How to Play Minecraft for PC

Co-authored by Zac Churchill

Last Updated: November 10, 2023

If you want to play Minecraft on the PC but don't know how to begin, this article should help you get set up and start playing.

Part 1

Part 1 of 4:

Getting Started

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1
Download your game. The very first thing you need to do if you want to play Minecraft on the PC is obviously to buy and download it. Minecraft comes down to about twenty five U.S dollars and can be downloaded from the official Minecraft site Minecraft.net with no additional payments once bought.
- To buy Minecraft, click the yellow Get Minecraft button on the home page and create a Mojang account.
- Minecraft free trials are available to PC users.
- You can also download a demo version by registering for an account and downloading the launcher before buying the game. You can then play a demo version of the game for 100 minutes over a maximum period of 5 days.
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Familiarize yourself with the controls. One of the most aggravating things to have to figure out about Minecraft are the controls- not to mention the fact that they have the potential to change with each update. These controls can be changed from the settings menu, but the default controls that you'll want to know on the PC version of Minecraft are as follows:
- WASD keys: The WASD keys are used for movement in Minecraft and double tapping W is used for sprinting. W goes forward, S goes backwards, A goes left and D goes right. These controls can take some getting used to if you've only ever used your arrow keys, but are easier to use then arrow keys once you get used to them.
- E: opens your inventory.
- Double tapping W: makes your player sprint. This makes you go faster then pressing W once. Note that this will use a lot more energy and your hunger bar (yes, you have a hunger bar) will go down quicker.
- LM button: The LM button or 'left mouse button' is used to click and drag objects around your inventory, attack creatures and, perhaps the most important thing of all, to break blocks.
- RM button: he RM Button or 'right mouse button' is used to place blocks and can be used in some shortcuts when dragging blocks around your inventory. It is also used to activate blocks such as TNT, furnaces, doors, crafting tables and more as well as being used to eat when you are holding a food item. If you use the RM button while holding a sword, you can use it to block.
- Numbers/Mouse Scroller: The numbers and mouse scroller are used to select items in your hotbar.
- Shift: Shift is used to crouch. If you use it near an edge, you will not fall off. This will also hide your nametag that is above your head from other players.
- Space Bar: pace bar is used for jumping. In water, it is also used for swimming to the top.
- Esc: This pulls up the main menu. If you accidentally pressed esc, then click on the Back to Game option on the bottom. Also, if you pressed this button and you are the only player on the world, it pauses everything. This is not true if you are playing on a server or on a LAN server.
- Q: This button is for dropping any items you don't want, or giving it to other players.

Part 2

Part 2 of 4:

Gathering Your Resources

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To survive in Minecraft, given you're on survival and on easy, you're going to need a shelter. For this, you're going to need resources and blocks, particularly coal, wood and cobblestone.

To gather wood, you hold down your left mouse button on the trunk of any tree and wait for it to break. You then collect the block. If you have an axe, you can use your number keys or mouse scroller to scroll to that tool and harvest the wood a little faster. (or a lot faster, depending on what axe you have).
To do this, open up your inventory (using E). There should be four boxes at the top. Don't arrange any shapes- just drop the wood into the box. It should appear in a single box next to these four boxes. Click on this single box until you have as many planks as you want, and then arrange four of these planks in a square in the same box of four and collect the crafting table you make.
You'll see that you have a slightly bigger table this time- this will help you to make more advanced items like fences and stairs later on. You can even craft a cake in it!
To do this, make sticks (two wooden planks in a vertical arrangement) and place one in each of the bottom two boxes in the middle column. Then drag 3 wooden planks along the top of this and if you've done it correctly, you should have a wooden pickaxe. This is for mining stone.
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Go and find a stony area or dig down until you find stone.
- Stone is a grey block that you cannot break with your hands alone. If you try, it will just disappear and you won't get the resource.
- Coal is like stone only with black dots on it. You can break these two blocks with a wooden pickaxe- any other mineral blocks will require a stone or iron pickaxe to break them, however.
The same formation as a wooden pickaxe, only with stone instead of wood in the top three boxes.
Make sure you leave some- coal is important in cooking and smelting ores such as iron and gold.

Part 3

Part 3 of 4:

Surviving Your First Night

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So you've gotten your resources and gotten accustomed to the controls on Minecraft? Good! By now, the sun should have started to go down. If you're playing on easy, monsters will start to come out soon, and you need to make your shelter quick! (You can check your difficulty by pressing Esc and clicking options.) If you don't have enough time to make a proper shelter with your tools, wood, stone and torches, merely dig three spaces down and cover the top hole over with something. Music will play when the sun is close to setting.

This will stop any monsters from spawning in the areas where it is lit and you can more safely build your home.
Using the left over wood, stone, planks and even dirt you have accumulated, build a simple shelter. You don't need to fancy it up just yet- that will come later. For now, you just want to survive the night. All your home needs are 4 walls, a ceiling and a two high space for the door. The walls should be at least three blocks high.
To do this, put your crafting table down and right click it. The table you used to create your pick should appear. Using six wooden planks, make a vertical, 2x3 rectangle in the box, and then collect your wooden door from the box next to it. Right click to place the door in the 2 high space you made in step 2. This will let you exit and enter your home.
You don't want monsters to spawn! Monsters will not spawn in light sources above light level 7- and a torch project light level 14! It is because of this that monsters do not spawn in daylight, but be careful- because they can spawn in caves. Most mobs burn in sunlight, but some, such as creepers and spiders don't. We'll cover all that in the next step.
Zombies can break doors down if you are playing in hard mode, so just stick one in front of it or dig a hole and you should be covered.
If you've done all this correctly and if the door is closed, you should be fine!

Part 4

Part 4 of 4:

Knowing Your Mobs

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Any NPC animal in Minecraft, hostile or not, is called a 'mob' and can be killed. Most of them have food or items in them and some can even be used for trading or transport.
If you put a saddle on one and right click it, you can ride a pig- however you cannot control it without the use of a carrot on a stick. You can also kill pigs for pork which are a very good source of food.
If you have a bucket you can right click a cow for milk, or else you can kill a cow for leather and raw beef.
These creatures look very similar to cows- in fact, if sheared, they will turn into cows! They will also drop 5 mushrooms if sheared. If killed, they will drop the same things that a cow does- beef and leather.
When killed, chickens will drop feathers, raw chickens, and/or eggs. Feathers can be use when creating an arrow, while raw chicken and eggs can be use to eat. Except that raw chicken needs to be cooked, and egg can be used when creating cake.
If sheared or killed, they drop blocks of colored or non-colored wool, as well as raw mutton. (only if killed.)
With horses, specially crafted armor can be placed on them, as can a saddle. They go quite fast and can also jump very high. Donkeys can carry chests and wear a saddle, but not armor.
When killed, squids drop ink sacs which can be used for black dye.
When attacked, wolves become hostile and even if you're on peaceful they will attack you. If you have a lot of bones, however, you can use them on a wolf to tame them. Wolves will attack skeletons for you and follow you around, and you can make them sit if you don't want them to. They will also attack rabbits and sheep.
There are certain conditions that must be met to tame an ocelot however- for example, the ocelot must be looking at you and walking slowly towards you. When fed a fish, ocelots will turn into a breed of cat that, much like the wolf, will follow you around once tamed. They will attack creepers for you.
When killed, rabbits will drop rabbit hide (which can be made into leather) and rabbit meat.

Community Q&A

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Question

How do I eat in Minecraft?

Community Answer

Hold the right mouse button or your assigned 'place block' button while having a food item in your hand. If this doesn't work, you might not being trying to eat an edible item. A list of edible items can be found here: minecraft.gamepedia.com/Food

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How do I send a message in Minecraft?

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To send a message to other players, you can press T and type your message. When you are done, press enter.

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How do I open my inventory?

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To open the inventory, press E on the keyboard. Then press E again to get out of the inventory.

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