Should I play Minecraft?

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Are you sure about that?

At least in the US, I just checked and it isn't there.

I've read that they want to stay as independent as possible. As far as I know it's not on Steam and they have no intention of getting it on there. There are, however, quite a few Minecraft-like games on Steam that the OP could look into (I'm not very familiar with them or Steam).

Actually there's not many such games on there.


And what few there are, are of the Terraria-style 2D sort. Very, very different from Minecraft in alot of ways.

And indeed, Minecraft itself is not on Steam, and likely never will be. Fortunately though, it's super easy to buy it from it's main site. A painless and simple process.

A friend of mine's son has a Mac and said he couldn't get any mods to install. Not sure if this is across the board or was just something with his set-up? Can't comment from personal experience, since I've only played the console and MCPE versions, but I guess it can be an issue.

You may want to search for specific instructions for installing mods on a Mac; there's a good chance that the basics of the process is quite different, though as I've never used the Mac version I cannot personally say for certain.

You also want to make sure that you're checking the instructions for EVERY single mod you download. Each one is going to have specific requirements (for things like Forge or other "core" mods), they often need to be installed in entirely different ways, you need to check and make sure that the game version you have matches the supported game versions for the mod; when the game itself updates, it often takes the modders awhile to make the changes necessary for compatibility.

And the problem with all of this is that if you get just ONE step wrong, with even ONE mod out of a group of mods that you're installing, the entire thing goes berserk and crashes.

There's ALSO the matter of compatibility between mods; because there's no mod API yet for the game, there can be goofy compatibility issues. For example, if 2 mods try to use the same item/block ID number for something, the game usually crashes. Stuff like that. The annoying part about THIS is that there's no way to tell in advance if it's going to happen. I personally find that the best way to set up a group of mods is to install them one by one, testing each before putting the next in; so that the moment you have a problem, you can say "Ok, it happened when I put THIS mod in, so I'll take that out for now" and you can get it working again. That being said, it's typically not THAT hard to get them to cooperate without going nuts.


Wether or not all of this is actually WORTH it is up to the individual.... I personally am just fine with vanilla, since the game has quite alot of content to start with (way more than the console version, actually, which is updating dirt-slow....and the less said about the mobile version, the better). But I usually have a second installation so I can jump into a modded world when I feel like it, usually modded to increase the difficulty of the game and add more blocks/biomes/areas/mobs. Just depends on what mood I'm in as to which I'll play.

I enjoyed play Minecraft on my Xbox 360 until the simulator-sickness started. I could sometimes avoid it by wearing those wrist pressure-point things, but I had to put them on about an hour before playing, so was quickly too high maintenance.

I understand that the PC versions offer a way to set a more narrow field of view which can help with simulator sickness. But that option is not available on Xbox is I have not tried it.

Also, I have to find a happy medium between creative and survival mode. In survival mode I get a bit stressed out about waiting for a Creeper to sneak up on me and blow me up. Creative mode is fun for a time, but then gets boring due to lack of challenges.

I would go back to playing it more if it were not for the simulator sickness. I find the music calming. That is, until a Creeper blows me up

I think it's a good idea....I want to play it...but can't get the hang of it....also can't decide if I want it on 360 or pc...(yes I know pc version much more expansive...) I bootlegged it before...couldn't get the controls down oO I must be an idiot ><

Just to point this out, the PC version is DRAMATICALLY more expansive than the 360 one. The difference is huge.

It's not just the fact that the content keeps constantly expanding, it's that your world map ISNT TINY. That was my huge issue with the 360 one, is that the worldmap size is extremely limited. Like, really, really small. For a game like this, that's a bad thing. Particularly considering the sheer amount of STUFF there is to find even just in that version. The PC version, on the other hand, has zero limitations on world size whatsoever. And a ton more content; the 360 version is always really behind, as that goes, since patching 360 games in general is.... difficult. As it is, the most recent content update for the 360 version added the Jungle biome, as well as a couple of other things that existed in that update.... but for the PC version, the Jungle update was quite a long while ago. It's waaaayyyyyyyy past that point right now.

Beyond that though, there's just so much more content overall, better controls, and the possibility of adding mods later on if you should want to. Not to mention online type stuffs that cannot be done on the 360, such as servers with special rules/changes/minigames/whatever.


If you're having trouble getting the hang of it though, feel free to ask questions, and look up a tutorial of some sort. The game's only real problem is that it doesnt teach you anything, so generally new players have to use some sort of tutorial or guide to learn the basics, as well as to start learning the many crafting recipes in the game. The nice thing is, you can go at your own pace with this one.

^^ This. i can actually vouch for. I use both PC and Mac (though my mac is mainly for work... don't tell anyone about the Minecraft installed on it... xD)

But seriously, installing mods on the mac version (especially post update 1.6.x) is a little different where on PC, most of the time, there is an installer that will set up the Forge Mod Loader and then it all becomes simple Drag and Drop into a mods folder, newer versions of mac will require a manual install varying on so many levels seeing as almost any version of the Mac OS is still viable.

If you are trying to install mods on the Mac version, google it, do the research properly, it's the only way. NOt to mention, CHECK THE MODS COMPATABILITY. You don't know how many times I've helped people fix the install of minecraft because certain Mods conflict with each other.

If it becomes too Difficult, Don't be afraid of using "Feed the Beast" or "Technic" Launchers. They have "Mod Packs" Ready to go for both Mac and PC without the hassle of manually installing the mods. Just remember to apply a little bit more of your PC's RAM to play it... there are a lot of mods... as in a LOT...

Suggested mods:
- Grimoir of Gaia 2 (more monsters that are 10x more dangerous than what you're used to)

- Biomes O' Plenty (cool new biomes and materials. remember, switch to Biomes o' Plenty world type when creating the world)

- Dimensional Doors (Doors connecting to different places in the world, and if you happen to die in the pocket dimension, you get chucked into limbo O.O)

- Twilight Forest (Seriously, this adds a new dimension like the nether except a GIANT forest with many Boss fights and new armour and cool places to explore and easy access to venison...)

- More Player Models 2 (seriously. only aesthetic... If you play minecraft with friends, it's a must have mod in my opinion cause other than just having different skins, you can be different shapes and sizes O.O)

- Damage Indicators (like an RPG, you can see your enemies health and know to stay clear of them all)

- BiblioCraft (some extra furniture and shelves to decorate (fully functional) and most importantly, ARMOUR STANDS!)

- Status Effect Hud (you know that you have to check your inventory to know you've been poisoned? not anymore!)

- Tinkers Construct (more weapons and tools, new ways of making them)

- DrZharks MoCreatures Mod (even more creatures but at least this time, not all of them want to eat your face off...)

- Familiars API (install this on a separate version of MC. It is only usable in single player and will mess up multiplayer seriously. cool thing though, you get OP little friends following you around as if you were Link and Navi (which coincidentally, you can get Navi as a familiar))

- Dungeon Pack (adds dungeons to the overworld that are potentially lethal but awesome at the same time O.o)

Magic Launcher is really convenient for installing mods on stuff. You still have to make sure they don't conflict and have the required dependencies but it installs them for you and you can have different profiles with different mods. It worked for me on Linux, and it's supposed to on Windows and OSX though I've never tried on that.

^^ haha, the new minecraft launcher has a feature of letting you play different profiles of new and old MC versions now so if you're technical enough, you can sort the same thing out manually ^.^ trivia :3

Oh, ok. I haven't played for months. Magic Launcher (or something similar) still would make modding easier though, correct?

correct ^.^ the way i suggested requires manually creating a profile, manually creating a new .minecraft directory then telling the newly made profile the directory you wish to use. not to mention, you still need to run the game and install the mods manually but i'm more used to manually installing mods since the times of TES3: Morrowind :L

There are so many really neat mods and stuff for Minecraft that it is almost impossible to play it and not have fun.

this topic has gotten me to decide I am going to buy this game next month =)

Minecraft is great for a lot of people but I've never really been able to enjoy it for long. As a game it's very limited, the survival elements are underpinned by very basic combat and the graphical style, although alleviated by texture packs, becomes painfully simple and garish for my eyes after a short while. Building provides some basic fun but there's no mechanical purpose, in gameplay terms, to what you build. The game relies on building for the sake of building and I've not got the interest or determination to do that.