What's the first thing you do when you start a new map?

I chop trees! Of course the first thing you need is wood, because you need a crafting table. Then I start to mine and build my house! Sometimes mine, then go back, then build a little...

 

I always look around for materials to build a small house first before I do anything else. Then I make a crafting table and make some armor and items I need before I do some serious exploring.

 

I get a pick axe and dig down. Yes, I dig down.

 

I get wood. I think this is the first thing EVERYONE does in Minecraft. You need wood to start your adventure, to do just about anything. After I get the wood, I usually plunge right into a mine and maybe transform that tunnel into some kind of outpost.

 

Get wood, craft the necessary tools then make a hole, a very deep hole and mine my pants off. I also compulsively try to make my first shelter a real high tower.

 

Typically I would make a small shack, just to stack chests in and such. Mining and exploration is huge for me, and that's what draws me to the game! after gathering sufficient resources I continue on a larger permanent house!

 

Get wood and craft axe, pickaxe and a sword made entirely with a wood. And then build a small house to protect from zombies and spiders and skeletons. Gather some food and find a sheep to get a wool and craft a bed.

 

Punch some trees and explore.

 

I build a really basic house maybe a 10x5x4. This would just be where I put a bed in, two double chests and a furnace. I then go to work on gathering some resources and finding an ideal place to build my house. I'm a big proponent of having nice scenery and a river surrounding my house.

 

I farm instantly, wheat and as many cows as I can find. I find that it's the best survival strategy as I can survive with just cobblestone but I can't survive without food (I always play on hard so I literally die). Also farms will continue operating while I'm away mining so it's most efficient for them to be put up first and then left to grow.

 

I usually punch trees first. Then once I have enough wood to make a small house, I do. Next I make a crafting table, pickaxe, a couple of chests and an axe. Then you get enough cobblestone to make a furnace. Now at this point it may possibly be getting dark soon, so you want to make some torches for inside your house by making some charcoal by putting some wood in your furnace. Mix with sticks and *bam* light!

Now if you feel like it you can go mining for some materials, or as I usually do first, punch some grass in order to get some seeds for wheat (but that's probably only because I really, really love punching grass for some reason.)

Once you've got some iron and coal is when you finally start being able to really make a nice base. It's always good to have a bucket or three so you can transport water to make some nice big farms. If you happen to spawn near a village, you can take some of their crops so you can grow your own (but be nice and replace them after )

The main thing to do in the early stages of a map is to try to never get caught in the dark. Those creepers are super annoying when they explode and leave holes everywhere

 

I don't often build a house when I start, I probably don't even build one at later stages of the game. I just like going out and exploring, and if night is coming I carve a small cave into the side of a mountain and sleep there. Actually, my houses are always caves 90 percent of the time, I don't know why but I just prefer them. Also they are more sneaky on mp servers!

 

Well you are right about having sneakier houses on multiplayer servers, I usually build my bases underground with secret redstone doors and what not. However I like that plugin that some servers have, where you can claim a patch of land so people can't destroy it. I remember I built an awesome sorting machine with redstone on a minecraft server and some dude found my base and tried to destroy it! So glad that server had the bukkit plugins it did.

Also theres a plugin/mod that lets you gain levels like in an RPG and it's great ^_^

 

I definitely go for building a shelter first... it's scary out there at night.

 

Chop trees and get a small little square wood house to survive the night so I don't have to deal with no bullshit zombies fucking me up before I get any weapons.

 

The absolute first thing I do when I start a new map is explore to find sheep. I hate waiting through the night, so I aspire to craft a bed instantly. After that I usually grab resources to make a decent home to keep me safe from mobs and store what I have collected within that time. Then I start a farm for food. Mining is usually an after thought for me after I have a stable and efficient home base running.

 

The first thing I do is set up a home with a farm so I can have plenty of food to go into the mines with. Nothing sucks more than going into a mine, starving to death!

 

I normally scout for the closest hill or mountain face with some nearby trees and dig into the mountain/hill with a wooden pickaxe to get a steady supply of cobblestone, coal, and hopefully iron. After that I go grab some seeds and make a bucket to get an indoor farm started. Mining and base expansion then become the same thing and if I feel industrious enough, I'll convert most if not the whole mountain into my base.

 

The first thing I do is start chopping trees and work on getting the basic tools. After that I usually go start mining.