How to Play Minecraft
Choose player mode and options., Choose your game mode., Set your World Options., Get to work right away., Gather materials., Build a crafting table., Craft your tools., Mine some coal., Build a structure., Kill some sheep with your sword., Find...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Choose player mode and options.
When first starting the game, you will need to choose if you want to play single player or multiplayer.
In single player, you obviously play alone, while in multiplayer you play with other people across the Minecraft servers.
If playing the free version of Minecraft, multiplayer will not be available to you.
You will also need to set the main options, which include the sound and difficulty settings, among other settings as well.
The difficulty settings determine whether or not monsters which are also known as "hostile mobs" will show up at night or underground.
These are specific to each world, so your difficulty settings on one world may be different to another.
Peaceful (for beginners) will prevent hostile mobs from spawning, while Easy will give you a small spawn rate, and Hard will give you a massive one.
The amount of attack damage given to you by each mob will differ depending on the difficulty settings too.
Also, in the hard mode, Zombies, which are hostile mobs, can break down wooden doors down and kill you! If you are playing multiplayer, it will be unnecessary to create the world, as you can simply join someone else’s server.
To find a multiplayer server, you can visit a website such as planetminecraft.com.
However, if you only want to play Minecraft with a few close friends, then making your own server may be the best option. -
Step 2: Choose your game mode.
If you are playing on your own, you will need to create the world for your character to inhabit.
When creating this world, you will need to choose the game mode, as this will change how the world you create will work.
This functionally makes the game easier or harder to play.
The available modes are:
Survival:
When playing in survival mode, you will have many of the familiar requirements of other games.
Health, hunger, armor, and oxygen (when swimming) bars will appear, as well as inventory.
You will also need to gather materials for crafting, through mining and other means, as well as gain experience points.
Creative:
You will have unlimited access to materials in this mode, and your needs (such as health and hunger) will be gone.
Also, you can fly.
Hardcore:
This mode is the same as survival except for hardcore permanently locks the created world into the Hard difficulty setting, and your world will be permanently deleted if you die.
So, be careful! (By the PC update for
1.9, you will be stuck in spectator mode after you die) The bonus chest option will spawn a chest containing wood, tools, and food.
It will spawn near your spawn point with 0-4 torches around it.
This is helpful for new players.
Spectator:
This mode will allow you to fly through the floor to see the world.
You can only get it by using the /gamemode command or by dying in hardcore mode.
Adventure:
The correct tools will be needed to harvest the individual types of materials in this mode.
However, other items can still be interacted with.
This will only appear in custom made adventure maps or by using the /gamemode command. , This is a helpful menu which allows you to control the world you are creating better.
You can type in a seed (or code which generates a particular world), toggle cheats, and set your World Mode, among other options.
World modes include
- Default which does the basic generation, Superflat, which is essentially a flat world, Large Biomes, basically creates much larger biomes than the default settings, AMPLIFIED which generates huge mountains and deep caves, Customized that can make awesome different worlds, and finally a special mode called Debug that generates every single type of block in one world but you can only look at them. , When you first start playing the game, the most important thing will be to survive the first night.
The game goes through day-night cycles, and the monsters in the game appear at night.
You will need to build yourself a shelter before the in-game sunset so that you will be protected., You will need to mine and collect materials to build anything in the game.
The first material you will need to collect to survive your first night is wood.
Find trees and punch them, by holding down the left mouse button, to destroy them and collect wood.
Twenty pieces is a good starting point. , A crafting table will be used to create all of your items in the game.
Build a crafting table to continue to build your shelter.
You can build a crafting table by following these instructions:
Open your inventory by pressing “E” on your keyboard and place one wood in one box on the top right under Crafting.
This should allow you to build wood planks.
Grab the wood planks that it gives you and put them in your inventory.
Take those wood planks and fill all four boxes under “Crafting” with wood.
Do this by right clicking each square or holding left click as you drag your mouse over all four squares.
This will allow you to craft a crafting table.
Take it and place it by right clicking somewhere near where you intend to build your shelter.
When crafting at a crafting table, there are nine positions in which to place items.
Which order items are placed in is important, but the position isn't necessary for certain items, From here on, the positions will be referred to as 1-9, going left to right and then down (as if reading a book). , You will need tools to harvest many materials.
Build your first tools using wood and your crafting table.
The primary tools will be a pickaxe, an axe, a shovel, and a sword.
Begin to make tools by making sticks.
These are made using two planks in your inventory crafting boxes.
Two planks make four sticks.
Make a pickaxe by placing sticks in positions 5 and 8, and wood planks in positions 1-3.
Notice how it makes the shape of a pickaxe? Make an axe by placing planks in positions 1, 2, and 4, and sticks in positions 5 and
8.
Make a shovel by placing one plank in position 2, and sticks in positions 5 and
8.
Make a sword by placing planks in positions 2 and 5, and one stick in position
8.
These tools can be improved by making them with cobblestone, rather than wood.
However, don’t waste time finding stone during your first day.
You can make better tools during the next day. , You want to have some torches in your house.
Otherwise, your home will be dark and hostile mobs will spawn in. , Build some kind of structure in any location which is large enough, though on top of a hill or mountain is usually a good idea (it will be easier to defend and find later).
You can build a house-like structure, or you can dig yourself a cave.
The goal is to make a structure which you can shut yourself in to (although don’t forget to leave yourself an initial way to get in!).
A roof is not necessary, though spiders will be able to enter.
You can place an overhang around the shelter so that spiders are barred.
Your character is two blocks high, so if you want a doorway, make it two blocks high.
Ensure that your shelter has enough light to prevent hostile mobs from spawning inside of it.
Craft a door by placing wooden planks in positions 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and eight while crafting.
To open a door, right click it.
However, this is true only for wooden doors.
If you somehow find iron and make an iron door, you will need a pressure plate or other redstone mechanism. , It may seem cruel, but its how you will survive.
They will drop 1 piece wool if you kill them but if you somehow find iron and craft shears, they will drop 1-3 pieces of wool.
Collect 3 pieces of wool and 3 wooden planks to craft a bed.
To craft a bed, place the 3 wool in positions 4, 5, and 6 and the 3 wooden planks in 7, 8, and 9 , Once you have survived the first night, you will want to find some food.
Going hungry will lower your health over time and make you easier to kill.
The easiest way to find food is to kill animals.
If you are too nice, then use apples or plant seeds to get wheat.
Food will be unnecessary on Peaceful difficulty. , Once you’ve built your basic shelter and tools and you’ve survived the first night, the rest of the game can largely be played however you wish.
One way to play the game is in the style of an RPG.
Go around collecting and crafting better items, and slowly work your way up to The End (another world where you will need to fight a dragon to “beat” the game). , You can play what is called “sandbox” style, where you use the materials and environments to create cool environments and structures.
Minecraft players have recreated cities from Game of Thrones, the menacing Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings, even the White House and Notre Dame! , The game can also be fun for budding inventors, as it has mechanical aspects.
You can figure out how to build working elevators, cannons, or anything else you can think up, through the use of redstone.
Some players even managed to build a working computer in the game! , Some game modes work better for certain playing styles than others.
If playing Sandbox style, for example, you’re probably better off playing in Creative mode. , This play style can be good for people who don't want to build a house and are more into adventure. , You will want a weapon to defend yourself from the various monsters in the game.
A sword is a great place to start, and the method of building it is described above.
Make sure that you use stronger materials than wood for the blade on your more permanent weapon, as wood will degrade quicker than other types of tools. , You will want to craft yourself some armor.
Armor will help protect you from damage when fighting monsters.
You can create several different pieces of armor and, as with many items in the game, you can craft them out of different types of materials.Materials you can use to craft armor include: leather, iron ingots, gold ingots and diamond gems.
You can also buy chainmail armor off of NPC Villagers.
Craft a helmet by placing your material in positions 4, 5, 6, 7, and
9.
Craft a chest plate by placing your material in every position, but position
2.
Craft leggings by placing your material in every position BUT 5 and
8.
Craft boots by placing your material in positions 4, 7, 6 and
9. , Monsters cannot spawn in areas with high enough light.
To keep areas lit at night, you will need to place torches.
To make a torch, you will need one stick and one coal (coal placed above stick when crafting).
Coal can be found in mountainous areas or underground.
It looks like stone with dark spots on it. , Mobs (or mobiles) are any creatures which move in the game.
These can be good, or they can be hostile.
Knowing how to identify which is which is imperative, as it can mean the difference between life or having to find your way back after respawning.Peaceful Mobs, such as cows, chicken, and sheep, will never attack you.
You can attack them to collect meat for food.
Neutral Mobs will not attack you until you give them a reason.
Different actions will set off different neutral mobs.
Zombie pigmen, and wolves, for example, must be attacked before they will hurt you.
On the other hand, endermen will become hostile as soon as you look at them (so avoid getting them in your crosshair).
Endermen are neutral but will become hostile if you look at them from the upper legs and up or if you attack them first.
Hostile Mobs will always attack you if they see you.
These mobs only spawn at night or underground.
Common hostile mobs include skeletons, zombies, creepers, endermen, and spiders. , Some materials, such as dirt, stone and cobblestone, are commonly found underground or on exposed hillsides.
You will need to dig with the pickaxe or shovel to harvest these materials., You can also find certain materials above ground.
This includes materials like wood, sugar cane, seeds, and wheat.
You can also collect things like wheat in villages.
Axes or your hands are often enough to get these materials. , Some materials will need to be obtained from creatures.
You can get wool from sheep (avoid killing them by using shears), eggs from chickens, and milk from cows, among other items. , Use your crafting table or your inventory crafting to create items.
Don’t forget that the shape you make when crafting items can often be important in making your recipes work (although some items do not require this).
Click and drag items from your inventory into the crafting boxes, placing the lot with a left click or just one with a right click.
Take the item you've created by clicking its image and dragging it into your inventory. , There are far too many game items to list all of their crafting recipes here.You can find recipes for the different items by searching our Minecraft section or by looking at a variety of other websites online.
You can also ask your fellow players. ,,,, -
Step 3: Set your World Options.
-
Step 4: Get to work right away.
-
Step 5: Gather materials.
-
Step 6: Build a crafting table.
-
Step 7: Craft your tools.
-
Step 8: Mine some coal.
-
Step 9: Build a structure.
-
Step 10: Kill some sheep with your sword.
-
Step 11: Find food.
-
Step 12: Play RPG style.
-
Step 13: Play Sandbox style.
-
Step 14: Play Inventor style.
-
Step 15: Keep your game mode in mind.
-
Step 16: Play Nomadic style.
-
Step 17: Get weapons.
-
Step 18: Get armor.
-
Step 19: Place torches.
-
Step 20: Know the different Mobs.
-
Step 21: Look for materials underground.
-
Step 22: Look for materials above ground.
-
Step 23: Look for materials from creatures.
-
Step 24: Use your crafting table.
-
Step 25: Find crafting recipes.
-
Step 26: Make a map or make a compass so you can find your way around.
-
Step 27: Breed animals and build a basic farm to provide for yourself and give you materials to use or trade.
-
Step 28: Get a horse
-
Step 29: cat or dog to keep as a pet.
-
Step 30: Brew potions to heal yourself
-
Step 31: make yourself stronger
-
Step 32: invisible
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Step 33: or produce some other effects.
Detailed Guide
When first starting the game, you will need to choose if you want to play single player or multiplayer.
In single player, you obviously play alone, while in multiplayer you play with other people across the Minecraft servers.
If playing the free version of Minecraft, multiplayer will not be available to you.
You will also need to set the main options, which include the sound and difficulty settings, among other settings as well.
The difficulty settings determine whether or not monsters which are also known as "hostile mobs" will show up at night or underground.
These are specific to each world, so your difficulty settings on one world may be different to another.
Peaceful (for beginners) will prevent hostile mobs from spawning, while Easy will give you a small spawn rate, and Hard will give you a massive one.
The amount of attack damage given to you by each mob will differ depending on the difficulty settings too.
Also, in the hard mode, Zombies, which are hostile mobs, can break down wooden doors down and kill you! If you are playing multiplayer, it will be unnecessary to create the world, as you can simply join someone else’s server.
To find a multiplayer server, you can visit a website such as planetminecraft.com.
However, if you only want to play Minecraft with a few close friends, then making your own server may be the best option.
If you are playing on your own, you will need to create the world for your character to inhabit.
When creating this world, you will need to choose the game mode, as this will change how the world you create will work.
This functionally makes the game easier or harder to play.
The available modes are:
Survival:
When playing in survival mode, you will have many of the familiar requirements of other games.
Health, hunger, armor, and oxygen (when swimming) bars will appear, as well as inventory.
You will also need to gather materials for crafting, through mining and other means, as well as gain experience points.
Creative:
You will have unlimited access to materials in this mode, and your needs (such as health and hunger) will be gone.
Also, you can fly.
Hardcore:
This mode is the same as survival except for hardcore permanently locks the created world into the Hard difficulty setting, and your world will be permanently deleted if you die.
So, be careful! (By the PC update for
1.9, you will be stuck in spectator mode after you die) The bonus chest option will spawn a chest containing wood, tools, and food.
It will spawn near your spawn point with 0-4 torches around it.
This is helpful for new players.
Spectator:
This mode will allow you to fly through the floor to see the world.
You can only get it by using the /gamemode command or by dying in hardcore mode.
Adventure:
The correct tools will be needed to harvest the individual types of materials in this mode.
However, other items can still be interacted with.
This will only appear in custom made adventure maps or by using the /gamemode command. , This is a helpful menu which allows you to control the world you are creating better.
You can type in a seed (or code which generates a particular world), toggle cheats, and set your World Mode, among other options.
World modes include
- Default which does the basic generation, Superflat, which is essentially a flat world, Large Biomes, basically creates much larger biomes than the default settings, AMPLIFIED which generates huge mountains and deep caves, Customized that can make awesome different worlds, and finally a special mode called Debug that generates every single type of block in one world but you can only look at them. , When you first start playing the game, the most important thing will be to survive the first night.
The game goes through day-night cycles, and the monsters in the game appear at night.
You will need to build yourself a shelter before the in-game sunset so that you will be protected., You will need to mine and collect materials to build anything in the game.
The first material you will need to collect to survive your first night is wood.
Find trees and punch them, by holding down the left mouse button, to destroy them and collect wood.
Twenty pieces is a good starting point. , A crafting table will be used to create all of your items in the game.
Build a crafting table to continue to build your shelter.
You can build a crafting table by following these instructions:
Open your inventory by pressing “E” on your keyboard and place one wood in one box on the top right under Crafting.
This should allow you to build wood planks.
Grab the wood planks that it gives you and put them in your inventory.
Take those wood planks and fill all four boxes under “Crafting” with wood.
Do this by right clicking each square or holding left click as you drag your mouse over all four squares.
This will allow you to craft a crafting table.
Take it and place it by right clicking somewhere near where you intend to build your shelter.
When crafting at a crafting table, there are nine positions in which to place items.
Which order items are placed in is important, but the position isn't necessary for certain items, From here on, the positions will be referred to as 1-9, going left to right and then down (as if reading a book). , You will need tools to harvest many materials.
Build your first tools using wood and your crafting table.
The primary tools will be a pickaxe, an axe, a shovel, and a sword.
Begin to make tools by making sticks.
These are made using two planks in your inventory crafting boxes.
Two planks make four sticks.
Make a pickaxe by placing sticks in positions 5 and 8, and wood planks in positions 1-3.
Notice how it makes the shape of a pickaxe? Make an axe by placing planks in positions 1, 2, and 4, and sticks in positions 5 and
8.
Make a shovel by placing one plank in position 2, and sticks in positions 5 and
8.
Make a sword by placing planks in positions 2 and 5, and one stick in position
8.
These tools can be improved by making them with cobblestone, rather than wood.
However, don’t waste time finding stone during your first day.
You can make better tools during the next day. , You want to have some torches in your house.
Otherwise, your home will be dark and hostile mobs will spawn in. , Build some kind of structure in any location which is large enough, though on top of a hill or mountain is usually a good idea (it will be easier to defend and find later).
You can build a house-like structure, or you can dig yourself a cave.
The goal is to make a structure which you can shut yourself in to (although don’t forget to leave yourself an initial way to get in!).
A roof is not necessary, though spiders will be able to enter.
You can place an overhang around the shelter so that spiders are barred.
Your character is two blocks high, so if you want a doorway, make it two blocks high.
Ensure that your shelter has enough light to prevent hostile mobs from spawning inside of it.
Craft a door by placing wooden planks in positions 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and eight while crafting.
To open a door, right click it.
However, this is true only for wooden doors.
If you somehow find iron and make an iron door, you will need a pressure plate or other redstone mechanism. , It may seem cruel, but its how you will survive.
They will drop 1 piece wool if you kill them but if you somehow find iron and craft shears, they will drop 1-3 pieces of wool.
Collect 3 pieces of wool and 3 wooden planks to craft a bed.
To craft a bed, place the 3 wool in positions 4, 5, and 6 and the 3 wooden planks in 7, 8, and 9 , Once you have survived the first night, you will want to find some food.
Going hungry will lower your health over time and make you easier to kill.
The easiest way to find food is to kill animals.
If you are too nice, then use apples or plant seeds to get wheat.
Food will be unnecessary on Peaceful difficulty. , Once you’ve built your basic shelter and tools and you’ve survived the first night, the rest of the game can largely be played however you wish.
One way to play the game is in the style of an RPG.
Go around collecting and crafting better items, and slowly work your way up to The End (another world where you will need to fight a dragon to “beat” the game). , You can play what is called “sandbox” style, where you use the materials and environments to create cool environments and structures.
Minecraft players have recreated cities from Game of Thrones, the menacing Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings, even the White House and Notre Dame! , The game can also be fun for budding inventors, as it has mechanical aspects.
You can figure out how to build working elevators, cannons, or anything else you can think up, through the use of redstone.
Some players even managed to build a working computer in the game! , Some game modes work better for certain playing styles than others.
If playing Sandbox style, for example, you’re probably better off playing in Creative mode. , This play style can be good for people who don't want to build a house and are more into adventure. , You will want a weapon to defend yourself from the various monsters in the game.
A sword is a great place to start, and the method of building it is described above.
Make sure that you use stronger materials than wood for the blade on your more permanent weapon, as wood will degrade quicker than other types of tools. , You will want to craft yourself some armor.
Armor will help protect you from damage when fighting monsters.
You can create several different pieces of armor and, as with many items in the game, you can craft them out of different types of materials.Materials you can use to craft armor include: leather, iron ingots, gold ingots and diamond gems.
You can also buy chainmail armor off of NPC Villagers.
Craft a helmet by placing your material in positions 4, 5, 6, 7, and
9.
Craft a chest plate by placing your material in every position, but position
2.
Craft leggings by placing your material in every position BUT 5 and
8.
Craft boots by placing your material in positions 4, 7, 6 and
9. , Monsters cannot spawn in areas with high enough light.
To keep areas lit at night, you will need to place torches.
To make a torch, you will need one stick and one coal (coal placed above stick when crafting).
Coal can be found in mountainous areas or underground.
It looks like stone with dark spots on it. , Mobs (or mobiles) are any creatures which move in the game.
These can be good, or they can be hostile.
Knowing how to identify which is which is imperative, as it can mean the difference between life or having to find your way back after respawning.Peaceful Mobs, such as cows, chicken, and sheep, will never attack you.
You can attack them to collect meat for food.
Neutral Mobs will not attack you until you give them a reason.
Different actions will set off different neutral mobs.
Zombie pigmen, and wolves, for example, must be attacked before they will hurt you.
On the other hand, endermen will become hostile as soon as you look at them (so avoid getting them in your crosshair).
Endermen are neutral but will become hostile if you look at them from the upper legs and up or if you attack them first.
Hostile Mobs will always attack you if they see you.
These mobs only spawn at night or underground.
Common hostile mobs include skeletons, zombies, creepers, endermen, and spiders. , Some materials, such as dirt, stone and cobblestone, are commonly found underground or on exposed hillsides.
You will need to dig with the pickaxe or shovel to harvest these materials., You can also find certain materials above ground.
This includes materials like wood, sugar cane, seeds, and wheat.
You can also collect things like wheat in villages.
Axes or your hands are often enough to get these materials. , Some materials will need to be obtained from creatures.
You can get wool from sheep (avoid killing them by using shears), eggs from chickens, and milk from cows, among other items. , Use your crafting table or your inventory crafting to create items.
Don’t forget that the shape you make when crafting items can often be important in making your recipes work (although some items do not require this).
Click and drag items from your inventory into the crafting boxes, placing the lot with a left click or just one with a right click.
Take the item you've created by clicking its image and dragging it into your inventory. , There are far too many game items to list all of their crafting recipes here.You can find recipes for the different items by searching our Minecraft section or by looking at a variety of other websites online.
You can also ask your fellow players. ,,,,
About the Author
Charlotte Harvey
Experienced content creator specializing in hobbies guides and tutorials.
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