Why is minecraft so popular?

I mean those graphics are pretty bad. The gameplay doesn't seem great either.

Building shit in Minecraft is incredible.

I'm not into it, but I get the appeal. It's basically Legos that come to life after you build with them. Sure, things don't look amazing, but it lets you build anything with a simple, intuitive, yet surprisingly versatile interface.

Pretty much this. Good outlet for creativity. And working in such a simple way (cubes) to make something that can be really complex is rewarding.

Fun, hours of entertainment, and generally addicting, but without egregious micro transactions. Would be better if they allowed us to use custom/ skins bought with minecoins offline though.

Yeah, I suppose it's good for a lego type of creativity. I'm just surprised in this day of graphics so many still go for that.

It's like a virtual lego world, build anything you want

Gameplay isn't great but is however competent and accessible in what it aims to achieve. Which is more than can be stated from a lot of games with far better graphics.

Onto the graphics, I think a lot of people like the style choice. They clearly went with lower poly/ textures to avoid LOD problems a lot of those prettier games have. As such its graphical limitations are heavily a reflection on gameplay. I think a lot of the fans also consider it a 'charming artstyle'.

Don't know what graphical powerhouses you are playing with "great" gameplay. But majority of the ones I see (play) are pretty shallow. Relying on the presentation-production to carry the game. Because they fundamentally have mediocre gameplay (Uncharted has that sticky cover/ Last of Us has horrible aiming/ Crysis has retarded A.I.). And it has consistently been this way since forever.

Developers have focus and talent not in every area. As such most games either have something great at one or the other. Very rarely both, only one company comes to mind that achieves both consistently

When something becomes massively popular, it doesn't always make sense. In Minecraft's case though, it's a fun and accessible game. Can be played on pretty much all PCs, is like Lego (another massively popular thing), didn't have a lot of competition of similar games, and now it's on pretty much all current platforms there is. The visuals fit what was gaining popularity at that time as well, and constant updates make people stick with it and lures more people in all the time. It basically just did a bunch of things right at the right time.

I've personally never played it, but can see its' appeal.

@mrbojangles25: Online is great fun. Countless mini games like hide and seek are just perfect to kick back and relax. Not just about building blocks.

You can build so many things you wish to in this game.

100% true but what can we do about that

Because Legos are expensive?