A Beginner’s Guide To Playing Minecraft

Minecraft is one of the best, most relaxing and easy games to play… Or at least once you know what you are doing. The truth is you need to consider a few things before you play, including the minecraft servers.

If you play on a console this is not something you need to think about so much, but on PC minecraft you do. As well as this, no matter what system you play on you need to be prepared for your first time in the Minecraft world.

Are you ready to get crafting? Yes? Good! Let’s get to it!

Computer & Console Gaming

Depending on what you use, minecraft can be easy or really hard. The game is overall more challenging on PC, but PC also brings you more options, more customizations, MODs, and so on for later in the game when you are addicted and want to get more out of it.

However, you can also play Minecraft on consoles, it is available on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo as well, you can even buy a version from the app store onto your phone or tablet!

When looking at the controls, with a console version you will generally get used to the controls much easier, but with PC it may take some time, especially if you are fairly new to PC gaming.

So, before you get started make sure you know what the system you are using requires, and how you can use it to best benefit you and make the game as enjoyable for you as possible.

Getting Started

Now, to get into what you need to expect. Minecraft is brilliant, however, the first few nights in the game are the hardest, after that you will feel more comfortable, so we are just here to get the ball rolling for you.

So, you know, you don’t make the same mistakes most of us have and end up dying on night one because we missed something.

Here is what we recommend you get done before the first night falls in Minecraft:

● Wood.
● Stone.
● Axe.
● Pickaxe.
● Coal.
● Torches.
● Sword.
● Food.

If you get all of these before nightfall, you will be golden and the first night will be a breeze.

Punch A Tree

As you start out all you have are the clothes on your back, you have no weapons to defend yourself with, no tools to help you build, no shelter, nothing at all.

So, you need to get yourself some tools. To get started walk up to the first tree unfortunate enough to cross your path and start punching it. Punch it until it is totally gone, punch another tree too, keep on punching. Wood will drop with every block you punch.

Wood is the most basic building block that you will use for the remainder of the game, so grab as much as you can and open your inventory to turn them into planks.

Four planks in your crafting grid makes a crafting bench and with this you can do so, so much more!

Mine Stone

With your crafting bench make yourself a handy wooden pickaxe, using a set of sticks with some planks.

Make yourself a few of these, we recommend 3 wooden pickaxes will get you started.

Then, use this wooden pickaxe to gather up stone and use this stone to craft stone pickaxes, which are much stronger.

You can also make axes, hoes, shovels, and swords, doing so will make mining stone, and chopping down trees much faster for you.

Find Shelter

We recommend finding an area in the game you want to set up camp for the night and building yourself a nice and simple shelter, but maybe not too simple, creepers will happily blow you up if they know you’re just on the other side of a bit of wood.

The best thing to do is make a bed, kill some sheep and use their wool plus some wood, and just sleep the night away. You will not always be lucky enough to find a sheep in your biome though, so you may just spend your first night hiding away, or create yourself a cave and get some mining done… That is an option too.

You Do NOT Want To Be Caught Outside At Night!

Night time in Minecraft is not a happy place, monsters (Mobs) come out in their droves just to attack you: Skeletons, zombies, creepers, and so many more will be after you.

Later on they can be useful but right now, avoid them like the plague.

Create yourself a watertight fortress that will keep you safe in your first few nights.

Bon Appétit

When you take damage, or after some time has passed your health bar will start to drop, to get it back up you need to eat some food.

Everything you do will cost you some hunger, if your hunger bar is full, you will heal from injuries, but if you lose a bit, you stop healing!

Get together as much food stuffs as you can, meat from animals is a good go to, and they can sustain you, but will do more if cooked. Apples, fish, berries, and so on can help keep you alive.

Torches Galore

Remember what we said about torches? Just a bit of coal and some wooden sticks do the trick, not only do they make mining so much easier, and keep your surroundings easier to see at night, but mobs hate the light, which is why they only come out at night.

If you don’t have any coal you can use a furnace and place a wooden block inside to make some charcoal.

Caves Are Great!

Once you have done all of the above, now you want to find a cave. These are naturally made tunnels and crevices that go underground. Some are simple, and some are wildly complex. You can find food, animals, monsters, water, lava, and more down there.

These places are the awesome next step in you advancing through the game and surviving.

Hunting For Raw Materials

Fancy something better than stone? Get some iron! What about Diamond? There are so many options.

Go on cave hunts and search for all the different materials you can use.

If you want iron, look for stone with small tan flecks in it. These are iron ore blocks, pig these, grab some coal, pop it in a furnace and you will get ingots!

Villages Can Be Resourceful

Fancy an adventure? Going on an adventure and looking to find a village is a good idea. You can find enchanted armor and weapons, enchantments, oodles of food, and even a Suspicious Stew.

If you need some extra resources, or a little helping hand, raiding a village could be the way to go.

Let The Iron Age Begin!

With enough iron you can make an iron pickaxe, sword, bucket, helmet, boots, cuirass, gauntlets, axe, and shovel.

These are durable tools and are super efficient. However, the pickaxe is the most important as only an iron pickaxe can mine diamond, gold, and Redstone.

If you try to use anything else you will destroy the materials.

Farming

Sick of killing chickens and bows? Same.

It’s time to start farming. Hoe the ground, leaving a strip you will dig out in a line, and fill with water. Then gather some seeds and plant them in the blocks.

Soon, you will have your first harvest! But why stop there? Start farming animals too! You can farm so many things! This world is your oyster!