Minecraft - I don't get it.

245

Replies

  • calibriintx
    calibriintx Posts: 1,741 Member
    My friend's almost-5 year old son is obsessed with Minecraft. My almost-4 year old daughter doesn't get it either. Whenever we go over there, he's SO excited to show her this game, and she's SO not interested. Last time she walked over to me with a heavy sigh and said "mama, I don't think he knows that his game is broken." :laugh:
  • capnrus789
    capnrus789 Posts: 2,736 Member
    I am very happy not knowing what minecraft is. I'm very happy that my kid only has a Nintendo DS (which was my wifes anyway), but hasn't played it in over a month. I'm very happy that my kid would rather go outside and play frisbee than play video games.

    That said, he can't get enough of his Beyblade tops.

    How old is he? I have about 20 my boy doesn't play with anymore :)

    He's 6 years old, going into the 1st grade. And we're total sucker parents. I think he has 8-10 tops now, I lost count.
  • darkguardian419
    darkguardian419 Posts: 1,302 Member
    I'll just go on record and say I prefer the Sims... making people dance and cry and stuff. But that's not free, so there is that :ohwell:

    The Sims was fun for a while, but you run out of options/combos, and can't manipulate everything. Minecraft allows for 100% freedom of creativity. You can spend your time in Creative building a 100ft tall statue of Mario, or you can spend time in Survival making your own functional city with a *cough* mine so you can gather resources...
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member


    You can get eggs from chickens, but you need fire to cook the eggs.

    You can kill sheep.

    *LMAO* Just this weekend he showed me that he kills the sheep and has fire. Poor sheep. He said they're annoying :)
  • TheDoctorDana
    TheDoctorDana Posts: 595 Member
    Maybe the draw is the simplicity of it. Mine like it too. My son is also into his beyblades. lol
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    Wait? This is a "new" game? I thought it was an 80's throwback game? Or is it like My Little Ponies and is an 80's throwback that made a resurgance?
  • OBXbound4me
    OBXbound4me Posts: 245 Member
    My 12 year old son is obsessed, my 7 yr old daughter likes to play and all I know is they build stuff, kill zombies, spiders and animals, stay out of lava and when I try to watch the screen makes me want to have a seziure. As long as they still get outside some and get along, whatever. I like the comparison to digital legos.
  • WEB3
    WEB3 Posts: 121 Member
    sigh...my 26 year old "boss" is obsessed with that game.
    I always knew he was extremely immature but reading that everyone's 8-10 year old plays it too, proves it!
  • Shikonneko
    Shikonneko Posts: 187 Member
    Video games aren't all just graphics. Minecraft is basically a digital Lego world--different environments (biomes) that have different features that aren't restricted by invisible walls or random tasks outside what you assign yourself. Survival mode adds the wrinkle of needing food to survive and monsters that can attack you; multiplayer adds the ability to build even bigger structures and adventures with your friends. There's caves to explore, world to discover... It's not prefabbed, it's generated as you go so that unless you use a specific tool you don't know what you'll run into next.

    I know personally on the server I play on, I've built a sizable castle out of snow, a vacation home in the sky out of giant mushrooms, and a miles-long railroad system to connect to the rest of my friends. Some people like building pixel art out of all the different colors the blocks provide. Some people like building traps and exploring the mechanics (literal electrical engineering). Some people like building beautiful and grandiose things. It's... a fairly unique experience.
  • bennysammysofie
    bennysammysofie Posts: 331
    I don't get it either. My 9 yr old is on all the time. I tried to play with him once and I could hardly frickin move! I literally felt sick! Glad I'm not alone!!!
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
    my 10yo is also obsessed. OBSESSED. he plays it on both xbox and ipod, watches videos about it on youtube, aspires to MAKE videos about it on youtube, insagrams screenshots of it.

    i prefer this over, say COD, though. i look at it as digital legos...its creative, and its pretty open-ended.

    do i get the draw? i can see how its fun, sure....but i dont understand the obsession.

    This is my son to the T.

    THEN, he and his nerd friends get on Skype with their nerd head sets and talk to each other while playing. There are different servers (worlds) one could go into and teams battle each other.

    I don't get it, but at least he isn't robbing banks :D
  • peachfigs
    peachfigs Posts: 831 Member
    Am I the only 22 year old who plays this game?

    I absolutely love it!
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    sigh...my 26 year old "boss" is obsessed with that game.
    I always knew he was extremely immature but reading that everyone's 8-10 year old plays it too, proves it!

    Meh... I still play neopets... playing games that look like it's for children doesn't make a person immature.
  • elvensnow
    elvensnow Posts: 154 Member
    It's easy. Why does anyone like sandbox games? Because they are imaginative. You don't need amazing graphics to have fun with a game (I really hate when people think that...).

    Why would kids like Legos? It's just a bunch of tiny plastic rectangles. Do you think to yourself, "Why would they play with that when they can go out and build a REAL house with REAL 3D GRAPHICS"? I doubt it. You think "Oh look they are having fun building things only limited by their imagination". Also it keeps them out of your hair, which is always good.

    Point is, the game is fun because it is a sandbox that just gives you a world where you can do what you want. You get to build things, break things, kill things, breed things, whatever. It has aspects of a puzzle games because there's a crafting system where you have to "draw" the thing you want to make. You have to gather resources (mostly mining) to make the things you want. You get fancier items the better you get, allowing you to build bigger and better stuff, allowing you access to better resources, which lets you build better stuff... See where I'm going here? Sure it's just blocks, but that's part of it's appeal. Minecraft is charming in it's simplicity, and I would suspect even more attractive to younger kids.

    I play it, I love it, and I get it. You don't have to get it, but I don't see why you have to be so disparaging about it, especially when it's something your kids love.

    Also, to someone above, Minecraft isn't free either. Also as you pointed out "The Sims" is more personal relationships, very much different than Minecraft, which is more about building and creating stuff from the world around you. Sim City and such would be a closer correlation, but it's still much more complicated and not really quite the same (you don't really "live" in the world you created, rather just watch the little people run around).
  • gonesewing
    gonesewing Posts: 63 Member
    My older kids love it to (12 and 9,my 3 year old does not see the appeal yet). I even had to order them T-shirts :P. I was in IT and I don't really get it either (but I don't really like any video game). They asked me to setup a server on my laptop so now they play together in the same "world".
  • AndiGirl70
    AndiGirl70 Posts: 542 Member
    Think of it as one big creative sandbox. You build and mine an infinite world only limited by your imagination. My kids love to play as a group on the PC or the Xbox. They meet other kids and share ideas for the Minecraft world online. It entertains them for hours. Personally, as far as video games are concerned, Minecraft is benign compared to the plethora of violent video games out there. So I'm cool with it. Beware the Creeper! ;)
  • jodynolte
    jodynolte Posts: 243 Member
    My 15 year old loves this... he wants to be an architect and loves to see what he can build with this. He and his friends build in each other's villages and its kinda cool. Not all the violence; just real simple, although they kill the animals for food. He loves to show me the inside of the buildings he builds and I sorta get motion sickness when he whips around and around and around... I like that he likes this...
  • Shikonneko
    Shikonneko Posts: 187 Member
    Wait? This is a "new" game? I thought it was an 80's throwback game? Or is it like My Little Ponies and is an 80's throwback that made a resurgance?

    No this is a newer game (came out... a few years ago?). MLP is it's own special ball of things. <3
    Am I the only 22 year old who plays this game?

    I absolutely love it!

    Nope! Most of my friends at work and the people on the server I play on are 28+ (well, I'm 28 and everyone's older than me more or less)
  • Juliejustsaying
    Juliejustsaying Posts: 2,332 Member
    Yup, two obsessed boys here, 10 and 12yo. The 10 yo watches "how to" videos incessantly, some very questionable in their appropriateness...which get promptly turned off at my request. But yeah, no. just give me legos...I guess its just something they and their friends enjoy. Pokemon, I got. Power Rangers, I got. Yu-Gi-Oh, I got, Beyblades, I got. MineCraft, I'll pass.

    ~signed, the formerly cool mom.

    PS, for mine its all about killing zombies.
    PSS, my older son likes to build MineCraft Pokemon characters....yeah...with squares.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    Now I'm kinda curious and wanna play... but I like games that aren't overly complicated or I have to have shooter skills to be able to accomplish.

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