Your New Year's Resolutions

“My Minecraft resolution this year is to actually start taking advantage of the potion brewing system!” says Holly Moak. “I normally never make my own potions because it feels too complicated, but I would feel a lot better about going after my first guardian with a water breathing potion under my belt!” We’d suggest drinking that potion too, Holly, for best results.

Holly’s trepidation is understandable. Potion brewing can be intimidating to newcomers, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, pretty poisonous. But the results are well worth it (er, apart from that ‘poisonous’ result I just mentioned), as Minecraft’s best drinks can have all sorts of weird and wonderful effects.

Holly is also keen to “stop hoarding enchanted books” when she could/should be using them to enhance her Minecraft life! “I literally have a silk touch book in my chest that I haven't used yet because the moment just ‘hasn’t been right’,” she admits. “So in 2020, I want to start using my enchanted books, and I want to start brewing potions!” Good luck, Holly! But don’t try and brew/read enchanted books simultaneously. You just end up spending your Saturday night fishing a soggy tome out of the bottom of your cauldron. : (

DON’T NEGLECT YOUR CEILING

“I have a terrible habit of not finishing my buildings,” David Brown tearfully admits. Wait, my mistake – he’s not crying, I’m just soaking wet because it’s raining and David’s house has four walls but no roof.

“I’m only putting up the walls to keep the creepers out and hold off the zombies while I craft my third sword, but I can surely keep the RAIN out at least, RIGHT?!” shouts David. I’d tell him to use his indoor voice, but with the lack of ceiling in his home, are we even technically indoors at all? David is determined to Get a roof this year before the Phantoms start inevitably swooping in for a cup of tea/David. Very smart! Please get on that ASAP.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN WHEAT

A bold claim, I know, but hear Jackson Alef out. This year they’re determined to “stop doing nothing and forever gathering wheat and never going out having an adventure or having fun.”  

Look, we’ve all been there. We boot up Minecraft and plan an exciting quest to defeat the Ender Dragon. But first, we’ll just farm a little wheat, just to ease us in. The next thing you know, you’ve got multiple redstone contraptions farming wheat for you, a staff of dozens of bitter employees that you force to farm wheat through Christmas, a wife and child who are leaving you forever because you forgot their names and called her “Not-Wheat” and your offspring “Not-Wheat Jr.” Now they’re off and your cries of “but Not-Wheat! I can change!” are ringing on deaf ears. Let’s leave wheat behind in 2019, and make this new decade the most wheatless ten years of Minecraft ever.

Oh, unless your new year’s resolution is to get into farming wheat. In which case, disregard the last paragraph and have fun!

STOP DIGGING WITH YOUR BARE HANDS

Preparation! It’s what separates the Minecraft pros from the fools like me, desperately trying to extract diamond ore with their teeth. Case in point, William Steffann wants 2020 to be the year when they remember to “make a shovel.”

“I need to make them more often, because when I run into gravel, I slowly, painfully, dig it by hand.” Owch. This year, William, we don’t recommend you dare leave the house until you’ve crafted at least a dozen shovels. Otherwise all the local villagers will start calling you “gravelhands”. Yes, I’m aware the villagers can’t talk, but I’ve heard a rumour I’ve just started that the villager’s new year’s resolution is to learn their first word ever – and do you really want to risk that word being ‘gravelhands’, William?

Thought not. Get shovelling!

GET SOME DIRECTION IN YOUR LIFE

What direction? Any direction. Because Kaden Cash confides in us that “I tend to walk around in circles for hours in a survival world, and not do anything.” Not only does this make Jackson’s wheat-hoarding adventures from earlier sound exciting in comparison, but it also betrays one of Minecraft’s core values. You’ve been walking around in circles? ‘Circles’ in ‘Minecraft’? BLASPHEMY.

BOTHER US MORE

Kim Garcia hasn’t worried us at all with their new year’s resolution, which is to “write more emails to scoops@minecraft.net!” We eagerly await all future correspondence and have definitely not set their emails to go straight to ‘spam’. Of course not. Our New Year’s Resolution is to be 100% honest about this (in 2021).

We’re only joking of course! Your constant lovely emails are all we live for. Keep sending us your great Minecraft builds to scoops@minecraft.net! Bother away!

STOP CREATING SO MANY WORLDS

Oof. I feel very seen by the bad habit Michael Shmidt wishes to break. “I've been playing Minecraft on and off for years now,” he tells us. “Whenever I come back, I’ve forgotten where things are in my world. So I start a new one.”

I do this all the time. My Minecraft menu is a mess of worlds I’ve barely taken a few steps in. I’m constantly clicking that ‘Create New World’ option without a care in the (yes!) world for all the previous planets I’ve randomly generated into existence and then immediately abandoned for pastures new.

“This year,” Micheal says. “I am working to play regularly and in the same world.” You and me both, Micheal! I’ve just created the only world I’ll create in 2020 and called it DON’T LEAVE ME so I’ll feel super-guilty if I even so much as dare to consider throwing it away for a new one. As for my dozens of world’s from years past, I… er… promise to visit? In 2027? If, y’know, I’m not busy?

FINISH THE ZOO

How many of us have wonderful builds that are permanently about 43% complete, and have been that way for a while? Jay TG tells us that they “wanna finish my Minecraft zoo that I started 5 months ago.” Personally, I think Jay is worrying over nothing. I myself recently started building a zoo (out of gold no less!), full of Minecraft’s most dangerous mobs, which I never got around to finishing, and you don’t see anyone complaini-

Ah. Er, maybe stay out of my realm for a little while. I guess my top priority new year’s resolution should now be: Track down the dozens of hostile mobs I’ve accidentally unleashed on the world and I’ve just remembered that I promised not to abandon this world a few sentences ago so looks like I’ll be spending 2020 in a nightmare of my own making oh dear

Wish me luck with this fun new year’s goal, and best of luck with yours!