Minecraft and why i love it

A look at this amazing indie game, and what i think of it

By: Frederik

Minecraft just hit beta stage, but i were fortunate enough to get my copy when it was still in alpha stage, so i have been on the riding this phenomenon of a popularity wave for some time, and i still am!

This game is so amazing, even though there is no storyline whatsoever, heck there isn't even any score points. And this is exactly what makes this game so popular, there is nothing you have to do, everything is up to you to decide whenever you are going to build a castle, or a village or a underwater city!

Here look at some screens from a server me and my friends have been working on.

Our medieval city - With the John Smith Texture Pack

Since there is no tutorial in Minecraft the experience can be very confusing at first, but this is in my opinion a good thing because it helps the game force you to be creative right from the beginning. When you start a new world you are tossed into a wilderness with no equipment at all, if you start walking around the game will generate more and more land, leaving you in a endless space of blocky blocks. 

As you will find out, after digging around in the dirt for a the whole day (10min) when nightfall arrives, so does zombies, skeletons, exploding zombies, and giant spiders. So building a shelter is crucial.

This is what happens if the game is set to normal, i like playing at peaceful because the whole fighting aspect of the game just isn't that fun.

So instead of fighting monsters in single player i like to build huge castles in multiplayer with my friends. 

Another important thing about Minecraft is that when you destroy a block you will receive a item, leaves give you scrubs, and stone gives you cobble stone blocks to place where ever you want. These items can then later be crafted into different items, if you cut some wood, and put it in your workbench you can turn that into planks that look different for your house or whatever you are going to build. With the knowledge of where to place the different materials in the 3x3 grid of you workbench, you will be able to build, pickaxes, shovels, boats, mine carts, buckets, fishing rods.. yeah the list goes on if you want to see everything you can obtain in the game click here

But what is it that i really love about this game?

It's the creativity and the freedom, no one is going to tell you what you can build and what you can't (unless you got a really mean friend, who forces you to help him build something lame) 

And then there is the teamwork, if you, like me, got a bunch of friends who likes to be creative and have fun, you can have a really good time playing this game together. You will need to communicate for everyone to know what it is you are going to do and how you are going to do it. And that right there is what i especially love about Minecraft, it's how easy and fun it is to create something with your friends.

The entrance to "Rapture" as seen from the port of the city 

Inside the lighthouse

The underwater glasstunnels in which you travel inside "Rapture"

Hope you enjoyed this post, and if Minecraft seems fun go get it here! 

Remember there is a free version too if you just wanna try it.

This was originally posted: 2011/01/24