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Can somebody explain Minecraft to me?

Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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Honestly don't mean this as a pisstake but I just downloaded a demo' version of it and I can't really see where to start getting anything out of it.

I get that games aren't all about fancy graphics and there are squillions of people playing it so I assume there must be decent gameplay to be had, somewhere, but I just can't see where to begin.

It's advertised as an "RPG" or "adventure game" but I can't really see much of that side of it at all.
It seems more like a "world-building" game, which I've never really enjoyed.

Perhaps somebody could tell me where to start with the "adventuring" side of it or, alternatively, let me know if it is actually more about world-building, in which case I can just uninstall it? :blush:

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    MoggioMoggio Posts: 4,289
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    You make your own adventure and dig lots of holes.
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    HotbirdHotbird Posts: 10,010
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    It's digital Lego :D
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    Danger CloseDanger Close Posts: 3,281
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    Just the title of this thread made me laugh. Reminded me of a South Park episode.

    I don't get it myself. Tried a demo on 360 but didn't gert into it.
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    Lou KellyLou Kelly Posts: 2,778
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    It reminds me of the old Atari game, Dig Dug and I'd probably find it as enjoyable.
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    ÆnimaÆnima Posts: 38,548
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    I don't get minecraft either.

    Maybe some people find it therapeutic? No idea.
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    blitzben85blitzben85 Posts: 3,020
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    I really enjoy Minecraft, I love digging and finding a cave system, collecting minerals as you go along. Keeping torches on your right side so you know you're way out and the faint sounds of a zombie close. I'm really bad at building this in Minecraft so sick to underground and the survival side of it. Only coming back up to collect food and wood. I didn't know what to do at first but if you watch a let's play on YouTube then it'll give you a good idea of what is possible.
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    RubricalRubrical Posts: 2,715
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    Make little challenges for yourself, like finding your first diamond suit armour! Or finding a creepy abandoned mineshaft... and explore it.
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    WellHiddenMarkWellHiddenMark Posts: 1,797
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    I believe the generally accepted goal of Minecraft is "Survive the first night". For the rest, there are plenty of guides, the official wiki and several lifetime's worth of YouTube videos to watch.

    The only way to 'get it' IMO is to play it for at least one hour. I did this and lost the next 500. :blush:

    Good luck!
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    Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    I believe the generally accepted goal of Minecraft is "Survive the first night". For the rest, there are plenty of guides, the official wiki and several lifetime's worth of YouTube videos to watch.

    The only way to 'get it' IMO is to play it for at least one hour. I did this and lost the next 500. :blush:

    Good luck!

    Heh,

    I think that's probably similar to how I feel.

    It doesn't seem like there's an awful lot to the game, itself, but because of that, and because it's so easy to mess with stuff, you seem to just spend your time doing stuff to see if it can be done.

    For example, rather than the usual "build a box and climb inside it" approach to surviving the first night, I decided to try digging a trench around an open area and then just pottered around in the middle of the "island" I'd created.
    While digging, I discovered some mineral deposits so, after that, I just dug the trench deeper and deeper and then hollowed out the entire inside of the "island" I'd made as well.

    Kinda disappointed with the way water works.
    I was, at one point, trying to fill my trench with water from a nearby sea but it just wouldn't seem to "flow" properly. :(

    Related to that, and going back to the whole "doing stuff just to see if it can be done" thing, at some point I want to see if I can build something sub-sea. :blush:
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,155
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    Si_Crewe wrote: »
    Heh,
    Kinda disappointed with the way water works.
    I was, at one point, trying to fill my trench with water from a nearby sea but it just wouldn't seem to "flow" properly. :(

    Water flows to the sea, not from it ;)
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    SpeedloaferSpeedloafer Posts: 2,407
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    Still waiting for this on PS4
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    WellHiddenMarkWellHiddenMark Posts: 1,797
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    Still waiting for this on PS4

    I'm still waiting for this on Vita.

    I devised a conspiracy theory the other day that Sony are holding this game back. Minecraft is so perfect for the Vita that once it's out, nobody will buy any other games for the Vita again.

    I mean come on, Minecraft - the full version, in your pocket.
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    lamblamlamblamblamlamb Posts: 654
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    I think this would be the killer app for the Vita no way the would not want to delay on this
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    Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    Heh,

    Oddly enough I just spent a few days away and ended up spending my evenings playing minecraft and got quite into it.

    It really is the crack-cocaine of gaming. You know it's pretty pointless, you know there's no goal to achieve but you feel like you've just gotta keep on trying whatever pops into your head.

    S'funny but, at the risk of thinking about it too much, I think it'd make a good psychological test too.
    At the most basic level (the one that'd probably appeal to your average COD player), it's just about killin' stuff, surviving and finding more stuff to kill.
    Then, at the next level, it's about pottering about and building the stuff you want to build.
    Then, at another level, it's about discovering all the abilities and making it do super-clever stuff.

    I think it also revealed my latent OCD tendencies too. I couldn't begin to count the amount of times I ended up knocking down a whole side of a building just to make it all one block wider so it'd all be symmetrical. :blush:

    Must admit, I tried it a year or so ago but I found it to be very buggy (I kept falling through floors when climbing etc) but now, having played a properly stable version, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. :D
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    RubricalRubrical Posts: 2,715
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    Si_Crewe wrote: »
    Heh,

    Oddly enough I just spent a few days away and ended up spending my evenings playing minecraft and got quite into it.

    It really is the crack-cocaine of gaming. You know it's pretty pointless, you know there's no goal to achieve but you feel like you've just gotta keep on trying whatever pops into your head.

    S'funny but, at the risk of thinking about it too much, I think it'd make a good psychological test too.
    At the most basic level (the one that'd probably appeal to your average COD player), it's just about killin' stuff, surviving and finding more stuff to kill.
    Then, at the next level, it's about pottering about and building the stuff you want to build.
    Then, at another level, it's about discovering all the abilities and making it do super-clever stuff.

    I think it also revealed my latent OCD tendencies too. I couldn't begin to count the amount of times I ended up knocking down a whole side of a building just to make it all one block wider so it'd all be symmetrical. :blush:

    Must admit, I tried it a year or so ago but I found it to be very buggy (I kept falling through floors when climbing etc) but now, having played a properly stable version, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. :D

    Yes, I loved the horse update :)
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    Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    Rubrical wrote: »
    Yes, I loved the horse update :)

    Speaking of horses, I am rather perplexed by them.

    There's one wandering around near where I've set up a base.
    I realised that you can farm animals so I built an enclosure with the intent of luring some piggies into it but the bloody horse wandered in instead so I thought I'd leave it there and built another enclosure for my piggies.

    Since then I've tried interacting with the horse but it doesn't seem very cooperative.
    I can't find anything to feed it with, it'll let me "ride" it but it won't move and it just stands around all day, doing nothing.
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    Premium-OnionPremium-Onion Posts: 3,818
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    Si_Crewe wrote: »
    Speaking of horses, I am rather perplexed by them.

    There's one wandering around near where I've set up a base.
    I realised that you can farm animals so I built an enclosure with the intent of luring some piggies into it but the bloody horse wandered in instead so I thought I'd leave it there and built another enclosure for my piggies.

    Since then I've tried interacting with the horse but it doesn't seem very cooperative.
    I can't find anything to feed it with, it'll let me "ride" it but it won't move and it just stands around all day, doing nothing.

    You need to put a saddle on the horse and then tame the horse (done by putting the saddle on and then trying to ride it, it will kick you off a few times). Once you have done all that you can then ride the horse.
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    Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    You need to put a saddle on the horse and then tame the horse (done by putting the saddle on and then trying to ride it, it will kick you off a few times). Once you have done all that you can then ride the horse.

    Ah, of course!

    I'd been googling various things about minecraft and I had read, somewhere, about making a saddle for the horse but it slipped my mind again.

    If you can get two horses together, can you breed them the same way you can breed other animals?

    Is there any point in keeping a horse in Minecraft or is it really more about making a saddle, keeping it in your inventory and then just using it whenever you stumble across a horse in the wild so you can use it to get around more quickly while exploring?
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    kaniakania Posts: 6,252
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    Si_Crewe wrote: »
    Heh,

    Oddly enough I just spent a few days away and ended up spending my evenings playing minecraft and got quite into it.

    It really is the crack-cocaine of gaming. You know it's pretty pointless, you know there's no goal to achieve but you feel like you've just gotta keep on trying whatever pops into your head.

    S'funny but, at the risk of thinking about it too much, I think it'd make a good psychological test too.
    At the most basic level (the one that'd probably appeal to your average COD player), it's just about killin' stuff, surviving and finding more stuff to kill.
    Then, at the next level, it's about pottering about and building the stuff you want to build.
    Then, at another level, it's about discovering all the abilities and making it do super-clever stuff.

    I think it also revealed my latent OCD tendencies too. I couldn't begin to count the amount of times I ended up knocking down a whole side of a building just to make it all one block wider so it'd all be symmetrical. :blush:

    Must admit, I tried it a year or so ago but I found it to be very buggy (I kept falling through floors when climbing etc) but now, having played a properly stable version, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. :D

    Actually there is a final goal. The end of the game is when you slay a dragon in the End World (I think it's called). To do this you need to find diamonds to make a pick axe then mine obsidian to create a portal to the Netherworld. You then have to find things in the Netherworld for creating a portal to the End world. The portal to the End World is in a stronghold somewhere in the normal world, but you need to make parts for it to make it work, hence having to go to the Netherworld to get them.

    You'd need plenty of diamond armour and potions to slay the dragon.

    I know what you're saying about things being symmetrical. I decided to make a castle with a reallyyyyyy tall tower, so imagine my disappointment when the turrets didn't sit on each corner neatly spaced.

    Are you playing on the PC version?
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