Minecraft wiki entry for Beginner%27s_guide, associated text: This guide deals only with the very beginning of the game, but here are a few words on the shape of the game as a whole. "Progression" in Minecraft is simpler and less linear than most other games, mostly a matter of finding various materials and resources,, each of which allows new capabilities and options. For example, making a wooden pickaxe lets you mine stone to make a stone pickaxe and a furnace; this in turn lets you mine and smelt iron ore; the iron pickaxe lets you mine diamonds, and then a diamond pickaxe lets you mine any block that can be mined. Similarly, various crops let you breed different animals, each of which provides different resources over and above "better food". Various enemy drops likewise each have their uses (some more useful than others), and combining various resources from mining, farming and breeding, will let you enchant your equipment. Collecting and crafting various materials also lets you build with them; even beyond the practical factors of secure bases and farms, building your own structures is a big part of the game experience.