Late at night, 10-year-old me eagerly booted up a new game on the family computer: Minecraft. Unbeknownst then, this one game would open an enchanting realm of limitless possibilities to my impressionable little mind. Now, seven years later, Minecraft has been and still is an irreplaceable part of my life and has given me a sense of community, love, and hope. Minecraft is a vast and expansive game that offers anyone a chance to do anything, with the only limit being that of the imagination. Most who play choose the grandeous complications of mods and creative worlds. But for me, the simple yet captivating aspect of survival; is truly unmatched. In survival, you are forced to be immersed. The mode envelops you in a sense of awestricken adventure with the simplicity of life itself. From the moment you start up the game, you are thrown into an unfamiliar world—your number one priority is to find the basics of survival: food, shelter, and tools. As sunlight slowly wanes, you must find your way through this new life quickly before the monsters of the night claim your life. The instantaneous immersion done with a simple yet ingenious tactic is something that keeps me entranced for hours on end. Constantly being in a cycle of expanding your knowledge and resources while finding joy in the minute, mundane aspects of the game like dyeing your bed or getting a pet wolf is what makes the game an enticingly fun challenge. However, survival isn't just my favorite only for its impressively intelligent gameplay loop. Survival holds an extra special place in my heart because of all the friends I've met on survival worlds. The profound connections it fosters are truly unmatched and offer unique and close friendships. The previous essential aspects of survival that make it so special are amplified by having your friends around. You are thrown into an even more realistic survival experience because you have the aspect of humanity affecting your interactions with both the game and your friends. Every interaction with people, from the friendly sharing of materials to the bloody violent wars—they're all crucial parts of being in a survival world. One of my favorite survival experiences with friends was when I was younger and played Pocket Edition with 3 of my other friends. We logged on and immediately built a house and which we all lived together. The house was a poorly cobbled shack and there was nothing in our chests but wood, yet having one another in the same house laughing over what we said and what we did transformed our modest abode into a grand mansion. Years later, we kept that world and became even closer than ever, always having little laughs over anything we did on the server. This one example of thousands shows the hidden beauty in Minecraft's basic feature: the survival world.