A basic guide to surviving your first night in Minecraft.

Minecraft is a multiplayer(With the option for Single player), completely randomly generated world, which means that any time you go into single player mode(Or you go into a multiplayer server for the first time); no one else has or will ever play that world you are in. When you first spawn in Minecraft, you will instantly notice that it is very simply made. With a 3x3 block structure, it hardly looks like a game you would play, But despite it's appearance, it is very fun and addicting.

First off, when you hit any one of those blocks on the ground or up in the mountains, a series of cracks will appear on the block you are hitting. After a certain amount of hits. more cracks appear on the block; til it breaks and disappears, dropping a tiny version of itself. If you run over that miniature piece, you will pick it up, and it will appear in your inventory. This applies to any block you destroy. Now you will notice that the only block you can really destroy are wood from trees, and ordinary dirt. You need a better tool, to do this, you need to make some tool using a workbench. I will provide the link for how to craft different items, but for now I will just tell you what you need.

For rocks, Iron ore, Coal and anything that it based in a grey block, you'll need a pick. Every time you use a pick, or any other tool, a littel bar will appear beneath that item. The more you use it, the more that bar goes down til it disappears. Once this happens, the tool will break, and disappear from your inventory. The higher lvl the material you make the tool out of, the more uses you will get out of before it breaks. Diamond is the highest lvl material you can currently get, but it is very hard to find and is buried deep beneath the surface. So I wouldn't recommend going looking for it til you have an established base with plenty of stored resources, as the farther down you go, the more likely you will break into a cave, and caves are dark and full of monsters. And you need plenty of resources in order to build weapons to fight them.

Now back to the tools you can make. There about 4 different types of tools you can make that are needed for everything. There are Shovels, Picks, Axes, and weapons. Shovels make digging in dirt, gravel, and snow much faster and easier than using anything else. be warned though, using a tool for a purpose it's not meant for will halve the amount of times u can use it before it breaks. such as using a sword to mine.

The Danger you will find. Minecraft runs in a night-day cycle. day lasts about 10min, with night lasting about half as long. Be very careful to be indoors when nigh falls as that's when all the monsters spawn. Anywhere it's dark is where a monster can spawn. Even in your own home if it's not lit inside. But be careful, ti does not have to be daytime for it to spawn monsters, there are many underground caves that are full of monsters that want your blood. The monsters you will find are all very dangerous if they touch or hit you, but they all have their various weaknesses. Skeletons have bows and can kill you in 3 hits if you're not wearing armor. Zombies will 2HKO you, but they are very slow and announce their coming with loud groans. Creepers look like green towers with 4 legs, they do not have any ranged attacks, but when they get within 1 block of you, they will make the sound of a bomb fuse and start to blink. In about 3 sec they will explode, destroying everything near them, including the ground beneath them, use a bow in this creature only. The last current enemy is a spider, they are huge, black, and sneaky. they love to hide up on mountains, then hop on your head and kill you. So be sure to listen for them if you decide to go for a night-time stroll. Now both Skeletons and Zombies will burn and take dmg til they die in full sunlight, but spiders and creepers do not. Though spiders become passive in the daytime and will not attk, though creepers have no such inhibitions. There are more monsters to be added to the game soon, and more that are being considered, Some new monsters that have been confirmed to be added to the game are Dragons and wolves.

The version of Minecraft and the costs. There are currently two versions of Minecraft. Classic and Alpha. Classic is free and supports multiplayer. You have an unlimited amount of bricks and health. But is no longer updated or improved. Alpha, costs $13, is constantly updated, also supports multiplayer. And lets you play Single Player survival, Plus it can support a larger world without crashing. Only Alpha comes with animals, crafting, and much more options. You can buy Minecraft at Minecraft.net. And play the free version of it there too.

For any other question you have, you can learn about it at Minepedia.net.

Now before you start, remember this one thing, Whenever you die ANYWHERE in the minecraft worldm you will spawn at same spot you are placed.. So if you spawn in a nice alcove with a mountain at your back. I'd recommend making your first home at the mountain. And after you've made a comfortable home there, make your spawn point a little more comfortable by adding a couple of walls or a house around the spawn brick in case you die and respawn in night-time.

Now back to what to do, first order of business, FIND A TREE! punch the wood in it til it breaks and drops a spawn brick of itself. It will be needed later. Remember to also get all the leaves too as they drop saplings which can be grown to replace all the trees you destroy, just drop them on the ground near water) Once you have around 11 pieces of wood, go into your inventory and fill up that box with 1 in each square, this will create a work bench, to use it, put it in your equip bar, move to it, and click on the ground where you want to spawn it. To reclaim and pick it back up, just punch it til it breaks and drops a spawn brick of itself. Now before you put this bench down, go to any little alcove, a U-cave is the best, with 3 mountain walls, and one way exit/entrance. Just take dirt from the ground, and build a basic house with the dirt, Dirt sticks to anything, so no worries about it falling on your head :)

Now that you have a house up, you will need some torches so no zombies spawn in your house and eat your brain. So you need to go on a trip, but first, prepare. Drop your work bench in any spot in your house you want, and then right click it. It will open up a crafting screen that's similar to your character's. But with a 9x9 crafting spot instead of a 2x2. To make a pick, which you'll need in order to mine coal, which is in turn used with wood to make torches.....you'll need to have some stone, which you can mine using your fists. Telling you how to make everything would be very hard unless I made a movie about it, so I'd like you to go to http://minepedia.net/index.php?title=Crafting and read how to craft everything. You can also look at the rest of the website if you have any other questions. Now make a pick, and go to a rock formation, it can be the side of a mountain, or if you're really lucky, right next to your spawn, and find some rock with black specks in it, that is coal. Just use your pick on it til it drops coal. And then go back to your work bench. Make some torches using the coal and some sticks, and then post them on the walls of your house and outside. Now you are safe from monsters spawning on you. By this time it is most probably night time, just wait out the night in your house, craft some items you may want to use in daytime. wait for daytime to come, it's signaled by the square sun coming up, and the moon going down, followed by a brightening of the world, aaand....CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have just survived your first night in minecraft! That's all to this Article for now, if it needs improvement or you want me to talk more specifically about something, let me know in the comments and polls.

Ps: I almost forgot, Minecraft has a COMPLETELY randomly generated world for each user, which means no one will ever play the Exact same world as you ever. Unless it's a multiplayer server, in which there 5 other ppl playing it too. (Minecraft generates a world 3x as big s Earth at Maximum)