Preparing to Survive Your First Night in 'Survival' Minecraft

Never played Minecraft before and you're going to jump right in and start in Survival? I don't want to look.

Of course you can just jump right in to Creative or Peaceful Minecraft mode, but if you arrive in a new Survival Mode world unprepared, you are more than likely going to die at least once before the next morning. That's not fun. Think of it like landing in Paris without having maps, guidebooks, hotel reservations, or at least enough French to know how to ask "where are the restrooms"  etc...

I recommend practice in a Peaceful (not Creative) world. 

• Learn the controls: Learn how to move (walk, run, jump, look around, and crouch).
• Learn what you can gather without tools. Close loose objects will automatically move into your inventory until it is full. Learn how to move things in or out of your hotbar, how to hold an object in your hand, throw it, eat it, or place it on the ground. 
• Practice using your hands to chop a tree, make the wood into planks, and then use the wood to build a crafting box.
• Practice using the crafting box to make a few useful tools like swords, picks, axes, etc. 

Don't over-prepare*. Basically, your goal on your first full day in a new Minecraft survival world will simply be to assess the location, gather resources to make a crafting table, use the crafting table to  make tools, gather more resources, and find some way to avoid getting killed by hostile mobs. Part of the fun of Minecraft is gaining experience and improving.

When you are stuck, the Net has tons of information. 

Places like this Minecraft site have tons more information. 

 *OK, if you want to over-prepare, learn how to put a block on the ground and then, from on top of it, how to jump up and place another block under you.

If you are using keyboard commands, learn how to reprogram the "drop item" function from the 'Q' key.

Learn how to make crates or chests, doors, torches, boats, campfires, and furnaces.