Source (intention) — original note, preserved verbatim. Summary in Why games.

Minecraft Is Not A Game

Minecraft is not a game, it’s a thing you play games with.
Minecraft is a timeless game - video
I think the magic of Minecraft is in enabling the style of play you want
The meaning of any word depends on the context in which it is inserted.
- This aligns with Yuri’s explanation for why he doesn’t like Duolingo (it teaches isolated words, without context application)
Plato’s metaphysics: everything already exists in the intelligible world, we just haven’t discovered it yet in the sensible world
All language change flows from bottom to top (from the population to grammar dictionaries)
My form of analysis/research is strongly prescriptivist → I take each word from a question, break it down, research the meaning/concept of each one to then start inferring.
A well-designed video game will bring a game and encourage you to use all the mechanics made in its simulation.
Players tend to use the simplest solution for a challenge and stick with it > difficult rule or difficult objective to break that strategy
The meta: a base game that is easy/manageable, but uses its story or the depth of mechanics to encourage players to complete challenges that seem almost impossible, requiring them a creative solution. (example: pacifist-style runs or limited engineering challenges)

Minecraft Is A Timeless Game!

What makes Minecraft so big: love of the game and freedom to create
- You can create anything and play however you want
The most important block in Minecraft: redstone
- It adds a layer of complexity that can be used by newer players and expands infinitely the creations of more engaged players
- This, for a product/software, is essential: be simple and efficient for the standard user and have tools to expand use for the engaged user.
Mods, in my opinion, play the most important role in the fact that the game is alive today.
- There are mods for everything and, if there isn’t, you can create one
- This reminds me of the open source software philosophy I talked about with Yuri