If the playable area was small enough, this could actually reduce your disadvantage: nobody else would know what the map looked like, either.

Minecraft in survival mode is probably the worst. You can very easily get hopelessly lost - especially in the Nether world. Very easy to lose track of your portal which is not fun.

It can be fun. It can also be fun to come up with some sort of breadcrumb system and movement planning.

Exploration in proc gen worlds is mostly pointless anyway. Build roads to everywhere you want to go and you'll never get lost.

Yes, solved that by making big arrows out of bright coloured blocks pointing back the way I came. Once you find one arrow you're fine.

I also carried a lot of dirt around for those times when a bridge or stairs were needed to keep moving.

Pointless yes, but you could say that for most games.

I actually do play a lot of Minecraft, but my play style is probably unusual.

I almost never explore caverns. I strongly prefer to dig my own systematic mines to get underground resources, even though it's more work.

On the surface, I never explore without a map. I take copious notes of the coordinates of my home and interesting features.

I tend to spend most of my time building and acquiring, and very little time exploring (even though I love the procedural generator Minecraft uses).