To not understand the point of Minecraft?

[Whatevertheweather]

Or is there no point? DD (7) has recently started playing it, she just appears to be wondering around aimlessly occasionally she plonks a few bricks down. Is she supposed to find things? Complete things? There must be more to it than this?!

It's digital Lego. People don't question the point of Lego :)

Just asked my 13 yr old and she said: "the point is being able to express your own creativity and do what you want"

So there

You build. Your own houses, castles, anything. Using different bricks. Then you put in windows, different coloured carpets.
It's about imagination.

There is a great article on the guardian about minecraft. Can't link because I'm on my phone. It was written by a parent who found it as bewildering as the rest of us.

DS1 builds stuff, DS2 seems to spend his time blowing things up, flooding things and accidentally killing things (sounded like cows but couldn't quite summon up the enthusiasm to actually go a check )
So they are both quite happy.

Yanbu. I don't get it at all, and neither do my children. They love lego though so if that's all it is, Im not sure why we don't understand/enjoy it.

I believe they are cows, yes. And you can treat them quite horribly. I like a good computer game with plenty of death and destruction as much as the next addict, but I draw the line at skinning live cows.

The boys love it though.

You build stuff, you explore stuff, you mine, you do whatever you want. You might want to get her a Minecraft for Beginners guide so she can learn 'recipes' to make things she needs. Or maybe she's quite happy and it's just you who's a bit disappointed? :o

Here's the Guardian article

DS builds houses and then fills them with pigs for some reason

(I say "boys", one of them's 27...)

Right okay Minecraft for beginners seems to be a must. She is quite happy but just randomly throwing bricks down she's not actually building anything. Haven't seen any animals, dead or alive She found a lake earlier and seemed quite pleased with that

Is she on creative mood or survival

If she is on survival the first thing she needs to do is chopped down some trees and then make a crafting table. Once she has done that she will need more wood to make a pick axe.

Next she needs to build a house to protect her in the night.

I suggest a cave

You can build stuff, you can explore, you can find stuff, you can experiment with combining stuff to make more stuff and see what you can make things do you can also tame some of the animals.

It's a sandbox game, the entire premise is there is no "point" :) it's just about whatever you want to make it. It's great. Let her discover it by herself :) when she starts to get frustrated because she doesn't know how to do things, then look into getting the book. But I have to say half the fun of it is discovering and working out how to do things without a handy guide to show you how.

My dss (8 and 11) have just started playing it.
Where would I get the beginners guide book from please?

It's keeps the DCs quiet for hours. That is the point.

All book shops seem to have the beginners and redstone manuals. Ds and his friend have a whole town on the go with a cake factory and railway system.

There is more but I lose the will to live!

Minecraft Official Beginners Handbook and various other follow ups are all available on Amazon, LovelyJubblies, and also in Waterstones - pretty much everywhere! - I must admit I can't see teh point, but my DS is absolutely obsessed and there's actually a Minecraft club at the school he's starting in September so it'll be a way of getting to know some of the kids as well (since no-one he knows is going there)

DD has just finished building a hotel. The basement of which is a shallow swimming pool filled with gently-bobbing sheep. I have no idea why... but she's very happy. Before the hotel there was a vet's surgery where the treatment was to drive the animals though a vat of lava

She's currently trying to catch an ocelot. I hate to think what she's going to do with it when she gets one...

Sorry can I just share something that has completely blown my mind? I was just talking to friends in California and they have a Minecraft club in their neighbourhood where you can build your village, and then have it actually created by a 3D printer! I mean, how awesome is that?!

As you were.

Mine are also all obsessed. I bought them a Minecraft annual from Smyths Toys at Christmas. Dd has just downloaded/ created a Harry Potter minecraft world which is apparently. 'BIG' deal, (clueless)

You mine stuff.
You craft stuff.

Dd has built tree houses, a roller coaster, an automatic mining machine, a galaxy containing different planets from Dr Who, loads of other stuff.

She enters build competitions organised on YouTube.