Did Minecraft Have a Golden Age?

The golden age of minecraft is something that nobody can seem to agree on, this video is my two cents on whether the golden age really exists, and if so: when was it?
My computer began to die halfway through making this, but I hope the general quality of the video remains fine throughout!
All music used is from the Minecraft OST, mainly from the original alpha music.

[@emanmodnar2]

I've never stopped playing, so the concept of these waves of "resurgence" generally amuse me. The different generations leaving their own footprints in the history of how things have progressed. Seems like I'm always finding something new to discover, some creator has done another neat build in world creator, or some crazy hardcore build, or some glitchy speed run shenannigans. I'm impressed by how far Minecraft animation and music videos have come and people are still making them.... But I like that idea of a "Personal Golden Age". Its got a good vibe to it, and it was actually nice to hear someone who loved the older versions, before things got a little more "kid friendly". I was never much of a redstone user either, haha.

[@T1nk]

While I don't really play consistently these days, I will come back to it at least yearly for a while - I have such a soft spot for the game during its older versions (I would honestly still happily play through them versions today!). Maybe it was the simplicity of it, or maybe the lack of things telling you how to play, who knows? :)

[@emanmodnar2]

@@T1nk I always went down the Builder path myself, took to it more like a digital zen garden than an arcade game. I still havnt really gotten around to entering The End or seeing the game's credits. Too busy being a dwarf finding new places to build and expand. Took me ten years of vanilla to even glance at mods, and the current age of Modded adventures is mind blowing to me (I still dont get the mega computers or Draconic stuff). I have found myself leaning into the 1.6 and 1.9 mod pack adventures for simplicity's sake. Its just so easy to boot it up and get into a play world, compared to so many other games these days with 2 hours of tutorial, haha.

[@T1nk]

I think I’m fully in the same boat, as much as I wanted to I never did ‘beat’ the game and get to the End, I usually would get distracted by building a nice house, doing landscaping, building bridges and air balloons etc to make the world feel good to be in! My only experience of mods was tekkit way back about 7 years ago or something probably by now, and that was mainly due to watching play throughs of it and loving the machine and pipes aspect :)

[@emanmodnar2]

@@T1nk The last few years locking everyone up in their homes made something of an explosion int he modder community and all kinds of weird stuff has been cropping up to try and catch up to Microsoft's money injection promoting all the new updates and content. I tried out a few of the Feed the Beast packs and totally got overwhelmed real fast. Playing with a mechanically minded partner has helped out a lot and made some more recent packs more enjoyable. "Rustic Waters" has been a recent discovery, where someone decided to import some of the Subnuatica mechanics into a Skyblock like atmosphere. "Heavens of Sorcery" had another skyblock style game but with a different form of magic mods than I had seen before, where I could program the effects I wanted rather than just a static skill. "Exoria" has probably been my favorite so far though, really puts you back into basic mechanics and figuring out the world your in and why, without any rush mechanics or pressure to move quickly or build a factory if you dont want to. At one point I had a co-op world with a friend where we ignored the mission and decided to make a big forest in the bowl of a volcano. I've heard some of the Fabric mods also have a couple thousand vanity blocks for people who exclusively want to build pretty things. And people are still making new mods! I hope this game lasts another 10 years, the creativity outlet is great.

[@cfranks7794]

Some of my fondest memories from when I was a teen are playing Minecraft with my friends, I’ve loved Minecraft through most of the patches but this video made me so nostalgic, I miss the simplicity of early Minecraft - This video is amazing

[@T1nk]

Its why I keep going back to SoI, it was calm yet so new and exciting - I think the new updates are adding some fun and cool stuff but the feeling of 2011 minecraft hits different

[@Jrm_2211]

I sadly can't remember what patches were when but for me there was kind of 2 golden ages. Like you I started in around 2011 and was massively into the game because of team crafted if anyone remembers them, Yogscast and a let's play by RentheDog. I loved watching and playing both my own world and all the minigames and modpacks that Sky would show off. I personally had a resurgence too in 2017 which was around the time and just after they did the sea temple update so we got things like sea lanterns and prismarine which I loved. I made some good friends for a while on a server at that time, one that has stuck with me to this day. And actually there was sort of a 3rd golden age for me when I got to play the hc server with you guys

[@T1nk]

Thank you so much

[@keithparker1346]

Just before the aquatic update is the golden era for me...after that it seemed they wanted to make everything busy

[@T1nk]

I feel that, so much to do in the game now but not enough time to take it all in.

[@jokig]

I hadn't played Minecraft in over a year at least when I picked it up recently. I tried playing on two different worlds: one in beta 1.7.3, and another in 1.19.4. In the beta world, I'm working at making a minecart track for the "On A Rail" achievement. I have a three story house built up over an overhang, with the surrounding area lighten up with torches on posts. I made a greenhouse for wheat, that I remember having to add a floor to because some cows spawned on the grass inside and trampled my crops. I deleted the 1.19.4 world cause I just got bored from the amount of Stuff that kinda overwhelmed me. I got a very "less is more" feeling with modern Minecraft in comparison to beta. This isn't really about nostalgia. Most of my time with Minecraft was I'd say between 2013 and 2019, and most of that was in creative mode. Beta genuinely benefits from its simplicity over later versions, as the way the latest version is made it feels like it wants you to do specific things, like you said in the video. In beta, I kinda just did what I felt like doing. I'm having trouble describing it, cause it's a very abstract feeling.

[@T1nk]

I think I know exactly the feeling you’re talking about, the ‘less is more’ aspect is absolutely present in the older versions of the game and honestly I think that is why I find myself always going back to old KZbin videos from that era. The newer versions definitely benefit from having all sorts of cool new features, but the older ones benefit from not needing them, which might be why I quite enjoy the older versions!

[@MemoiriaGodElcrin]

I completely understand, i have pretty much stopped playing newer versions all together to play beta 1.7.3. Like you this isn't a nostalgia thing, my first minecraft version i knew the version number of was 1.5.2, and i didn't play anything past 1.7.10 until 1.15 had already come out to which i swapped to 1.12.2 for years. I tried to play newer minecraft for about a year or 2, but it just gets oddly boring for some reason, yet beta 1.7.3 seems to never get boring

[@genericname_]

Imo, in terms of content, Minecraft peaked at 1.16. Having a new Nether really made the game finally feel complete, everything added after that really felt like it was unnecessary, especially things like copper.

[@Cherno35]

Beta 1.8 my beloved

[@MemoiriaGodElcrin]

I personally prefer beta 1.7.3, but i respect your good taste

[@cvg114]

In my opinion, minecraft doesnt have a golden age, just nogalastic. But minecraft on media certainly does. 😢

[@InoriVoid]

no idea why yt recommended me this, but I have stopped playing minecraft for a while. Great video nonetheless, hope you grow!

[@T1nk]

Thank you so much! :D

[@japjao5385]

I think the golden age was shortly before the notch apples became uncraftable.

[@T1nk]

God, I remember finding out about that and being so sad! :(

[@psgamer-il2pt]

1.9

[@Cherno35]

@@psgamer-il2pt 1.9 gets hate over the pvp, but honestly it’s netherite that did it.

[@datboi9314]

The golden age was around the minecraft parody’s, captain sparkles etc

[@datboi9314]

It was the time where nobody cared and truly had fun in minecraft without toxicity

[@T1nk]

That was a great time, I still sing the captain sparkles versions instead of the originals if they come on the radio!

[@rickasheyelabs5662]

1.6.4 release and behind

[@raysandrarexxia941]

Whenever the golden age was, it's not now. The game is too de-saturated and too superficial

[@memebloodstream9764]

1000th view

[@mike_404]

Great video! Everyone has different answers to golden age. Some people say it’s 2009-2011 when the game was small and very simple, most say it was 2012-2015 when the updates were great and it’s popularity and community were at its peak, and some say it’s 2018-present

[@mike_404]

I think the golden age was 2011-2014 and 2018-present is the Renaissance. I think most people can agree that the game is really good right now but one day we will probably enter another dark age and people will be nostalgic for the Minecraft of today

[@T1nk]

Thank you! I agree, I’d say it’s definitely down to each person’s experience - for me it was during its earlier days as I just happened to stumble across it before it went huge so I have so much nostalgia for that, but have been playing it with friends more recently too! :) Hopefully there isn’t another big dark period for the game but even if there is I’m sure there will be another resurgence!

[@tiziocaio8657]

@@mike_404 true

[@Kazasia-_-]

My golden age was playing the Xbox 360 version. It was very simple but super fun with and without friends. Ever since bedrock came out it don’t feel the same not saying that it’s terrible game now cause it’s still amazing but back than with how simple the game was is what made it fun and why everyone loved it so much

[@Vengefulowl]

i would say the golden age of minecraft was around 1.6.4 - 1.8ish. it is this way for me cause 1.6.4 was the biggest moment for the modding scene

[@T1nk]

Fair enough, this fits with what I said in the video: you had great experiences with it during that time and so that was your golden age :D

[@sophiefranks7748]

I miss the old minecraft :(

[@T1nk]

As do I! :(

[@ZaCloud-Animations___she-her]

That's why it's nice that you can go back & replay it anytime. It's so cool that Mojang lets us have access to the classics, so we don't HAVE to miss them. Just play them. 🙂

[@rossfenwick9251]

the check for the 'oof' sound when switching patch really cracked me up :) another banger!

[@T1nk]

Thank you friend! I'm the glad 'oof' gag went down well ;p

[@gshsingt8856]

yes

[@MaxJohnston-m5o]

2019-2021 was peack for me