Happen to see a guy at McDonalds going back to the counter to say that they have got the order wrong after having fully eaten the whole burger. The puzzled look on the operationalised crews’ face sparked off a chain of events such as checking the order in the system, asking detailed question about the original order and wanted to find out if they got the order wrong and if so how did the mistake happen. As a bystander in another queue, it was obvious, the guy simply wanted another burger for free.
I sat down with my daughter Cleo and started to have a conversation about homelessness and this is roughly how it went.
Me: Cleo, do you know what is being homeless?
Cleo: Yah. When you got no place to stay.
Me: Why do you think some people are homeless?
Cleo: Because they never study properly.
Me: For some people maybe, but there are a lot of other reasons too.
Cleo listens on attentively while scooping the Oreo McFlurry into her mouth while looking up at me.
Me: Some might have been very successful businessman, but ended up owing a lot of people money, hence have to sell off their house, cars, everything to pay off those he owe money to.
Cleo nods with understanding.
Me: Some made really bad mistakes and the people in their family and maybe even friends don’t like him anymore and kicked him out of the house.
Cleo nods with understanding and you can see she is thinking.
We went on having our afternoon snack with Clara trying to sleep on my arm after a tiring afternoon of gymnastics.
Me: Cleo. Do you think its worse being homeless or being in jail?
Cleo stopped scooping her ice cream and started thinking about her new understanding of being homeless.
Cleo: Jail is better.
Me: Why?
Cleo: Because at least there is food there and also some place to sleep.
I smiled at the answer in my heart. Not because I think thats the right answer, but because she made an honest logical conclusion herself.
So its been about 10 months now and my little #goingout project is going on consistently. Its really easy because my lift lobby have good lighting in the morning and a spacious studio like wall. So while my wife and helper get ready all the logistics before we can go out, we use this time to try out interesting poses and funny expressions.
Now, my daughters take it as a routine already and they all will automatically get in line to take a picture. Imagine 5 years later. I hope we can keep this up.
So I got into Minecraft earlier this year and somehow along the way, I decided to run an event in Singapore about Minecraft. Ended up calling it Minecamp SG 2013 and ran it last Saturday 8 Jun 2013.
Collected sponsored giveaways from Epic Loot
To make the event different from other events, I got Lauises my brother to assist and we toyed with a few ideas. We managed to get Epic Loot to sponsor some goodies as give aways and they were generous. They gave 8 Tees, 1 Creeper head and 1 Enderman head.
Epic Loot Rocks!#minecampsg2013 swag
We printed swags as we felt that everyone should walk home with something. Something that they can remember having attended Minecamp SG 2013. We also built a 40cm cube and made it look like a Minecraft Grass Block.
Directions at 50 Scotts Rd lobby
My wife was busy that afternoon, so all 3 of my girls hanged out with me at the venue 50 Scotts Rd (WPP Building). Its good that Cli? and Cleo are bigger now and don’t really need much of my attention so I could focus on running the event.
The core MinecampSG2013 team. Lauises and me.
I’m so glad to run this event with my brother Lauises. We had NO MEETINGS and almost NO CALLS. All we did was Facebook Chat + Google Docs. How awesome is that.
Jervis, event sponsor from Vodien addressing the audience.
We got Vodien as a sponsor as well. They agreed very quickly when I bounced the idea off them back in April. Jervis shared who Vodien is, what Vodien does, etc. They provided us funds inorder for us to get the swags, the grass block built and also some refreshments.
The crowd
The event started with almost a full house. When people trickled in later, we had to add chairs at the back. Awesome turnout. To think that this was just a Facebook Event page and with minimal marketing, still 70 people turned up.
iquf presenting on CubicWorld
iquf starts off the presentations with their world CubicWorld. I think it could be one of the oldest Minecraft Multiplayer Servers in Singapore. If you know its someone else, do let me know in the comments below.
York Seng sharing about Hardware
York Seng then shared about the hardware aspects of operating a Minecraft server. They really seem complex.
Ian sharing on CubicWorld
Ian, being an aspiring architect shared his perspective of the buildings and architecture in CubicWorld.
Audience listening attentivelyThe creeper is in the audience
Someone brought their own creeper head and when he stood up, then room bursted into laughter.
ToadKing sharing on Realms of Walrussia
ToadKing and RNinja shared about Realms of Walrussia and also their collaboration with Sudden Dawn.
WurmpleAss sharing on town plans
WurmpleAss is the server admin of Sudden Dawn and I feel he is so knowledgeable. He shared on how he used custom terrains for his server and if you login today, you will see trees that are not typical and areas within the world are not typical as well.
Kids having fun
My kids were outside and this is a wonderful picture taken by Lenon I beleive.
Cleo playing Minecraft
Cleo plays Minecraft when ever she gets her hands on them. She is quite an addict, so as parents we are trying to control her.
Panel questions and answers session
After all 3 servers have presented, we had a panel session and allowed the floor to ask them any questions they may have. For every question asked, we gave away a Minecraft Tee and when that ran out, we gave away Epic Loot vouchers.
Some of the questions I recall asked if the servers had a specific target audience, someone asked about the server’s vision, someone asked how long will they remain server admins, etc.
nickpansgToadKingStaff from CubicWorldThe speakers and organisersLucky draw winners
The last two final prizes was done lucky draw style and here are the two lucky winners.
Event group photoYork Seng using a pickaxe on the Enderman
We had setup a photo taking area at the back when the event was over. People could take pictures with the heads, the grass block and also a pickaxe.
Leon doing an Enderman with a Creeper headCleo the EndermanThe organising team. Lauises, Hwee Peng, Nick Pan.
This is the full team that made this possible. Lauises for making the grass block, getting the stickers printed and negotiated the sponsorship with Epic Loot. Hwee Peng on registration and event day support. And of cause me.
End of MinecampSG2013
It was a successful event and we managed to get to know so much more people.
Some people who got to know about this event ask me why I did it. Well, I work at VML Qais which is a full-service digital marketing agency, so its natural that I love virtual worlds and online communities, more so when its filled with passionate people doing epic stuff. Also I think Minecraft succeeded in where Second Life failed by lowering the barrier of entry as users in Second Life did not really get to enjoy the platform if they did not know 3D modeling.
Happen to see a guy at McDonalds going back to the counter to say that they have got the order wrong after having fully eaten the whole burger. The puzzled look on the operationalised crews’ face sparked off a chain of events such as checking the order in the system, asking detailed question about the original order and wanted to find out if they got the order wrong and if so how did the mistake happen. As a bystander in another queue, it was obvious, the guy simply wanted another burger for free.
