Topic: How do I Minecraft?

I used to play on a server with my brother and a bunch of other people.

I had my own little personal mushroom island, and nearby my brother and I were building a miniature Bioshock inspired lighthouse hideout.

Wish I had pictures of it.

It also had a skyblock map, which is a very fun way to play.

Well the Switch version has multi, even if it's only match-based. We could help each other with builds.

Hmm, I'm a bit afraid to find out what's behind that wall now

@Haru17 Wow, my aspirations of Mincraft do not involve building structures of any kind...mostly just exploration. I suck with legos

I found a flaming skeleton archer wandering around in broad daylight by a tree. What on earth?! Thankfully I'd made a sword and took him out. After exploring I can't find my home base now....ugh! Thank goodness I left night cycles off, and left "keep inventory" on while I figure it out. The darn skeleton took me out...that would have been awful.

Undead monsters burn with sunlight.

It wasn't stronger, it was dying.

@Meowpheel Ahhh, interesting. He managed to take me out with just a few arrows..... I felt like a winner when I finally got him. Oh well

I suppose there's furniture to build (if I ever find my base cave again..) to store your excess inventory? that's kind of...frustrating.

@DarthNocturnal How do you use the map? I opened it up...saw a blue/green blob I couldn't identify......that's about all I could figure out about it? I couldn't tell at all what my position was on it (granted, I'm playing handheld.)

When you first get a map, it will be inactive. To activate it, first use it like you would any other weapon, after that it will become a real functional map.

@DarthNocturnal Ohh, that makes sense...if annoying. Is the map only good for one square, and if so, how do you get additional maps?

Ok, seriously, HOW do kids understand this game?

Yeah, Creative mode is like Lego on steroids. Most of the game's educative value comes from it.

@DarthNocturnal Hmm...so how do you avoid monsters when you're searching for a good spot during normal day/night cycles?

Maybe you're right about creative mode.....FPS's are one thing....I expect kids to be good at FPSs. They're simple, easy to understand, and require no real comprehensive understanding of systems. That's why XBox fans like them. (I kid, I kid), It's all about lightening reflex, and kids will always far surpass use elders in that arena. But THIS game....everything about this game screams of uber-nerd PC simulation games of the 90's. The more I learn about it the more I believe that. It seems so much like a game not just not for kids, but not for the masses at all. Like the unholy love child of a simulation game and an MMO for only the most shut-in of PC geeks. How it became the staple game of the under-10 crowd, I do not know! I guess in creative mode I can see it working. Just the map details alone are obtuse.

@Meowpheel Maybe that's it. I actually always thought the whole game was just digital legos. I actually bought it on Switch thinking it was just digital legos. My Disgaea copy hadn't arrived on time and I figured "what the heck, I've been curious." The crafting system in the tutorial had me confounded. Then I heard growling. Then I saw a zombie, and was like what the HECK is wrong with my Legos?! Only then did I find out there's an actual, deep, complex video game in here. And then I started REALLY not understanding how kids were into this.

It really isn't that hard to deal with monsters....

During the day, they will only spawn in caves and other dark places, so place torches indoors and at caves where you don't want them to spawn. Also put them around your main living area so they don't spawn there during the night.

Now, when you go exploring, monsters are part of the challenge and make mining for minerals to power you up a worthwhile endeavor. If you don't want them, just play on creative or on the lowest survival difficulty mode, which removes them completely along with hunger.

However, monsters provide various items that are ultimately useful for you, like bones (for fertilizer), ender eyes (to find the final boss) and rods (for potion making), for example.

Oh one final bit of adivce regarding monster spawning... If you plan to have a hollow "attic" in your main base (you know, maybe you want a nice european-style roof), be sure it's well illuminated. Even if there's no access in or out of it, monsters may be able spawn there, and their noises get annoying.

@Meowpheel There's a final boss?! How do you find out about that? I didn't know there were real actual objetives, too!

I did learn about torches and all earlier, and I want the monsters and the actual "game experience" (no lego building for me, I actually like the game a lot more knowing there's a game there), but I think my question is: In order to get STARTED...right now I have night cycles off while I learn. But normally when it's on, you start out, you have no bed, no cave to live in, no crafting table, torches, or anything. On day 1, how do you find a location to build a base (to start your map), find wool for a bed, dig out a cave, make a table, a furnace, coal, and a torch before the monsters just spawn and destroy you? It seems there's not enough time for all the required exploration before dark.

@DarthNocturnal Ohh interesting. So you can cheat with peaceful but not with "no night cycle"...weird...but nice. That makes some sense. It seems pretty impossible to really play without enough time to set up. At least if you're not experienced with the game.

Also I STILL have not seen a single village outside the tutorial map.....

@Meowpheel Oh geeze..thanks! Honestly I can't imagine building an actual "house"...I suck at building things. I'm a dwarf...I'll dig deep....

Oh a normal "first day" for me is... "go punch wood until you have for a small shack". If there's sheep around, I punch some of those to build a bed.

There's usually enough time to make at least a tiny 3*3 hut with a door and "fence windows" (you can use fences as windows, that way you can look out without monsters coming in).

Then I make some wooden tools, a chest... Maybe collect coal and cobblestone.

If night comes and I don't have shelter, I usually just dig down and hide underground. Have at least enough materials to make a few torches and a few pickaxes, and you can do some mining while you wait for the day.

@Meowpheel And then just wait around through the whole night cycle? Good tip about fence windows though!

@DarthNocturnal I keep hearing about villages......maybe that's in the DLC?

Villages are "structures" that can randomly generate in a map. They're usually found in praries and deserts.

No need for DLC.

For examples of other things you may find, here's a spoiler:

Many structures usually come with tons of treasure and monsters. Villages are peaceful though, there you can do trades with the villagers and steal their crops.