Getting Started with Minecraft? Go from Noob to Pro
Minecraft is a paid sandbox game where players modify blocks to create and build objects in a three-dimensional free world. It requires players to use their creativity as the game progresses to build an immersive world from their imagination and ensure it thrives. If you are looking for an educational, inclusive, and non-violent leisure game, then Minecraft is a suitable option.
This article will highlight all you need to know and do as a beginner on Minecraft. In a step-by-step guide, you can grow from a beginner to a master builder in a world of creative possibilities.
To begin your journey on Minecraft as a newbie, you must fulfill the pre-game activities.
Following these simple steps, you can get started in no time:
- Get a device compatible with the Minecraft game.
- Buy and download the Minecraft game.
- Install Minecraft on your device.
- Create your account and launch Minecraft.
Getting Started with Minecraft
Check device compatibility with the Minecraft game
Minecraft is compatible with any of these devices, platforms, or any device that has these features:
- Playstation (3,4,5)
- Nintendo switch
- Xbox
- IOS
- Android
- Windows 10 and above
- Linux
- Mac
To play Minecraft on a PC, the PC needs at least a Core i3 processor, 4GB RAM, and 500GB ROM or its equivalent. Mobile Android devices require Android 5.0 and above to play the Bedrock and Java version. These versions will play on any iOS device with iOS 12 or later.
If you would like to play the latest version: Minecraft Earth, your smartphone should run an Android 8.0 OS and support AR (ARcore). An iOS device must have iOS 12.0 or later.
If you tick these boxes, you can move on to the next step.
Buy and download the Minecraft game
You must make a one-time purchase, download, and install Minecraft. You can buy the Java Edition from the official online store for USD 26.95. This version plays only on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Buy the Bedrock edition to play on mobile platforms. It costs slightly higher than Java.
Here is a list of all Minecraft editions and their prices as seen on the website:
You can also buy it on the Playstore and Appstore for mobile devices.
Install Minecraft on your device
Upon successful purchase and download of Minecraft, proceed to install it on your device. You can now begin the Minecraft experience.
Create your account and launch Minecraft
To create a Minecraft account, follow these simple steps:
- Go to the Minecraft website on your device browser.
- Click on Log in, scroll down and click on Register one here.
- On the next page, enter all Minecraft account creation information.
- Once you have filled all the sections, click create account.
- You will receive a mail from Minecraft with a code to verify your email.
- Proceed to the verification page and input the received code.
- Click on Verify to complete the verification process.
After creating an account, proceed to launch the game.
To launch Minecraft do the following:
- For PC: Double click the Minecraft icon to launch the software on your PC.
- For mobile devices: Tap the Minecraft icon once to launch.
Now, you have done a great job completing the pre-game activities. Let’s learn “how to play Minecraft.”
How to play Minecraft
Minecraft is a creative game with less restricting rules, as seen in most video games. Having completed the pre-game activities, a newbie can learn how to play Minecraft conveniently within a day without the newbie jitters. To do so, follow this ultimate guide for newbies:
- Launch Minecraft on your device
- Click “Single-player” on the menu page. It is the first page
- The “select world” page comes up next; since it is a new installation and you have no saved worlds, you need to click “Create new world”
- The new world menu comes up; here, you can name your new world, select a game mode and customize more world options
- Once you spawn on the map, the excitement just began
The first thing you need to know after you spawn on the map is your controls. This is essential for collecting and building activities. The following are the default controls and what they do on Minecraft:
- E – to access inventory
- A, W, S, D keys – for; back, forward, left, and right movements, respectively.
- Hold shift – to crouch or sneak
- F5 – to skim through different camera angles
- Mouse – move the mouse to look around with your avatar
- Left-click – to attack or break blocks
- F2 – to take a screenshot
- Right-click – to place an item or use an item
- Space bar – to jump
- W twice – to run
- Number keys(1-9) – to scroll through your inventory slots
- F11 – to toggle between windows mode and fullscreen mode
- Q – to throw an item on the ground
- Double spacebar – activating flight mode gives you an area view of your crafted works
Play around with the controls to get used to each control and its function. There is no need to rush; take your time. Remember, you are there to have fun.
The basis of this game is to mine and craft. For example, if you want to craft a table,
- you must first craft wood logs from a tree
- then craft a table from these logs of wood
So, you see why you must mine materials before advancing to crafting.
Mine, build, craft, explore
You are halfway into being a pro-Minecraft player.
Now that you have created your account and learned the controls, it is time to start building and exploring your free world away from the real world.
This is your first day on Minecraft, you are empty with no resources and experience, yet you need to survive. Remember, you selected the survival game mode.
What do you need to do to survive?
Not to worry, all you need to do is follow the steps in this section. These are the things you need to do to survive in the survival mode:
Collect resources
You need to gather essential resources like:
- Dirt – it lays around. Just pick it up
- Gravel and sand- similar to dirt
- Woodblock/ logs – Kick trees to get some
- Wool – gotten from killing sheep, essential in making a bed later
Create objects with your gathered resources
Open your inventory, scroll through the resources you have gathered, and begin to combine them to craft objects. To do this, you need a crafting table.
Crafting table:
This is your workstation, where the creative craftings take place. To make a crafting table, follow these steps:
- Open your inventory – press E
- You will see 4 boxes (crafting boxes) away from the main inventory, and beside it, a single box (output box) take note of them
- Right-click your gathered logs to make planks in the output box, then drag them to the main inventory
- Left-click multiple planks to select them all, then move them to the crafting boxes and right-click to drop them in it to make a crafting table
- Left-click the remaining planks to return them to the main inventory
- Left-click the new crafting table and move it to the toolbar on the lower part of the screen
- Next, press E to close the inventory
- On the game screen, you will notice the toolbar is below the health bar, and in it is the crafting table. Click from keys 1-9 to select the slot that holds the crafting table
- Finally, right-click to place the crafting table anywhere on the floor
How to use the crafting table
After you place the crafting table on the ground, look towards the crafting table and right-click your mouse to display the crafting table options. Click the little green book in the options to see the crafting table menu.
A combination of materials (recipe) to build each tool is displayed when you highlight each tool in the menu.
PS: The following tools are necessary tools to survive your first day:
- Shovel – to dig dirt faster
- Pickaxe – to mine rocks fast
- Axe – to cut trees faster
Follow the recipe guides to craft the tools mentioned above ahead of your next survival activity.
Build a temporary house:
The easiest way to build a house is to:
- Go to a hill.
- Mine a cave from it using a pickaxe and a shovel.
- Add a door to the entrance to prevent intruders.
- Fortify the cave structure with sand and gravel you previously gathered.
To craft a door, check the recipe in your recipe guide and follow it diligently. The lesser wood you use, the better because you need wood in crafting other tools.
Craft a bed:
After building your house, the next thing to build is a bed to rest on during nightfall to be safe from Minecraft monsters(mobs). It also serves as a checkpoint, i.e., if your avatar is to die anytime, you will respun in your next match on the last bed you slept on rather than to respun from the beginning all over again.
Follow the recipe guide on your crafting table to build a bed easily. You can decide to sleep once it is nightfall or keep crafting tools for the next day. To craft tools at night, you need to have light in your house(cave), you can get light from a fire torch, and you need wood, charcoal, and stones to make a torch. Refer to the recipe guide to make a torch and every tool you need.
Understand your environment and mobs:
You need to seek knowledge about your surroundings, objects, tools, and anything you have and will come across.
Here is a tip: It is possible to die in Minecraft by now, and mob attacks are the primary cause of death. There are different types of mobs, classified into three categories, namely:
- Neutral mobs: These types of mobs will not attack unless you attack them first. They only retaliate. An example is spiders.
- Hostile mobs: They will attack you on sight and probably kill you. They move mostly at night. So, you need to make some weapon tools like a sword to counter them. An example is zombies.
- Peaceful mobs: These mobs will not fight back if you attack them. Instead, they flee, or you kill them and use them as food. An example is a sheep and other livestock.
You did not know this, right? There are numerous Minecraft-based knowledge materials online, be sure to check our Minecraft tips and tricks to become a true master builder.
Minecraft playing mode and game modes
You should know that the playing mode is different from the game mode. Playing mode refers to the mode you are playing in, either single-player or multiplayer. Game mode refers to the different modes of the game you can play either as a single-player or multiplayer. They are:
- Adventure – You need to download different game maps to play, filled with different mobs and game objectives.
- Creative – The simplest mode. You don’t need to craft all resources from scratch. There are fewer mobs, and the ones you see are the peaceful types—best for newbies.
- Survival – Similar to adventure but without having to download different maps.
The game modes have the following difficulty levels:
- Peaceful
- Easy
- Normal
- Hard
You can play any game mode at any desired difficulty level. Just be sure to rule your world- it’s the only way to enjoy Minecraft.
Minecraft mods
Mods are game additives you can download to customize a user’s Minecraft gaming experience. Mods involve things like:
- Themes
- Avatar skins
- Extra resources
The internet is full of a variety of mods; you might stumble upon a few during your knowledge acquisition for Minecraft. There is no problem downloading mods from the internet, but you need to be mindful of the sites you download from so you won’t be a victim of malware attacks. You can search for mods on the Microsoft website.
How to play Minecraft multiplayer
As mentioned earlier, there are different Minecraft editions, and each edition has a uniqueness. In this section, you will learn how to play Minecraft multiplayer with your friends using the bedrock edition. If you are familiar with the multiplayer mod in video games, setting up multiplayer mode with your Minecraft friends should be a breeze. Here is how:
- Get Minecraft, the bedrock edition(BE).
- Launch Minecraft BE. Click play and go to the “servers tab.”
- From the list of servers, pick the one with a high player count.
- You can add a public server that is not on the list if you wish to use it, simply clicking “add server.”
- Input the server’s details; name, IP address, and port.
- Click save once you are done to add the server and bookmark it for later.
How to play Minecraft multiplayer across platforms
Again, I will use the bedrock edition as an example. The bedrock edition of Minecraft allows multiplayer features across different platforms. By platforms, think of computers, mobile devices, and consoles. The requirement for this type of multiplayer is that all the devices must have the same version of Minecraft. Once you have the same version of Minecraft across the devices, follow the same steps as “How to play Minecraft multiplayer” to begin playing across different platforms with your friends.
Cool things to build in Minecraft
These are some cool and creative things you can build in Minecraft:
Castles/mansion: castles are a form of shelter; they are different from the temporary shelter built out of a cave. A castle requires structure, plan, and more detailed attention. These features of a castle are what make it better than a temporary shelter. If you have a dream mansion you can’t afford in the real world yet, try bringing it to life in Minecraft. All you need are the basic materials; sand, wood, and stones. Showcase your level of creativity, and build a unique castle.
Fountain: a fountain is an accessory to a space. It could be indoor or outdoor; the choice is yours. A castle deserves a befitting fountain, and a fountain can boost the theme of your castle. For example, if the castle is about food, you could design your fountain to look like a buffet of your favorite meals.
Garden: this is an important structure to have after you have built a proper shelter. Food is essential in Minecraft; it nourishes your avatar with life. You can have either an ornamental garden, a crop garden or both. The ornamental garden will beautify your castle, while the crop garden will provide you with food. This is cool because, with a garden, you will spend less time gathering food and more time creating wonders.
These are just examples of cool things to build; you can improve on these ideas or build something new and unique. Creativity is your fuel, and it is unique from individual to individual. Check this list of cool things for more ideas.
Playing safe on Minecraft
Anyone from age 8 can play Minecraft from anywhere in the world. Therefore, there is a huge mix of people of different ages, cultures, and languages. Learning how to play Minecraft safely is essential, especially if you will be connecting with friends online.
These are the common risks you should look out for in Minecraft:
- In multiplayer mode, you can chat with other players, and if players are connected through a public server, there’s the risk of kids playing with other people that are bad influences on them.
- During multiplayer games, some players can craft or build things that will be sexually related, obscene, or offensive. You should report such players and disconnect from their game.
- Be mindful of players who set traps for other players or cyberbully other players.
- Some players use curse words and vulgar statements, and racial slurs. Report them.
- Turn on the parental guide on the device or platform their kids are playing from
- Play multiplayer-only on trusted servers, where the kind of people using it are known and well behaved.
- Play multiplayer locally using a LAN connection instead of servers. All players must be in the same location for this to work. This way you can play safely with friends.
Wrapping up
By now, you have upgraded from a newbie to an entry-level player. You know what to do now, you know your enemies now, and most importantly, you know how to survive. Having survived the first day and night with my guide, you can advance however you wish and at your own pace. Be creative, be innovative, be smart, and be careful. Explore and build.
Although this article is written for PC users (Windows, macOS, or Linux), the only difference from other devices is in the controls, which the games help will guide you through. Every other aspect applies to mobile devices and consoles.
FAQs
Is Minecraft a subscription-based game or a one-time payment game?
Minecraft is a one-time payment game, and you don’t need to renew your subscription monthly. Once you have paid for the software or app, that is it forever.
How often do I need to update my game?
Minecraft updates are well spaced, but in a case of an emergency like a security breach or bugs, the company might need to release an update to fix the problem.
What is the best way to enjoy Minecraft?
The best way to enjoy Minecraft is to play it on a PC. The PC version is detailed and has all features that might be missing on other devices. Have a strong internet connection too to have a great experience.
Can I have multiple profiles on my Minecraft account?
Yes, you can have multiple profiles on one account. It is advisable to have different profiles with different game objectives to have various gaming experiences.
What is the age limit to play Minecraft?
The age limit is 8yrs and above. This is because of the educational nature of the game. Parents can set up the game for their kids with parental guidance and restrictions.
Can I play Minecraft offline if I have the paid version?
Although Minecraft is an online game, the game is also available offline for multiplayer mode and in case of a slow internet connection. If you are not connected to the internet when you launch Minecraft, just click on play offline, and you are good to go!!
Can a photo epilepsy patient play Minecraft?
There have been reports from users of having seizures while playing Minecraft. A photo epilepsy patient stands at risk of having seizures while playing Minecraft. Such a person might need to stay away from Minecraft for now.
