288: 15 Minutes of Minecraft

[Michael Fiegel]

15 Minutes of Minecraft

The first 15 minutes of Minecraft gives you just enough of a taste of the game's creative potential to keep you enthralled, even though you probably won't survive.

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[Omega Pirate]

It's good that it wont include amnesia, that cliche is too over used already.

 

[Sgt. Dante]

This is a rare example of a game that really uses social media and word of mouth to get around, but the game play is as solid as any (perhaps better than some) AAA titles these days.

I remember when my friends first told me about Minecraft, they were saying how it's kind of a survival horror, and you make stuff outta stuff. To be honest it all sounded fairly silly and uninteresting, but the game has some manner of power over the players, the sheer creative scope of Minecraft that really lets players feel like the master of their own destiny in an uncertain and hostile foreign land. It's a great game though and if you have a friend sitting with you when you first start out, giving you a gentle push on your way, but not telling you too much, it can be a great experience.

~SgtDante (killed by skeletons on my first night)

 

[Roboto]

That first 15 minutes is extremely important. Remember the first 15 of COD4? So do I, in all of its refined excellence.

 

[KEM10]

I kind of hope he just writes a back story of why you're there by taking the first 100 pages of Lord of the Flies.

 

[John the Gamer]

I beleive your character was sailing on an ocean in our world(or one similar) and was sucked into a whirlpool wich send him to the minecraft universe, waking up on a strage, cubed shore. With no hint as to where he is, all he can do is survive and try to get home, or at least make a home. Also, the multiplayer world should be like a dream of your character, in wich his lonelyness-induced psychoticism(?) causes him to imagine other people.
I can't seem to come up with an explanation for the fact that he can build anything, from tools to skyscrapers, but you can't know everything.

 

[Xman490]

Many people worry about the first night, but few mention the "Peaceful" difficulty in which no enemies appear and health regenerates (though not fast enough to save you from 2 seconds in magma/lava). The main reason to have monsters around is to have vengeance against the creepers and farm them for explosive sulfur.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

This is absolutely and irrefutably true. I've been turned off almost completely by games that choose to do very little in the opening sequences, and can think of several games I just stopped playing aafter a few hours in, due to there still being no draw or appeal. Almost all of my favorite games start out with a big BANG, before quickly jumping into the action. Even the ones where things take a few minutes to warm up have a major piece of involving action within 15 or so minutes, and this is beautifully set.

As to Minecraft's story, I kind of hope it's a The Most Dangerous Game meets Lord of the Flies set up, where some sick bastard with a spaceship has marooned you in the middle of some unknown material-rich world, to watch you try and survive, to eventually come back and set hunters on you, and watch you match wits. That would be rather exciting.

 

[Meestor Pickle]

I didn't think much of minecraft, was OK for the first few hours but lacked a goal or a point; reminded me too much of garry's mod

 

[Mstrswrd]

In my very first world on my Laptop, I must have had the greatest area ever, because even on hard, there were barely any enemies, so I literally had no shelter for about 5 nights and didn't care. I just punched everything to death, including Creepers. Skeletons were actually a much greater concern. Hell, I didn't even die until I suicided, because I had taken a fair bit of damage and figured, "Hey, why waste resources? My home is on an Island I built about 20 blocks away from Spawn."

Now, my second, and main, game on my desktop, I got murdered pretty regularly because of the sheer number of enemies, even on normal. Swords were especially a must after I saw a Spider Riding Skeleton, while standing on top of a massive Sand pillar because I needed safety at night (What? It's a legitiamte strategy).

 

[Dom Camus]

one could argue that all those farm animals provide companionship

Let me guess, that was the article you wrote first but The Escapist declined to publish? ;-)

 

[vxicepickxv]

Many people worry about the first night, but few mention the "Peaceful" difficulty in which no enemies appear and health regenerates (though not fast enough to save you from 2 seconds in magma/lava). The main reason to have monsters around is to have vengeance against the creepers and farm them for explosive sulfur.

Well, feathers for arrows is kind of important too.

Peaceful difficulty means no enemies will ever spawn. This means you can't get sulfur, so there is that trade off. If I'm not mistaken hard is actually a hardcore mode, compared to the other difficulties.

 

[tehbeard]

Admittedly, Maslow's concept of Love and Belonging doesn't seem to fit Minecraft

I would counter argue that this part of Maslow's heirachy cannot be formed in Single Player because of the lack of people.

Multiplayer however provides this if you find a good server.

I can tell you from personal experience that detonating large quantities of TNT for the purpose of assisting the construction of Imperial City is incredibly satisfying, knowing you helped build an epic construction.

 

[Dastardly]

15 Minutes of Minecraft

The first 15 minutes of Minecraft gives you just enough of a taste of the game's creative potential to keep you enthralled, even though you probably won't survive.

Read Full Article

The approach being taken by this game is exactly right for sandbox/exploration/construction games. Many try creating a single-player (single-path) experience first, and then tacking on a hundred "side quests." While this can create the appearance of choice, the shortness of these branches really only highlights how straight and rigid the main line really is.

Instead, Notch has created a tool kit. And he's given that tool kit to the players beforehand, to find out what they like to do. And we have all created thousands of our own "side quests," though really they are quests in our own minds. The final ingredient will be adding just enough narrative and tutorial to provide direction to those just entering the game, and then getting the hell out of the way.

I do think you're wrong about about Maslow's Love and Belonging being missing. The fact that this game has an online component, and the fact that YouTube is full of videos from the game, demonstrates that Minecraft capitalizes on an inherent need to share. We want people to see what we've made, see what we've learned. Whether it's a full-scale model Titanic, or a new silly skin we've created, we want to leave a footprint in this online world that is visible to others.

 

[aeonite]

I avoided talking about SMP because I think that single-player Survival mode really represents the default game experience, but I agree that much Love and Belonging can be found amongst other players. Excepting griefers, of course.

 

[Ayjona]

Underwater monsters would add a lot to those first few nights of danger. As soon as I discovered one could just swim out into any nearby lake (a terrain feature that, in spite of the procedurally generated landscapes, always seems to be just a few hundred meters away during those first spawns), and just keep afloat until the sun went up, the exciting sense of urgency and stress disappeared.

Of course, that is no fun at all. For some really interesting and challenging first nights, just keep moving through dark places, frenzied flight-style.

 

[aldowyn]

There is nothing like Minecraft's "first 15". It was hard enough with all I had heard about the game, but imagine how it must have been for the very first players, with absolutely no outside knowledge - just the screen, with a harsh, foreign landscape.

I probably never would have figured out how to make a forge given that. (well, ok, a forge maybe. But some of the more complicated stuff? No way.)

 

[CUnk]

Want to learn how to play Minecraft? Here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UdEFmxRmNE

Educational AND entertaining as hell.

There are 27 episodes (in this series) and it gets more and more brilliant and compelling to watch as it goes on.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Want to learn how to play Minecraft? Here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UdEFmxRmNE

Educational AND entertaining as hell.

There are 27 episodes (in this series) and it gets more and more brilliant and compelling to watch as it goes on.

I take your....whoever that was, and raise you...

Spoiler: Seananners

Adam Montoya Aka Seananners Aka the hilarious Godking of gameplay commentators.
Behold his hilarious lovable glory.

OT: Hey Markus, why not give new players on first-time worlds a temporary house that will get automatically demolished in 2 nights, and a workbench and a chest with some wooden tools and a note to explain how to get wood and stuff. you know just to help them survive till they can make their own house by the time the pre-made house burns down?

At least until you can implement a proper tutorial?