So - the appeal of minecraft is?

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The Diabolical Biz

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Baby Tea said:
*wipes tear from eye*

Inspirational words.

But OT: I agree with this completely, because it's not so much about the finished, let's say tower, which in my case would be shoddy, but the hours spent exploring for necessary materials, planning the structure, clearing the build site, fending off zombies etcetera. The personal aspect of it is, in itself, far more involving and immersive than simply choosing materials from a drop menu and slotting them into place
 

Abengoshis

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Aug 12, 2009
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Because it doesn't always look bad. Its fun. It can be pretty much any type of game you want it to be.
 

TrogzTheTroll

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I didn't like Minecraft at first either. I assumed I was supposed to dig down, find diamonds and I guess just win. Later, I tried to just build. I made countless furnaces and a ton of glass and made a little island home with the walls and ceiling made of glass. I then dug and made a tunnel through the water and made a huge excavation cavern right under my home. I'm expanding it while making more things like fun portals to the nether. Just looking at my HUUGEE cavern under my house makes me think, "Awesome, I dug all that out. I made it."
 

8-Bit Grin

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Baby Tea said:
Minecraft isn't about the finished product.
Minecraft is about the journey to get there.
The digging.
The fighting.
The waiting at night.
The foraging during the day.
The discovery of recipes and crafting blueprints.
The conquering of the land around you.

It's a game about your journey.
Where everything you do, everything you build, is something you're invested in.
It's your world, unique to you, and it's shaped entirely by your hand through the adversity of combat and hard work.

That's the appeal of Minecraft.
Perfection.

This is exactly what people like about Minecraft, and could be on the box of a retail release.
 

OliverTwist72

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Nov 22, 2010
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I don't see the appeal to minecraft, and apparently you don't either. So that means the game is not for you, simple as that.

I don't see the appeal of Halo, but people love that game. Different strokes for different folks.
 

Marsell

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Nov 20, 2008
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Zannah said:
So, everyone, especially around this forum, seems to love minecraft. But why?
Sure, I get that building stuff is fun. I even get Yahtzees argument, of working for set fun. But how does that set minecraft apart from say the tes-construction kit? I've spent hours on that, both in morrowind and oblivion, building obligatory doom fortresses, and a castle that literally let me look down on the imperial city. And I'm pretty sure, combat in oblivion or morrowind, at least with a few readily avialable mods thrown in, is more fun, then wailing a sword at suicide creepers. Building something good in the tes-kit is at least as much work, as is building your own villa in minecraft, but there's one substantial difference in the result.

What baffles me, with all the minecraft love, is this: How can it be fun to build something, and knowing every second of the way, that no matter how much care and effort you put into it, it will always, always, always look like the kind of dump, someone would take after two hours of viewing 4chan (once you see it etc)? Why build something that can (at least by my aesthetic standards), not possibly ever look appealing? Sure, graphics aren't everything, but they are, when the whole point of the game is constructing something that's to your liking - they're the most important part in that case.

Now I am well aware, that playing an indie game, as opposed to using the creators provided by triple a titles, magically infuses you with moral superiority from beyond the veil of time and space, but I just can't see, how that can make up for graphics from a time where I wasn't allowed to play more then an hour of videogames in a row, because my already sicklish eyes, glasses or not, can only take so much abuse.

So please, try to explain dear reader, what makes minecraft so much more appealing then the tons of tools available that provide the same elements with superior graphics?
Because you can easily install texture mods that make it look cleaned up, or SNES RPG style, or tron remake style, or Animal Crossing, Super Mario World, ECT. from the start menu. Plus its cheaper and easier to master.
 

Mumonk

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Mar 14, 2010
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Complete and total infinite replay value with only your imagination limiting what you can do? And as far as visuals get a HD texture pack.
 

ntw3001

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Sep 7, 2009
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Exploration is the thing for me. Digging tunnels, finding caves and building things with the stuff I dig up. Then deciding my world needs something more (I was tired of having to swim over from my spawn to the island where I'd built my humble cottage, so I built a grand bridge enclosing my spawn point at one end for safe travelling, then made a rail system so I wouldn't have to walk, then built a watchtower on the other side of the lake so I could look over the mountains, then had to build a system of docks and beacons so I could find my way there when it was dark). If you don't like the way it looks, I guess you don't have to. I do.
 

Jinjiro

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Apr 20, 2008
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For me it's the unmatched potential of the simple crafting system that blew me away. That little 3x3 square, and the limitless ways in which items can be crafted is a stroke of design genius that will make it so easy to implement fun new items or tools throughout development.

P.S. It's Lego with zombies. Seriously.
 

-Samurai-

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Oct 8, 2009
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Your problem seems to be with the graphics, and if you're one of those people, no answer will please you.

The graphics don't make the game. The gameplay does.
 

Warlokk

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Jun 10, 2010
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TES Construction Kit can't blow you up while you are building stuff. You can't fall into a lava pit while building stuff. There's no danger, no thrill of discovery... yeah you can make cool stuff, and then play in it afterwards, but the making and the playing are separate activities. Minecraft makes them one and the same... and tries to kill you while you do it.
 

Croaker42

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I just have to say that not ever game is for every type of person. Perhaps you lack the creativity to bring something of value out of that game. And that?s fine. So you can't appreciate the wonderful things that can spring from your imagination, or the many many awesome things that have already been built in the minecraft world, that?s also fine.
Every gamer needs to be true themselves and that makes it ok for you not to "get" minecraft. The only person that can make up your mind or sway your opinion is you. Making a thread about it seems a little pointless. More than anything OP will come away from this still thinking Minecraft is not worth his time.
I for one don't understand what makes the God of War series so great. The only difference is, I am ok with that and don?t bother questioning it.
 

taciturnCandid

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Dec 1, 2010
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The minecraft experience. A small capture of a first time playing
(upon first starting the game) Whoa. This place is huge and foreign. Oh look, some sheep and pigs. I'm going to punch them.
(sometime later) Hmm.. It is getting dark. That is cool, the world has a time structure. Hmm... What is that sound?
(a wild creeper shows up) This looks easy, it doesn't have any ranged attack. OH SHI- *dies*

(Starts again) Ok. This time i need to make a shelter.
(build shelter) Hmmm..This doesn't look that cool. I'm going to make a castle.
(hears hissing sound) NO!NO!NO!NO! NOT MY PRECIOUS CASTLE!!!!FUUUUUUUUUU-

And thus.. the first structure is built. The goal of the game isn't what you build, but the process of imagining things and building them. You can build an underwater log flume if you wanted. Or as i like to make, giant fortresses with tunnels connecting them.

The key appeal of minecraft is that you are changing the world in real time. You have to deal with hazards while mining. Mining and falling down into a pit is deadly and can make you lose hours of progress. Hearing a creeper underground is perhaps one of the scariest moments in gaming. You don't know where it is coming from and you know it is going to ruin your day by making you drop all your items.

Playing minecraft is like building a pinecraft derby car from scratch vs. putting together one from a kit. Both require work. But building from scratch is more rewarding because of the extra imagination needed and the time that it took to make it.

As for graphics.. I find them beautiful. Just like Katamari Damacy. Simplicity is art. The basic game has graphics that aren't conventional. However the structures you can build are beautiful. And if the graphics are so bad, throw in a texture pack. I tinkered with an animal crossing pack. That was pretty good looking.
 

Drummodino

Can't Stop the Bop
Jan 2, 2011
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Zannah said:
So, everyone, especially around this forum, seems to love minecraft. But why?
Sure, I get that building stuff is fun. I even get Yahtzees argument, of working for set fun. But how does that set minecraft apart from say the tes-construction kit? I've spent hours on that, both in morrowind and oblivion, building obligatory doom fortresses, and a castle that literally let me look down on the imperial city. And I'm pretty sure, combat in oblivion or morrowind, at least with a few readily avialable mods thrown in, is more fun, then wailing a sword at suicide creepers. Building something good in the tes-kit is at least as much work, as is building your own villa in minecraft, but there's one substantial difference in the result.

What baffles me, with all the minecraft love, is this: How can it be fun to build something, and knowing every second of the way, that no matter how much care and effort you put into it, it will always, always, always look like the kind of dump, someone would take after two hours of viewing 4chan (once you see it etc)? Why build something that can (at least by my aesthetic standards), not possibly ever look appealing? Sure, graphics aren't everything, but they are, when the whole point of the game is constructing something that's to your liking - they're the most important part in that case.

Now I am well aware, that playing an indie game, as opposed to using the creators provided by triple a titles, magically infuses you with moral superiority from beyond the veil of time and space, but I just can't see, how that can make up for graphics from a time where I wasn't allowed to play more then an hour of videogames in a row, because my already sicklish eyes, glasses or not, can only take so much abuse.

So please, try to explain dear reader, what makes minecraft so much more appealing then the tons of tools available that provide the same elements with superior graphics?
The main reason I play it? It's fun. I love building stuff, I have played gmod and had a ball, but minecraft (for me) is better for a number of reasons. However these all lead back to the same key concept - is it fun to play? Besides just because the graphics aren't the nicest is no reason to immediately hate the game. Personally I like the blocky, pixelly look and the whole block concept is key to the building. I suggest you try to play it for about 30 minutes and see if that changes your view. If not fine, but don't judge it on face value. I know a lot of people (myself included) who thought it would be boring and shit but because I gave it a chance I discovered an awesome game that my laptop can actually run!
 

Drummodino

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Jan 2, 2011
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-Samurai- said:
Your problem seems to be with the graphics, and if you're one of those people, no answer will please you.

The graphics don't make the game. The gameplay does.
Exactly my view as well. Graphics are probably the least important aspect of a game.
 

Drummodino

Can't Stop the Bop
Jan 2, 2011
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Baby Tea said:
Minecraft isn't about the finished product.
Minecraft is about the journey to get there.
The digging.
The fighting.
The waiting at night.
The foraging during the day.
The discovery of recipes and crafting blueprints.
The conquering of the land around you.

It's a game about your journey.
Where everything you do, everything you build, is something you're invested in.
It's your world, unique to you, and it's shaped entirely by your hand through the adversity of combat and hard work.

That's the appeal of Minecraft.
Pure genius. I salute you.
 

9Darksoul6

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Jul 12, 2010
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DustyDrB said:
Ah, the continuing series on "Why [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.259033-Why-is-MGS-so-popular] Do [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.257362-What-is-the-appeal-of-modern-Shooters?page=1] People [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.253506-Poll-Who-the-hell-does-Super-Meat-Boy-appeal-to?page=1] Like [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.259339-Can-someone-please-tell-me-why-Half-Life-2-has-such-appeal?page=1] Things [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.258422-Demons-Souls-Why-did-it-get-good-reviews?page=1] I [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.204052-What-is-the-appeal-to-pokemon-games?page=1] Don't [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.259044-Bulletstorm-WHY?page=1]?"
The answer, as always: individual differences.
S/he's asking why the game is so massively liked, and your answer's "individuals are different from each other".

My answer: "Everybody seems to like it except you. Since you're the anormaly here, what you really should be looking at is the reason you don't like the game; it makes things way simpler."