Now, away from the whole piracy whine, how do you guys feel about impressive houses? I normally build large houses, but only for use, not to impress. I know one such person who shares my views who spent a year playing Minecraft, making 364 videos on Youtube, and built a house big enough it could fill a 4 times enlarged map, made with multiple rooms, gadgets, gimmicks and 3 block thick walls of Obsidian, and over 2,000 cats keeping it safe from Creeper attack.
He built it all on Survival Mode, and it burnt down twice along the way before he switched from wool and wood to Obsidian.