As somebody who has been writing about indie games for almost a year now, I can safely say I’ve known about Minecraft for the better part of a year (I first heard about it back in January). Unfortunately, despite playing it briefly earlier this year, I never really bothered to check it out in more depth, a mistake that I admit to. Fortunately, with the game’s recent explosion of popularity, I’ve decided to actually buy the game and check it out in detail for myself.

Now, being that I’m completely new to the game — aside from reading a couple beginner’s guides — I thought it might be fun to share my experiences as a newbie with you guys as I play the game. Similar to what Quintin, from Rock Paper Shotgun, is doing with his excellent “Mine the Gap” series, but with more of an emphasis on walking through the actual game and less on creating a story to go with those experiences. We’ll learn together what it means to be a true miner and crafter in the Minecraft universe.

Anyway, to start off the series I’m going to devote an entire world to this series only. That means everything — literally everything — that happens within that world will be written here on DIYgamer.com for as long as I continue to pay in that world. So every discovery I make, every sword I create, every cave I explore and, most certainly, every castle I construct will be documented right here in “The Minecraft Diaries.”

This will be an on-going series for an extended period of time. I can’t tell you how long it will last explicitly because, well, I’m just going to keep writing it for as long as I play in this world. If that means this entire series lasts a month, six months, or a year then that’s what it means. Additionally, I’m going to make sure that at least two diary entries go live each week, although some weeks might have more. We’ll just have to see how this whole thing plays out.

So stay tuned! Part 1 is coming later today.

[The Minecraft Diaries]