In Minecraft version history, there are four major eras: Pre-Classic, Classic, Alpha, Beta, and Release. The stage (June 28, 2010 – December 20, 2010) is the holy grail for collectors. It introduced survival mode, health, mining, crafting (the "Indev" mechanics), and the infinite world generator. An "Alpha" account is one purchased before the Beta release.

This was not a "game" in any playable sense. It featured:

Because Minecraft didn't check launcher versions against a server until Beta 1.3, those 0.0.0 launchers continued to work perfectly. They downloaded Alpha 1.0.0 game files, but the launcher wrapper reported 0.0.0 . These became known as "Zero Clients."

However, a handful of early downloaders grabbed the .exe during a brief window in October 2010 Notch updated the internal version string. These users didn't see 1.0.0 in their launcher’s "About" page; they saw 0.0.0 .