For at least the last 4 Minecraft sessions I’ve been busy exploring a cave. I found this cave when digging out my underground tree farm, just running into the end of it. The cave is the largest I’ve attempted to explore yet.
A medium sized room, with George along helping me light things up.
So today will mark my 5th play session doing nothing but exploring and digging out resources. And these are like 5 to 6 hour play sessions. All said and done this is probably going to be like a 50-60 hour cave, assuming it doesn’t open up into another system at the end of a tunnel.
The entrance room.
That 50 or 60 hours is the entire playtime for some games which I’ve paid $40-60 for, and this is just doing one thing in one cave in Minecraft. Can’t say you wont get good entertainment bang for your buck. 
I’m not going to put up too many screenshots, as even for me it all starts to look the same, but if I come across any additional large rooms I’ll probably post again.
Viewing a larger room from above.
That shot is of one of the larger rooms so far in the cave. There was this dark hole in the ceiling, and after pillaring up just to check it out, found six or seven fairly long tunnels, which thankfully all dead-ended before too long. The area was blocked off to mark it “explored”.
The same larger room, after being lit.
That’s the room I found that hole in the ceiling, after spending around 20 minutes lighting and clearing out resources. You can see a tunnel that continues to more of the cave at the far left, and right near there the cobble steps that lead up and out to the entrance room.
Look, another room!
That above screenshot is actually from a while ago, as that whole area is lit and mined out now. I do still pass through it though as the tunnel at the left again continues into more rooms of the cave to an as yet to be determined distance.
A zombie spawner chest.
Woohoo a green record! 
You can also get an idea of the kind of take I get on a typical run into the cave: about 6 stacks of coal, 2 of iron, and lots of sundry. I actually leave behind more cobble that I dig out, as my only hope of keeping the cave navigable is to block off dead-end areas that I’ve mined out. I also try to get rid of extra tunnels that loop back in order to prevent myself getting turned around.
So far getting lost hasn’t been a trouble for more than a minute or two, thanks to my torching system. Torches go on the left wall on the way in, and any extra dark areas are lit by torches on the floor. When it’s time to get out, just turn around and keep the torches on what is now my right wall. Very easy to use and if you decide on using that sort of system before you venture into the giant cave it isn’t any extra hassle to set up. Loopback tunnels can cause it to get a little confusing occasionally, which is why I hates them, and get rid of them whenever I can figure out their entrance and exit points.
Well I hope everyone else has been doing well in their Minecraft worlds! Until next post, Happy Crafting!
Okay, I’ve never played minecraft (but read much about it) so I am an ignoramus. But could you perchance explain to me what the appeal is? I don’t quite ‘get’ it.
It is hard to explain…
It’s a similar experience to many sandbox games, where you have control over what to do at any point, but beyond just control of a situation, it’s control of the entire environment. Of course it is not a completely uncontested control, as the baddies come out at night.
It also is a very satisfying experience for the OCD tendencies many players have, as you can make sure all your blocks are arranged just the way you want.
Basically, it’s not a traditional game that pits player vs player. While it can support player vs player, and player vs computer (monsters), that’s not the “main” point of the game. If you’ve ever seen the game A Tale in the Desert, it’s actually a lot like that.
The point of the game is to “mine” raw materials, make tools, and process the raw materials into other materials that allow you to make very simple machines (no gears, cams, cogs, levers, or pullys) although a future update will include pistons, and buildings. The basic raw materials are: water, dirt, gravel, sand, clay, sand stone, coal, iron, wood (from trees), stone, gold, diamond, and red stone. There are other raw materials too but those are mostly for decorating things such as: wool, lapis lazuli, squid ink, flowers.
The other thing to note is that the “red stone” mentioned above is used as wires to construct electrical circuits and from there you can develop basic electronic logic elements that allow you to create basic versions of computer processors and such.
To be honest, I thought Minecraft was a flavor of the month fad when I first heard of it. Lotta hype, looks kinda basic. Retro Glamorous sort of dealy. You can place blocks and build things, yadda yadda.
The one thing that hooked me, was that you *have* to build a form of shelter during the day, because at night you’ll get wrecked otherwise. That threat sparked the imagination of possibilities and fears of both the dark nights, but the creatures that stalk it. Add in silent monsters than can survive through the day that blow up not only yourself, but your very shelter, and you have even more of those delightful “oh, crap!” moments sprinkled through out the game.
Check out a few Lets Plays on youtube. I prefer X Plays, but I knew most prefer Seananners.
Also, I’m a very seasoned MMO player, beyond the ‘there is the obvious formula’ stage with many games. Minecraft not only provides the right scratch for my gaming urges, but without demanding 24/7 play. I can get on and off at my choosing, and without as much hassle as MMOs tend to drag with them. Add in the money crunch, and for a one time fee of what used to be a monthly payment on those very mmo’s I grow so tired of, I can play Minecraft all day, every day, and every update for free since that initial payment.
Adding in the new achievements they got planned, and they net a whole other crowd of gamers as well.
[...] I’m not out of gaming right now, just kicking it 8-bit style for a while.Related articlesMammoth Minecraft Cave (bwochinski.wordpress.com)Minecraft News of the Day (geeks.thedailywh.at)Interview: Notch On The [...]