My experience with Minecraft is basically:
-ok, what is this? I'll run around and look for something
-ok, something killed me wtf (ask what happened on gaf)
-ok, I need shelter, equipment, resources, and all that
-ok, some enemy just blew up my house (ask what happened on gaf)
-ok, doors are important. I'll build a new house in a good location.
then it gets fuzzy and I could swear my clock was playing tricks on me while I focused on building my house. After my house was alright enough, I started to dig underground and get more resources to build better things.
Most people seem to get into servers with other people and build things with others like in Garry's Mod. I haven't tried that much, but I can understand the appeal since I was addicted to Garry's Mod years ago.