Minecraft is like no other game, it needs creativity and imagination to guide your experience.
When I first started playing Minecraft, I had no idea what to do. The sense of uncertainty was exciting. There is no story or backstory for the character, that's for you to imagine. The only problem is that I needed help with the crafting recipes. But when the actual release came out, I was running across treetops and flinging enchanted bows at cows just minding their business. The core gameplay is mine, craft, build a shelter, and kill animals and monsters. You start off with nothing, and then you gather materials. The first thing you should worry about is wood, that is the main thing you need. But before nightfall, you need a house. After you survive your first night, you start to mine for materials. You get better materials as you progress which leads to diamond, which leads to the Nether, which leads to The End to fight the dragon.
There is a lot to do when you start a new world, there is also a lot of options. Hardcore mode means once you die, you're dead. When you first step into your world, you can decide to do whatever you want. If you want to make something incredible, like the exact replica of the deathstar, you can, although, you might need to go to creative where you have unlimited resources and you can fly. But creating is one of the most important components of minecraft, there is a lot of things to create, and finishing a giant skyscraper feels like you completed a lego set. With many blocks to choose from, you can pretty much build anything.
Survival mode is where a lot of my time with the game was. I fell down ravines and just landed to my safety by landing in the water, which made me blow out a huge sigh of relief. I was chased by exploding creepers and ran into my house only to find my self with 1 less wall. I even ditched my house to find more resources, only to come back and make me feel like I was in exile and I was returning home. There are a lot of exciting times to be had in survival mode, especially in The End.
If you want to actually "complete" Minecraft, you are going to need a lot of skill and time. You need to travel through the depths of hell (nether) and find the blaze rods to find the portal to the dragon. The nether is an exciting place where everywhere you turn, there is a monster waiting to kill you. Ghasts are possibly the scariest as they fling exploding fireballs where you are about to step. You will also need to kill many endermen to get their eyes. In The End, there is a dragon waiting to be killed. It is hard! I won't spoil anything except that it takes patience.
My favorite part about Minecraft is the multiplayer. Although there are many lag spikes and connection issues, when you do get to play, it is a blast. My friend has a server where all of my buddies play and we just do what we want. If we want to have a PvP battle, then we do. If we want to go to the nether to slay monsters, then we do. The best part about multiplayer is that you can work together. Building with friends is a blast! There are also many public servers to go on and meet new people. On some public servers, there are cities that must have taken days to build, and it's just amazing to look at and think, "I need to make a city with my friends." I actually did manage to build a city with my friends on a popular server, and it was the most fun I've had playing a game in a while.
With many things to do, and having a different world to explore each time, Minecraft is an amazing pick up and play game. And if you get bored with the Vanilla game, there is an awesome community that creates mods and maps for you to play on.