t place anything on those walls, and that I will need to think out of the box if I want to put any windows in this space.

Interfaith center hallways, lower level, interior. As seen from a corner where an outside wall meets an office wall. Visible are the paths to the main assembly hall (left) and lobby (right).

Interfaith center hallways, upper level, interior. Taken from the corner made by the outside wall and an office. Visible are the paths to the assembly hall balcony (left), the stairs down to the lobby (center) and the second floor office and nature overlook (right). I am unsure what I’d like to do regarding the left side of the assembly hall path, but at least some kind of window seems nice.

Washrooms:

Along the narrowest hallway off the lobby, I have installed two bathrooms and a more communal ablution room. I will admit it does feel a little silly to eke out a space for bathrooms in a game that typically has no related mechanics, but I wanted this space to feel as near to humanistic as the real-world structures it is simulating. Typically, the route to the bathrooms should be kept more separate from the clean ablution space, but I’m struggling to make that happen with such a tight space.

Interfaith center bathroom, interior. One of two identical bathrooms within the center, across from the ablution room. These rooms have a lot of unused space up near their ceilings, which I have no current plans for.

Interfaith center ablution room, interior. A space for cleaning one’s feet (if desired) upon entering the center. I’m unsure how similar this station is (unrealistic water physics aside) to what you might see in a real-world ablution space, so I could see this area looking much different in the near future.

Main Assembly Hall:

Finally we get to perhaps the most vital piece of the interfaith center. As I mentioned previously, the roof of this room, as well as the roof over the lobby, is made of clear framed glass, but the windows are white stained glass window panes. This is an inconsistency I’d like to address in the future, but the space looks okay for now. While the andesite bordering the room indicates that this area should be reserved as a walkway, the center of the room can be fairly quickly filled with chairs or benches, and has quite a high capacity, likely more than this space will ever see. The archway at the far end of the room may be used (with only minor modification) as either a mihrab or an ark, although I am not sure how acceptable it is for it to serve this kind of dual purpose. The upper floor allows access to a balcony, which is small at the current moment but which I intend to expand somewhat to serve as choir or gender-segregated seating. As might be obvious by now, there are several architectural additions I’d still like to make to this area before filling out the details, but despite my criticisms, I am generally pleased with how it looks and functions.

Main assembly hall, interior. As seen from the upper level’s balcony. Note the andesite walkways around the perimeter of the room as well as the domed archway at the far end.

Some of the suggestions I found (via Reddit) about determining the Qibla (direction of Muslim prayer, towards the Kaaba in Mecca) in-game were to use the direction toward the spawn point or toward the origin, or to face upward toward the sun. I decided to use the origin, mostly because the spawn point is in the center of the claimed and decorated spawn area, so using that felt more than a little tone-deaf. I’m also unsure whether the Jewish direction of prayer (toward the Temple Mount in Jerusalem) should also face the origin or if it ought to face east as it often does in the real world due to the direction of the Diaspora. Ultimately I think I can leave these questions up to practitioners of these religions, since I am not qualified even remotely to make these decisions and since moving the blocks around into different orientations should be fairly easy to do on short notice. Regarding Christianity, cursory searching has revealed that prayer in many denominations is directed to the east for non-location based reasons, so luckily I can translate that directly to the game’s east. I’m a little worried I won’t be able to provide adequate facilities for use by Hindu persons, since what I’ve found so far emphasizes the role of beautiful mathematics in the fundamental structuring of the space, which I have largely neglected.

Alright! I’m back in the saddle and ready to report in on yesterday’s progress! Most of what I have is a collection of annotated screenshots, but I also want to provide a quick overview of the actions I’ve taken. Most of my time was spent running back and forth from my home base, gathering materials and crafting all these god-forsaken string lights. And even looking back now, it really does feel like I barely made any change to the area, so hopefully I will be able to formulate a better plan for today’s activities.

My first act was to figure out a way to string up lights around the walls of the distinct spawn area. This area consists of four claimed chunks, bordered by marble and featuring two taller towers on the eastern corners. Due to the chunk permissions, I was unable to affect the wall’s blocks directly, but by placing a fence post on an exterior block and building off of that, I was able to place posts so close to the forbidden blocks that they were extending the usual ‘adjacent block’ structures that made them appear fully attached. Using this method, I lined the top edge of the wall in orange pumpkin lights, and the outer tops of the towers in white skull lights.

After I finally finished adorning the wall in pumpkins, I went back to my home base and just made large batches of each of the other Halloween-adjacent string lights. Specifically, I made some more white skulls, some light gray ghosts, some dark gray spiders, and some black witch’s hats, all able to hang loosely instead of being pulled taut like those I had hung around the spawn area. I hung up a great number of these on the buildings that existed in the immediate vicinity, and constructed some waypoints along the paths south of spawn that allowed me to string lights above the walkways. Similarly, I strung lights between the trees on the path north of spawn, and that really looks stellar. I also crafted some jack-o-lanterns and sprinkled them about the southern path. The area was already pretty autumnal in nature, but it has begun to take on a very harvesty aesthetic.

For the most part, I tried to keep the decorations consistent within their area, and implemented some more whimsical uses (of the witch’s hats in particular) that might make for some interesting screenshot opportunities in the future. I also realized not far into decorating that many people have a phobia of spiders (not to mention those particular lights were huge), so I relegated them to places people would less likely wander as they passed through. I probably should just remove them entirely.

To sum up: I’ve decorated the border of the claimed spawn area and the surrounding areas, primarily with Halloween-themed string lights but also with jack-o-lanterns.

On to the pictures: Spawn area, as seen from southern pathway. Although unable to build directly on the wall due to area permissions, I was able to hang pumpkin lights by stacking fence posts just outside of the wall.

Spawn area, as seen from a spruce tree to the southeast. Note both the pumpkin lights strung along the edge of the lower wall and the skull lights strung along the tower’s upper edge. Because I am only allowed to build on the outside of the claimed chunks, these string lights are only installed on the outer two sides of the towers.

Path south of spawn, as seen from the intersection with the barn path. I have lined the pathway with ghost lights, as they seemed the most neutrally Halloweenish to me, and are not overly garish. The structural posts are made with spruce fence posts and cobblestone chiseled into the “marker” design. I think this area may benefit from overhead lighting more generally, although I would like to reconsider the spacing and materials used in the future.

Path to interfaith center, northwest of spawn. I have strung up more ghost lights over this walkway, however I have taken a more freehand approach on this side of spawn, and I have to say, I think I much prefer this style. It seems like the fir trees are quite well-suited to lighting a pathway in this way, so I don’t expect this technique would work as well on the other side of spawn where the trees are all of the oak-style models.

Rooftop lounge of the DayKnight Tavern. I cannot take credit for the construction of any of these buildings, however I hope no one will mind that I replaced the usual orange string lights here with these more festive pumpkins. Not pictured: the single strand of skull lights I strung up on the front of the building.

Costuming items and photo suggestions. I encountered these two hats through exploration and random chance, and I figured they would make for some nice Halloween props. Unfortunately I don’t have enough to offer them as ‘supplies’ for other players, so hopefully they will make reasonably nice temporary costume materials. At the same time, it’s not gonna be the end of the world if I lose track of them.

A selfie, taken with f5 and demonstrating a strategically placed “witch’s hat” string light. When standing in this doorway, a player can now very easily position their avatar in such a way as to appear as though they are wearing this witch hat. I personally think the string light looks a little awkward here, but the silliness of the gimmick is worth a little awkwardness to me.

Today’s efforts ended on a bit of a sour note - my computer crashed! What an excellent time to wrap everything up for the day. Frustratingly, this means that I won’t be able to take any screenshots of my progress until the next time I boot it all back up, which I was greatly looking forward to. Today has been a day of decoration, mostly using the pre-made recipes for various shapes of string lights (the DayKnights server is modded - I don’t think I’ve mentioned that yet), and some jack-o-lanterns from the vanilla game.

There are a lot of very minor design choices I’m proud of, but honestly (and maybe this is me still reeling from tonight’s sudden and involuntary stop), it doesn’t look like I’ve put in nearly as much work as I have over these last few hours. It’s even difficult to sit down out write out this very update when all my irritated mind wants to do is harrumph and move on to something else. In fact, I think taking a step back for the rest of the night is exactly what I’ll do.

Let this update be a reminder, Me From Tomorrow: The first thing I want to do before diving into more building or decorating work is to assess and make note of the progress I’ve already made, including taking some screenshots. Doing this will not only get this project log back up to speed, but it also will help me formulate a plan of attack for my next steps, which I’m realizing is something I neglected to do today. So perhaps it wasn’t the crash alone that’s got me off my game (ha). In any case trust me, please, Future Me, it’s in both our best interests to look over today’s progress with a clear head.

Took a few minutes tonight to finish up the roof while it was on my mind. It looks a little wonky where the main assembly hall joins up with the rest of the building (over top of the diagonal hallway), but that’s okay. Roofs don’t have to be perfect.

I ended up putting in quite a lot of work in on the project yesterday, and have yet to touch it again today. But that’s the nature of the beast, I suppose. Still, I remembered to take a few screenshots before logging off, and I will review those shortly. I have decided that the main focus of my efforts (at least for now) will be put toward the construction of an interfaith center, located on a hill near spawn. In doing so, I hope to be able to better accommodate the various holidays that will be occurring over the next month. This brings me to a question I didn’t expect: Which direction is Mecca in Minecraft??

As far as construction goes, so far I have built a majority of the building’s framework, referencing guidelines from the Whole Building Design Guide and several other, more religion-specific sources. I have yet to decide on materials for the building, but that’s perfectly acceptable for now. However I do know I’d like it to let in a lot of light, and show off the nearby scenery. It may well be that I draw heavily from the resources in the area to build it, as that seems both aesthetically and sustainably fitting.

In short, I’m nearly finished with the framework of the interfaith center I have decided to build, have yet to decide on the materials to use for the final structure, and if anyone has any idea how to determine the Qibla in this randomly generated sandbox of a game, let me know!

And now, some pictures: Interfaith center framework, exterior, as seen from a red maple tree to the southeast.

Interfaith center framework, exterior, as seen from a tall fir tree to the northeast. The nature overlook is visible through the frame of the front wall (recessed area, left of the upper floor).

Interfaith center, interior. Taken from the corner on the right side of the entryway. Note entry to multi-purpose room (center opening in wall), and hallways to restroom/ablution areas (left opening) and to the principal assembly area (right opening). Not pictured: nature overlook (top floor, to the left).

Principal assembly area of interfaith center, as seen from its ground floor entryway. Roof is partially assembled and will eventually, as with the rest of the center, be replaced with more attractive materials, with a particular focus on natural lighting and the appearance of the surrounding area.

A friend! I happened upon them in a fight with a skeleton as I was surveying the area and was compelled to rescue them. They are as-of-yet unnamed, but I love the idea of them acting as the resident mascot/therapy dog. I suppose Minecraft’s pet system doesn’t allow for much interaction for anyone besides me, though. Side-note: The sweaters that replace collars in this texturepack are incredibly adorable.

Before I even got started with step one, I realized after a quick search that Mawlid al-Nabi is this week, and Dias de los Muertos and Diwali are coming up as well (US Thanksgiving and Hanukkah are later in November, so they’re probably outside the scope of this DK30). Plus it’s not even Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, so harvest decorations feel a bit ill-fitted. I also don’t feel super well-equipped to do the celebrations justice, so perhaps someone in the community can direct me if nothing else, but it’s wrong to neglect them solely because I lack experience. I think at minimum this means that one of the buildings I’d like to construct near spawn is an interfaith center that could provide adequate resources for at least the near future. Time to do a quick deep dive on how I might do that.