Minecraft... please help this clueless 40 yo father...

[Blackpuppy]

Hello Era, I need help.

My daughter is getting into Minecraft and I want to support her interest in the game...but I just don't understand it.

I've been gaming pretty much all my life, and I've helped her get through Mario and Pokemon games no problem. But now her cousin has gotten her into Minecraft and I want to continue to help her... but I have no freakin clue what anything is. I've opened the app on my phone, but I'm overwhelmed with options and boxes and a seemingly infinite number of item boxes.

I get that there is a survival mode and a creative mode... they seem pretty self explanatory, but once I'm in the game, I have no idea how to continue. I just walk around and smash things.

I'm looking for tips and hints please. Thank you!

 

[ProstatePuncher]

You pretty much make your own fun. Its why its so good for kids, because kids just fucking love inventing their own little things to do, objectives to reach for, etc.

 

[Blackpuppy]

You pretty much make your own fun. Its why its so good for kids, because kids just fucking love inventing their own little things to do, objectives to reach for, etc.

Click to shrink...

I definitely get that aspect of the game. I think I'm more confused (overwhelmed?) by the mechanics more than anything.

 

[Slick Butter]

It's really more of a creative outlet with some light survival elements, but you break blocks and collect them, and they can be crafted and turned into different items or blocks with different properties.

Start with a tree, break it and you get logs. In the inventory crafting menu, you can turn these logs into wood planks which you can also build with or use 4 to make a crafting bench. 2 wood planks will make sticks for torches and bows among other things.

At the crafting bench you can craft an even wider variety of items. With 2 sticks and 3 wood you can make a weak pickaxe, which allows you to get stone. Stone will then allow you to make a furnace to smelt ore and cook food, as well as make a stronger pickaxe which can mine more kinds of materials. There are other tool you may build for other kinds of blocks, like axes and shovels, as well as a sword for defending yourself.

You should also build some form of shelter, since there are enemies that can attack. And then I think you can take it from there, there's lots of blocks and structures to discover and items to make. Most importantly have fun building things.

 

[Blackpuppy]

At the crafting bench you can craft an even wider variety of items

Click to shrink...

OK, so this may sound stupid, but I remember last year playing the game and reading that I can craft on a crafting bench...except I couldn't figure out where the heck it was...

 

[Multiverse Moo]

I believe th console versions had tutorials and such you can go through. There is no easy way to help you beyond just fumbling around and getting to grips with surving your first few nights. Stuff like crafting in your menu (which is how you make a crafting bench) helps understand the fundamentals.

The mechanics and mods and all that mean that the game can be immense in a way that all you can really do is pick a direction and try things. Some people like building homes, towns, aquariums, etc. while others like to tackle farming, exploring, building railroads, etc.

I would suggest looking at YouTube videos for the version you are trying to play.

 

[construct]

this thread is pure

 

[Slick Butter]

OK, so this may sound stupid, but I remember last year playing the game and reading that I can craft on a crafting bench...except I couldn't figure out where the heck it was...

Click to shrink...

You have to make one! By default you can craft a small selection of things in your inventory either in the 2x2 grid or from the recipe book (book icon button). To make a bench, you just need 4 wood planks. And then you can place it in the world as a block.

 

[Rosebud]

Meanwhile, OP's daughter:

 

[AstronaughtE]

Oh man. There used to be a half decent tutorial on 360 when it released.

You can either Bing stuff as you have questions, or you're probably going to need to find a minecraft youtuber you like. Without doing any searching I'm guessing there are a million and half how to start minecraft videos that will be helpful.

 

[Blackpuppy]

Meanwhile, OP's daughter:

Click to shrink...

Her savefile has been hacked!!

 

[Blitz]

I think every parent has gone through a similar experience.

 

[OldBritBloke]

Make a brightly lit shelter with a bed to sleep on; it'll be dark soon, and monsters mostly come at night.

Mostly.

 

[Xando]

OK, so this may sound stupid, but I remember last year playing the game and reading that I can craft on a crafting bench...except I couldn't figure out where the heck it was...

Click to shrink...

You have to craft the crafting bench.

When i started playing minecraft with my niece i was kinda confused aswell. I recommend using the minecraft wiki which helped me quite a bit.

Tutorials/Beginner's guide

This starter guide provides advice for players who do not know how to begin their Minecraft journey. It mainly teaches you what to do on your first day, so you can safely survive the first night. Before reading this page, it's expected that you have already bought and downloaded the game. You...

minecraft.fandom.com

 

[Deleted member 9241]

Story of my life. I have literally thousands of video games and my daughters get into MineCraft, one of the only games in the world I could give a fuck less about. This has been a trend their entire lives with video games lol. Good thing they have each other to play with (and sometimes me, but rarely).

We all play Call of Duty, Diablo 3, and World of WarCraft together though, so its all good lol.

 

[RockmanBN]

OK, so this may sound stupid, but I remember last year playing the game and reading that I can craft on a crafting bench...except I couldn't figure out where the heck it was...

Click to shrink...

Craft a table by punching trees and making the wood into wooden planks. With 4 wooden planks, you can craft a crafting table.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

Minecraft is a bit of a nightmare to be honest when it comes to DLC. It seems setup to want me not to give them money.

 

[boris_feinbrand]

Hello Era, I need help.

My daughter is getting into Minecraft and I want to support her interest in the game...but I just don't understand it.

I've been gaming pretty much all my life, and I've helped her get through Mario and Pokemon games no problem. But now her cousin has gotten her into Minecraft and I want to continue to help her... but I have no freakin clue what anything is. I've opened the app on my phone, but I'm overwhelmed with options and boxes and a seemingly infinite number of item boxes.

I get that there is a survival mode and a creative mode... they seem pretty self explanatory, but once I'm in the game, I have no idea how to continue. I just walk around and smash things.

I'm looking for tips and hints please. Thank you!

Click to shrink...

Personally once you get over the initial hurdle in survival mode, the game just starts making sense.
Make small goals for your first days:

1. Build a workbench
2. Build some tools (Axe, shovel, pickaxe)
3. Build shelter before nightfall (either a cabin or like most beginners, a hole in the dirt)
4. If you have time and the spawn is right, harvest some wool from sheep to build a bed to skip the night
5. Next day, start digging for stone to make a furnace, create some charcoal to make torches to see in the dark
6. Start digging for ore and materials

Once you get over that initial hurdle the game really opens up, and with a base you can either farm for food, explore or go cave exploring. The huge building projects come later.

 

[Het_Nkik]

I played the game for a month or two over a decade ago when there was just a Java version that was in beta and I had a really fun time playing with the group of friends I was with.

On a whim I hopped back in for a day like three or four years ago and I had no idea what was going on. There were animals and I had to keep eating food to stay alive or something lol. I didn't like it.

It's crazy how old the game already is.

 

[bushmonkey]

Personally once you get over the initial hurdle in survival mode, the game just starts making sense.
Make small goals for your first days:

1. Build a workbench
2. Build some tools (Axe, shovel, pickaxe)
3. Build shelter before nightfall (either a cabin or like most beginners, a hole in the dirt)
4. If you have time and the spawn is right, harvest some wool from sheep to build a bed to skip the night
5. Next day, start digging for stone to make a furnace, create some charcoal to make torches to see in the dark
6. Start digging for ore and materials

Once you get over that initial hurdle the game really opens up, and with a base you can either farm for food, explore or go cave exploring. The huge building projects come later.

Click to shrink...

Great tips. I would also add that you need to upgrade your pickaxe to iron early on to to be able to get better ores

 

[Ravelle]

What do you do when given a box of lego's or Knexx?

You use your imagation and start building.

Doesn't it have a short tutorial in Survival mode nowadays? I believe I remember something like that.

 

[Slick Butter]

I played the game for a month or two over a decade ago when there was just a Java version that was in beta and I had a really fun time playing with the group of friends I was with.

On a whim I hopped back in for a day like three or four years ago and I had no idea what was going on. There were animals and I had to keep eating food to stay alive or something lol. I didn't like it.

It's crazy how old the game already is.

Click to shrink...

I'm not big on there being a hunger bar myself, but it's been in the game for 11 years now (since beta), and there were animals back in the alpha as well. There are a lot more now though and there is just a ton more stuff to find and make in the game in general. But at its core it is still the same. Break block, make thing, build stuff.

 

[Het_Nkik]

I'm not big on there being a hunger bar myself, but it's been in the game for 11 years now (since beta), and there were animals back in the alpha as well. There are a lot more now though and there is just a ton more stuff to find and make in the game in general. But at its core it is still the same. Break block, make thing, build stuff.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I looked up when they added hunger, which was 2011, so I was playing in 09 or 10.

 

[panda-zebra]

I was exactly the same, I think most people are when their kids want them to join in with Minecraft. What got me over the whole WTF do I even do thing was checking the trophy list and giving us things to aim for. With specific goals, exploring all aspects of the game came with reasons to engage with them, and beyond the main list/platinum there's dozens more trophies from the exapnsions.

My kid now plays the java version on PC as much as the ps4 version but also bedrock PC version, and I've also seen him play on some combo of his tablet, ps5 and or PC at the same time I assume so he can play with mods on the platforms where he can't normally. He also spends a lot of cash on shitty mtx as I keep getting notification emails lol.