Kids at home bored? Get them playing Minecraft !

[mattylad]

Minecraft is the biggest selling current game in the world, with over 120 million players worldwide it enables the creativity of everyone young or old to turn simple blocks into works of art.

You may see in the news about a project to recreate the world 1:1 in minecraft - this I'm sure will be done as I already know of servers where entire cities have already been recreated, works of art, the 7 wonders +.
You name it, its been done - and that includes the fantasy worlds from books, films etc.

In the UK it's about £17 to buy a lifetime account for the PC version, about £11 for the PS4 and can often be found for less in many places.

I run a small server that costs $20 a month yet have not actually had to stump up and cash for the past year due to it's popularity and donations from players who enjoyed it so much.
I get players from all over the world joining although mainly the US/Canada play due to the server being located in Montreal.
With my admin team we have developed fun for the players in many arenas where they can fight either boss mobs who get harder and harder (dropping good loot when killed) or each other in many different game modes.

The worldwide lock-in has seen a surge in the numbers of players joining and stopping, not only kids (actually not kids at all - most of my players are 17-40) but adults too play.

"But its only a game where you mine blocks?" "My nephew plays that" are common comments.
Yes but did you know that with blocks you can recreate stuff like this:

As the owner of a server the satisfaction of seeing people having something to do and keeping them out of trouble is great, there is also a hassle with the occasional troublemakers but having a relaxed attitude to it only being a game really helps.

The players all enjoy themselves, we stream, do Youtube videos, have competitions, joint projects that everyone is keen to partake and so on.

At the moment I have many players wanting me to reset the entire map for when a forthcoming new version gets released as it is often updated to bring about new things and the forthcoming one is going to be immense.

Minecraft is fun if you let it be, you can do this at home on your PC, PLaystation, Xbox1, phone etc.
Go on - try it.
www.minecraft.net

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I really want to like it, my eldest (10) is keen and very good, I've sat and played with him numerous times but I just can't get the love, when I play with him its generally more pain than pleasure.

 

[flameport]

The problem with that and most other gaming things is that unless you already know how to use all of it, it's a totally impenetrable world of mystery.

That Minecraft site as an example - on the front page it's offering multiple things, and when eventually getting to the download page, the download for Windows offers two different versions with no explanation as to which is suitable.
There's a Java edition for $26.95
and a Windows 10 edition which is either $29.99 or $49.99 depending on various other options, all of which probably make perfect sense to someone who has already used the game, but are entirely unknown to anyone else.

Given that it's all paid for, then reality of paying for something and then finding it was the wrong choice seems rather high.

 

[mattylad]

Unfortunately like many of Microshaftu's stuff, they are not cross platform so I feel your pain.

Like many games It takes a little research first

Java is where it is, anything else is really just single player stuff.
But with the java version (and probably the others) its a lifetime payment, buy it once and your good forever.

The W10 edition is (so I have heard) poop, I have it for free but won't install it.
The java edition is (unfortunatly) written in java - so it has problems.. its not as graphical as say Doom..
The add-on of Optifine improves that.

As for how to play, well its a progressive game in survival mode (there are other modes) and first you need to thump a tree.
from the tree you can build wooden tools to start mining for stone with, then you build stone tools to be able to mine iron ore, then you make iron tools so you can mine diamonds.
Once you got diamonds your good to go, they last a lot longer.
In the mean time you probably have enough blocks to build a home, make fences to keep the animals you breed in, grow crops to feed you.
Watch youtube for the how-to's on all the fancy things that can be built such as animal farms so you have endless food supplies, gold farms etc.

Finding a good server that offers many features to help you along, such as a well stocked server shop, games etc. is imo important if you want to be able to survive as a novice.
For me, its the community that's key, if you don't have that then IMO any online game is just boring.

 

[foxhole]

Find it brain numbingly boring .

 

[mattylad]

Then your not doing it right

 

[EddieM]

doubt it would be for me. Probably need patience of which I have none, couple that with being asocial , then it sounds like it's not for me.

 

[mattylad]

It's not for everybody.

 

[HawkEye244]

Sounds fascinating all this and many congratulations for finding something that takes your attention and gives you opportunity to improve your skills (both technical and with people). Being born in the 80s I spent a lot of time on computers whittling away hours on computer games and that suited my interest at the time. Then when I hit my 30s I gradually lost interest in all that and found it hard to get excited about. What would draw my attention now would be the technical aspects of networking and maintaining a server more so than the actual games. I've heard Minecraft is brilliant and it's no surprise many of the biggest trending videos on social media are from people streaming their Minecraft adventures.

 

[mattylad]

People think its just about knocking blocks but it's not - its way more.
Currently I'm waiting for the latest upgrade where the whole world is going to be reset, leaving me with a lot of work to do.

I had an eye opener this weekend where I found out how lots of glitches, duplication of items and hacks are done as I found some add of software (plugin) that wills top them all and it showed what it stopped.
the clever little buggers even hack the games lol