WARNING! OFFTOPIC IS IMMINENT
Minecraft phenomena is a bit more complicated.
1. Minecraft gave the users opportunity to create. Every single man is a creator (more or less), and creation in Minecraft is simple and... well... enjoyable. First, it was nothing more than a application for a voxel 3D-modeling with 'grounded' controls. Then, it was slowly changed to be a slight adventurous. But core was unchanged - all the surviving and resource gathering was intended only to spice up the process of returning to your beautiful cave/grand home/precious mechanisms.
2. I bought Minecraft when it was in most active stage of development, yes - at weekly update. But! I thought that Minecraft is going to become something grand and complex, like Dwarf Fortress. Notch mentioned this couple of times... and all the stuff added in updates! Heh. If I'd only knew... Stupid terrain generation, stupid ore distribution, piteous crafting - and it's all in the game where 'Mine' is a part of name? I don't like Minecraft now. I'm not playing it. Because it's still a 3D-editor. And I'll better take Blender and go make some REAL modeling. Or programming in Visual Studio.
3. Weekly updates can be an influence for people, who thinking about purchase already. It's not a defining factor, you know.
