Every winter for the past four years, I have found myself enamored with one game. Minecraft. What is it about this blocky wonderland that keeps me coming back for more? Well, there are many aspects of this game that I love! However, I can say that when I try to explain it to people who haven’t played, my description always seems somewhat lackluster.

“It’s so much fun you can dig, and build. Oh and walk around a lot…let’s see Oh! There are really farm cute animals…it’s just tons of fun, trust me!”

How I often describe this game in simpler terms is virtual Legos. If you love Legos, and have a creative mind, you will love Minecraft. The possibilities of creation are endless! Unless you wanted a circle block. That’s the one catch of this game, everything is a cube. Everything. There are no circles in the whole game, just squares and cubes that make up other shapes.

To me, Minecraft feels like a second life at times. It has exciting moments, and then it has a lot of necessary yet sometimes tedious moments. You will spend a lot of time mining materials like cobblestone, coal, and iron, and collecting wood. From there, you craft those basic materials into an array of useful tools and devices. Then, things get much more exciting when you take the basics, and make them into your own personal creations. In the past, I’ve made functional roller coasters, mazes, water slides, mansions, obstacle courses, and much more! The possibilities are endless.

When I play Minecraft, I seldom play for a few minutes, or even a few hours. I always dive into the game for hours upon end and make “small projects,” such as building a roof, which in turn, end up taking me three hours.

Something I will never understand is how easily I become attached to the animals in the game. So much so, that I play Minecraft as a vegetarian. I don’t kill any animals unless I’m really desperate and starving to death, or if it’s an accident. I get teased often by other Minecraft enthusiast’s for this because animals are a great source of food and other materials. They’re just too cute, I can’t help it!

What you can expect to hear when you play Minecraft is your own footsteps, animal, and monster sound effects, and occasional peaceful piano music. Speaking of which, and since I’m being so honest, I will tell you that I am terrified of the monster sounds. Which is why after many panic attacks, I have decided that the “Peaceful” (no monster) setting is better for my blood pressure. I will be the first to admit that I’m a total scaredy-cat.

Other gamers play horrifying games such as Five Nights at Freddy’s, and I can’t even handle blocky spiders, or skeletons jumping out at me! But in my defense, the mob noises are shocking when you get in a place of Zen due to the piano music. And the spiders literally jump on top of you, and the creepers will walk right up to you, regardless of where you are and self-destruct. No thank you, I just built that, Mr. Creeper.

So why am I so enamored by the magic of Minecraft? I’m not 100 percent sure, but I do know that it is one of my favorite games and that it has proven itself as one of the most popular recent games appropriate for all ages. My advice is that if you haven’t already, you should go out and experience the Magic of Minecraft for yourself!