Why Do You Play Minecraft?

[MadMax]

I was reading a regular RSS feed about gaming, and this one made me start thinking about why I play minecraft, and thought it would make a good general forum question.

Brainy Gamer: The Brain Game

So let us know why you play minecraft, what is it about this game that holds your attention, what is the appeal to you? Why do you keep playing it when there are loads of AAA titles about, with fancier graphics, more storylines, amazing video cutscenes, better networking code etc etc...

Looking forward to the responses.

Cheers,
Max

[Sorontar]

I like designing and making things.
I like making challenges for others.
I like story-telling.
Minecraft is open-ended so I can start and stop whenever I want.

I still play with Lego.

My name is Sorontar, and I'm a Minecraft-holic.

[Maorin]

Originally Posted by Sorontar

I still play with Lego.

Good one!

To be honest, I've lost interest in a lot of the fancy games - they tell you what you need to do, what you need to see, the music is supposed to encourage a mood or emotion, etc. I don't need a game telling me where to go, most people do that already.

I enjoy the open, persistent sandbox where my ideas come to life, and my imagination takes over. Like Sorontar, I like the build, and the challenge comes from thinking of something new and creative, while something nearby threatens to blow small holes in it (and me).

[DaedalusAlpha]

I like the mechanical part of it, designing systems with redstone and pistons.

It's pretty obvious when one gets inside my base, filled as it is with automated farms, hidden doors, cobblestone generators and mob spawn towers, everything for maximal automatic efficiency

Then of course there is nothing negative with encapsulating these in grand, magnificent buildings, but a building built just for the sake of the building you won't find at my place

[red_one]

To spawn a thousand diamond swords from the console, and drive Sor nuts!

[Sorontar]

Originally Posted by red_one

To spawn a thousand diamond swords from the console, and drive Sor nuts!

Stay away from my nuts with those swords!

[MadMax]

The article touched on games that keep your attention are the most successful. I think the aspect of minecraft that keeps your attention focused is mobs. You need to be ever vigilant so as not to die or have that magnificent architecture or delicate circuitry get blown away. So mobs keep it edgy. The addition of XP accumulation probably adds to this as well, although XP farms nullify this.

Do you feel this difference between creative and survival? I know it does make a difference for me, and why I can't get so enthusiastic about creative mode.

Working hard gathering resources towards a goal or just doing it with unlimited resources can have an effect on a sense of achievement in the finished product. Having others admire your creation regardless of the game mode still brings a sense of satisfaction in your creativity.

The organic and aesthetic nature of the game is just so deeply satisfying. You get sunsets, sunrises, stars, moon, snow and rain, thunder and lightning, trees grow, you plant crops, and get a yield, you explore caves (I think a high resolution cave exploration simulation game would be fantastic) , you control water and lava etc gives it that God game feel, and the simplicity of it all takes us back to a time when we all used our imaginations rather than having everything laid out in minute detail.

You don't like a landscape, you rebuild it. You want a river, just add it.
You have an architectural bent, and you have an idea of an architectural masterpiece, you just build it.
You have an engineering bent, start building contraptions.
You have this neandarthal urge to hunt, go chase mobs.
You feel the need to control, go automate, trap stuff, farm it, fence it.
You never feel like you are being tunneled down a particular path, so many AAA titles pretend to be sandboxish, but they are tunneling you, all scripted, but we crafters, WE do the tunneling, choose directions, add, remove, define the gameplay.

It is so many things to so many people, and we marvel at how other people do things we'd not even thought of, and it sets your mind racing about what you can do with that new creative idea, and how you might expand upon it yourself.

It truly is a game very much limited only by your imagination, and that is what is at the heart of fun.

[Zyran]

I like to dig, dig, dig!

The freedom to do whatever you want.
The way that it inspires you to be creative.
The feeling of digging through the ground and suddenly that last block opens into a HUGE cavern system.
The challenge of building stuff, gathering stuff to build it with, and trying not to get blown up, or maimed/killed in the process.

And finally, because I love walking around and seeing all the things other people have done with their imaginations.

[Obsi]

I don't really know.... but I guess it's the building.... I'm less interested in running about killing mobs, and more interested in building something I can feel proud of making.

I also confess to a small amount of enjoying making a home and furnishing it.... (But then I always was a bit of a fan of The Sims )

In other games, you follow the story along and get the achievement of finishing a level or something, but nothing you can look back on and go "I did that" - and nothing you can look at and go "wow, that person's work is amazing".

So with Minecraft you have the sense of achievement in that you've done something you can see, something other people can see.....

Also it's always changing, there is no "way to play" - you make it what you want... build a house, dig a mine, play with redstone... do what you want. There is no right way or wrong way to play it, and vastly different people can play in vastly different ways - and play together in the one space.

I think creative/Survival has a completely different feel.... But I do like both

Building something in creative is more about being able to build what you want without the restrictions of trying to do it without dying, without needing to consider mobs and without needing to get the resources... so it's all about the build... letting your imagination go wild and seeing what you can make. Like an unlimited LEGO set.

Survival though gives the game more meaning - since planting crops has a purpose (you need to eat) gathering up animals (for food or wool) has a purpose.... mining and collecting materials all has a purpose... and you have to make sure your creations are going to keep you safe from mobs.... So while you can do big buildings too, it's a different way of doing it.

Creative is good for me when I have a project in mind and I'm building that.... but I can't play exclusively creative because I prefer having those little focuses on food and mobs, to help give the game that extra dimension.

[Espesh]

Customization. Like others have said, that truly unique sandbox environment where you shape the landscape and carve out your own world and play style the way you want to. The freedom of choice with Skins, textures and mods. The community feeling of working together both in-game and online and the creative solutions to how to achieve whatever goal your after. I also love that this is all accomplished in a harsh environment that is out to get you and doesn't give you any tips or chances on how to beat it. I measure most of my favourite games as the ones I keep coming back to, even after years apart. Minecraft while being a favourite is different, in that I just can't seem to stay away from it.