The problem is that if a block updates, it triggers something like 6 additional block updates - those +/- 1 in each of the cardinal directions. These block upda

The problem is that if a block updates, it triggers something like 6 additional block updates - those +/- 1 in each of the cardinal directions. These block updates in turn may generate yet more block updates. There are two ways to make look-up or other utility calls with this fact: by either feeding in raw integer values based on the original values, or by allocating 6 additional objects. In both cases, you need to maintain your original reference position when generating the additional values, because the position is needed to generate all the values, so can't be changed to generate the first one. The integers being passed at a low level saves on the amount of objects being allocated. This has the potential to end up generating a lot of objects in response to certain kinds of events in the game world.