Minecraft is an open world game that has no specific goals for the player to accomplish, allowing players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game.[12] However, there is an optional achievement system.[13] The gameplay by default is first person, but players have the option to play in third person mode.[14] The core gameplay revolves around breaking and placing blocks. The game world is essentially composed of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes—that are arranged in a fixed grid pattern and represent different materials, such as dirt, stone, various ores, water, and tree trunks.[15] While players can move freely across the world, objects and items can only be placed at fixed locations relative to the grid.[15] Players can gather these material blocks and place them elsewhere, thus allowing for various constructions.[16]
At the start of the game, the player is placed on the surface of a procedurally generated and virtually infinite game world.[17] Players can walk across the terrain consisting of plains, mountains, forests, caves, and various water bodies.[17] The world is divided into biomes ranging from deserts to jungles to snowfields.[18][19] The in-game time system follows a day and night cycle, with one full cycle lasting 20 real time minutes.[15] Throughout the course of the game, players encounter various non-player characters known as mobs, including animals, villagers and hostile creatures.[15][20] During the daytime, non-hostile animals, such as cows, pigs, and chickens, spawn. They may be hunted for food and crafting materials.[15] During nighttime and in dark areas, hostile mobs, such as large spiders, skeletons, and zombies, spawn.[17] Some Minecraft-unique creatures have been noted by reviewers, such as the Creeper, an exploding creature that sneaks up on the player, and the Enderman, a creature with the ability to teleport and pick up blocks.[21]
The game world is procedurally generated as players explore it, using a seed which is obtained from the system clock at the time of world creation unless manually specified by the player.