Topic: How are games like Lego Worlds and Minecraft so popular?

So I wanted to say that this is not a stab or a flame post about these type of games more so just trying to solve my own curiosity.

So earlier today my son and I played Lego Worlds as we are a big fan of Lego games so we figured we tried this one out. Well we played the adventure mode at least what they called an adventure mode for a bit, it was more of a tutorial level but whatever. We were having fun for a bit then all of a sudden after 3 levels the adventure mode ended and we are put into another World. No direction no instructions of what to do no goal whatsoever. We gave it a fair try played for for an hour or so wondering around building things, doing some "quests" which I use the term lightly more like fetch quests but after that we were both bored and had no idea what to do.

So am I missing something? Am I playing this game wrong?

My son says that Minecraft is the same thing which then I looked at him and said, what am I missing? How is that so popular..

Again not trying to criticize just baffled and trying to understand it. That's all.

Imagination required. There was a buggy cheat for Sonic on MD that let you import assets from the game and I used to spend hours making weird buildings for Sonic to get into. I used to play Worms for hours, not fighting, but digging holes and putting up girders. My imagination isn't as good as it used to be, so I don't play these games anymore.

I would have adored this type of game as a kid.

As a young kid, I had a big box of Lego and would spend hours building something. When I got to around 8ish, I got a Lego technics set of a working car Chassis that I built. I also had Airfix and Radio Control car kits too. I was also fond of drawing - still am to a lesser degree.

Minecraft can offer something similar. However I still got very bored, very quickly. Back when I was a young kid with Lego, building things, it was my mother that 'destroyed' everything by tidying up, putting everything back in the box. By the time I was 8ish and built my first Technics set, that car chassis ended up sat on a shelf - never broken down, never used to build something new.

Minecraft lets you build and mould the world around you although in 'Survival' mode, it can take a long time to grind for the exact materials you really want but once you have built your world, built your 'castle' with minecart rollercoaster, etc What next? Build another, grind more materials, start a new world? Its not about creativity as I assume you were creative in building the world, the house you wanted etc. Of course you can build a 'different' looking house but for me, I built the 'ultimate' house I wanted in my first world and put that on the metaphoric shelf.

Some people are incredibly creative, creating impressive works of art that reveal themselves when you view from a distance, recreate the Starship Enterprise with bridge. I on the otherhand prefer to 'play' games. I can see the appeal but after grinding out my world, finding there was little point at the end, I moved on. Its the grind and creation that people like but I wanted 'more' after that - that my creation served more of a purpose - not left me with more grinding to create more pointless monuments that served little/no purpose.

I don't know that's what everyone tells me, you need a good imagination but I don't feel that's it. As a kid I see to play with Legos all the time, heck the only real set they had at that time was space Legos and even then I would just build stuff.

When I got to into my teens I played Dungeon and Dragons and my friends and I would make up our own campaign along with the world, monsters, people etc. and I wrote stories all the time, so it's not like I don't have imagination.

@KratosMD I don't know, I still can be creative. Even though I don't play Dungeons and Dragons any more I can still come up with ideas same with story ideas.

Don't worry no misinterpretation here, and I appreciate the responses.

Minecraft is unique, every system fits together into making your own world. It's brilliant, even better than playing with Lego due to the amount of resources you can use to build and the scale of what you construct. I think most people play on chilled mode and build what they want, the actual game were monsters come out at night is an added bonus.

These type of games never really appealed to me,i know obviously graphics are not the be all and end all of games,but when i see 8 bit looking games and cell shaded type ones for that matter - its smacks of incompetence/lazyness posing as a gimmick..in the case of the nes looking ones,it also hurts my eyes.No doubt theres good gameplay in many of these titles,the type of thing just isn't for me.Quality is in the eyes (and hands) of the beholder.Its sound that there is such a plethora of different genres and sub genres for gamers to choose from these days anyhow,i wouldn't judge anyone for liking this or that.Make your own mind up.

@special_donky its smacks of incompetence/lazyness posing as a gimmick.

Well it is incompetence as it could be a great programmer designing a game with limited graphical experience. Or a small group of people with other jobs making the game part time and basic graphics are easier to produce.

Minecraft pretty much started out like that I think.

@KratosMD great analogy man. I'm copying and pasting that in a few months time

@themcnoisy @KratosMD As i said graphics are not everything -weak gameplay though..indies are potentially a good stepping stone for some devs yes..But not all indie titles turn out with weak gameplay,graphics or otherwise..even from small teams and inexperienced devs..Also,some are quite pricey,any many are just low quality time wasters - in terms of the latter,thats another type of rip off..each to his own,its just what with psn store flooded with this stuff,it seems to me like a lot of them are a cash ins or basically not ready.

@special_donky at least we don't have early access.

@themcnoisy True,good policy from Sony..so much potential,so many never finished games on early access..(almost) Realy good ones too some of them..i think the industry needs more of a middle ground for AA games with the big gun publishers putting some weight behind some of those early access nearly greats.Also getting them ported to Playstation of course.

So I tried another game that fit into this genre and I am enjoying it, Portal Knights. My son and I have been playing it for a few days now (He's a wizard, I am a Fighter). I don't know if it's because of the RPG elements in the game but we are having alot of fun with it. Sad thing is though we are spending more time crafting and upgradin our gear then actually exploring. Not sure why this game clicked and the others didn't but this one is alot of fun.

@Tasuki I played the demo with my misses and enjoyed it, surprisingly. I'm going to wait for a sale though, I've spent too much on games recently so won't buy something unless I really really want it.

@kyleforrester87 Yeah agree there, I am renting it right now from Gamefly, so I can keep it for awhile but yeah will probably wait to pick this up on sale as well.

Its a strange one... Minecraft never really kicked in for me the first time, but that was in part down to playing alone. As soon as i played along with friends/family, it was enjoyable. The only problem with these games is that the"open" part becomes a downside after a time, as you have everything to hand and have explored a huge area of the map.

I have gotten to the same point with Seven Days To Die. The game, despite its poor look and technical disappointments is fun for a while, but after you get to a certain point, the minor narrative (like minecraft) disappears and becomes a chore. I just feel its the nature of these games to an extent. I can even look back as far as say Sim City and an old C64 game called Supremacy, which have plenty of goals, but ultimately become a little boring after a certain point, when there is no potential to "fail" in the game...

The last real fun i had on Minecraft was playing a giant game of tag in the creation mode with my nephew and nieces... I guess that in itself, arguably points to many responses on here,... its about imagination..