So...I get the fact that You have to make a shelter to stay away from the monsters, but you explore and stuff I guess?
You gather resources, to make better items and tools, to gather better resources, to make better structures.
Hiding from monsters is optional. you can very well get yourself some armor, weapons, food and go monster hunting. In fact, it's encouraged. some stuff you can only get by killing monsters. (Gunpowder to make TNT, string to make bows )
Its just a sandbox game. There is no real point to it other than indulging in a Lego like game and building bigger and badder stuff.
Yeah I'm still kind of unsure myself.
The Classic game version didn't really appeal to me.
Classic can be pretty fun in itself. But it *IS* limited in what you can do. VERY limited. watch some videos on Beta. You can do much more, and there is MUCH more interactivity and "point" in it.