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Comment by an0malous | Hacker News Reader

> A procedural universe may be technically impressive but it is also bland, empty, purposeless.

Why doesn't this apply to Minecraft? People love Minecraft even though it's equally purposeless and arguably bland and empty.

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I think because the Minecraft world is like a giant tub of Lego. You go out into the procedural world to collect your pieces and then you create from that. It's actually your creations that are interesting and without them Minecraft would equally purposeless and bland.

That's exactly what No Man's Sky is though. There are entire communities centered around colonizing entire regions of the procedurally generated space. People build some seriously intricate bases and it really makes the worlds feel lived in.

The last time I tried Minecraft, from the point I dropped into the world, I could start punching dirt and trees and placing stuff around and building things.

In No Man's Sky I got dropped in some world that felt empty with tutorial on how to collect some stuff and how to get to the ship.

The first impressions weren't the same between these 2 games.

I made this point earlier in the comments, but I think the main difference between Minecraft and No Man's Sky is that Minecraft does not push the players towards specific gameplay systems, while No Man's Sky does, making No Man's Sky feel much less like a box of legos and more like a collection of specific tasks/activities.

I think biggest issue is that you are not constrained to single world. But instead directed to be mostly directionless... Some players just feel no reason to comeback. Where as with Minecraft being in single world you are more forced to comeback to various locations you build things in.

Multiplayer, demographic, community, and probably because it mainstreamed the genre. I'm pretty sure people, especially early teens, like to socialize on Minecraft with their friends. There is also the pseudo campaign of defeating the ender dragon. Minecraft is a juggernaut.

I suspect it does apply to Minecraft too, however Minecraft also benefits from its multiplayer communities in modding scene.

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