Playing with Blocks - About the Game

Tools for the Game

•   A user can choose to play in either single mode or in multiplayer mode.
•  Players join different “worlds", or realms, on Minecraft servers and decide on the level of difficulty.

  

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• Each time you start a new game, Minecraft generates a unique world filled with hills, forests, and lakes. Whatever the player chops at or digs into yields building blocks -- trees provide wood, the earth dirt and various stones. Blocks can be attached to one another to quickly produce structures. 
• Players combine blocks to "craft" new items. Take some stone blocks, add a few pieces of wood and you make a pickaxe, which then helps you dig more quickly and deeper, till you reach precious materials like gold and diamonds. 

·      SURVIVAL MODE -- The player, in first person mode, must search for different resources to build shelter, find food, and armour. The player mines, or collects, items necessary, for example coal and stone, in order to reach these objectives and make it through the “day” in the game. The world is also in a hostile environment with creepers, or zombie-like avatars within the game, attacking the player. In turn, the player must defend themselves while continuously building their world.

·      CREATIVE MODE -- The creative mode is the safest mode to play in Minecraft. The player’s objective in this mode, is to utilize the unlimited resources to build their world or “map”. Players immersed in this mode often find ways to create elaborate structures within the game in a non-threatening environment. The objective of survival is completely eliminated and no threats to the player’s avatar exist.

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    ADVENTURE MODE -- The adventure mode is rather similar to the creative mode with the exception of limited resources which are not directly made available to the player. A further benefit of engaging in adventure mode is the game's protection against Minecraft players who destroy buildings, appropriately dubbed as “griefers”. The world is not fully editable and requires the player to interact and build on their own.

•  The simplest objective true across all gameplay is the goal of survival. Naturally, in easier modes, the players will not encounter as many threats, “creepers” and lack of resources, as they would in harder modes.

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•         The simplicity of the graphics  provides an opportunity for players to modify the world which they themselves create by breaking and building blocks, interacting with other players, and avoiding potential enemies.
• ·        The multiplayer mode also includes a feature for interactive chat with other players on the same server.
• ·        Players are encouraged to interact, contribute to databases on websites and to physically modify the gameplay through personal coding endeavors, dubbed “modding”.

(Graso, 2016; Minecraft Wiki, 2016)