A Simple Guide to Minecraft for Bewildered Parents

February 27, 2016 Explorer Gabor 0 Comments

My son complained loudly that an Enderman had teleported in front of him then exchanged tips with his brother on how to kill a creeper.   What is this other world and do you need to be part of it?

Over 70 million copies of Minecraft have been sold, making it one of the most popular games around. Whilst I insist my boys play in Creative mode, having a lovely time making buildings and nurturing farms, they often sneak into Survival mode to fight monsters and complain about creepers blowing up their buildings.

I've always thought of Minecraft as online lego, but apparently it's more than just building stuff.  My boys are helping write this post to explain Minecraft to people, especially parents, who really don't have a clue what it's all about.  Over to you B1 and B2.

We have Minecraft on our tablets and on mums phone, just in case we get bored when we're out shopping or at a coffee shop (again!).

In the beginning, you need to make wooden planks from trees, then build a crafting table so you can make sticks to craft a pick axe.  You're ready to start mining, which is when the fun begins.

We don't just make buildings, we also make potions, monsters, animals, gardens, grow crops and bake food.  Yes, food is important in Minecraft and you need a full hunger bar in case you die a bit, as it helps your lives go up.  You might die a bit if you get attacked by a monster, fall from somewhere high, hit a cacti, drown under water or fall in lava.

It's really important to build a shelter so you have somewhere to go when it gets dark.  In your shelter you need a bed, crafting table, a furnace to cook food and either windows or a clock so you know when it's daytime.

Minecraft Steve - very resourceful

The main players in Minecraft are Steve and Alex, though there are heaps of other characters and lots of skins you can choose.  At the moment B1 is playing as a Tiki and B2 playing as Christmas Steve.

It's important to make armour so you don't die as often.  There are different types of armour. The best is diamond armour as you can't get killed when you're wearing it.  The next best is iron because it's really strong and it's hard to get killed. There's also gold, leather and chain mail armour, with each type not as strong.

You definitely need good armour as there are lots of bad guys out there that can kill you.  It's worth knowing who they are and how you can kill them.

Minecraft bad guys - skeleton, creeper, zombie, spider

Creepers don't actually creep.  They run towards you and explode, which may kill you or destroy what you've made. You can kill a creeper by making it walk through lava or if you have cats and cheetahs they scare creepers away.

Skeletons can kill you with their bow & arrow, though you can also kill them with a bow and arrow. Or, like creepers, get them to walk through lava and they'll die.

Zombies can hurt you if you touch one.  You can kill them with a bow and arrow, weapons or lava.

Lava - great for killing bad guys

You need to look out for Spiders when it's dark or if you're in a dark cave.  They make a hissing sound, can climb walls and jump a long way.  You can kill them in the same way as Zombie's, Skeletons and Creepers.

And don't forget the Enderman.  If you leave an Enderman alone they are harmless.  But if you annoy one, they can attack.  They can also teleport in front of you which makes it really hard to get away. They can be killed with lava, water, cacti or with your sword.

There are other bad guys too, like Silverfish, Witches and Slime.

Exploring a Minecraft cave

The best part about playing Minecraft is mining and finding villages.  You could find a chest house (blacksmith) in a village that might have iron armour, iron swords, apples, bread or wheat. You can use these things to survive.  It's also fun to find a desert temple, an abandoned mine or a dungeon. You might even find a witch hut that could have a cauldron with a potion in it, although sometimes there's a witch, which you really don't want to find.

Hand over the money - figurines for sale

Like all popular games, you can also buy Minecraft toys - soft ones and figurines.  There is so much stuff you can buy you'll need a lot of pocket money as they aren't cheap.  Or ask mum to buy it for you as I'm sure she has heaps of money.

Minecraft...worth exploring further so you know what your kids are talking about and don't feel like an old fogy when they are complaining about the Enderman or Creepers.

I'd love you to continue following my explorations - just drop your email into the 'follow me by email' box and you can receive all new posts straight to your inbox.  No spam, I promise.