24,821
This interview was our 13th PMC Weekly Interview, featured in Volume 84! In this weekly, we interviewed Uknownymous! You might know them because you were a victim of their generous diamond giving. Or perhaps you know them because of their big, unique builds they've submitted. More recently, they've become a Site Moderator so you may know them because of their title. Whatever the case may be, Uknownymous is a stand-out member in several ways, contributing to much of their success including being featured on Minecraft.net! Unknownymous spreads positive vibes to all members on the site, showing support through diamonds, favorites and comments! After reading their interview answers, we're inspired and feel that you will, too!
In case you're unfamiliar with them, here is a sample of their work:
Minecraft/Personalized Questions
How did your Minecraft experience begin?
My Minecraft experience began quite a while ago, back in 2010 when a friend at the time brought it up and showed me the Shadow of Israphel YouTube series. Looking back at it, it definitely wasn't very good, but I hadn't really seen much media prior to that, and hadn't really played any games either, so the concept of a game where it was possible to completely create your own worlds thoroughly snagged my attention. I internally over-hyped the idea at the time too, imagining bustling expansive worlds with growing cities of non-player characters spreading of their own accord. It drew me to the Millenaire mod too which did something similar with autonomous AI villages, but even that didn't really do what I had in mind, so I wound up settling for the creative experience and grew to really enjoy it despite it being different than what I had in mind.
Do you still play Minecraft?
I most definitely do; I still often play regularly and build several times a week as a minimum. There are times where I've played a lot less, with a few years where I didn't really touch the game much at all, but in the present it's what I spend a lot of my free time doing and I'm more than happy to keep going with it too.
You build some impressive, unique, and massive Minecraft projects. Tell us your creative process, where you draw inspiration from, and how you manage your time?
I don't do very well at managing my time; I'm somewhat sporadic, so I just make my decisions in the moment and go from there. I occasionally make to do lists if I feel I might forget things, but then I forget to check them enough anyway, so most of my creative process is just doing whatever I feel like with the build. If I feel like making a wall, I make a wall- and I tend to just go with my gut for that. It does mean the outcome of my builds and the quality level they have fluctuates a lot because I don't really plan or think much about them ahead of time, but it also allows me to be surprised by the outcome of them and it can be really cool to see as even I don't always know how it'll look in the end. I do like looking up amazing art pieces across the web for inspiration sometimes though, but I don't tend to us inspiration much overall so a lot of my creativity is just from whatever comes to my mind.
It was something I'd hoped to achieve even while younger, thinking so many featured builds that showed up there were awesome, so it was great to achieve. Then of course came the second time round, where I got reached out to by another interviewer, and I was suspicious of them as it was a completely different user with the generic name of “Minecraftinterview”, made just a few minutes before they messaged me – but it was legitimate, as I know now; it's not only awesome knowing I was reached out to for an interview, but also even more awesome knowing the interviewer made an account specifically to interview me for the Scarecrow's Meadow build. It was really satisfying, and I feel it's one of my most valued achievements so far.
Are you currently working on any Minecraft projects?
I am! I'm struggling along currently with trying to build a massive scene of statues of my girlfriend's Dungeons and Dragons' characters for her birthday, but I'm really, really not doing well at it as I don't have experience with building faces (faces are truly the bane of all art, for me). Still, I'm trying my best anyway and it's a project I'm attempting to keep working at in a hopeful bid to create a memorable 3D representation of characters she's found herself attached to over the many months of playing. Besides that I'm not working on anything else major, so I'm hoping I can manage to make it work. Chances are it could even be posted around the time of the interview if I manage to succeed, and as it's a present; a gift, I'm hoping I can.
How has Minecraft influenced or changed you in real life?
Without having played Minecraft, where I'm at in life wouldn't even be comparable, for better and for worse. Just about every single thing I currently do with my life has been influenced by Minecraft, going so far as to affect my daily routine, the people I know and meet, how I try to support myself and more. It's somewhat absurd to think about, yet through sinking thousands of hours into the game over a decade of life; over half of the time I've been around, it's somewhat inevitable the impact it would have is so huge. I'm not really sure what to say as the list goes on so far, but the most vital element of it for me is that it's only through the people I've met through Minecraft that I've been able to grow even more as a person, looking out for others and being looked out for too. For me, that is the most valuable change upon my life.
In one of your latest wall posts, you state that you’ve been trying to learn game design through Unity. What inspired you to start learning this? Can you share anything that you’ve created so far?
I was inspired to start learning this when watching people play games full of masses of puzzles, as I really, really, really enjoy puzzles and it's absolutely one of my favourite things to make and to solve, yet I don't really have much opportunity for that in building, and making a game could still permit me to delve deeper into creativity while also producing puzzles people could play through and unravel. I took interest in the concept of making a game themed somewhat around the concept of Escape Rooms, as it's something I've been thinking for a while now that I miss due to lockdown, and it was while watching that it hit me that if I miss it then I just need to make it happen elsewhere, and I couldn't find any particularly sizable and popular puzzle game that suited my interests and didn't simply end after a few hours, so it seemed like the best shot, and everyone I spoke to about it appeared interested in the idea too. I'm still learning though, so I'm basically at the starting stage of game design; I haven't even quite got past the very bare-bones beginning of base code like movement, so it'll be a while before I have anything I can share! I have assistance for graphics (as I'm not quite good enough at digital art), and there's more than enough in-depth planning and consideration for the design itself such as puzzles, features, rooms, streaming potential and more, so it should at least work out if I can manage to learn. So... the crux is whether I manage to learn, for that.
Is game design something you’d like to pursue as a career or keep as a hobby?
If I can manage to pick it up I'd absolutely like to pursue it as a career, since while I originally was drawn to Planet Minecraft to try to build up a portfolio and hope to aim to support myself through Minecraft – which is really quite irrelevant to the site! - I soon enough realised that wasn't going to work, and had to keep thinking of something else. If game design can be that something then I'd gladly take up the chance.
PMC Questions
You’ve been a Site Moderator for PMC for a little while now. How are you enjoying it? Was it what you expected?
It's actually exactly like I hoped – not what I expected, but what I hoped it would be like. Most moderation communities I've been in have been rather lonely, where any individual member is completely replaceable, but I feel like the Planet Minecraft staff team feels like every person actually matters, which is really nice. They're all specifically picked out by members of it through nominations and direct recruitment, leading to everyone in the team already being on good terms with at least a couple people there from the start as they've had interactions with each other before joining, which makes it all feel a lot more upbeat overall. It's really nice. Plus the community's actually usually really polite about it, so while most teams for sites and servers and so on get more hate than appreciation, the sheer amount of wholesomeness in the Planet Minecraft community thoroughly flips that on its head and does the total opposite. I'm enjoying it a lot.
You’re known to support the community in several ways, including liking wall posts and giving out diamonds and favorites; in fact, you’ve given over 30,000 favorites and nearly 50,000 diamonds! What inspires you to be so generous?
When I originally joined the site I was already pretty generous with them, so I gave out a few hundred diamonds and a couple dozen favourites in my first month, but that wasn't really anywhere near as much as I give out now, and the ratio of favourites to diamonds has also massively changed too. I now tend to give anyone I feel has put a sincere genuine effort into their work a diamond, which can be quite simple in a way, but at the same time is far from all people, at least; I think everyone who's put in effort deserves the right to feel happy about it and know it was seen, and I give out favourites whenever I feel the quality of the resulting piece is worth appreciating, whether it's the designs itself, the thought put into it such as the backstory, the details, or else, and it's likely true I've become more happy to give out the shiny appreciative rewards along the way, but I've also seen several tens of thousands of submissions more by being a moderator and scouring through many submissions regularly to look out for the site!
How did you choose your username?
I picked my username back in 2015 while a little confused about who I was by mixing together the words “Anonymous”, “Unknown”, “Known” and even “U.K.” to flip between a couple layers of confusion in a single word. The name has since lost a lot of its relevancy to me as I understand myself quite a bit in the present, but I still like it and it's what I'm known as by now, so I keep it around anyway.
What do you enjoy most about Planet Minecraft?
What I enjoy most about Planet Minecraft is definitely the interactions with the community, which are the most vital element of the site. The community are amazing! I was drawn back here for obsolete reasons, and gladly stayed for the community.
You’ve participated in quite a few PMC Events and a couple of contests. What has been your favorite PMC Event and/or Contest?
My favourite PMC Event/Contest so far is definitely the 10 Year Anniversary Event, revolving around the PMC Server and the experience on there, with the PMC Chest Quest. It was a highly enjoyable experience, and I wound up coming third in the run for it which was satisfying. I really like puzzles after all.
Is there a specific member that inspires you or you look up to? Who/Why?
I don't have a specific member that inspires me or who I look up to, but there are many members I feel are really epic and have shown large quantities of care, kindness and motivation around the site to many members, being supportive pillars of the community, while there are also many members who are really seriously skillful in their respective fields of interest. I'm not very good with bringing names to mind though (and I wouldn't want to say some but leave out others by accident, because there are a lot), but for me the most important inspirational members are those contributing to making other people's day, and bringing them up and making them smile, in any way they can, and there are so many like that. It makes a huge difference. Every time someone brings a smile to another's face, it matters.
Fun Questions
What other video games do you enjoy playing?
There are many I've enjoyed, and I tend to lean towards RPGs and strategy games, such as Skyrim, the Civilization series, Rimworld, ParadoxInteractive's games and the Portal series too. I really quite enjoy those games in free time, so Minecraft's really the only creative one I tend to work on.
What genre of music is your favorite? Do you listen to music while you’re creating in Minecraft?
I don't have a favourite genre of music; I actually quite like any song so long as it seems like the lyricism has a lot of thought and consideration put into it. I'm fond of singers like The Stupendium and Random Encounters for this reason, as their songs feel especially thoughtful about it.
Describe yourself in 3 words!
Talkative, logical & considerate.
What’s your favorite food?
Uh, honestly I'm not the most active connoisseur of eating, but I do like the taste of some things like chocolate fudge cake which I think is the dessert I like the most, so if I had to pick one I'd go with that. Dessert is a good choice for favourite food, isn't it?
Do you have any pets?
I do! Technically. I have a pet cat called Zeus, which a sibling has claimed as their own, so I don't exactly have one. There are also two pet rats in the house named Crowley and... and Wraith(his name's longer but I can't remember how it's spelt, so Wraith will do!).
Are there any hobbies outside of Minecraft that you have?
I rather enjoy writing, drawing and singing, and I also regularly play Dungeons and Dragons, but talking's probably my favoured hobby and I do that quite a bit more than anything else. It's all quite enjoyable for me.
Is there any new skill that you’ve been wanting to try, but haven’t had the chance to yet?
I think a skill I haven't really tried much that I want to try is 3D modeling and model animations. I've attempted it a little bit through a couple more basic Minecraft models, but I'm not exactly any good at that as of current and I'd like to try 3D modeling unrelated to Minecraft for the sake of making the game. It would be a tough challenge and would also take quite a bit of practice, but I'm more than willing to do that.
Favorite quote or words of wisdom for the community? OR Do you have any advice for new members of PMC?
I don't really have a quote or words of wisdom, but I think the advice I'd give to new members of PMC is to remember that if you support others and look out for them, there's a good chance they'll support and look out for you too; this isn't just limited to the site, either. The more care you give, the more likely it is people will notice you and take the time from their days to give it back. That of course shouldn't be the goal of care, but it's something to remember, at least; a bond requires both sides to put in effort to be established. Caring about others is the surest way to being cared for, and the most likely way to grow close to other people. It's a simple thing; it's really as simple as it sounds, but it's often forgotten about so I feel like that's my advice I want to mention. It's not very relevant to PMC's community though as the majority of people know it already!
Anything you'd like to add?
Thank you for interviewing me! I enjoyed going through the questions and thinking about them and answering; it's always quite fun to talk after all – perhaps even too fun sometimes, but yes, I appreciate it, and besides that I don't think I've got anything else I'd like to add. :)
In case you're unfamiliar with them, here is a sample of their work:
A Scarecrow's Meadow  | Colourful Randomness  |
Minecraft/Personalized Questions
How did your Minecraft experience begin?
My Minecraft experience began quite a while ago, back in 2010 when a friend at the time brought it up and showed me the Shadow of Israphel YouTube series. Looking back at it, it definitely wasn't very good, but I hadn't really seen much media prior to that, and hadn't really played any games either, so the concept of a game where it was possible to completely create your own worlds thoroughly snagged my attention. I internally over-hyped the idea at the time too, imagining bustling expansive worlds with growing cities of non-player characters spreading of their own accord. It drew me to the Millenaire mod too which did something similar with autonomous AI villages, but even that didn't really do what I had in mind, so I wound up settling for the creative experience and grew to really enjoy it despite it being different than what I had in mind.
Do you still play Minecraft?
I most definitely do; I still often play regularly and build several times a week as a minimum. There are times where I've played a lot less, with a few years where I didn't really touch the game much at all, but in the present it's what I spend a lot of my free time doing and I'm more than happy to keep going with it too.
You build some impressive, unique, and massive Minecraft projects. Tell us your creative process, where you draw inspiration from, and how you manage your time?
I don't do very well at managing my time; I'm somewhat sporadic, so I just make my decisions in the moment and go from there. I occasionally make to do lists if I feel I might forget things, but then I forget to check them enough anyway, so most of my creative process is just doing whatever I feel like with the build. If I feel like making a wall, I make a wall- and I tend to just go with my gut for that. It does mean the outcome of my builds and the quality level they have fluctuates a lot because I don't really plan or think much about them ahead of time, but it also allows me to be surprised by the outcome of them and it can be really cool to see as even I don't always know how it'll look in the end. I do like looking up amazing art pieces across the web for inspiration sometimes though, but I don't tend to us inspiration much overall so a lot of my creativity is just from whatever comes to my mind.
| You’ve been featured by Minecraft for a couple of your builds. Tell us how that felt! It felt absolutely great, but when I was first contacted by them for my Dirt Mansion a large part of me thought it was a trick. I double-checked their proof of being an interviewer, and their account was subscribed to by everyone they'd interviewed (such as GeminiTay and PearlescentMoon) despite having no posts, so I assumed it might've been real, but I was suspicious of it even then, up until it being posted, and by that point it still surprised me and felt almost surreal. |  |
It was something I'd hoped to achieve even while younger, thinking so many featured builds that showed up there were awesome, so it was great to achieve. Then of course came the second time round, where I got reached out to by another interviewer, and I was suspicious of them as it was a completely different user with the generic name of “Minecraftinterview”, made just a few minutes before they messaged me – but it was legitimate, as I know now; it's not only awesome knowing I was reached out to for an interview, but also even more awesome knowing the interviewer made an account specifically to interview me for the Scarecrow's Meadow build. It was really satisfying, and I feel it's one of my most valued achievements so far.
Are you currently working on any Minecraft projects?
I am! I'm struggling along currently with trying to build a massive scene of statues of my girlfriend's Dungeons and Dragons' characters for her birthday, but I'm really, really not doing well at it as I don't have experience with building faces (faces are truly the bane of all art, for me). Still, I'm trying my best anyway and it's a project I'm attempting to keep working at in a hopeful bid to create a memorable 3D representation of characters she's found herself attached to over the many months of playing. Besides that I'm not working on anything else major, so I'm hoping I can manage to make it work. Chances are it could even be posted around the time of the interview if I manage to succeed, and as it's a present; a gift, I'm hoping I can.
How has Minecraft influenced or changed you in real life?
Without having played Minecraft, where I'm at in life wouldn't even be comparable, for better and for worse. Just about every single thing I currently do with my life has been influenced by Minecraft, going so far as to affect my daily routine, the people I know and meet, how I try to support myself and more. It's somewhat absurd to think about, yet through sinking thousands of hours into the game over a decade of life; over half of the time I've been around, it's somewhat inevitable the impact it would have is so huge. I'm not really sure what to say as the list goes on so far, but the most vital element of it for me is that it's only through the people I've met through Minecraft that I've been able to grow even more as a person, looking out for others and being looked out for too. For me, that is the most valuable change upon my life.
In one of your latest wall posts, you state that you’ve been trying to learn game design through Unity. What inspired you to start learning this? Can you share anything that you’ve created so far?
I was inspired to start learning this when watching people play games full of masses of puzzles, as I really, really, really enjoy puzzles and it's absolutely one of my favourite things to make and to solve, yet I don't really have much opportunity for that in building, and making a game could still permit me to delve deeper into creativity while also producing puzzles people could play through and unravel. I took interest in the concept of making a game themed somewhat around the concept of Escape Rooms, as it's something I've been thinking for a while now that I miss due to lockdown, and it was while watching that it hit me that if I miss it then I just need to make it happen elsewhere, and I couldn't find any particularly sizable and popular puzzle game that suited my interests and didn't simply end after a few hours, so it seemed like the best shot, and everyone I spoke to about it appeared interested in the idea too. I'm still learning though, so I'm basically at the starting stage of game design; I haven't even quite got past the very bare-bones beginning of base code like movement, so it'll be a while before I have anything I can share! I have assistance for graphics (as I'm not quite good enough at digital art), and there's more than enough in-depth planning and consideration for the design itself such as puzzles, features, rooms, streaming potential and more, so it should at least work out if I can manage to learn. So... the crux is whether I manage to learn, for that.
Is game design something you’d like to pursue as a career or keep as a hobby?
If I can manage to pick it up I'd absolutely like to pursue it as a career, since while I originally was drawn to Planet Minecraft to try to build up a portfolio and hope to aim to support myself through Minecraft – which is really quite irrelevant to the site! - I soon enough realised that wasn't going to work, and had to keep thinking of something else. If game design can be that something then I'd gladly take up the chance.
PMC Questions
You’ve been a Site Moderator for PMC for a little while now. How are you enjoying it? Was it what you expected?
It's actually exactly like I hoped – not what I expected, but what I hoped it would be like. Most moderation communities I've been in have been rather lonely, where any individual member is completely replaceable, but I feel like the Planet Minecraft staff team feels like every person actually matters, which is really nice. They're all specifically picked out by members of it through nominations and direct recruitment, leading to everyone in the team already being on good terms with at least a couple people there from the start as they've had interactions with each other before joining, which makes it all feel a lot more upbeat overall. It's really nice. Plus the community's actually usually really polite about it, so while most teams for sites and servers and so on get more hate than appreciation, the sheer amount of wholesomeness in the Planet Minecraft community thoroughly flips that on its head and does the total opposite. I'm enjoying it a lot.
You’re known to support the community in several ways, including liking wall posts and giving out diamonds and favorites; in fact, you’ve given over 30,000 favorites and nearly 50,000 diamonds! What inspires you to be so generous?
When I originally joined the site I was already pretty generous with them, so I gave out a few hundred diamonds and a couple dozen favourites in my first month, but that wasn't really anywhere near as much as I give out now, and the ratio of favourites to diamonds has also massively changed too. I now tend to give anyone I feel has put a sincere genuine effort into their work a diamond, which can be quite simple in a way, but at the same time is far from all people, at least; I think everyone who's put in effort deserves the right to feel happy about it and know it was seen, and I give out favourites whenever I feel the quality of the resulting piece is worth appreciating, whether it's the designs itself, the thought put into it such as the backstory, the details, or else, and it's likely true I've become more happy to give out the shiny appreciative rewards along the way, but I've also seen several tens of thousands of submissions more by being a moderator and scouring through many submissions regularly to look out for the site!
How did you choose your username?
I picked my username back in 2015 while a little confused about who I was by mixing together the words “Anonymous”, “Unknown”, “Known” and even “U.K.” to flip between a couple layers of confusion in a single word. The name has since lost a lot of its relevancy to me as I understand myself quite a bit in the present, but I still like it and it's what I'm known as by now, so I keep it around anyway.
| What PMC submission are you most proud of? Why? The submission I'm most proud of and have most consistently been really happy with is easily my Cyberpunk City, which feels like the most impressive visual piece I've managed to capture, especially as it was in only 4 days. I really like all the structural design in it and the faces I placed within while playing about with different ideas of lighting and mixing in the various colours granted through glass panes and shaders and it turned out really wonderfully by fulfilling exactly what I had in mind. I've made other pieces that I'm really, really happy with though, like the Derpy Dinosaur and the Steampunk City, but the Cyberpunk City stays my favourite for now. |  |
What do you enjoy most about Planet Minecraft?
What I enjoy most about Planet Minecraft is definitely the interactions with the community, which are the most vital element of the site. The community are amazing! I was drawn back here for obsolete reasons, and gladly stayed for the community.
You’ve participated in quite a few PMC Events and a couple of contests. What has been your favorite PMC Event and/or Contest?
My favourite PMC Event/Contest so far is definitely the 10 Year Anniversary Event, revolving around the PMC Server and the experience on there, with the PMC Chest Quest. It was a highly enjoyable experience, and I wound up coming third in the run for it which was satisfying. I really like puzzles after all.
Is there a specific member that inspires you or you look up to? Who/Why?
I don't have a specific member that inspires me or who I look up to, but there are many members I feel are really epic and have shown large quantities of care, kindness and motivation around the site to many members, being supportive pillars of the community, while there are also many members who are really seriously skillful in their respective fields of interest. I'm not very good with bringing names to mind though (and I wouldn't want to say some but leave out others by accident, because there are a lot), but for me the most important inspirational members are those contributing to making other people's day, and bringing them up and making them smile, in any way they can, and there are so many like that. It makes a huge difference. Every time someone brings a smile to another's face, it matters.
Fun Questions
What other video games do you enjoy playing?
There are many I've enjoyed, and I tend to lean towards RPGs and strategy games, such as Skyrim, the Civilization series, Rimworld, ParadoxInteractive's games and the Portal series too. I really quite enjoy those games in free time, so Minecraft's really the only creative one I tend to work on.
What genre of music is your favorite? Do you listen to music while you’re creating in Minecraft?
I don't have a favourite genre of music; I actually quite like any song so long as it seems like the lyricism has a lot of thought and consideration put into it. I'm fond of singers like The Stupendium and Random Encounters for this reason, as their songs feel especially thoughtful about it.
Describe yourself in 3 words!
Talkative, logical & considerate.
What’s your favorite food?
Uh, honestly I'm not the most active connoisseur of eating, but I do like the taste of some things like chocolate fudge cake which I think is the dessert I like the most, so if I had to pick one I'd go with that. Dessert is a good choice for favourite food, isn't it?
Do you have any pets?
I do! Technically. I have a pet cat called Zeus, which a sibling has claimed as their own, so I don't exactly have one. There are also two pet rats in the house named Crowley and... and Wraith(his name's longer but I can't remember how it's spelt, so Wraith will do!).
Are there any hobbies outside of Minecraft that you have?
I rather enjoy writing, drawing and singing, and I also regularly play Dungeons and Dragons, but talking's probably my favoured hobby and I do that quite a bit more than anything else. It's all quite enjoyable for me.
Is there any new skill that you’ve been wanting to try, but haven’t had the chance to yet?
I think a skill I haven't really tried much that I want to try is 3D modeling and model animations. I've attempted it a little bit through a couple more basic Minecraft models, but I'm not exactly any good at that as of current and I'd like to try 3D modeling unrelated to Minecraft for the sake of making the game. It would be a tough challenge and would also take quite a bit of practice, but I'm more than willing to do that.
Favorite quote or words of wisdom for the community? OR Do you have any advice for new members of PMC?
I don't really have a quote or words of wisdom, but I think the advice I'd give to new members of PMC is to remember that if you support others and look out for them, there's a good chance they'll support and look out for you too; this isn't just limited to the site, either. The more care you give, the more likely it is people will notice you and take the time from their days to give it back. That of course shouldn't be the goal of care, but it's something to remember, at least; a bond requires both sides to put in effort to be established. Caring about others is the surest way to being cared for, and the most likely way to grow close to other people. It's a simple thing; it's really as simple as it sounds, but it's often forgotten about so I feel like that's my advice I want to mention. It's not very relevant to PMC's community though as the majority of people know it already!
Anything you'd like to add?
Thank you for interviewing me! I enjoyed going through the questions and thinking about them and answering; it's always quite fun to talk after all – perhaps even too fun sometimes, but yes, I appreciate it, and besides that I don't think I've got anything else I'd like to add. :)
| Credit | Uknownymous |
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