Hello. As my creativity has improved overtime, I began to communicate indirectly and non-literally more. Most of the people I have encountered here in the Minecraft community however cannot define what I'm saying. In word-based types of communication, they can be as simple as calling something in Minecraft by a different, acceptable name to possibly puzzling from metaphors. Whether if you use it or not, non-literal language, through speech, signs, body, etc., has been used to provide information to people on a daily basis. Now the question is: "why do the people want to make their messages harder for others to understand?" My answer is they may want to introduce new ways of thinking. I have acquired many new thought processes which have helped me define non-literal information from mostly books, quotes and scripts in video games. Usually, books have a specified reading level attached them which tells the difficulty to understand it. Books of higher reading levels will usually contain more non-literal language and potentially valuable quotes that with deep thought could be life lessons for the reader, like the theme of a story. Generally, older or wise people are recommended to read at higher levels. However, this doesn't apply to all forms of entertainment. Video games are specifically rated for minimum player age by the amount of violence contained within them. Since only how violent the game is determines its rating, I believe developers are barely restricted by the messages they implement. After focusing on the text in a play through of the role-playing game Mario and Luigi: Dream Team, I found over 25 words that were unfamiliar to me; I used a dictionary to define the meanings but context clues could also be used to infer their definitions. I also was able to determine characteristics of the major characters, despite the information being indirect. This game, along with its predecessors, strongly addresses a common use of body language in video games referred to as “tells”. I was able to use sight and hearing senses to determine most of the enemy’s actions: what attack they’re using, how they’ll perform it, and who their target is. Taking this game as the case, their target is usually Mario, Luigi or both. If you have played older games, such as from the NES or SNES days, tells might be harder to detect because of the lack of animation, but a lot of enemies have a more limited move set. Non-literal language may seem challenging to decode, but succeeding in it could be as great as reaching a big accomplishment! It's a new way of thinking for the brain. Learning indirect communication is one objective, but I believe applying it on your own successfully is even better! Someday, you may be able to create new idioms, non-literal phases, on your own! Apply the Skills Now that you have a better understanding of non-literal language, try defining these phrases from myself! 1) http://empireminecraft.com/threads/end-of-my-guides.44033/ 2) "My new era is approaching; there's hype, but they're spikes of happiness following sorrow."
