[chris redfield]

^ yep gold is quite soft as a metal in real life, so it would be a little less useful as a valuable (tool) item within the game, its nice to look at though sometimes so its probably better to use it as a decorative item.
it was discussed with minecraft fans at length a while back and I can't remember the reasons why it wasn't used as currency within the game and why they opted for emeralds.
minecraft isn't massively realistic though I mean I know diamond is a hard material but who on earth would make a diamond pickaxe!?

[Mark A]

Diamonds are actually quite brittle and will smash into fragments if hit with an ordinary hammer for example.

Gold is pretty much only useful in Minecraft for making powered rail track sections, and less usefully for clocks.

Regards

Mark