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What is Minecraft?
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Purchasing the game
To purchase the full-game and to be able to play it in BETA mode, you will first need to head to the Minecraft website. Before you can purchase the game, you will need to register an account which you will use to log into the program when purchased and downloaded. After registering and successfully logging in you'll have to head back to the homepage. There you should be able to see a bright orange button on the right-hand side which reads "BUY NOW" - click this. On this page is instructions on how to purchase a copy of Minecraft.
Of course, if you are un-able or un-willing to pay for the game, you can play Minecraft Classic for free! Minecraft Classic is an early, un-updated version of Minecraft where you are given an unlimited amount of blocks which, like the normal Minecraft, you can build structures with. In Minecraft Classic there are no mobs nor enemies and no sense of adventure. I'd highly suggest purchasing it over Classic.
At the moment the game is in BETA; this means that by buying the game you a pre-purchasing it, entitling you to free updates when the full game is released in the future.
The current price of Minecraft as of 26/10/2011 is:
€16.02 / $22.31 / £13.95
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Getting started
When you've purchased the game and have it installed to your computer, you're ready to start. When you first open your Minecraft launcher you should see a loading screen. There you put your username and password of which you registered before purchasing the game. After logging in, it will begin a downloading the game files onto your PC under C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft.
After the download has finished you'll be confronted with a menu with four options which all seem straight forward (Mods & Texture Packs will be explained in a later edit). Assuming you want to play single player, another page will appear where you can either load a game, or create a new one. Clicking on the new game button will bring up a page with two boxes for you to enter the name of your world and a seed option. After those simple steps you should be in your newly created, unique world.
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Guides
Getting started on Minecraft can be daunting. Many people have put together videos and written guides to help you get started. I've listed the top three
let's play videos, in my opinion, below:
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Useful Links
Minecraft Website - The Minecraft homepage.
Minecraft Forum - The Minecraft community forums.
Minecraft Skindex - A database full of skins created by community members which you can download and use.
Minecraft Wiki - A wikipedia type thing for Minecraft.
The World of Notch - The creator of Minecraft, Notch's blog which documents changes made to Minecraft.
Other - Other useful links.
