I'm no hardcore gamer. I enjoy playing video games and I have since I was 8 years old. In that 22 years of owning consoles from Sega, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft I've seen my fair share of different titles, but few have left me as immediately confused as Minecraft.
Seriously, how does an 11-year old just pick this thing up and run with it?
And so I immediately began feeling old. While many games today hit the market with an 18 age rating, is it the complete opposite for Minecraft? Do you struggle more the older you are? My experiences so far resemble an old man yelling at a cloud. What's the purpose? You're just in the middle of nowhere. What do you actually do first?
What do you mean you punch trees?
There's an episode of South Park that's particularly relevant here. While its creators often mock current events and whatever is popular at any given time, their interpretation of adults playing Minecraft is pretty much what it's been like in my house this past few days.
Here's the clip. A little warning, it is South Park and there is a some mild swearing to consider.
Maybe I'm thinking too much like a dad. How bad is it? Well, I bought a book aimed at kids to try and help me get started. There's a long way to go.
At the same time it's pretty funny. I'm also not the only member of the Windows Central team with similar, 'old man' struggles. We're not getting beaten that easily, though. We're going to have a little fun with it. We've got an insanely busy time coming up (hello, Windows 10!) but in-between I'm going to try and get this figured out and try to drag some of the other members of the team along for the ride.
Apart from our Xbox Editor, Jez Corden, because he's not old and doesn't yell at clouds. The future may bring a hilarious Twitch stream or two where he's going to try and teach me Minecraft. Kind of like that South Park video above.
It'll be fun for someone, I'm sure.
Am I alone or are there other people like me who just don't get it? Sound off in the comments below!
