Jonathan Gourlay wrote an article on Bygone Bureau, Being and Nothingness and “Minecraft”, wherein he captures the essence of the Minecraft experience:
No video game before Minecraft has presented the player with a world as simple, beautiful, and engaging as a box of random Legos or wooden blocks or loose change or sticks or shells… toys whose only purpose is to soak up human consciousness and light into being upon a human whim.
The sun is setting, so I need to get inside before the creepers come. Fear is essential to action, after all. Life would be dull without creepers.
There is no goal, no point, no reason at all in this godless universe for playing Minecraft. But then, there is no point to playing with blocks either. There are things you can do with blocks. There are things you can do in Minecraft. You can find an elusive saddle in an underground monster lair and use it to ride a pig. But you don’t get anything — no badge or narrative or points to spend at an online store — for riding a pig. Pig riding is an end in itself. When you have accomplished it, that is simply how you chose to live your Minecraft life. Quit to title. You are your life and nothing else, pig rider.
Even with the updates and changes to Minecraft, there is still a refreshing feeling and sense of excitement when you load up a new world. The sun is overhead, the landscape is untouched, and the world is yours to shape. Simple, elegant, wonderful.