Minecraft… I Dig It

Minecraft.

You’ve heard the name.

It’s everywhere. Twitter. Facebook. Gaming sites and forums. Maybe someone walked by you talking on their phone, the words just noise to you except for that one… did he just say “Minecraft”?

If you follow me on Twitter, or check this site from time to time, you probably already know that I have been consumed entirely by this game. For the last few weeks I have played this game every day – whether it be for twenty minutes or five to six hours at a time, I have been lost to everything outside of this boxy world.

Chances are, if you have heard of Minecraft, you have also heard just how addictive it is to all who try it. If you watch the #minecraft tag in Twitter, you will see this theme play out over and over again.

Beyond that, I have been asked countless times, “ok, it’s addictive… but why?” at which I stumble about trying to explain it without sounding too much like a child who just got back from a candy factory.

This is not a review, or a guide. It’s simply me telling you what it is about and why I dig it (no pun intended).

What is this game about?

The first thing I tell people about Minecraft (at least recently) is to go mess around with the free version of the game which lets you build/destroy blocks of various types. Sounds simple enough, but this can consume a lot of your time if you let it. Playing around with this aspect of the game will give you a feel for the controls, graphics, etc.

If that is intriguing enough, then consider grabbing the full version for $13 and prepare for ‘Survival’ mode.

What’s Survival mode? Imagine you are the only person in a world that has just been randomly generated for you – a unique world different than any you will see again. If this sounds a little like I Am Legend, you would be right and I tell people this as well. You begin with nothing and will, through the course of the game, be making almost every tool/item you will ever use. In this version of the game (as opposed to the free version) your inventory is managed in a similar way to Diablo. You will pick up items, organize them as you see fit, etc.

You will be making tools such as shovels, picks, and axes. Additionally, you can make armor, and weapons (sword and bow) to fight the creatures of the night.

There are many guides about how to survive your first (and subsequent nights) so I don’t intend on covering that, other than to say there is a reason people regularly mention “punching trees”. Let’s instead get to what it is that I enjoy about this game.

What I Dig About Minecraft

I Dig Persistence

I love persistent worlds. In fact, it’s probably the reason I was such a huge MMO fan. I love picking up where I left off in game. Knowing that what you accomplish in a game carries on as long as you want it to is something that has always appealed to me.

There is no “end” to Minecraft – only an ever increasing scale to that which you accomplish – whether it’s as simple as wanting to make all the diamond armor, or creating something truly massive in scale such as a castle, Sauron’s tower of Barad-dûr, the Starship Enterprise, or even a working 16-bit ALU Computer!

I Dig Randomness

While Minecraft does not have random loot like you are used to seeing in games like Diablo or World of Warcraft, there is an aspect to the game that is very similar and it’s tied to exploration. The world is randomly generated for you, including the caves underground. One of the things I enjoy the most is exploring those caves, seeing how deep they are. Some are enormous in size, others are merely tunnels – you never know what’s through the next block of stone, but sometimes it is really awe inspiring.

Along those same lines, your exploration deep into the blocky world is generally fueled by a search for more rare materials… iron, gold, diamonds, etc. Sometimes you will hit one or two blocks in a cave – other times you hit the jackpot and find a large stash just waiting to be mined… it can feel like you just found a purple drop, if you will.

I Dig Puzzles

A big aspect of this game is it’s puzzle-like nature. I have not seen anyone mention it, but this game regularly presents you with puzzles. Maybe you need to cross a large chasm. Perhaps you need to quickly find air as your tunneling just hit water that is now filling your room. Whatever the case may be, you are constantly faced with problem solving situations that are very enjoyable.

I Dig Simplicity

I don’t have much time to play games these days.

Okay, that’s kind of a lie – I have been MAKING time for this game (if you are curious, the recipe to “Making Time” involves a Compass, used to FIND the time, surrounded by Iron Ingots to hide you from any other tasks needing to be done).

Minecraft is the kind of game I can jump into and out of very quickly. I can play for 10 minutes if I want, or if something suddenly comes up you can simply hit “escape” which saves and pauses the game. So, even if you were in the middle of a fight, you could jump up from your chair and go do something else… like make dinner for your wife, for example.

Along those lines, this is the kind of game you will quickly get the hang of. It won’t take you hours to learn in other words. There are always better ways to do things, or more efficient habits you will develop over time, but essentially games don’t get much easier to grasp – but this is a GOOD thing. To quote a tweet I saw this morning from @playaslite…

…it is one of those games that inspires wonder with minimalism.

I Dig The Sandbox

In Minecraft, the game is there for you to do with as you please. There is no end goal unless you want there to be one. No mission, no time limit, no rules. We are all very familiar with the sandbox analogy and Minecraft is one of the best examples of sandbox play. It is a world of various elements (Stone, Sand, Earth, and more) waiting for you to traipse across them, or bust em up for use later.

I Dig Playing While It’s Being Developed

That’s right, Minecraft is still in development. In fact, it is in it’s Alpha version right now. The game is being developed and new things are added from time to time. Player feedback plays a big role in the development of the game as well regarding updates, and more. That may sound like the game will be buggy, but it’s surprisingly not (with the exception of some multiplayer issues I have seen).

Playing the game early in this way is exciting as there are always new things that could suddenly show up in the game. The developer, Markus Persson (known commonly as “Notch“) maintains a tumblr page that he updates with various posts related to the game. This kind of openness, or more socially aware aspect of development is really cool – not unprecedented, but appreciated.

Wrap it up Weem

Anyway, that’s my quick run-down of the game and what I like about it. Hope you enjoyed it!

Sound Interesting? Try it out!

FREE

If you want to try out the free version (build and destroy to your hearts content) head over to the Minecraft.net site and select “Minecraft Classic [Free!]: Single player” right under the logo.

Paid ($13)
Above that link is the one to the Alpha version, with Survival mode. For access to this, you will have to pay ($13) but as you have probably guessed I would say, it is worth it.

NOTE: The website minecraft.net has been known to be down periodically, so keep that in mind. If you can’t get there, hit it up another time.

Did you dig this article? Feel free to follow me on Twitter and let me know, and/or comment below. If someone asks you “What is Minecraft” you can link them here now!