How can something be "too open world"? :eyebrow
Also, the point of the game is survival but each individual person can make their own goals in-game. Some just build/mine/farm and others set a goal to beat the enderdragon. It depends on who's playing the game. This is one of those games where the graphics of it don't really matter and people just play it to enjoy it, not worry that their house is a "crude blocky structure". [End rant]

What you describe as too open world is exactly what I like most about this game. My favorite aspect of Minecraft is starting up a new world and exploring it for the first time however I want, with nothing telling me where to go or what to do. It's just fun to explore the world, never knowing what you'll find next. What losondro described a few posts ago is a great example of that, how exciting it can be to suddenly encounter a massive cave system or something like that and getting the chance to explore it and see what you can find. It just creates a great sense of adventure, I think.

i have yet to fully play Minecraft myself, but I cant wait to jsut spend time and enjoy it myself. I know I will.

The open world thing is what draws me to it the most.

*Slaps across the face*

It's a sandbox that allows you to do quite a lot. You can go exploring, or build stuff, or hang out with friends. And the never ending thing? That's good, because it provides and infinite amount of randomly generated content and does not limit the game.

Why does a game have to end? It's an interactive experience, you can make whatever the fuck you want with it. People who make games with "proper" ends are typically trying to tell a story with their game, or a created a numbered set of challenges for the player to overcome. And that's fine and good and I don't shun them for that, but we need to look beyond contemporary examples of game design in order for it to truly evolve and diversify as a medium. And Minecraft is one of those games.

So, anyone heard about this?

Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

Yep, I've heard about it. I'll go with a neutral response of: I have no string feelings, one way or another.

On a separate note: whenever I play Minecraft, I always like to pretend I'm a dwarf and I diggy diggy holes. It's explained here in this song:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ytWz0qVvBZ0

Would MS buying Minecraft mean that any possible Minecraft games in the future would only be on the Xbox consoles? MS never shown any support to PC gaming lately. The newest Zoo Tycoon was only exclusive for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 despite the series being a PC exclusive series in the past. None of the Halo games after Halo 2 and the Gears of Wars games after Gears 1 made to the PC. The newest Killer Instinct game is not on the PC and the re-release of Perfect Dark that was on XBLA never got put on Steam.

I love Minecraft, but MS owning the franchise worries me.

First I'm hearing it :p

The word is if the deal goes through, and they aren't even confirming they're in talks yet, that they'll continue to support all three platforms of Minecraft. PC, Xbox, and PS.

It does to have an End. It has an entire world called The End where you fight Endermen and the Enderdragon on platforms made of Ender Blocks.

END.

So far it seems okay. I had an initial negative reaction too, but Microsoft of today is far more reasonable than a decade ago.

Better than EA