Minecraft doesn't feel the same anymore. | 09/06/26

I remember the first time I ever played Minecraft. I believe it was the last day of junior high; I don’t know how it is now, but back then the final day was only 3 hours long, and the teachers basically let the kids do what they wanted for that time. I was with a group of friends of mine, and we all decided to go to the library and play on the computers. One of them found this website that let you download Minecraft for free (I tried really hard to find the specific site on archive.org, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called), and somehow we were able to get it onto the school computers.

Now, Minecraft was the first real PC game I had ever played…outside of minesweeper of course. I only ever had a PS1 growing up, so it was kind of mindblowing to me to be playing a game on a computer. And, going into a Minecraft world for the first time, I was genuinely excited (╮ꏿ ◊ ꏿ╭) It’s pretty much like they say- you will never get the same feeling that you got the first time playing a game.

I can remember the very first biome that I booted up in- the Jungle Biome. This was when ocelots were really rare yet, so when I first spotted one, I was really stoked. Once I became more familiar with Minecraft it became my goal to tame an ocelot (and remember, in older versions once you tamed an ocelot, they turned into a regular cat…this was disappointing to 12 year old me). I played around in that world for a bit, and then one of those friends I was with put in the cheat that spawned you in the end with the Ender Dragon- I died instantly (´ω｀*)

Eventually, I bought Minecraft for my own personal laptop-the pirated version I just mentioned was outdated, and still had finite world generation…it got old rather quickly. Playing my very own copy thrilled me like nothing else. I was on it as much as possible, and eventually, I found out about servers.

I had never played any game online before, so finding out that Minecraft could be played with other people, from all around the world, seemed impossible to understand. I went online and found a server, booted it up, and thus I was introduced to online play. I tried out a survival server at first, and then I found out about factions. I never got far; someone that I played with a bit eventually made a diy cannon and blew my house up. That ended my factions career pretty quickly (;´д｀)

None of that really compared to the creative servers, though. I always enjoyed creative mode, but am certainly no builder. I just like to make cute little houses, and it was no different back then. So, I claimed my plot, and got to building. Seeing all the other creations that people made, watching the chat fill with messages, and listening to the creative mode soundtrack…nothing compares to it now. I remember days after school that I would play online, talking to other builders on the server…the best kind were the days it stormed. Even to this day, when it storms in the afternoon, I reminisce on those hours I would spend designing my little homes and chatting with friends I no longer know.

Eventually, everyone left the servers (especially the creative ones). This was during the lull Minecraft experienced around 2016-2017, a little before Pewdiepie started his let’s play which encouraged the boom in popularity again. I even found myself drifting away from playing it, moving on to other newer, more popular titles. It was a couple years before I got back into it- 2020 hit, and while I was browsing Youtube, I came across the speedbuild videos that were popping off around that time. I thought, hey, this might be fun to try out myself. So, I did, and made a little following off of it. This got old after a couple months though, and I was back to playing other things.

Nowadays, I might play Minecraft once every two months or so, and for that fated 1-2 weeks at a time. I’m sure growing up and becoming an adult has distilled the experience a bit, but Minecraft just doesn’t feel the same as it did 10~ years ago. The updates aren’t as exciting, the player base is less interested in the simple and more in the spectacular…perhaps it’s all just me. I guess all games that we enjoyed in our youths are doomed to the same fate. Nonetheless, there has never been a game that has offered me the same memories or experiences as Minecraft, and nothing will ever take that away ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡

(PS. Today's featured track is "Biome Fest" by C418. Truly the pinnacle of the Minecraft OST, and will always remind me of those creative servers as a kid.)