So what IS minecraft?

[ZombieGenesis]

Okay up to this point I've kept up with the jokes, I know some of the ideas (mobs, hoarding things, building offensive shapes) but I actually realise I don't even know what Minecraft IS. Like, what's the purpose? Is it just like virtual legos? Is it a defend the castle deal?
I'm interested in checking it out but I won't have anything but a very, VERY low spec laptop until january so I doubt I'll even be able to run it until then.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

There is no purpose really. If you lack imagination then it's not the game for you. Me? I'm currently building a massive tower out of a large body of water. How do you get inside you ask? I have an underwater tunnel with a glass ceiling. I shall build an empire from a small house on a beach...

 

[omicron1]

It's virtual legos with added virtual monsters.

It's building a fortress in the wilderness.

It's exploring deep underground caves, coming across a supply of diamonds, and getting blown up because you didn't notice the creeper sneaking up on you.

It's a boat ride across a huge ocean, followed by a hike through a valley ringed by waterfalls to rival Angel Falls, followed by frantically digging yourself a 2x2 hiding hole in the cliff face because the sun is going down.

It's growing crops underwater, by the light of manmade lava pools.

It's riding a pig while shooting arrows at giant spiders.

It's creating vast plumbing networks to deliver lava to every murder hole in your Great Wall of China.

It's collaborating with friends to build a Statue of Liberty out of leaves, then watching as a griefer places dynamite around it and blows it up.

It's breaking into an underground dungeon, quickly walling up the monster spawner in the center, and getting away with three loaves of bread, a saddle, and a golden apple.



In short, Minecraft is the experiences you have with it. I have done most of these things, but not all - I've spent over a hundred hours playing, and love it every bit as much now as when I started.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Okay up to this point I've kept up with the jokes, I know some of the ideas (mobs, hoarding things, building offensive shapes) but I actually realise I don't even know what Minecraft IS. Like, what's the purpose? Is it just like virtual legos? Is it a defend the castle deal?
I'm interested in checking it out but I won't have anything but a very, VERY low spec laptop until january so I doubt I'll even be able to run it until then.

From recent things I've read, it doesn't really have one.

BUT, it's also alpha software, officially.

I've played one other alpha stage game in the past, and let me tell you, calling that a game was putting it very kindly.

I don't think anyone can truly answer what Minecraft actually is for that very reason.

Alpha software by definition is incomplete software.
It doesn't yet have all the features it's meant to.

And the most recent article about minecraft I heard of, implied one of the major things it still lacked was the parts that are supposed to give some sense of purpose to what you're doing in the game.

 

[Wilcroft]

it's the most basic possible sandbox RPG. You have a world, with destructible everything, and you can do whatever you want in it. Build stuff, or explore, or fight monsters, or anything in between.
The game itself has no overall goal set out; it's up to you to decide what you want to do. And then you do it. That's why you see people build computers, or cannons, or giant-castles. Because that's what they want to do.

If you're not sure, try out the free mode on minecraft.net. it's not quite the same (there are no monsters, you have unlimited blocks as opposed to finding them yourself, and there's no crafting), but the basics (building and exploring) are still there.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

It's not that I lack imagination, I just don't know what you can do. Whats this about zombies I hear? And weapons? I don't see how it all fits together, is all...
If anything quite the opposite. I'm rather more worried if it IS as good and creative as people say, I'm going to lose a good few weeks of essential university schedule.

 

[Twad]

IF you like it, yes you will lose some of your precious free time.

Its a sandbox game. A real one.
There are monsters, combat and crafting in it.
It got a multiplayer mode.
Survive and/or explore and/or build things. Have fun. Thats the goals.

 

[shado_temple]

It's a tree punching simulator.

 

[samonix]

it's overrated.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

It's a sandbox game, you do whatever you want.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

So do most people tend to use the FREE version, or is the one costing $20 the one everyone seems so excited about? I'll be honest, I thought it was freeware for a while.

 

[theComposer]

This game is very difficult to describe, as there is nothing else really like it that I know of. Watch a few Let's Plays on Youtube. Seeing someone else play and talk about it is really the only way to understand Minecraft short of playing it yourself.

 

[subject_87]

It's the manliest game ever: you don't use shears to get the wool off of sheep; you PUNCH them! And you don't need an axe to chop down trees; you can PUNCH a tree and get logs! Saxton Hale approves.

 

[hittite]

It's just awesome

 

[blankedboy]

So do most people tend to use the FREE version, or is the one costing $20 the one everyone seems so excited about? I'll be honest, I thought it was freeware for a while.

Most people use the $20 one because it's WAY better. The free version is practically a step down from Lego.

Also, if you DO get the game, go to the multiplayer server at meincraft.com (not a typo), it's awesome 8D

 

[Super Toast]

Honestly, it's pretty much everything.

 

[Souplex]

From what I've read it's a Harvest Moon clone.

 

[zHellas]

It's a tree punching simulator.

I like to think of it as, rather than punching the tree, me fucking it into oblivion.

XD

Sorry... I just thought of that.

OT:

It's like virtual legos, pretty much.

 

[shado_temple]

So do most people tend to use the FREE version, or is the one costing $20 the one everyone seems so excited about? I'll be honest, I thought it was freeware for a while.

In the free version, you are a god; you're given all materials, and can simply build. No true challenge, nothing too exciting.

The paid version (which, until Dec. 20, is $13-ish) actually adds a purpose to building. By day, you build to your heart's content; by night, you either fight off the monsters by hand, build clever traps to eliminate them, sit within the comfort of your walled off mine/house, or simply bury yourself alive. With some recent updates now online, you can defend yourself with friends, or duke it out with enemies; the choices are yours. People who haven't played the true version can't really speak for it; it's really something you need to play on your own. As for the price, I'd say it's worth it, especially before it hits beta.

 

[StBishop]

So do most people tend to use the FREE version, or is the one costing $20 the one everyone seems so excited about? I'll be honest, I thought it was freeware for a while.

Everyone's playing the $20.00 one. The free one is limiting. The mining and crafting is what I enjoy most, rather than building. So I felt the free version was utterly pointless as it's missing what I consider to be the bet bits of minecraft.

As others have said, google "let's play minecraft" and follow the YouTube links.