Please please skip classic.

I think classic has probably turned away more people lately than it has gained. When you have infinite resources in inventory and no enemies it really is just like Lego for better or worse. Also the technology is literally years behind survival now (biomes, generating algos, mobs, crafting, flowing lava/water, etc).

I've never tried playing Minecraft, but I'm tempted to check it out, if nothing else than to see how it could possibly be fun. Reading about it, I'm just not sure what the appeal is, as there doesn't seem to be an actual game there. However, I'm sure it's one of things where you just have to try it to really see. I can see the appeal to building things, I've just always used the Source engines Hammer editor when I get in a mood to build stuff like that.

There's a "classic" version that's free to try, but it's a bit out of date. It might at least give you an idea.

I love it, but I can see how it might not appeal to everyone. It's a sandbox, to be sure. If you want clearly defined goals and a sure fire way to win, this isn't the game for you. Other have compared it to legos, and I think that's fair.

As weird as it sounds I think a lot of the appeal comes from the "toiling".

Playing with Legos or building in Gary's mod is not the same as carving stone and dirt from the earth and essentially creating something from nothing.

Standing back and marveling at the new windows on your home feels a lot more special when you can look to one side, point to a hole in the sand on the coast, and say, "And that's where I took the sand from to put in my furnace with the coal I mined to make the glass for those windows."

Your crafting has a permanent lasting effect on the world in a way that it presently can't in MMOs which lack physical scarcity.

I've never tried playing Minecraft, but I'm tempted to check it out, if nothing else than to see how it could possibly be fun. Reading about it, I'm just not sure what the appeal is, as there doesn't seem to be an actual game there. However, I'm sure it's one of things where you just have to try it to really see. I can see the appeal to building things, I've just always used the Source engines Hammer editor when I get in a mood to build stuff like that.

Elessar wrote on Jun 27, 2011, 17:27:
That said, I am pretty stoked about official Pistons getting released this Thurs.

Work crew is definitely going to be logging in for the pistons update. They were the missing piece in nearly all whiteboard designs

Yeah I'm aware we could have just got the mod for them but we've been running a vanilla server.

Verno wrote on Jun 27, 2011, 12:57:
Honestly, I never know where to start with user generated stuff in Minecraft, it's like a labyrinth. There are so many client side and server mods then stuff that works with X but not with Y and so on. Have they developed any standards yet like the Bethesda communities tend to or are they just waiting for the mod tools from Mojang?

This is also why I don't bother with all the mods either. Maybe when the mod api is released and it's easier to plug stuff in I'll give user mods a shot. I think once that's released we'll see a lot more organization to user content. Or at least I hope!

That said, I am pretty stoked about official Pistons getting released this Thurs.

Here it is, from his post-E3 blog update: http://notch.tumblr.com/post/6385865216/post-e3-information-dump

"* It looks like we need to change the release date for Minecraft to be able to get a good venue for MinecraftCon. 11/11/11 is fully booked. One week later, perhaps? I’ll post more details as soon as we’ve decided and booked a venue."

jacobvandy wrote on Jun 27, 2011, 13:54:

Mr. Tact wrote on Jun 27, 2011, 11:36:
Is it just me or does it seem weird to announce a one week delay to a release date still over 4 months away?

I thought I read him say once he was having trouble scheduling a launch event for that week, something to do with venues being booked up.

He seemed excited about releasing on the same day as Skyrim. I guess maybe he finally thought better of it.

Creston

Ah, that makes some sense. Sure to be lots of events of all kinds on 11/11/11...

Mr. Tact wrote on Jun 27, 2011, 11:36:
Is it just me or does it seem weird to announce a one week delay to a release date still over 4 months away?

I thought I read him say once he was having trouble scheduling a launch event for that week, something to do with venues being booked up.

Honestly, I never know where to start with user generated stuff in Minecraft, it's like a labyrinth. There are so many client side and server mods then stuff that works with X but not with Y and so on. Have they developed any standards yet like the Bethesda communities tend to or are they just waiting for the mod tools from Mojang?

Verno wrote on Jun 27, 2011, 12:05:
Once you get tired of building rollercoasters there isn't a lot to do in MC except do it with other people on a server.

That's around the time you should start dipping into the user created content section of the Minecraft forums, give this a try.

Also try Millénaire, it gives the game a whole new angle to shoot for by spawning NPC ran villages that you can have a hand in building.

Or if you just want to screw around in a new world for a bit, try the recently released Kataminey Damacraft.

At the moment, the high amount of manpower from the mod and mapping communities are outputting way more interesting stuff than Mojang themselves can ever hope to accomplish. I'm sure Mojang will come up with something truly special once 1.8 comes along but right now, I'm even more anxious to see what other craziness the community can come up with.

Despite them being different games with similar ideas, I find Terraria is a lot more interesting even with the 2D setting. The adventure portions of the game are much more fleshed out, Minecraft really needs to get on top of that. Once you get tired of building rollercoasters there isn't a lot to do in MC except do it with other people on a server.

Tumbler wrote on Jun 27, 2011, 10:39:
Add dragons. Make them start deep in the earth and create huge lairs to protect. I want to stumble into a dragon's nest when I'm digging and fight a dragon underground. And I want him to get pissed off and dig shoot up through the ceiling and then go on a flaming rampage burning everything in site and destroying whatever I built on the surface!

All I want from Minecraft is it to be a graphical representation of Dwarf Fortress too.

Is it just me or does it seem weird to announce a one week delay to a release date still over 4 months away?

nin wrote on Jun 27, 2011, 10:18:
Looking forward to the Adventure update!

And at this rate you always will be!

Add dragons. Make them start deep in the earth and create huge lairs to protect. I want to stumble into a dragon's nest when I'm digging and fight a dragon underground. And I want him to get pissed off and dig shoot up through the ceiling and then go on a flaming rampage burning everything in site and destroying whatever I built on the surface!

Looking forward to the Adventure update!