Minecraft: Oldschool approach to a lot of fun

Minecraft is a game, but it’s more than a game too.  It’s capable of being a platform for many types of games with the limits being your own imagination.  Describing Minecraft is actually really hard, as anyone who has played it and tried to explain it to their friends probably knows.  The basic premise of free-build mode is that you have a character in a world of blocks where you can build almost anything using blocks that you place on your own.  There are different colored/textures blocks to use and some additional doodads as well.  The game looks like it came right out of 1990, but it has this charm that should grab anyone who ever liked to play with legos, build forts, or create things.

The game isn’t all about building things though.  The creator of the game wants this to branch out into other game modes (like Survival mode) and do more with Minecraft.  Admittedly, the only mode that I knew about for over a week was this free-build mode and I was fine with that.  To me it’s all about thinking up something really cool and saying “can I make that?”.  I built a huge Egyptian Pyramid, an underwater house, a Bat Cave, Pirate Island/Ship, and all sorts of things (Many with the help of Bartlebe, which is always more fun than building alone).  I was one of those kids that built everything from helmets to guns to prisons for the cat with Legos and Lincoln logs.  Minecraft is cool because it lets me virtual-ize these ideas in a 3d space.

There are some tools available that add-on to the basic ‘game’.  I use a program of sorts to connect to the Minecraft servers (of which there are many, and run by individuals who admin their own) and allow me to do additional things like fly, move quickly, and other nifty stuff not available through the browser client.  All that I know about the game is that it’s made with Java.  That’s the extent of my knowledge, but those of you who know more can probably imagine the possibilities.

It’s like an oldschool version of ActiveWorlds, which is quite oldschool itself now that I think about it… 1997 feels like yesterday.  I’ll stop trying to explain the game and just encourage you guys to give it a try.  It’s completely free right now and it’s a blast.  If anyone wants to meet up some time you can find me usually on the World of Minecraft server (64 players at a time) under the name Keen.