Minecraft: Game or lifestyle?

Welcome to my review of Minecraft.

I admit to resisting this game for a great while. When I first heard of it, it was via some news source saying that all the gaming industry big-wigs were getting addicted to this indie game. I refused to even look into it for fear it would consume me.

However, a little while went by, and I decided to look into it more. I watched some YouTube videos, read some articles, and thought to myself… ‘Hey. I want to make replicas of the USS Enterprise too…’ So I went over and bought the game without even getting the demo, as I tend to do.

Turns out I was right about it consuming me.

In the couple weeks after first picking it up, I did little else. But one thing I did do was to get all my friends addicted as well. One of them played so much he failed to go to class or study for a solid week, so the next week or two was all him trying to catch up, retaking the tests he could, and so on. It was a little unreasonable.

Basically, Penny Arcade has it right with these two comics. You start off with nothing in a random world that it’s likely nobody else has even seen (thanks to the random world-generation seeds). The first thing you’re asked to do is punch a tree. “That’s dumb,” you’ll think to yourself. But, just like in the comic, you figure you might as well try making some tools. And then night comes and the zombies and creepers come out, and you figure you ought to build a shelter. The next day you decide to make the shelter look a little nicer. Then you explore the map a little more. Then you start mining. And by this time you notice a week has gone by and you have to start retaking tests.

It truly is one of the most addicting games ever made, providing you’re okay with open-endedness. Like I said, the world you randomly spawn into has probably never been seen by anyone else, there are no NPCs giving you quests (though Notch, the creator, says this may be coming in a new game mode), you are jst set free to build whatever you can imagine.

One of the most fun things for me is showing off what I’ve made and seeing what my friends have accomplished, which is why we have a little secret Facebook group where we can discuss and post images. I highly recommend that.

I would post all kinds of images to entice you into playing the game, but I figure by now you’ve either seen them all or are actively trying to avoid it like I was. My advice is to simply give in. I know I’m sad I didn’t join the community earlier. If I had, I might have actually been able to go to Minecon. Oh well. Maybe next year.

Minecraft gets a perfect 10/10 rating from this reviewer for keeping me so addicted for so long.

The image I leave you with is of the creator of Minecraft himself, Notch. How can you say no to this face?!