I've seen on several threads people mention their kids play on minecraft. Tell me anything about it. The goods/bads. Thanks!
It's similar to Legos. They can build things and places. My kids have been playing it for a few of years now. Variations of it were in several of my son's writings last year. I can't keep track of what's on the game and what he, his sister and his friend have made up for the game they want to make some day.
It is building with blocks (wood blocks, dirt blocks, etc.), even the characters, animals, tools, etc. are pixelated and blocky. You can check it out for free at minecraft.net and it is only like $30 to purchase the full version. My son spends hours building houses, villages, and who knows what else. He will talk our ears off about random stuff. I have a hard time when he wants me to look at something, but dh says it is just because ds moves so sporadically. Dh even set up his own account so he could interact and build with ds.
lol.. yes there are zombies my kids think they are hilarious. There are also ghosts... that looked more like squids to me..lol My littles usually play in creative mode, which is just building. They build all kinds of houses and Reagan LOVES it when I challenge him to build things... like WORDS!!! Yep, that's right, I have him build his spelling words on the game out of blocks. My kids LOVE it. We didn't like the idea of them playing online so we bought it in the spring when it came out on disk for xbox360. The kids know way more about it than me, but out of all the games out there, this one gets my thumbs up. They also love all the lego games out.. Batman, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, etc. Those games also get my thumbs up.. we have a ton of them for the Wii and the 360 and also for their DSi's.
I don't recall the zombies being scary, I will have the kids show me one later if he can... or you can go on youtube and look for videos.... just a warning, the videos are often made by kids and often there are a few choice words in them. I do let my kids watch most of the videos.. as long as the cursing isn't every other word, my kids know that what others let fly out of their mouths and what is appropriate to come out of their mouths are two different things.
ok, my littlest is up, he said you need to watch this video. At :38 is a Creeper, he says they blow you up. At :45 is zombies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_XGxzMrq04
Minecraft is a PC game. (Also availible on xbox and app store) There are two ways to play the game: single player and multiplayer. Multiplayer is played online with other people and you have different servers to choose from. The servers are created by other players with different rules and scenarios... Single player is played offline by yourself. Single player has two modes as well; survival and creative. Survival mode is where you are stranded in a world and the player (you) has to go out and collect supplies (wood, food, etc.) and at night enemies (mobs) come out and attack. Mobs can be enabled OR disabled OR changed in difficulty. Creative mode is where you have access to all materials, flight, and immortality and all you do is whatever you desire by placing blocks similar to legos.*** I enjoy how they must collect different blocks to create products.......example: in order to harvest diamonds from mines, you must first craft an iron pickax by collecting two sticks and three iron ingots. Minecraft is an "E" rated game. The only thing I have noticed is some of the trash talk by other players on some of the servers (multiplayer) My two sons (17 and 16) are currently building their own server. The computer programming required has definately been a benefit that I enjoy seeing them learn. You can try it for free at minecraft.net, click "play demo" (single player mode) If you buy the game, my sons recommend "Skyblock.net" as the first server to play in for multiplayer mode. ****This information was provided by my two lovely sons who know their mother isn't that computer smart on this subject.
You can also do multi player on the 360 if you have it hooked to a HD tv with an HDMI cable for up to 4 players at a time without them being online (my kids play together without being online).
Wow thanks for all the useful info. I think my kids are way too young for the online play, but the creative play is def something im going to look into.
LOL This game looks so silly! What is the obsession? The graphics are terrible...do kids really like it that much? Should I have my kids try it?
Exactly! That is what I thought, it is blocky, and sometimes glitchy. I have no clue what the obsession is. However, for some odd reason, it is completely addictive to kids. A friend introduced ds who introduced his other friend, and so on. When we get together at gatherings, all of the kids are talking about it.
"The randomly-spawned worlds are never-ending terrains. You can craft things, spawn things, drink potions, eat food, etc. etc. etc. You can also spawn Ocelots to get pet cats, and Wolves to get pet dogs. (Taming them is easy: For Ocelots, raw fish. For Wolves, bones.) At night, monsters such as Endermen, Zombies, Skeletons, Creepers, and Spiders spawn. If you look into the eyes of an Enderman, then he will start shaking and teleporting, trying to attack you. (I think they're cool.) Creepers explode if you get near them. Zombies just attack you. (Note: They can pick things up.) Skeletons hold bows and arrows, meaning they can attack you from a distance. Spiders just climb walls. You can throw or drink many potions, including Invisibility. Speed, Harming, Healing, Slowness, Night Vision, and more. There are lots and lots of caves, and you can find and mine ores such as Iron, Coal, Gold, (I call it butter :3) Diamonds, Emeralds, Redstone, Lapis Lazuli, and with mods, you can get even MORE! Lava randomly spawns, and by the way, you can craft armor, weapons, and tools with Diamonds, Iron and Gold. You can make blocks of ores with all of them except coal. But with the new update (1.6.1), you can have a few more things: Horses, Leads, Hay Bales, Coal Blocks, and a few more. With portals, you can go to different dimensions: The Nether and The End. You have to fight a huge boss battle in The End: The Enderdragon. I, personally, fight it in Creative Mode. Creative mode is where you have unlimited EVERYTHING, the ability to fly, having no damage taken, you can go forever without eating, and much more. Hardcore Mode is one I would NOT suggest. You have one life only; if you die you have to delete your world, you are stuck in Hard Mode, (meaning that monsters can spawn with armor) and more. Survival mode is just normal. You survive, have unlimited lives, limited amount of items, weapons and tools have durability, and items drop when you break a block. Minecraft is very fun. But that's not all! Hard Mode and Normal Mode are where monsters can spawn with armor. Easy Mode is where they just spawn. Peaceful Mode is where they just don't spawn. (Note: They can only spawn in darkness, have Torches with you!) Any mode above Peaceful, you lose hunger. In Peaceful, you don't. I think that's about it. But, for a friendly piece of information, you can wear a Pumpkin on your face to prevent Endermen from getting mad at you. Bye!" This is exact quote that my nine year-old DD, Kate, typed out. She is the Minecraft expert in the house! My older DDs, who are 15 and 16, do play occasionally, but not nearly as much as Kate does. I don't know very much about the background of the game, but I have found nothing that would concern me as a Christian parent. As far as the paid or free versions of the game, she tells me that the free version is only Singleplayer (apparently, that it is how it's spelled in the game). However, she has spent many hours just playing the free version. It can be quite addicting, apparently! HTH
Lol, that is one of my daughter's favorites, as well. This made her laugh so hard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsqSmbjIH7w
I'm glad my kids aren't the only ones obsessed with this game. They're all 3 playing together on the XBox right now. They have it on their computer, the XBox, and on their iPods. I like it, it encourages creativity.
it is great for enhancing geological studies too! My ds learned so much about different types of stones etc how things go together, what lava melts, lol tons of things! He has played it for a few years now and there is also a documentary about how Nach (spelled grossly wrong sorry) and his friends got it started and how come it was free and now costs etc. It taught my ds about business a bit too.
My son is totally into it, too. For fans of the game: check out Hot Topic usually found at malls for T-shirts, foam swords, Steve head, misc stuff from the game. Makes unique gifts. Another fun game is Portal and Portal 2. Good story and fun problem-solving. Graphics are cool. Also, Hot Topic has little turrets and trinkets based on the game. If you're on Steam, my older daughter plays a game called Thomas Was Alone. It's a single player, indie puzzle game. It tells the story of a shape that was lonely then made friends. You guide the group of rectangles through a series of obstascles using the shape's different skills to get to the end of the level. Very simple and artsy.
