The Adventures of Jill. I'm still confused about the point of Terraria.

I've finished off all of my Steam sale purchases and have decided to dig, both literally and figuratively, back into Terraria.  I spent a few hours experimenting with it after I first bought it and found that even though it is decidedly an odd choice for me that I am actually enjoying it.  I'm still not sure what exactly the point of the game is.  Should I be building as many crappy houses as I can to draw people to my "village?"  Or should I be digging around looking for better loot?  Well, I've been doing both those things and feel like I have accomplished a little on both fronts.

My "village" now has five occupants.  Some of them seem quite useless, but hey, they keep zombies from spawning right on top of my house.  I hope they are happy with their small, poorly lit homes.  Having a merchant to sell stuff to is handy.  Jill's own house has grown to accommodate several crafting items as well as a nice collection of storage chests.  How many more occupants are going to show up to live in the wonder that is Jilltown?  I'm not sure, but I have plenty of stone blocks so I guess I'll keep building them.

Jilltown.  Notice the detail in the houses.  Yup, I'm an architectural genius.

On a digging related front I have also made some progress.  The first major obstacle I met was water.  Dig down far enough and there are underground lakes that have proven to be Jill's undoing a couple of times.  I have figured out how to semi-effectively redirect this water to a lower plane.  The lower you go the more enemies you run into.  Now poor Jill has to fight off skeletons and undead vikings to maintain her foothold in the underground.  In my underground explorations I have discovered several chests with some interesting items.  The ice boomerang has proven to be a great ranged weapon that is wonderful for knocking back enemies.  I have also been stalked by a wizard skeleton known as Tim.  I've killed Tim twice now and taken his hat.  Suck it Tim.  A few other handy items I've picked up--some boots that make Jill run really fast, a jar of clouds that allows double jumping, and a hook which I figured out could be turned into a grappling hook--very nice for navigating big tunnels.

Now Jill faces a new danger...lava.  I made the mistake of stepping in it and found that to be a really bad idea.  Poor Jill took some big damage and was on fire but managed to survive.  It seems that redirecting the lava isn't going to work, so I am navigating Jill around the pools of lava.  It's challenging, but I am finding some nice goodies along the way.

I'm still not sure what I am supposed to be accomplishing in Terraria but that hasn't stopped me from playing it.  Maybe it's the exploration that has drawn me in?  Or the loot?  I don't really know, but this strange little game promises to keep me entertained for many more hours.