Scratch Isn't Dying. We're Just Growing Old.

[@maroonmball]

READ THIS PIN BEFORE YOU COMMENT: So, 12 hours after uploading this video I find another video ranting about Scratch. I don't think I'll do a part two responding to the video I found, as it's just not enough to make it a full video. Besides, I'm content with this one video being enough to bring my point across. Here's some other things you should read before commenting: - At 10:04, I mention PenguinMod's broken servers. As of right now, their servers are relatively stable now. - Some people mentioned that June and July are the least active months due to summer break. - One user said that the reason for Japanese projects getting front-paged is due to the language filter being broken. Also, I did not expect this video to get 6 thousand views in less than a week. Thanks for all the opinions and feedback, everyone!

[@unifpier]

now it has 11k views :-D

[@Iredecent]

where did u get this sound at 3:03 ?

[@maroonmball]

@@Iredecent I could try and make a sound library containing all the sounds I use for anyone to use.

[@marioxster]

If you find Scratch límited, congratulations, that's the goal Using Scratch serves as a tool to learn basic programming and then move on to a REAL programming language It's like complaining that a airsoft gun doesn't have enough firepower, THAT'S LITTERALLY THE GOAL

[@Lukepuke311]

but scratch and text code are insanely different, i feel limited by scratch but text code is daunting because you have to remember everything and everything has a weird term for it unlike scratch where you just see it block coding is easier because it’s block coding, not because it’s limited

[@ToffeeLime]

Nice to see a refutation of all the "Scratch is RUINED!!!" videos I keep getting recommended. I find it silly when people complain about Scratch being "limited" compared to industry game engines. It's like complaining that you can't use Lego to build a 1:1 replica of the Sistine Chapel; you're using it for the wrong purpose. Also, as someone who has used Scratch since 2010, these kinds of complaints were being made even back then, usually by adults and older teenagers who were simply out of touch with the program's intended purpose. We didn't start the fire, and all that. Good video!

[@LiEnby]

> It's like complaining that you can't use Lego to build a 1:1 replica of the Sistine Chapel; you're using it for the wrong purpose. okay but like ngl i wouldnt be surprised if someone did

[@notminty2123]

one of the main arguments i see for the dying side is that "scratch is limited!!!" which like. yes??? its for kids?? like i really dont get where these people are coming from

[@internetUSER_69]

Yeah, some things are things are considered "too scary", but scratch has NO age limit at all. If you don't like that it's for everyone, search for other alternatives!

[@LeBabol]

its too limited.

[@TheCelerBolt]

​@@LeBabolPlease elaborate

[@Jetway-Yefan]

just learn REAL coding at that point 😭🙏

[@Challenger10K]

ill give you a limitation. cant scratch just have 16:9 resolution. I see no reason for it not to support that

[@arzoofour]

0:10 II FACES!!

[@lemurturtlegamer2603]

One of these "scratch is dying" arguments that I hate the most is when they complain about the resolution. While I'm not a scratch programmer, I do program JavaScript games. Scratch is meant for beginner programmers, and one of the most important things in game making (especially for beginners) is resolution. you keep position of all of your sprites with it, you do all of your math with it, and if its 300 pixels then it is very easy to get it set up and working. HOWEVER, in Jacksons Academy video, he compares scratch TO THE PS5. it's a lot easier to work in the hundreds, AND NOT THE THOUSANDS. DO YOU EXPECT A TEN YEAR OLD TO HAVE A EASY TIME WITH 4K RESOLUTION.

[@NotSurplusFR]

As a fellow JavaScript programmer, I agree. There's also the limited capabilities of high-res, as rendering a 4k image on a canvas actually slows down my PC, and that says a lot, because i get 600-1000 fps in Minecraft 1.8.8.

[@PhIcicle]

"Scratchtubers" on their way to be grown adults & whine about how the kids programming site doesn't suit them anymore

[@genericobjectshow3440]

whoa really????? I could not have guessed!1!!!1!1! You mean to tell me a platform for LITERAL CHILDREN doesn't fit your PRECISE "expert" PROGRAMMER NEEDS????//??? REAllY?!??!/1/!??!?

[@luedcapp]

Honestly, I love the how limited Scratch is. It’s fun trying ti work with the limitations.

[@MsKittyKristy]

Not sure why this landed on my suggestions, I haven't touched Scratch at all or have heard of it before until now! Honestly though this is a pretty good video with good points and presentation! The sound definitely wasn't a problem, but the music was a bit too loud sometimes, but still fantastic video :3

[@treehomethekid]

tried making a scratch game studio one time and I failed miserably

[@KitkatKiki]

Me too bro, Me too

[@hot655-u5c]

One studio I’m in on Scratch has new comments every few seconds. It certainly is NOT dying.

[@SuperTux20]

I have fond memories of making things in Scratch when I was a kid. I think I even still have an unfinished project on my account

[@JacksonAcademy1]

This is a really well put together video! Thanks for pointing out the mistakes in my video. I would love to see a video of you covering the generic project problem on scratch.

[@PhoenixVir1]

Copy

[@Ekidgames]

@@PhoenixVir1 no, no he's not JacksonAcademy1 is his handle.

[@Challenger10K]

@@PhoenixVir1 bro thats the real jackson academy

[@PhIcicle]

@@JacksonAcademy1 boo

[@TheRealAvashAh]

@@PhIcicle He literally told us to not leave hate, JacksonAcademy even agreed that his video had mistakes, and even if he didn't, you still shouldn't hate someone because of a personal opinion

[@supertubular6000]

Finally! A fresh perspective about the website that isn't just, "SCRATCH IS DYING!" it really is a breath of fresh air.

[@MemesbroOnScratch]

As someone who was on Scratch for 6 years, I can't think that it is dying, but I agree on the fact that we are getting older, and are slowly leaving. Yet this is automatically replaced by new users

[@yagomb2738]

sup LOL

[@Aeduo]

I don't use scratch though I'm aware of it. I'm happy to see how positive this video was though. Kinda a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of people making videos putting innocent things down from the perspective that they're just better than that thing or the people who use it.

[@McTonk]

Great video! I agree with a lot of the points, but one tiny flaw I'll point out is this: At 2:27 you list the ages of some featured scratchers. I'm assuming these ages are guessed though as I'm dlx2 (which was an account I made for a KZbin challenge), and I'm not 12 lol, I definitely agree with the age range of 11-14, though.

[@maroonmball]

The ages are indeed guessed. To make things simpler, I assumed all scratchers joined around the age of 10. I then just added that by how long it's been since they first joined to get the approximate final ages.

[@jpgames02]

im not that experienced with scratch or scratch youtubers, but, you are underrated, u deserve more popularity

[@Objectshowpersonlol]

You just summoned the osc

[@Sammio-Bros]

Turbowarp mostly fixes ALL of the issues of scratch, when I mean mostly I mean exception for the moderation but Turbowarp is an offline editor so it doesn't really matter

[@Carsick-]

5:02 kids will be inspired by what they see on the explore page. when all they see is slop, they'll make slop as well. obviously there's exceptions but it is objectively a bad thing to flood a site about creativity with mindless generic copypasted games. the claim that scratch is on a decline isn't in reference to the number of users, it's about the quality and the creativity of what's being made along with the terrible moderation.

[@avagoosa]

I still use Scratch to this day, it's nice or GUI design and I like combining it with my Python scripts :3

[@rrrrmrmr]

8:58 I think it actually does, because if you put a wait 0 secs block in a loop it'll make it slower

[@sashergame]

I've been waiting for someone to make a video just like this.

[@UrkiMimi]

I went from animator to game dev for the 9 years I've been on here

[@tpfoxCastro]

4:20 To be fair, among truly never died. People still play the game, there's still memes, the vague appearance of the bean is iconic and it is getting an animated show

[@GriffinForte]

among us*

[@tpfoxCastro]

@@GriffinForte Bro. Bro.

[@namibia584]

very well put-together video!

[@playfulmathematician5928]

The reason there are a lot of Japanese projects is because the scratch language filter is broken. so it doesn't filter japanese projects for english users

[@Jelly_shy_guy_man]

6:32 the fact I’m as old as scratch is freaky.

[@Maskyn18]

0:06 the ii episode 1-2 mouth 😭

[@djw7141]

Rlly good vid! I honestly thought this channel had like at least 20K subs, please keep making vids!

[@CadeGaming-h5g]

so what happened was someone said "scratch is dying" and then, BOOM! someone made sprunki which made incredibox blow up which is on scratch

[@RipVanFish09]

There’s likely less activity in June and July, as that’s when kids aren’t in school. A lot of kids don’t have access to a computer when they aren’t in school, so they can’t use scratch very much during those months.

[@Napita_cherry]

This is a very solid argument, I mean apart from the whole moderation team thing, people just don’t like it since they think scratch is very limiting for them, which is also my case

[@GoldyMagma]

at first i thought this had more than 50k views and had atleast 17k comments. well i was wrong, you are underrated.

[@無題のアカウント]

legendary pull from the algorithm knowing a soscer made this

[@z.a.k.e.n.3901]

speaking of the SOSC's follower counts, same with me. I have about 200-300 followers. I also believe that the reason newer scratchers get much more followers is due to one reason. Scratch moderates itself what gets featured, and it chooses projects that are bad most of the time. Back in the 2.0 days, you'd actually get good projects on the featured tab. Also, the explore page is mostly filled with japanese projects, avoid projects, generic platformers, so it's no wonder that people don't get featured for actually good projects. If you want to make a really good game on Scratch, you need insane luck for it to even be MENTIONED on the Scratch frontpage.

[@FloppaYTofficial9]

ABSOLUTE CINEMA! JUST AS PLANNED

[@liminalnothing2]

the reason why june and july is very high us because SUMMER VACATION!

[@turniphead480]

OBJECT SHOW CHARACTER???? instant sub

[@turniphead480]

gotta love the old ii mouths too

[@Halo2Veteran]

Object shows r trash lol

[@faintyosc]

0:07 inanimate insanity S1 mouth

[@ycsawampfpycs2007]

ironically to the topic you are discussing this is actually making me want to Scratch again

[@purerandomnessfan]

I love how you put gameplay of your own games instead of random trashy fps or roblox because honeslty i hate those 😭

[@hoveras]

penguinmod servers are back btw

[@Likenow1245]

Thanks

[@ToastyToastTOT]

I’m pretty sure that the reason why Scratch declines in June/July is that during those months, it is summer so kids play other games with all their free time or go outside. Kids usually play Scratch at school to pass the time.

[@RawkiMtn]

i used to be obsessed with scratch, i'll always treasure my time there but i've moved on to newgrounds and i'm just a different person now. or just less of a kid lol

[@KitkatKiki]

15:13 Hey thats me!

[@treehomethekid]

wow cool

[@KitkatKiki]

@@treehomethekid LOL TREE HI.

[@Hermie_Wormie]

i didnt know I_LIKE_YO_SCRATCH was that famous

[@avaarrow7478]

0:34 June and July is when most schools are on summer breaks and thus not forcing kids to make scratch projects and get on the website. Edit: also, kids aren't playnng on scratch instead of paying attention to their teachers, they areat home playing other games.

[@16-BitMario94]

scratch is limited but many skilled creators have done amazing things such as make 3D games, remake the entirety of Super Mario Bros with accurate physics and level design, and people have made animations that don't even look like they should belong on scratch.

[@CFACT_Animation]

THANK YOU

[@NaraSherko]

I quit scratch because of boredom and seeing roblox studio as a new tool (sprunki made me have a bit of interest in scratch again)

[@faintyosc]

I also quit scratch because of boredom

[@SnoFitzroy]

> Remember when we thought Among Us would never die out? I don't know what kind of example that's meant to be because Among Us is still very much alive and well and popular. Same for Pokémon GO. People just aren't talking about it because that gets you made fun of in 2024

[@jordellpillay8797]

as a guy who likes scratch I would say that its more a less age and it being difficult for others to learn like myself there's still quite a few incredible scratch videos that make people be inspired to use scratch well then they use and they don't like it. The thing is that you have to be nessceairly have to be good to use it so I don't understand why they say its dying its not

[@mari2.]

I have the source code to the Original scratch website, I think I'm gonna try to get it running at some point

[@Craft2guardian]

My school blocked scratch because my friend was on it 24/7

[@VariantBank]

ngl I learned coding on scratch and now I can only code games that are entirely in ui, even in 3d games

[@skibidibiters]

Scratch 4.0 would work wonders in terms of popularity or user rate

[@guyrocketram9698]

0:05 sick inanimate insanity mouth.

[@waterSuja]

the bad part of Scratch is that it has more limitations that it need, the 300 clone limit, only running on cpu (which should be changed as soon as possible),and just running bad in general

[@bedstevesuper1936]

They should but they probably won’t.

[@Ryosilly]

Some of the kids in my class literally go on scratch during class 😭😭😭

[@kaydenlimpert2779]

Did you know it's possible to make a scratch account and make the birth day be in the future? I think it mainly works when you do a few days in the future.

[@Stickboi]

this is a great video, also look its the guy who made me an extension for me unprompted, and he makes youtube videos too cool

[@countriescomparisons74]

I've used scratch for 8 years, and basically everyone that I knew in the early days has quit. But new ones keep coming, you just don't interact with them that much. These people think the entire website is dying just because their friends quit. Scratch is mandatory in many schools so new users keep appearing, that's also why activity halts in June, when vacation starts for a lot of people. And yeah, I also don't get people who get mad because scratch bans their projects. If you want to make an actual game, use an actual programming language. It's like getting mad because your calculator won't play Fortnite. And yes, generic platformers were a thing in 2016. Same for low quality animations etc etc., basically nothing has changed. Except the amount of Japanese projects lol. I joined back when Scratch was a lot less popular than it is now, so maybe Japan haven't heard of it yet. Maybe the ST are just weebs or smth

[@stanzacosmi]

0:34 probably because june and july there's less kids in school and when I was in school, i had to use scratch for some assignments for some reason. Probably that.

[@BananaMan6763]

I think the reason JacksonAcademy focused more on the cons of the limits of scratch rather than any pros is because he personally may have wanted more power with his game development tools. I know some people would like some of the most powerful game development tools to be able to make crazy awesome things, and others like to use less powerful tools to test their limits and see how they can make anything in them. I think this video brought up some good points, and I also think JacksonAcademy's video had some good points too. Also, he recommended for people to leave scratch for more powerful game dev tools if they have understood the basics, but I know some people may have understood the basics but stayed in scratch to make even more impressive projects and push the limits and increase their skill and knowledge. I wanna be one of these people, this is because of all the people I've seen that are like this, and a reupload video by FUNUT where he explained why he stuck with scratch rather than gamemaker, and the reason was because he wanted to make sure he could make great things in scratch that would allow him to make even better projects with more powerful game dev tools.

[@BananaMan6763]

I also think scratch's limitations could've made it more popular because many people know about all the impressive projects made in scratch despite the limits and view it as powerful while limited. This reason even caused me to wanna make projects in scratch when I was younger.

[@Wedanthewenda]

Scratch is limited, that's the point. Since it's limited, when you create a good project, you'll feel more proud of it. That's the purpose.

[@genericobjectshow3440]

11:56 - oh my gosh me when my get is ElementById (Also yeah, this stuff is TOUGH to learn. I generally stick closer to the original scratch, even if it IS harder to use.

[@AwesomeYena]

If anything, Scratch seems to have massively grown! Sometimes I feel embarrased about still using it, because I never truly grow out of things [I've been on Scratch since 2015]. Alright, so the website may not be dying, but the community feels like it's changed. The community feels like it's meaner; for example, some random 14 year old spammed my replies with "womp womp", said he lost brain cells because I'm a furry, [I'm not even a furry, my featured project was about how not all animal drawings even are furry. Shows how literate people today are] insulted my drawings despite his mascot being one of those generic vector box body people, and misgendered me on purpose. In the summer, some 16 year old [had 2008 in the username] said they were tired of dealing with kids on Scratch and thought I was 9-10. Back when I first joined Scratch, NO ONE was like this! My earliest projects were nothing but recolored remixes, premade sprites, and poorly drawn wolves yet no one ever treated me poorly. Old projects get new comments from kids younger than it just saying "cringe", which hurts my heart. The community during the 1.X days and 2.0 were more accepting and kinder, from my experience and observations... **Virtual sigh**

[@CNWPlayer]

part of the "here before scratch 3" gang???

[@vaporcranberries]

hey! i think i knew you before, i was turquoise crystal in HNOC, if you even remember that, lol. nice video!!

[@randomgamingin144p]

its just fun to push the limits of scratch imo... i dont mind the limits of scratch because thats what scratch is. scratch is very limited, who would have thought!

[@CibuYT]

you should upload episodes here I'm not on scratch

[@kolby125]

the site is far from going six feet under, no matter how hard it fell off in the past five years

[@ellllos]

Yes, completely.

[@TheTeddyBearUniverse]

The Gen Alpha and Gen Z part of this video, it's something that people seem to avoid, but is very true.

[@Pwnz0rServer2009]

not sure how much this is mentioned i haven't watched most of the video but scratch 2.0's transition doesn't really work because the offline editor exists, i even use it because i think scratch 3.0 sucks

[@StevenShingom]

bro you cooked him boiled him and burned him

[@SharkPool_SP]

Poggers DOM Selector mentioned

[@GameglitchGG0]

3:04 I KNEW IT!

[@PuzzlingGGG]

10:03 hi uh penguinmod discord server owner here erm our servers are indeed up now (we know it was like several months but cut the devs some slack its like 3 people who were working on rewriting the whole big server from the ground op) but funny joke ha ha

[@ZariyatMofiqKhan-t2j]

bruhh scratch is 21 years, not 17, Scratch was made in 2003, which the first version of scratch is scratch 0.1

[@maroonmball]

Indeed it is, but I only counted the public releases of Scratch, which first came out in 2007. Counting the prototypes, it would be 21 years old today.

[@0PY0]

Thank god I'm not the only one who thought those Scratch is dying videos were stupid...

[@noahmostafa-d3z]

scratch never dies yes and i actauly love evryone's project on scratch even if it's bad i would help them scratch is not dying

[@rdococ]

Scratch *is* dying, but it's not just because we're growing old. It's because the youngest generations are getting dumber as society collapses

[@Scwakey]

Object show?

[@DiscontinuedChannelProbably]

my foot is telling me to kick but my hand is telling me to do a handshake and my shoulder wants to shrug it off as nothing

[@progect3548]

remkapi jumpscare

[@Mentalbox52]

Personally when I say scratch is dying, I'm not talking about the size of the userbase, but the quality of the platform and moderation. Scratch has made an absurd number of unpopular changes to the platform and while some of these changes are harmless like the color changes, others are a larger problem like the experimenting of AI. I don't want scratch to cater to my needs as a programmer because that's what gives it it's charm and if people don't like it, they can use turbowarp. Scratch getting more popular is in my opinion what's killing it. Understaffed devs and mods trying to accommodate to this massive influx of it's user base at the expense of some of it's older users up to 5 years back. More people to moderate means less time to moderate properly which leads to many unfair bans or quiet changes to things that were previously allowed and less of a likelyhood emails will be answered. More people to appeal to means that more accommodations can be made, but not very timely and has cause a lot of instability in the past. I loved when they moved to scratch 3.0, but hated how that negatively impacted vectors (seriously the way they render vectors now is just sad). I didn't like the changes to studios cause it was too bulky and it seems a lot of autistic people agreed with me. The comment limit is awful, and manager options being degraded with the introduction of the owner role has limited collaborative creativity. I hated when the explore page started filling up with generic platformers, cause even though they've always been there, it was never to an absurd degree and it seems like people always came up with some unique idea for a platform and there was so much more variety, now I don't even go there anymore cause it isn't worth it because of how many people abuse unsharing and sharing a project to get back at the top. I hate that C2A is somehow not being banned by scratch team yet somehow making a project that educates on how C2A is not proper credit if you're not naming names gets marked NFE. It's to the point that every scratcher I know, new and old, has to sneak around on discord just to get anything done without ST breathing down their neck. Automoderation is fine in my opinion, but the punishment used to not be so harsh if you accidentally triggered the bad word detection, now it's an instant comment pause for each mistake you make, even if it's not obvious what's inappropriate. It used to be that on the first couple times, it would just tell you that something in the comment was inappropriate and then just pause commenting after too many attempts. The only thing I can really applaud scratch on is that at least they don't have a grooming problem which is amazing for such a large platform.

[@computersoda]

Oh man, I was taught scratch in elementary computer school classes! I always thought it was cool. Scratch is meant for kids, it's limited, and that's how it makes the really complicated projects even more impressive. If you want more freedom, go to somewhere that isn't meant for children, and stop complaining that the childrens platform is meant for and has kids! :P Your editing style and general way of putting the video together (?) is really fun, and your voice is nice. I don't quite understand the majority of things you're talking about, my attention was still kept very well :) I was really surprised about how little subscribers you have, you definitely deserve more.

[@Da-thingy]

Finally a guy with common sense

[@planetobjeciaoureturns2914]

You're right my fellow Scratcher. Scratch is far from dying, quite the opposite actually. We are growing up. At some point, even I'm going to retire from Scratch, but Space Tenulia and Competition of Objecia will come with me as well when I do retire. And I will make even better games on programs like Godot. But for now, Scratch will be my main place of activity.

[@CoolGalaxyGamer1]

10:04 THEY CAME BACK YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!! :D

[@sirmoony5633]

I actually never heard of Scratch.

[@hey-r6m]

Scratch yet is the most easy engine to create a game

[@randomgamingin144p]

for a simple game that is..

[@Elomentoplayz]

Music too loud

[@jinkusuSPL]

4:32 HE DID NOT JUST PLAY THAT SONG, NO HE DIDNT HE DID NOT.

[@theGuineaPigArtist]

no way it's the WCC guy (btw i'm tubii)

[@themirrazz]

I agree Scratch is not dying, but I do have a small complaint about the moderation system. The community guidelines and ToS just say that everything really needs to be appropriate for "8+" (Scratch's demographic), but they don't go into specifics. The guidelines being so vague has caused problems, considering that people have different standards on what's appropriate for 8-year-old kids. This especially causes issues in other countries, where the general standards for kids content are completely different from the United States' standards, where Scratch is based. For example, in Japan, if you watch anime, even ones that are aimed at young kids (example given: Sonic X), you'll find more things like suggestive content, blood and violence, and substance use, because in Japan it's considered okay for kids to see that. As a weeb who has explored the Japanese side of Scratch, I found this game which the name of translates to "Real Gun Game." As it suggests, it's a game where you use guns to shoot people. When I read the "Notes & Credits" box, it said that they re-uploaded it either three or four times. Lots of the comments were people being confused on why the project had been taken down, and even the project creator didn't seem to really understand. I can't confirm this anymore, because searching for the project no longer yields any results, whether using Scratch's built-in search feature, or Google with site filters applied, so I think the Scratch Team took it down again. I've also seen screenshots of people receiving messages from the Scratch Team about their projects violating the Community Guidelines, again, on the Japanese community. What really surprised me was that despite the fact their Scratch language was set to Japanese, the messages they received from the Scratch Team were entirely in English. The messages seem like a template that's re-used, so I don't see why they couldn't just translate the template into every language that Scratch supports. TL;DR: Scratch's community guidelines only clue on what is and isn't allowed uses words that rely on the user's personal opinion; Scratch's moderation also sometimes doesn't work as well when it comes to foreign and/or non-English speaking users. Just my small rant about why (imo) Scratch's moderation is a bit weird. (Especially when you consider certain swear words are allowed on Scratch, and the fact that Scratch has said they will never block them.)

[@michaelwashboard2323]

The comment about how certain users get to share their KZbin accounts kind of not important, because is Scratch supposed to trust everyone to post their KZbin channel? Griffpatch is a well known, trusted user of the site, and I find it absolutely fair that they give him more permission because he's more trusted to not break the rules. I have to say the website design of Scratch 3.0- and less so 2.0- is inferior to the Scratch 1.4 design artistically in my opinion, because I would say the gradient look of the old webpage looks nicer than the overly minimalist design we have now. And, I do miss when the tag system from 1.4 allowed you to do more complex searches with them, and allowed you to sort by newest.

[@maroonmball]

I also really like the design of 1.4. I've been attempting to make a project viewer in the 1.4 style for a while now.

[@AwesomeYena]

1.X UI = pretty shinies!

[@LeBabol]

scratch is dying from the moderation side, thats for sure. also, you can just give users the ability to change their project stats. and sometimes the 2x speed is needed for projects, one of my projects included. the 300 clones limit should be changeable.