Rant About My House's Bad Accessibility

A very rough recreation of my house's corridor.
Screenshot from Minecraft 1.13.2

I am not allowed by my parents to show any real photos of my house, which is why I recreated it in Minecraft.

Note that I refer to my paternal grandma as "it" because my family and I hate its narcissism, lack of tolerance, and bad anger issues. As MandJTV said, "If that offends you, suck it up."

A shelter, being one of the basic needs of man (in real life, Minecraft, and Hytale), is important for the storage of personal belongings and relaxation, especially after a tiring day of work.

My house, in particular, is actually my paternal grandma's house, which used to have a backyard until it was expanded to include additional rooms since my grandma invited us to live here. (Our old house was very far from important locations in Metro Manila.)
There was little room for expansion, however, since the lot is fairly small and "attached" to three adjacent lots.

Plus, after a fight I had with my brother, my grandma got so annoyed that it put a boundary between its original house and our expansion. The living room, the most spacious place in the house besides our roof deck, belonged to it, so we lost a place where we can move freely while staying cool during a hot day.

Additionally, we have an outdoor parking space which turns into narrow paths when we park our car. For anyone to get in or out of the house, one would need to pass by those narrow paths, which is extra risky at night or during rain since one could accidentally bump into someone else or slip on a puddle. I once impaled my foot after accidentally stepping on an earring while walking across that parking space at night; my flip-flops became thin after constantly moving fast. Firetruck littering--I have seen some weird litter around these paths, including a cigarette butt and a foam dart.

One of those narrow paths is pretty much blocked all the time because that's our family dog's usual pooping area. I never pass through it even in the daytime because I wanted to train my brain to avoid it--if I didn't, I would accidentally step on poop at night while carrying heavy loads with minimal light.

As for our store, it used to be more spacious until the road was renovated to include sidewalks. We had to narrow down our store, which makes it extra annoying when people pass by my chair while I'm gaming because I have to move my chair and it feels uncomfortable for my legs. It's even worse if the person passing is angry or in a hurry.
Our Wi-Fi router is also in our store and has a very weak signal strength in our bedrooms, so one would have to at least be in the corridors to use the Internet. Some of those corridors are swarmed with mosquitoes, but we can't spray insecticide on them because there's food nearby. Therefore, the options are: 1) Risk getting bitten by mosquitoes; 2) Get in someone's way, either in the corridors or in the store; 3) Face the sun's heat in the roof deck; 4) Do not use the Internet.
Also, our paternal grandma got a new Wi-Fi router in its bedroom and hasn't given us the password. Even if we knew the password, however, it and its maid still randomly unplug it, especially when their elderly, unpredictable, and rapidly-filling bladders wake them up at night.
Edit, June 18, 2020: Mom got the password from my paternal grandma and its maid and used them to connect Dad's PC to their Wi-Fi network. While helping Dad with a technical problem, I took the opportunity to get the password, and now all our devices can connect to their Wi-Fi network. The problem is they consistently unplug it every night now.

Edit, October 2, 2021: Mom convinced my grandma not to unplug its Wi-Fi using technobabble. In other words, we have 24/7 Wi-Fi all over our house now.

Because of all these narrow path issues around our expansion, parking space, and store, and the fact that almost all of these paths are regularly shared by all family members, it's really difficult to move around, even if I'm agile. One person, regardless of size, would have to constantly make room for another person to pass. If someone is carrying heavy or fragile objects, they can't simply "squish" through other people.
Additionally, if our car is parked and one wants to go to the coffee table area from the store or entrance gate, one would have to make these turns at a minimum: Left, right, left, left, right (5 turns total). This total may not look like much, but when constantly taking round trips to perform important tasks, this is a big chore. In scientific terms, the distance is much longer than the displacement. (To understand displacement, imagine you're a floating ghost who can go through walls and move straight to any destination you like.)

So here are some workarounds for these narrow paths:

• Prepare everything needed from one location to minimize having to go back to that location.
• Regularly clean the house, especially the narrow paths, to minimize tripping.
• Whenever possible, stay in a bedroom. There's a kids' room and a parents' room, and only two people each share those rooms without interfering with personal space.
• Don't firetruck up our house jobs. Angry people have a tactical advantage since they're faster, can use the narrow paths to corner people they are angry at, and destroy things along the way.
• Work out more to increase stamina and strength.
• KILL MOSQUITOES, DANG IT!

And here are what I want in my future house to avoid my current house's problems:

• Ensure that all passageways around the house can be comfortably crossed by at least two normal-weight adults simultaneously. (Fat people can have free Training From Hell from me.)
• If a passageway is occupied, there should be an alternate route to a given destination.
• Walls and furniture should be brightly colored and should contrast each other. For example, this text has high contrast with my green background. This allows people to easily distinguish between passable air and solid objects. Poor contrast like this can cause people to trip on camouflaged, seemingly invisible objects.
• The main entrance to the house should be wide and easily passable to allow heavy objects to pass through.
• Big windows should be placed around important areas in each room, ideally on eastern or western walls. A big wall blocking the yard can prevent passersby from peeking into the windows while still letting sunlight in.
• Important outdoor areas should be well-lit at night to avoid tripping on litter because some knuckleheads like littering hazardous objects randomly. If my lot has extra space outside my wall, I'll put a dumpster near the sidewalk because I rarely see public trash cans near Metro Manila roads.
• For Minecraft and Hytale bases, there should be multiple entry and exit points to escape hostile mob attacks or attack them from a different direction for a tactical advantage.
  Or better yet, I shouldn't let mobs get close to the house in the first place...especially if they're creepers or Void Eyes.

I also need a strong flashlight. My tablet doesn't have one, and my backup phone has a very weak flashlight.

I'd ask my rich paternal uncle for a new smartphone, but he's just as crazy as his mother and serves it loyally. He'd rather make my grandma's maid's daughter a spoiled brat and his standard for liking me is based mostly on how much I respect my grandma rather than morals or academic performance.

TL;DR summary: My house's narrow, winding paths make it hard for multiple people to move around, so we need to gather our things and clean the house without screwing up to avoid moving too much. My future house should be well-lit and wide enough to easily navigate both day and night.

Hide and Fight Chamber: A Minecraft Self-Defense Build

All screenshots are from Minecraft 1.13.2.

Note that this only applies to Minecraft, NOT Hytale. I assume that Hytale mob AI will be much smarter than Minecraft's, allowing mobs to avoid player-made hazards that would otherwise bait a Minecraft mob.

Plus, I assume the goblin is not the only Hytale mob that can break blocks, and some mobs can break blocks in similar ways to the player or the Ender Dragon. (totally speculative)

So I failed…yet another playthrough of Bytesize by getting too close to a bear glitching into the ground while trying to attack it in an enclosed fence. I got distracted by my mosquito bites; these mosquitoes have more firetrucking energy than Smosh's 15 Hour Energy.

But that fail gave me the idea of building a better chamber designed to keep the player safe from naturally spawned mobs while killing them.

Since I suck at introductions, let's move to the main topic.

The Hide & Fight Chamber. (Torches are optional.)

Top-down view.
Roof removed for illustration purposes.

View from inside the Hide & Fight Chamber.
The 2-block-high interior prevents Endermen and fliers from going inside.

This is what I like to call the "Hide & Fight Chamber". (I know the name is already taken by "Run, Hide, and Fight", but I got lazy. Kindly suggest a better name.)

I know, it's a very simple-looking structure, but that's the point. It's practical yet cheap and easy to build; only 36 wood logs are needed at minimum. I could build this thing before the first night even if I can only use my fists to punch wood.

Let's break down this structure piece by piece.
Notice how I used fences with slabs above them, forming a half-block-high hole. Fences are treated by entities (like mobs) as if they're 1.5 blocks tall. In combination with a slab, it technically becomes 2 blocks tall with no gaps, preventing tiny mobs from going through (because I'm that paranoid).

The floor is a half-block tall to allow me to hit short mobs like spiders and baby zombies.

I don't want to place or break blocks to enter or exit, so I used a wooden door and wooden trapdoor for the entrance. The wooden door prevents skeletons from shooting me when it is closed, while the opened wooden trapdoor allows me to go inside while filling in the wall to make it look good. (Putting a slab instead of a trapdoor also works, but I'm paranoid of mobs glitching through.)

The ceiling sticks out to prevent spiders from climbing on top and denying my kills. Letting zombies and skeletons stay under the ceiling is intentional because killing them by myself is faster than letting the sun burn them.
Cutting down trees near the Hide & Fight Chamber is recommended to prevent zombies and skeletons from hiding elsewhere.

With a water bucket and extra wood, the Hide & Fight Chamber can be upgraded into this beast:

Put a water source on each of the 4 inner corners of the slabs.
This will push mobs towards the Hide & Fight Chamber.

One problem I realized with the regular Hide & Fight Chamber is that most mobs don't actually pursue the player when they're inside despite the small gap. (On the bright side, hitting creepers doesn't make them explode while hiding here!)

This upgrade solves that problem by ensuring that whatever mob goes near the chamber stays near the chamber (if applicable).

Endermen will avoid the water but still stay near it in 1.9+, so defeat all the hostile mobs in the water before getting free hits on the Enderman.

Side note: With enough resources, you can even turn the Hide & Fight Chamber into an actual house like this!

My Paranoia of Griefing and Flying Hostile Mobs in Hytale

Disclaimer which might become a meme: This is speculative and based on pre-release information and Minecraft. This is not to be taken seriously; this is just for fun.

In multiple Hytale blog posts, I expressed fear in fighting hostile mobs that can build or break blocks or fly, but I don't think I explained those fears in detail.
So, since I suck at introductions, let's get started.

Note that, in Minecraft, I have no problem at all with creepers, phantoms, ghasts, or endermen.
Creepers explode at close range and take time, allowing me to safely attack them with a melee weapon.
Phantoms are relatively slow, predictable, and only spawn at night if the player hasn't slept in three days. They also attack at melee range.
Ghast fireballs can't break cobblestone and can be deflected. I personally like using a fishing rod to do so; using melee attacks isn't reliable for me. They're also big and frail, making them easy targets for a bow.
Endermen don't always pick up blocks and the blocks they can pick up are limited. Simply diving into a river or ocean is enough to stop an enderman in either 1.8 or 1.9+; in 1.8, an enderman will chase the player relentlessly without thinking about getting hurt by water, while in 1.9+, an enderman will stay close to the water's edge without touching the water, allowing the player to get free hits with a sword or axe.

I'm mainly paranoid of Void Eyes and goblins from Hytale. (See the NPC behavior and monster design blog posts)
Here's a quick recap: Void Eyes are floating creatures that summon allies, while goblins like throwing bombs at whatever they consider a "problem".

Let's start with the Void Eyes.
We don't know if Void Eyes can fight or what kind of attack they have besides summoning, but being a floating summoner gives a huge tactical advantage; summoned creatures can act as cannon fodder to distract the enemy while the summoner stays out of range. If a ranged weapon or flying mount, vehicle, or equipment piece is unavailable, Void Eyes can be extremely difficult to hit with melee attacks.
Since some fantasy stories feature summoning from a long distance in a manner similar to teleportation, I'm curious if summoned creatures can appear inside the player's house even if the Void Eye is outside. Therefore, unless the house interior is spacious, has an emergency escape route, or is rigged with traps or other defensive features, Void Eyes can trap the player inside their own house. Hopefully the summoned creatures aren't thieves.

Let's move on to the bomb-throwing goblins.
Notice how, in this screenshot, goblins are chasing a player outdoors. Maybe goblins don't just live in caves, but can also roam the surface like other monsters. They could also be a hostile faction, but we're not sure yet.
If creepers are bad enough, goblins are much worse. While a creeper can only explode once before it's gone, a goblin has more than one bomb to throw, and it can throw from a distance. Also, given that goblins throw bombs at anything they think is a problem and we don't know exactly what those "problems" are (besides the player's presence), they can randomly grief large areas, making it difficult to traverse the field and repair bases. Approaching a goblin into melee range is very risky, especially if goblins either "cook" their bombs or their bombs immediately explode upon impact.
It would be fine if shields can deflect their bombs (this is a fantasy game, so it can happen), but we don't know if Hypixel Studios will implement a projectile-deflecting feature or how cheap/expensive a shield will be.
Edit: I just remembered from the trailer that goblins can wield a variety of melee weapons like fists, butcher knives, and spiked clubs. The bomb-throwing goblins are unique in that they wear goggles, but from a far distance, they can be mistaken for regular goblins.

What about block builders or breakers in a similar fashion as the player or Herobrine?
There are no official confirmations of this, as far as I know. While I am aware that there are faction camps and villages for Kweebecs, Trorks, Scaraks, Outlanders, and others, I don't know if more of them can be built by faction members after world generation. The closest thing we have to block breakers is the Outlander village corruption, but we don't know who or what causes that.
There are a lot of mid-battle tactics that can be performed by placing or breaking blocks. One can attack from underground, pillar-jump to a high place, build bridges to get across trenches, chasms, or hazards, or make walls to protect ranged attackers or slow down the enemy.
It's even worse if there's an enemy who can speed-build similar to two of the Old Builders, Hadrian and Mevia, from Minecraft: Story Mode. They can trap people in obsidian cages, build staircases to initiate an air attack, and do a combo involving a kick that knocks the target towards slime blocks which bounce it towards TNT.
With all these versatile traits of block manipulation, enemies with this power can bypass most defenses except the most well-built ones, and those take a lot of time and resources to build. Obsidian is a pain in the butt to collect in large amounts without an Efficiency V diamond pickaxe.
Plus, I've played tiny bits of the Minecraft multiplayer game Factions (and OP-Factions), and many of the bases are made of obsidian with waterfall defenses. Having to strictly use one material because of its huge defensive capabilities makes a base feel bland and "un-homely", especially if that "strong" defense is not accompanied by archers, traps, or redstone-powered siege weapons.
Edit, August 9, 2019: Sorry about the wrong link on the Scaraks text; I fixed it. When Hytale updated the media page on July 2019, some links got messed up.

A typical Factions base.
Looks very boring, if you ask me.

The same obsidian base with lots of added details and defensive features.
It took me 1 hour and 16 minutes to add all these details.
(Some water was removed for illustrative purposes.)

Now, you may ask, how do I deal with fliers and griefers?

The simple answer is to use a ranged weapon, but I don't think Hypixel Studios would make it that easy. Besides, I argued in this Facebook post that throwable weapons like javelins and hand axes should be weak or difficult to get. Edit, May 31, 2020: The May 30, 2020 progress update confirmed the ability for human players to throw spears.

I asked people in The Game Gurus's Discord server what they think about javelins, hand axes, etc.
This is the only response I got, but I like it a lot, and I agree.

The next best thing is to get something that will allow me to fly so I can attack fliers at melee range, but I think those are late-game. To me, it doesn't make sense to be able to craft a helicopter propeller or hot air balloon or befriend a dragon in the early-game.

I guess I can speed-build small walls to block projectiles and fliers that have a swooping melee attack, but that doesn't work against fliers that break or clip through blocks as they fly (like the Ender Dragon), and of course, enemy builders.

I am a speedy unit, so I can easily dodge attacks, especially in an open field. However, that's tough to do when I'm surrounded by summoned creatures or have projectiles coming from multiple angles.
Oh well, this is what I have my officers for; a group of people is harder to surround than a single person.

Oh well, Hytale isn't released yet, so we don't know for sure how strong these fliers and griefers will be. They could be weaker or stronger than I think, but I think Hypixel Studios is nice enough to strike a balance between the casual players and the hardcore players.
My team and I just need more video game practice and better school performance for now.
One thing's for sure: The enemy, no matter how tough, will get their butts kicked.

TL;DR summary: Void Eyes' abilities to fly and summon allies make them difficult to hit because the summoned creatures are distracting and I can't reach fliers with melee weapons. Goblins, unlike creepers, can throw multiple bombs from afar, causing a lot of damage to buildings. Builders and block breakers can bypass defenses like walls.
To defeat these enemies, I thought of using ranged attacks, flying, building small walls, or just dodging everything.

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done a TL;DR summary. I don't think the other posts needed a TL;DR summary because they're either short as a whole or can be speed-read just by reading the bold text.