A Guide to Maincraft

You may be familiar with Minecraft, but what do you actually do in it? We take a look at everything this world has to offer

Minecraft is a sandbox game in which you construct, create and develop worlds by manipulating blocks and items to make objects and buildings.

It began life as an indie game in 2009, but it has grown into a multi-platform game with millions of players around the globe. Minecraft has become one of the most popular games in the world, thanks to its simple concept, originality and open design. You are able to dismantle or add to the environment as you please. So, for example, you can build yourself a house or dig down into the ground. The entire world is destructible, and you can also use many items in the game to create new ones. When you begin a game in Minecraft, a randomly generated world is created. Within this world are different environments known as biomes, which range from forests to snowy plains to huge oceans.

The worlds are massive, and it's highly unlikely you'll ever explore the entirety of one. Within each world, the game spawns specific areas like dungeons and villages that you might discover while playing. There are two primary game modes in Minecraft. The first, and the one that is regarded as the true Minecraft experience, is Survival. In this you spawn in a world and must fend for yourself as the day switches to night. During the day the world is largely peaceful, leaving you free to collect resources, build a home and hunt animals. At night, however, a host of hostile enemies known as mobs spawn, and you must defend yourself against them. If you die in this mode you respawn back at the point at which you first spawned, unless you sleep in a bed - your new spawn point. Dying will see you lose any experience you have gained (although some of this can be retrieved) and you'll also drop all the items you were carrying, which you can also pick up again if you find the place that you died. The other main mode of play in Minecraft is called Creative. In this, you are given access to all the items and mobs in the game and you can dictate the sort of world you will spawn in. 

A Guide to Maincraft

"Minecraft has become one of the most popular games in the world, thanks to its simple concept originality and open design"

You cannot die in this mode, unless you fall off the bottom of the world, so it is a popular mode for users to create structures free from the restrictions of the day/night cycle of Survival mode. As we've mentioned, though, however you choose to play Minecraft is up to you. While Creative is a fun mode, it is Survival that you will likely spend most time in and therefore this is the mode we've focused on in this guide. Minecraft is a huge game and it's unlikely you'll ever do everything, but we'll ensure that whatever you choose to do, this book will help you every step of the way.