Let's Play Minecraft

Background Information
Minecraft is a sandbox 3D video game that is #2 most addictive behind Tetris

Gameplay
A player has a hunger bar and a health bar. The hunger bar, if full, can slowly recharge the health bar, but not vice-versa. If either of the bars reaches zero, a player is at the risk of death, either from starvation, lack of health, or other instances of death. The hunger bar normally decreases slowly. However, activities such as sprinting or mining can lower the bar faster than usual. Usually, foods such as Porkchops and Steak can fill the hunger bar back to healthy levels, and it can be acquired by simply punching the animal to death.

But for long-term survival, a player is recommended to take or build a shelter. Building a shelter is a critical first part to exploring a world. Shelters are important, as they can protect a player from hostile mobs, and they can serve the same purpose as a home in real life. Most shelters take the form of houses such as to the right. Houses are often favored because of their simplicity, as well as the short amount of time necessary to build them. A player usually starts mining after a house is made. Mining is a very important part of Minecraft, hence the name.

Menu
Upon starting the game, the user is greeted with a login screen. To play, the user has to input his or her login information: This includes a username, or if the user has signed up for a Mojang account, that user's email as well as the user's password. After logging in, the user is greeted with the Minecraft Launcher. The Minecraft Launcher allows for customizability and modifications in Minecraft. It also displays news about Minecraft updates and bug fixes. The launcher will lead the user to the main menu screen. The menu screen is composed of buttons, and text that allows for easy access to Minecraft's features. The four menu features include: A player first spawns in the Overworld. The overworld consists of Biomes, such as extreme hills, or the Ocean biome. The overworld is intended to generally resemble the terrain of Earth's Lithosphere. Although the overworld often tends to be littered with impossible, gravity-defying natural structures.
 * Singleplayer: Allows the user to create custom worlds, and load previously created world.
 * Multiplayer: Allows the user to interact with other users via custom Minecraft servers, or interact using Minecraft's built-in LAN feature (which allows single-player worlds to be played with other users via a local area network).
 * Minecraft Realms: Allows the user to play custom, miniature Minecraft servers, often created with the intention of playing a mini-game. An invitation is required from the owner.
 * Options: Allows the user to customize Minecraft's in-game features.

Upon Spawning, a player is free to explore the overworld. However without equipment, such as a Sword, or sustenance such as porkchops, a player is limited in how far they can trek.

Game Modes
There are five different Game modes in Minecraft:
 * 1) Survival Mode - a player is required to gather food and other materials to survive.
 * 2) Creative Mode - a player can place any type of block, has no health, and cannot die. a player also has the ability to fly.
 * 3) Spectator Mode - a player is invisible and can move through blocks. a player can even choose to see the world through a mob's eyes. This is not available on the Pocket Edition and Windows 10.
 * 4) Hardcore Mode - a player has only one life and when he/she dies, a player can choose to spectate the world, or to delete the Minecraft world. This is not available on the Pocket Edition and Windows 10.
 * 5) Adventure Mode - Gameplay has the same properties as survival, but players can only mine blocks with proper Tools.

Mining
Mining is a key part of Minecraft's gameplay. In fact, the name "Minecraft" is (obviously) derived from the words "mine" and "craft". Mining is important to experience the full extent of what Minecraft has to offer. Mining is also important for long-term survival, as one needs metal ores to craft armor, better swords, and much more. However, the metal ore is only usually found underground. As most of Minecraft centers around the mining experience. Mining is necessary to acquire the resources needed to build portals that can access the Nether, a hellish world, and to fully explore the expanse of Minecraft. There are many ways to go about mining in Minecraft. Some ways are more common than others. Below listed are two strategies Minecraft players commonly use, please note these don't cover all the tactics.

Mining tactics
Cave Mining: This is one of the most commonly used mining tactics used by players. Usually, cave mining is the easiest, as it requires minimal effort for a player, and entrances to caves are usually found all over the surface. Cave mining usually consists of picking blocks off the walls of the cave, coal, and iron are the most common ores, but if the cave goes deep enough, gold ore can be found. Cave mining is also slightly dangerous as the average sized cave has multiple openings and one cave might lead to other caves or ravines. Players can easily get lost in a labyrinth of caves and ravines. It is very easy to die and lose items forever without a way to find them. This can be avoided if a player sets landmarks.

Strip Mining: Strip mining is often used to find valuable ores like diamonds, as it is easier than hollowing out an entire chunk. Strip mining, however, requires plenty of resources such as stone or iron to build pickaxes, and plenty of patience. Usually a player mines underground then when he or she reaches bedrock starts strip mining. A player usually mines in one straight line, stripping through the ground, hence the name strip mining. Usually, these lines are separated by a one block wall, though that's not often the case. Strip mining is not recommended for mining common ores like coal or iron. It is recommended that for major strip mining operations to bring plenty of torches to serve the purpose of preventing hostile mobs from spawning, and to create a guide way in case a player is lost. It is also recommended that if a player is mining between the 0 and 16th layer that he or she bring a bucket of water, as oftentimes a player might run into a lake of lava. It's good to bring a furnace and a crafting table, so a player can smelt items and craft new items without having to run back up to the surface in order to get them.

Surface Mining:  Typically only useful in extreme hills biomes, where Coal and other ores are often exposed on the surface.

Availability
The official Mojang sources for downloading and properly licensing Minecraft are as follows:
 * Java Edition can be purchased from the Minecraft website. Gift codes can be bought for others for the same price as buying the game for oneself. A demo version is also available, and lasts for five in-game days.


 * Bedrock Edition can be purchased in the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, Amazon App Store, Microsoft Store, Oculus Store, Apple TV App Store, Amazon Fire TV App Store, and Xbox One Marketplace.


 * The legacy Console Edition can be purchased in the Xbox 360 Marketplace, PlayStation 3 Store, PlayStation 4 Store, PlayStation Vita Store, and the Nintendo eShop.


 * The New Nintendo 3DS Edition can be purchased in the Nintendo eShop.

Trivia

 * Since 18 April 2013, a special downloadable launcher is now required to play the game. The game can no longer be played in a browser.
 * Minecraft was originally called "Cave Game. Notch soon changed it to Minecraft: Order of the Stone because "Minecraft" sounded cool and he liked the webcomic "Order of the Stick."
 * The PC Gamer Demo (a demo of Minecraft Beta 1.3 bundled with the June 2011 issue of PC Gamer's magazine) had some exclusive features not available in other demos. One of the exclusive features was a cow branded with the PC Gamer logo.
 * As of February, Minecraft has 122 million sales across all of its platforms​.
 * There is a 1 in 10,000 chance that Minecraft on the opening screen will be misspelled "Minceraft."
 * Minecraft's price has risen over the years, originally being US$20.00. It is now US$26.95.
 * Since the release of 1.12.2-pre1, the Java Edition of Minecraft has the subtitle Java Edition underneath its logo to separate it from the Bedrock Edition, which had been renamed to just Minecraft.
 * In Snapshot 12w04a, if a user were to change the language to African, then the Single player button would read "You are a n**ger." This was removed in around snapshot 12w05a.