As I was playing MC today, I noticed something that I think needs work in the game. As I walked through deserts and biomes and snowy areas, I realized traveling is way too easy. In real life (yes i know that this is a game), you couldn't just WALK through a desert or snowy area, you would die by dehydration or frostbite. So I thought of this example that may help make traveling harder (this would be for 1.8):

You are walking in the forest of a newly generated world as you stumble upon a village. On the opposite side of the village you see the sunset over a new area of the map that looks particularly snowy. You enter into the village for a nights rest as you stumble upon a villager. You talk to him, and you find out that it is way too dangerous to enter the snowy are without proper equipment, so you strike a deal (you are given a quest) by the villager, and in return, he will give you winter clothes (which could either be its own thing or it could be leather armour) and a goat to ride when you go higher up into the mountains. You do the quest (whatever it is) and in return get the armour and the goat. You craft some tools before going, and leave in the morning, now able to pass through the snowy area with ease.

On the other side of the snowy area, you see another village, this time on the other side is a desert, but lucky for you, in the middle of the village, is a fountain. You trade your goat for a few buckets which you and fill them up with water. You take your armor off and head into the desert, and whenever your dehydration bar goes almost to zero, you take a swig of water that partially replenishes it. You make it to the end of the desert, as you come upon another village (sorry for all the villages ,but I'm trying to make a point, besides, this is the last part of the story)

You enter the village to resupply, but before you leave, a villager tells you that this forest is pretty dangerous, even during the day, so in return of doing some quests for a few villagers, you will get full iron armor, iron tools and a dog to follow you. You do the taks, get what you need, and are able to continue into the forest with no troubles against any monsters.[/b]


So what do you think? I guess the main point of this article is to make traveling harder so that you have to have skill or have done something to EARN going farther onto the map.

I think Notch is trying to implement things like this into 1.8 (giving incentives and risks for exploring), yet I feel if this is what you really want from Minecraft, there are other games out there (see: RPG genre.)

So you want Minecraft to be a game then?

I find exploring rather pointless, as it's just a barren landscape interspersed with the odd hill that's a pain in the ass to get over. I would rather see some way to make getting around those things easier. Like a grappling hook, or a glider.

Minecraft ain't a RPG, at least in my eyes it will never be.
 
Only thing I'd do with npc villages is blow them up.
And quests sound awfully easy with the idea of digging/building around it and if they add in indestructible blocks....then it ain't Minecraft.
 
Minecraft's good with what it is, but I'm not all too down with what's it trying to become.
But hey, surprise me, I'm waiting.

More stuff will get added, and since Notch is all about stealing ideas and mods and not giving credit to the folks he steal from this will probably get thrown in there too :P

no, i don't think it would be a good idea. i think it would ruin the point of the game. the game is to build stuff and hide from monsters.

minecraft is fun because it isn't really a game.  It's a decent voxel terrain editor that feeds the obsessive compulsive types' needs.