I Love Minecraft - But Can't Figure Out Why

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So, I've been playing this little game called Minecraft for over a year now... and what an experience it has been. Aside from having a cooling-off period where I avoided it for a couple months after dying and losing all of my items, I've played it quite a bit, and have generally enjoyed it, and found it quite addictive.

However, even to this day, I'm not quite sure why I enjoy it.

I got home last Monday around 4pm, after having journeyed into the center of Birmingham to take a Microsoft exam for work. In short I wasn't successful in passing, and while a bit annoyed and my confidence somewhat crushed, I wanted to do what any twenty year-old IT technician with a love for gaming would want to do- and that is to chill out by playing some games.

It's well documented in previous posts on Zombie Outbreak that I'm a FIFA addict, and I'm pretty much at the point that I hate loving it because it takes up so much of my gaming time. Therefore, FIFA is usually the game I default to when I want to kick back with a joypad. However, FIFA does not relax me at all- in fact at its height of annoyance it actually winds me up into a churning mess of sheer rage- so on this day I was not really up for the frustrations that FIFA insights.As I'd been reading a bit about Minecraft recently I thought "hey, I'll give Minecraft a go".

Some five-and-a-half-hours later, my crusty eyes are begging me to turn it off and get some shut eye.

Yes, that's right, I spent five-and-a-half hours on a Monday evening playing Minecraft. What the hell was wrong with me?!

The truth is, I found it kind of theraputic and somewhat relaxing as I shaped myself a home with a pickaxe, picking away block-by-block and clearing away dirt and stone until I was pleased. Your graft is easily and tangibly rewarded, as you see the blocks falling away and collect coal or iron or other useful items along the way.

Perfect right-angles are all the rage in Minecraftia.

Of course, anyone who plays Minecraft will tell you that it's not all that chilled out, because there are the Mobs (that is, the zombies, skeletons and other assorted foul creatures) to deal with. When you are playing the game properly (and by properly I mean in Survival mode), you can be quite easily killed by any one of them- and the Creepers are of particular concern.

You get so invested in what you're doing, all of the progress you've made and all the material wealth that you've gained, that you become paranoid that you're about to be murdered and turn into zombie food if not adequately prepared- and therefore you spend even more time shoring up your defences and kitting yourself out to take on whatever the world of Minecraft can throw at you. Minecraft is one of the scariest games I've ever played- not because of any sort of horror or gore, but because in this game I actually care about dying. Dying in Minecraft is not just dying in a game- it's a freaking personal offence on my most primitive male function as a hunter-gatherer.

This is not going to end well for either of us. But mostly for me.

So in addition to building yourself shelter, you also find yourself mining for ages, trying to find enough raw material to better your armour and weaponry and give yourself the best chance of survival. In short, Minecraft is a massive time-sink, and I've never really been fond of time-sinks.

The thing is, Minecraft seems to have me hooked with voodoo magic or something, because it never stops being fun. It's fun at its simplest- you make your own fun with it. There's no plot to speak of and no outlined purpose, you just collect, build and survive, until your eyes shrivel up inside your sockets or you develop severe carpel tunnel syndrome.

So, here's to Minecraft- I don't understand you, but I love you.