Man, I spent a week trying to get into Dwarf Fortress and failed every time. It was just too complex and punishing for me. MineCraft is much easier by comparison. It helps to look up crafting recipes and tips online, and maybe a starters guide on surviving the first night, but you'll be having fun from the minute you start playing (I did anyway.) I've ranted about it with Fink a number of times, and I can say this.

As much as I love FO3 and FO:NV, when I first bought NV, it was only a week after picking up MineCraft. Throughout my entire first playthrough of NV, all I could think about was going back and playing more MineCraft. I know it has a lot of buzz, and I'm usually one of those people that is turned off by things that have popular followings (never seen Titanic, Schindler's List, Forest Gump, and a bunch of others simply based on their popularity... I consider it a mental deficiency on my part.) Even now, as I'm playing and enjoying ME2, I still have to almost force myself to not play MineCraft instead. This game is both incredibly charming and fun. The survival elements are really what do it for me, along with the strange atmosphere and setting. There is a free version on the site you can try, but that is almost nothing like the full version, and not nearly as fun.

It's got a huge online community with tons of servers running variations on the game. I look forward to some RPG variations when the multiplayer becomes more stable, as I think this has HUGE potential for an open ended online RPG experience. You can also mod the hell out of it, with more modding options soon to be implemented. In my game, I've re-skinned EVERYTHING, either with my own custom skins (easy to do with any paint program,) or with a mixture of some of my favorite ones online. Real easy to mod for even an amateur.
I honestly can't praise the game enough. It's too much fun. Again, I'm sure this isn't for everybody (yet,) but if you like the idea of a survival sim mixed with legos for grown-ups, buy this game.

As far as RPS goes (and I know I'm not gonna make friends saying this,) but I'm not crazy about their site. The handful of articles I've read have seemed reactionary and only a step above most user forums in quality. I only end up there through hyperlinks. That said, I regularly frequent Kotaku, and I know plenty of people would say it's no better than RPS.

What follows is an example of a typical "first day" in MineCraft:

Wake up on the coast of a mysterious (giant) island. Quickly start harvesting logs from nearby trees and stone from..wherever. Use these to craft a work bench and some crude tools such as an axe, pick-axe, shovel, and scythe. Quickly collect enough wood with your fancy new axe to build a primitive shelter. You will need this for your first night. It doesn't need to have a door or windows. It will likely not have any lights (need to go mining for coal before you can make some simple torches.) When the sun sets, get in your little hut and wait it out. Not much to do in absolute darkness (this game has REAL dark nights and mines) but to craft some extra tools (as they break down with use) and plan.
When the sun rises the next day, wait long enough for the swarms of skeleton archers, Creepers (exploding zombies), and giant spiders to die. Than go out and do whatever. You can gather materials above ground such as the super important wood, plants for gardening, sand to make glass out of, or whatever. Or you can start mining. This usually means either find an existing tunnel system and build upon that, or just pick a spot and start digging. You will come across a variety of resources with which to make better tools, weapons, armor, stairs, ladders, mine carts, chests to store goods, torches and lamps, and so on. You can use buckets (made of metals you find) to gather up water or lava and create moats or traps around your home. If your particularly crafty, you can even set traps with pressure plates and switches to capture, kill, and harvest monsters at night.

Once you get settled in, you can start to build a better home, and explore the island, which is huge and different every time. There isn't much to gain by exploration as of yet other than the fun of adventure and survival, but I'm hoping that will change in the beta version as they apply a narrative to it all. I'm currently working on a network of tree houses in a large valley near my spawn point. I've got direct access into a giant mine which I've built a tower around. The tower connects to one of the tree houses, which are connected by bridges. It's all very neat! And this is all in a single player game. If someone had the server space, they could even make a Tap server for people here to go hang out on and mine together...

There is a lot more to the game (portals to the Neather you can create for one, which is a super scary place!) but I've probably said enough (too much.)

Again, I love the game. Easily one of my favorites of the year, and it's still in ALPHA! Feel free to throw more questions my way, as I love praising this game!

I never know what he's talking about...

http://servers.minecraftforum.net/

A list of Minecraft servers. I've only played server side Minecraft a couple times, and it seemed kind of buggy, but that was months ago, and I know most of the work they've been doing is for the multiplayer, so I'm hoping it's improved. If anyone wants to hop onto a server and tool around a bit, hit me up on Steam. I always keep it on.There are a lot of other server lists as well. Wish I could start my own. Don't even know how to create a server though.

Man, browsing these lets you know how many mods already exist for the game, including economy system mods! This game needs more RPG elements like shops, npcs, and cash. I think modders are working on/testing all of those! I get so excited thinking about this game!

...no, not that kind of excited.