Yeah definitely, I feel like there are so many ideas to explore!

Back in the day Notch (groan) would post on Google+ (groan) about creating self sustaining ecosystems within minecraft e.g. chopped down trees drop seeds to the floor, rain make them grow & regrows, sheep feed on the grass, the sheep breed, wolves hunt the sheep, wolves corpses get reduced to dirt by mushrooms etc. I suspect that last part of the cycle is why this never came to pass in what was being marketed as a game for children (god forbid white children's ego is in any way challenged). Anyway that sounded like such a better idea than wherever the game ended up going i.e. more progress, more colonial (con)quests for exotic treasure.

With the success Minecraft has seen, I'm shocked we haven't seen more cracks at a block builder game in general, but specifically it would be heartening to see a project that has a different focus than technological progress. Or maybe I'm talking out of my ass and haven't explored enough Minetest mods.