XeNTaX

So I'm thinking of running a small server for Minecraft, it is nice game to come back to and more fun with more people. Who here has played it/plays it and would drop by in a small server?

Griefers not allowed.

before running the server (if you decide to do it) maybe take a look here:
http://aluigi.org/adv/minecraft_like-adv.txt
they are some problems I found in some server software, maybe can help to avoid surprises.
sorry for the off-topic

Terraria is streets ahead.

Terraria doesn't compare. They're both in their own realm.

NO INTEREST? lol

Well, I figured I wouldn't have to say anything. =D

Minecraft's that game with the lego blocks and you can build your own houses and worlds?

Aye

what I have never understood is the purpose of this game.

it looks like in origin it was like a defend game where you get attacks of monsters that try to ruin your castle but I remember to have tried it recently various times with a friend and the only thing I found were lot of people trying to build statues and other boring things.
it was terribly annoying and stupid.

I tried the free version and the free servers available on the main website.

It's been a building game from the very beginning, heavily influenced by Infiniminer and Dwarf Fortress, among other things. This is its main appeal; survival and fighting is a distant second for the majority of people (though survival is also an indispensable part of Minecraft's atmosphere for many of those people). If you don't enjoy building statues and castles or whatever, there's still plenty to the game that you could try out: because every map is procedurally generated from a pseudorandom seed, Minecraft offers virtually infinite variation to be explored; there is a deceptively simple in-game programming/wiring mechanic which is actually Turing-complete, and which people have used to create ALUs and other absolutely crazy things, and there is the aforementioned survival.

Unfortunately, though, all of this is only in the pay-to-play version, but (don't tell anyone!) the game's creator has stated, multiple times, that he doesn't really worry too much about piracy, and actively encourages people to pirate Minecraft before buying if they're not sure they actually want it.

he doesn't really worry too much about piracy, and actively encourages people to pirate Minecraft before buying if they're not sure they actually want it.

Like a successful business man in the 21st century.
He knows how to get customers and fans.

Unlike the american movie industry.

uhmmm sincerely this has not much sense.

if I'm a normal user I say "ok let's try this mainkarft" (yeah a novice user makes a lot of mistakes) so I go on the main website and I start to see that it can't be played because you must buy it and there is not even a demo/trial.

ok I see another link talking about a classical "outdated" version, I try it.
I join one of the servers and they tell you to type /rules
interesting, the rules tell only thing you must NOT do but they don't tell you what's the purpose of the game.
it looks chaotic with people jumping here and there doing nothing.

change another server but same story, another one and there are not even rules, another one and so on.
I try to build and destroy something but after less than 5 minutes it becomes terribly annoying.

now, from this experience how you can say that the author of this game is a business man?
not only I will never buy a similar "thing" but everytime someone will talk about minecrap I will remember all the time wasted trying to understand something that doesn't have a manual or a demo and looks terribly stupid.

come on, similar experiences can ruin the life of a person forever :)

Minecraft wasn't made by a business man, but by someone who wanted to build a game he truly wanted to play. Your complaints about the outdated Classic version are certainly valid, but they are not a justification for not only dismissing the game (especially given how different the full, pay-to-play version is from the Classic version) but any similar product, out-of-hand - you may have had a horrible experience of it, and fail to see the point, but over 20 million people have registered accounts, and almost 5 million have actually bought the game (and all of this has happened over two and a half years, with no advertising whatsoever - entirely by word of mouth!), so there is clearly something there that people deem worthy of their time and money.

If I had the cash, I'd buy you a gift code, just so you could try the full version and give the game the fair chance it deserves. I really do think you could find *something* in the full version to redeem the game in your eyes, if you just tried it.

Minecraft wasn't made by a business man

Obviously!!!
A games business model is just as important as the game itself.
The game itself might be the best game ever invented, wouldn't know though, took one look at the 'buy it now, or download and play a different game' screen and left.
Persistent worlds and emergent gameplay make even simple games more interesting, but in this case the business model stinks.
The game might not have a viable free play mode, not all games do, but there are other ways that allow limited free play.
And if he has made 75 million quid already he can afford to give EVERYONE a FREE gift code.......

Minecraft is absolutely a top Indie game. If you haven't played it thoroughly once, you won't know what it is about. There is a reason millions of people have played it, and made Notch a millionaire using only his PayPal account and word of mouth. I remember buying it in alpha stage by a tip from Craptain, and I was hooked to it for a long time. It is all about using your imagination to create things, buildings, landscapes, nice little traffic puzzles (train tracks), how to wire switches the right way to get tracks to switch, doors to open etc. It is something only limited by one's own imagination. You can mine different materials, use those to work on them, or smelt them to get other materials to create better items, tools, building blocks etc. check out YouTube for many Minecraft creations. Add a day and night cycle, creatures that come out when it is dark and total freedom, and you've got Minecraft.