Continuing onward with my foray into the realm of casual gaming, for today’s game of the day, I present to you: Minecraft. Though intended as a casual game, players such as me would argue that it is anything but. As with other games which share the ‘craft’ suffix (Warcraft, Starcraft, etc.), Minecraft consumes ungodly amounts of time.
The game itself is based upon a simple premise, harvesting and placing blocks to build anything you can imagine, and, depending on your difficulty setting, defending yourself from the monsters that spawn at night. I’ve often heard Minecraft referred to as “lego for adults” as well as “Minecrack”, and I would have to agree with both sentiments. Upon starting the game you are placed in a virtual world, not unlike our own planet. The main difference being, this world is entirely comprised of cubic blocks which you can harvest to create your own magnificent creations. The types of blocks correspond with real world items, i.e. wood, stone, dirt, etc. These blocks can also be crafted into other items via your inventory editor (pickaxes and the like). There is even an integrated type of block which allows you to form your own circuits in-game, just google redstone. One person has even created a massive in-game computer!
After you play for a little while, you probably won’t be satisfied with simply building a small hut. You might progress to making a house, a castle, a mountain fortress, or an ocean palace. That is what makes the game so stellar; the possibilities are quite literally endless! There is a huge online community for Minecraft, and it grows ever larger every day. If you tire of playing alone, you can also play on multiplayer servers, the vast majority of which are free. I even host a server myself, so feel free to comment if you have any questions about starting one up. The game runs on Java, and is quite small. It can be purchased for about 20 dollars, but there are also free demos on the website! Here is a video of Minecraft in action:
Happy Gaming (I’m not responsible for any subsequent addictions)
http://www.minecraft.net