Chance Wen

Chance Wen

Error creating thumbnail: File missing Chance at the Kyoto Railway Museum, 2019
Born	December 25th, 1994
Nationality	American
Other Names	wenchance
Occupation	Assistant Language Teacher in Japan
Years activated	June 29th, 2011 to Present

Chance Wen (username: wenchance) is one of the remaining members of the original Pixelated Pickaxe group. He applied to the Minecraft server in June 2011 with an application containing screenshots of builds of a high-rise, a segment of a minecart network, a highway section, and a bridge. Chance’s participation with the community was frequent and would later extend beyond the online group and Minecraft itself, leading to various interesting projects such as the The Pixelated Pickaxe Christmas Collection cover album series. He is also the current record holder for visiting the most Pixelated Pickaxe members in person which currently stands at seven ( Brodie, Jonathan, Noah, Nathan, Danielle, Brady, Zach).

Original Application

“Hi! My name is Chance Wen, I am entering junior year at a local San Mateo high school in the San Francisco Bay Area. As you probably may know, enjoy animating, brickfilming and filmmaking in general. A lot of people have consider me very talented. I draw, enjoy writing, and enjoy building with Lego sets and am an big Lego Collector and Enthusiast. I as well enjoy building props and robotics for films and other uses and enjoy the occasional video game. Even when I play video games, I am not drawn much to violent first person shooters, I enjoy strategy based games like Risk, Monopoly, Simcity 4 and to a certain extent Minecraft. Besides the artistic stuff, I am also into politics, leadership and public speaking. I also have an interest in world culture study and civil engineering. I am also a big anime fan. So My talents and interest range and vary. I hope that didn't sound to self centered...but I hope that gave you a good picture of who I am."

Play Style

Chance’s builds on the Minecraft server followed a very narrow design aesthetic that closely resembled modern/internationalist architecture, not too dissimilar from the works of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. This style was most prominently visible in the large multi-story high-rises that Chance constructed. Use of stone slabs and glass were heavily common along with a consistent theme of clean, prism-shaped structures that had little ornamentation and stood with heavy contrast against the voxel scenery.

This build style, like its real-life counterparts, would occasionally draw ire and complaints from PPX regulars for its starkness and emptiness. Some members would, in particular, complain about the lack of furnishings in the structures or the lack usefulness the building provided.

Outside of structures, Chance’s work as well included ambitiously large and occasionally obtrusive infrastructure initiatives. As a fan of transportation, Chance would often focus much of his efforts on these projects which included highway networks, minecart subway networks, and occasionally canal systems on multiple maps. Many of these systems as well featured a standardized numbering and naming system, along with quality and aesthetic standards to keep the entirety of the network cohesive and consistent. Projects that stood out for their scale and style included The Regional Highway Network (RHW), Wellstowne Metro System (WMS), The Bridge of Camaraderie, Dutchtown, and Shroom Tower Plaza.

Following multiple map iterations, Chance eventually burned out on Minecraft and the large builds ceased. Though he had stopped actively playing on the server, Chance’s activities and relations with the Pixelated Pickaxe community remained healthy. The list of group activities would eventually extend beyond Minecraft to other games and projects.

Server History

Chance's work on the server was wide-ranging and included numerous projects.

See also: List of builds by wenchance

JET Programme

In July of 2018, Chance was selected to be a part of the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Programme. On September 3rd of the same year, he move from his home in California to the rural town of Tosayamada, in Kochi Prefecture, Japan. He is now an Assistant Language Teacher at two high school in the South West Shikoku region.

Due to the significant time difference between Chance and his companions in North America, it has become significantly more difficult to coordinate group game play.

Outside Minecraft

Though Minecraft was the staple game of the Pixelated Pickaxe community, eventually the community as a whole would gravitate towards other games and activities that were outside of Minecraft. The types of games that Chance Wen participated in were wide-ranging.

War Thunder

One of Chance and company's earliest game adventures outside of Minecraft would be War Thunder with its multiplayer aerial combat and later, tanks. Brodie, along with other players often joined Chance in games before the game fell out of interest.

No one has touched War Thunder in the last few years due to dwindled interest.

Factorio

Chance and BWJC are active and avid players of Factorio, with multiple worlds created and a successful game completed. The passion and interest in the game would lead Chance and BW to draw other members of the server to participate in the game. Brodie would be the first to join, followed by Cameron, Nathan, and Jonathan.

As of July 2019, no one has consistently returned to Factorio. This has been due to a variety of factors including timing and coordination. While no one has returned to the game, interest on returning to it remains high and will likely happen when the game has its 1.0 release.

World of Warships

Chance would be among the first people of the server community to play World of Warships. An early wave of interest in the game spurred many multiplayer sessions with Noah, Brodie, and Nathan. The appeal of the game eventually faded but encountered a recent revival with the inclusion of Brady, which led to the creation of the PPX Clan on World of Warships.

As of September 2018, time spent in World of Warships has effectively ceased. This was due to Chance’s move to Japan and start as an Assistant Language Teacher in the JET Programme.

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire

Chance, along with Brodie, BWJC, Rob and Nathan, began playing the tabletop RPG Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. He created a character by the name of Rush Kiyanu.

Writing

Outside of other activities, Chance has been interested in creative writing. This hobby had recently become a substantial portion of Chance’s personal life following his move to Japan. he currently has multiple writing projects that he is pursuing and developing.

Space Based Sci-fi Novel

Lacking an official name, the Space Based Sci-fi Novel was a writing and worldbuilding project that was inspired by James SA Corey’s ‘The Expanse’ series. The novel was originally intended to be a combination spy and pirate thriller, envisioned as a ‘Captain Phillips’ in space. The remnants of this project live on in Elysian Eclipse, though Chance has not completely abandoned this project.

Elysian Eclipse

Elysian Eclipse is a light novel being written by Chance and his friend Trevor Gaffney. The project has a long history, originally starting as an independent writing project inspired by the Japanese light novel, manga, and anime franchise ‘Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There’ (ゲート 自衛隊 彼の地にて、斯く戦えり). The project later evolved into a developing visual novel game before returning to a collaborative novel project. The premise of the novel has also changed, taking characters, worldbuilding, and ideas from ‘space based sci-fi novel’ project. The first draft of Elysian Eclipse was completed on August 9th, 2019.

Fleeting Dreams of Saturn

In the early spring of 2019, Chance began work on his latest writing and worldbuilding project. This project was different from the others, as it was an alternate history story. The idea of Fleeting Dreams of Saturn was seeded by discussion with :Brady Coles: on the PPX Discord. There, the two discussed the pitfalls of the Space Shuttle and other hindsight based assessments of the American space program following Apollo and the Moon landings. Further inspiration came when Chance discovered E of Pi’s alternate history work ‘Eyes Turned Skyward’. After reading Tom Wolfe’s ‘The Right Stuff’ Chance was driven to develop the ideas and world that would lead to Fleeting Dreams of Saturn.

In Person Meetings with other Members

Chance Has traveled across the United States and Canada has met various members of Pixelated Pickaxe in person. Chance met Nathan Wells first in 2016, followed by Brodie, Noah, and Jonathan during the ‘Denver Run’ that same year. In 2017, Chance met Brodie and company again during the Great American Solar Eclipse. Chance metBrady Coles for the first time during a road trip to Vancouver, British Colombia in early 2018. Chance and Brodie met for a third time and visited Nate again during the California Connection in May of 2018.