For me, Minecraft had a perfect gameplay flow. When I first entered the world, I was lost and scared. Monsters came out and destroyed me. I hid.
Slowly I learned how to acquire and build resources. I found an island and built a house on it. Monsters were no longer a threat. I made a farm and had all the wheat I needed.
I started caving not for survival, but to acquire extra resources. I turned those resources into large builds, both aesthetic and functional. I built a minecart track into my mine shaft just for the convenience. I built art on my island despite the fact that nobody else would see it. There was a huge amount of freedom.
Minecarts used to act very strangely, to boost them you'd put them side by side. I consulted the Wiki to figure this out, and learned about redstone at the same time. I started building larger-scale contraptions with it, and made a "challenge map" (I had never seen one before at this point).
Multiplayer came out around this time, and while extremely buggy, it allowed us to play survival with friends. This hit at the perfect moment because up till that point, I had a full understanding of the game and my interest was beginning to wane. Multiplayer rejuvenated my interest, and I worked on some large builds with friends. All vanilla, of course.
And now it's what, a year later? Minecraft has had some very large updates lately, and while I'm not as enthused as I once was, I'm still looking forward to see what the Mojang team and modders are able to do with the game.
Slowly I learned how to acquire and build resources. I found an island and built a house on it. Monsters were no longer a threat. I made a farm and had all the wheat I needed.
I started caving not for survival, but to acquire extra resources. I turned those resources into large builds, both aesthetic and functional. I built a minecart track into my mine shaft just for the convenience. I built art on my island despite the fact that nobody else would see it. There was a huge amount of freedom.
Minecarts used to act very strangely, to boost them you'd put them side by side. I consulted the Wiki to figure this out, and learned about redstone at the same time. I started building larger-scale contraptions with it, and made a "challenge map" (I had never seen one before at this point).
Multiplayer came out around this time, and while extremely buggy, it allowed us to play survival with friends. This hit at the perfect moment because up till that point, I had a full understanding of the game and my interest was beginning to wane. Multiplayer rejuvenated my interest, and I worked on some large builds with friends. All vanilla, of course.
And now it's what, a year later? Minecraft has had some very large updates lately, and while I'm not as enthused as I once was, I'm still looking forward to see what the Mojang team and modders are able to do with the game.