I think of Minecraft (SMP) as having three distinct aspects (or phases): 1) Surviving the zombie hordes long enough to set up an initial base of operations 2)

I think of Minecraft (SMP) as having three distinct aspects (or phases): 1) Surviving the zombie hordes long enough to set up an initial base of operations 2) Beginning to explore and build out infrastructure 3) Building cool, large-scale stuff I personally find all three of these aspects of the game fun. Even after you've gotten to phase 3, you can still go back and do the same things you did earlier; exploring caves or the nether is still dangerous even after you're fully equipped, and you can always explore farther away and build new infrastructure. So even if you're not particularly interested in large-scale construction projects, you can still have fun exploring or going off on your own and fighting zombies.