Day one at Camp Magic MacGuffin and the best way to stave off homesickness is to stay busy. In that spirit I did a little exploring of the landscape with some activities and unpacking some of my camp equipment.

First, I opted to jump in and play with The Daily Create #134. The challenge was to redesign an image of an animal. I opened my camp kit and pulled out GIMP to alter a photo of an animal (so not truly the task) because I’d never used photo editors short of the auto-correct feature in iPhoto. Here’s what I came up with…

My personal favorite from the task was the Dande-hedgehog from CoachK though.

I also unpacked Minecraft and bee-bopped around there to see what that platform/game has to offer. Admittedly, this product has a tremendous following. A quick YouTube search of “Minecraft” and you’ll be up to your ears in video tutorials that rapidly take you through different aspects of the environment. Back in Camp Magic MacGuffin, it appears that Minecraft will be used for community and storytelling. Here’s a little trailer about Minecraft to explain the platform.

I did purchase a Minecraft subscription for the experiment so that I can be fully immersed in the DS106 experience. I will admit though, I am always a little skeptical about virtual worlds for learning and sharing. There was a time when I played World of Warcraft and after some time could begin to see potential lessons in leadership, anthropology of gaming environments, social protocols and mores, etc. It took some time and creative thinking to get passed the game to see those things though. None the less, Minecraft is different than WOW (even if it were just in cost alone) in many ways including the ability to host and create your own world with a specific purpose. So, I’m all in on Minecraft. Perhaps I’ll create my own little world (apart from my own little world I live in regularly) and explore some possibilities for learning, teaching, and fun.

I jumped in on the Twitter feeds, browsed my fellow campers blogs and began watching the week’s assigned video for reflection. I just need to find the time to do all this camping.

As for homesickness, being active and immersed is the best way to stave off those “I miss home” blues. So, stay busy campers!