My brother and I play Minecraft together. He introduced it to me and I love building in it! I make all sorts of beautiful buildings and decorations.
Well, my brother purchased his own server so others can play on his game. He stated that the server is free to play because it is for him and his friends. He recruited me to make his server pretty by adding homes, shops, etc.
The agreement is that I can build, as long as I build what looks best for the server. He said that since I’m good at building and I am more creative than him, he wants to collaborate with me to build a castle town. I’m happy to do it, for free, because I like to play the game and most importantly, I like to play with him..
I accepted the task. I slaved over the town and spent literally weeks on it. One house, alone, would take me 8-10 real life hours to make.
Yesterday, he requested that I make a special building for public events. So, I get started on that building. I worked hard on it, and spent 10 real life hours on it. And it turned out beautiful.
I sent him a text and let him know that the building is done, and I’m ready for him to check it out. He said that he doesn’t want to use it, without even signing in to look at it. A few days ago, he plopped down four walls and will use that space instead for the event (and those four walls are an eyesore). It took him less than five minutes to plop down those walls. Whereas it took me ten hours to make something that he requested that I make!
Later, I made a road in the game. I spent 3 hours on it. I asked him if he liked it, and he said no, he likes the road he had before. No biggie, I figured maybe I’m too close with it and need an outside opinion. I asked one of his friends, who wasn’t allowed to build in the server but who can play, which road looks best. My brother blew up. He said that this is his server and what he says is final. I reminded him that this is our project, and that the server was intended for him and his friends. He then banned me from the server for “taking ownership” of the server. I spent 60+ hours on his server.
I explained that I wasn’t taking ownership, but simply acknowledging that this is a joint project. I bring it up in his discord, which then he put me into “time out” for speaking up about how he made me upset. I then left his discord.
And sure, this is a video game. I was doing unpaid work on it. And I’m so angry that he was just so dismissive and unappreciative. I’m upset because I feel like he took advantage of me and stole my work. He doesn’t understand why I am even upset. And I believe that he has the emotional intelligence of a peanut.
Now, he says that I have an “attitude” and the he no longer wants to be friends and will keep me at “arms length”
Am I being silly and blowing this out of proportion?
NTA but maybe give him the same energy he is giving you
NTA but it’s pretty obvious to me he is envious of you talent and jealous about how his members are reacting to your good work. He has probably embarrassed himself and is now doubling down. I’d say cut him some slack depending on his age. Teen or younger it’s just growing pains and insecurity. Over 20 and I’d let him have it.
NTA. This is practically the same thing that happened to me. He is jealous and not being a fair chap about it. When my brother did the same thing. I retaliated by taking copies of structures built and deleting them from the world. And I Mean Everything. Effectively ruining the world save. Leaving only a chest with a prewritten book detailing why i did it. I suggest doing the same to make your brother understand why it happened. And why he’s a big reason why it happened.
He’s jealous because you’ve got a knack he doesn’t have. Get your own. Remove the event space and reconstruct in your own spot. Then build all the other things as you can. Don’t undo everything but certainly don’t do more, don’t ask for approval, nothing. Just silence. You’ll drive him crazy.
NTA
But please, if someone disrespects you the first time like he did, don’t continue to spend your precious time and skill when it won’t be appreciated.
You shouldn’t have spent the 3 hours building the road after he basically showed you what little he cares for how it all looks.
While I recognize he recruited you to make it pretty, the moment he built that simple event building should’ve been your signal to not put your normal effort in.
You’re not an asshole, but I think you might be forgetting that you were playing a game. I’m a big fan of Minecraft, it’s fun and addictive to build things. Building stuff is part of playing the game, and it’s a slightly odd to think of this as unpaid labour. It sucks not to have access to a world you’ve been building on though!
It sounds like your brother is going a bit nutty over the server – maybe the power of it all has gone to his head. Resolving this amiably with him rather than focusing on who is right or whose buildings are better is probably your best bet if you want to keep playing on the server.