It can be pretty long-term absorbing if you get into tinkering and construction, especially in groups. My friend who was running a server on his own box for him, myself, and a couple of other people eventually broke down and rented a Minecraft server after a few months.

RPG-like elements? Oh dear, that would be disasterous.

>The typical path that many people (myself included) have experienced is: total obsession for 1-2 weeks, followed by rapidly waning interest.

This what I experienced. Mutliplayer is fun though, but I can't play the game properly due to bugs (framerate issues, random disconnects / crashes to desktop). I'm not sure if my local JRE has a problem but I have been doing Java development work recently and I've not had any issues.

I think once the bugs have been ironed out and the development process has been refined (to prevent re-occuring bugs) the game can really grow. Recent updates has shown that new features are being added to the game (including reaching out to the mod community) and by the time of proper release the game will have much more to offer.

> But if Markus decides to include RPG-like elements some day, we're in big trouble.

You're probably looking for Wurm Online, then. More advanced than Minecraft, with the same sandbox multiplayer environment and RPG like elements such as skills and mobs.

I listened to an interview with the lead Wurm Online developer a month or so ago on the Massively podcast, and he mentioned that he was originally with the Minecraft dev team, but split off some years back for wanting to do something more involved.

See I don't even dare _search_ for that.

This was also my experience. It's also been one of the few games my wife has played intensely. We both got quite bored of it after a couple of weeks of addicting play. It's a really great concept, just severely lacking in any overall goal. Makes me wonder what a dedicated, complete minecraft-like game could accomplish.

It's also an excellent example of getting a working prototype out as soon as possible. You never know, it may be even more successful than the completed version. :-)

I think the interest stays longer once you start playing with mine cart boosting and killing mobs with logic-gate contraptions. Then it turns the game into you against the game instead of the enemies in the game - an extremely open-ended, creativity-driven style of play.

I find it more of a roller coaster. I get into it for a few weeks, then stop playing for a while. Then it repeats once I try the new updates or play with my friends on multiplayer.