Gameplay

Gameplay in Minecraft consists mainly of adding and destroying blocks on a map surrounded by water on all sides. There are several different types of blocks, some of which perform special functions like spreading or falling down because of gravity.

With these blocks, players create large constructions such as castles, roads, buildings and skywalks, along with forms of artwork. A chessboard or giant picture rarely goes amiss on a server. Not only have users designed buildings, Pixel Art, and caves, but also mini-sports. Using the current in-game features, users have put them to clever use. An example of a Minecraft sport is Spleef.

Notch has added a Survival mode, and is planning on adding Adventure mode and other modes to give Minecraft more gameplay. Minecraft is currently considered purely a sandbox construction game. Users who have bought the game have access to the in-development version, currently known as Beta. Beta was previously known as Alpha, Indev, and Infdev. This version contains bugs, but features the most recent work on Minecraft, including dynamic lighting, crafting, farming, new blocks, and a more configurable map generator.

Game Modes
There will be multiple types of modes in the game. According to this post, the following modes should be anticipated:

Creative
Most of the placeable blocks will be provided and players will have an infinite amount of them. Players cannot die here and there are no mobs around. The only objective of the game is to build. It is currently only playable in the Classic version of Minecraft.

Survival
In this mode, players will have to gather all their materials to build and craft. There is a health bar and an inventory.

Adventure
Not much about this mode is known as it is planned to be released after the beta version of Minecraft. There will be a health bar and an inventory, but blocks cannot be destroyed or placed. Only items can be used.

Table of game modes
Below is a brief summary of the different available features in each game mode.

Gameplay Gameplay