Minecraft throughout its history went through many updates, some completely reshaping it's core. Remember how there used to be just a creative mode? Yep, I wrote about that too. If you compare the version, from say, 2011 and the current year, you will find a lot of differences. That's why we still have a never-ending debate on which version is "objectively" better, or which one counts as "The Most Minecraft-y". And to be clear, I want to stay from such debate as much as possible. None of the eras are better or worse, they're just different.

Also, a disclaimer: a lot of my opinions are formed from nostalgic rose-colored glasses, but I hope that still will be entertaining to read.

My First Plays and Interactions

My first instance of interacting with Minecraft fan base dates within 2011, as I remember it was still beta or 1.0.0, but the first versions I actually got to play were Minecraft Pocket Edition and Java 1.5.2 later on. I also brought a lot of viruses to the family computer, LOL, so I was restricted from any PC versions till the 1.6.4. I also played legacy PS3 version. I own now 3 licenses and gifted one to my bro. My god please help me--

Though I played with some classic mods like Aether, Twilight Forest and such, I still preferred vanilla most of the time. I had a lot of ideas of what to build, mostly it were just crappy cube houses, but that's not important. What's important is that it influenced my curiosity and creativity.

Okay, let me get nostalgic here once, sorry. I think what shaped my love was also the fandom at that time with its goofy animation series, Bandicam or Fraps letsplays with little to no editing. Oh, and the horror films, LOL. They were done with crappy editing by middle or high schoolers, but there's a charm in it. I mean, if I was still a kid, I would enjoy the current fandom as well, but I think that Minecraft at that time was still a bit of a niche thing for nerds instead, if it makes sense? That's clearly subjective, but I was bullied for playing Minecraft in school until the covid happened, so maybe it was sorta niche.

Regardless, I need to say that because the fandom has grown so much since then, there are also much more gems despite the overgrown content farm trash that I still like to watch. So yeah, nostalgia gushing is over, let's get further.

Why It Became Difficult for Me to Keep Up

Well. There are many different factors in real life that contributed to me stopping playing (depression, mainly), so I really can't blame the game itself. However, still, at times when I felt better or otherwise able to play, I always abandoned the singleplayer survival after getting iron. My only exception was playing survival on Bedrock on peaceful mode without interacting with most of its new content around year or two ago. That is not good. How could this happen?

Perhaps the modern Minecraft is overwhelming to me. There are so many features I don't bother to touch because I can't catch up with everything new being added over and over again. To me, the game was finished after The End update (1.9). Like, for real. Imagine, you abandoned the game because of life stuff going on or just simply growing out of it, then returning back and you notice that what you perceive as a heavily modded Minecraft is a vanilla now.

Truth to be told, besides the basic old dungeons with spawners or traps in deserts and jungles, I didn't get to the whole other stuff. I got to the stronghold, but never got to beat the dragon. I never got to beat the Wither either. Because this was not what I looked for. I'm purely disinterested with the dungeon crawling part, I'm a casual player who likes building random things with keep inventory rule on. This is why I stagnated on keeping up with the new content, it just doesn't fit my play style.

What's So Cool About Older Versions?

Let's try to apply artist terms here. Old Minecraft is MSpaint. New versions are more professional software like CSP, Krita, Photoshop and etc. MSpaint has it's own vibe and recognizable tools. It's janky and has very simple interface, is lightweight as well. It's limited tools bring you some challenge of trying to make your art good with all you've got and you feel satisfied once you succeed. It's relaxing to draw there, because you don't hold yourself up to some standard, you just doodle and that's it. That's what old Minecraft is to me. I like it's vibrant, imperfect and lowkey ugly programmer art, because it gives me feeling that it is still an indie project, it's familiar, simple, and bland. Since the older versions have such a limited base, it's always interesting to see how modders will alter it, how they will utilize vanilla items because they have much more space open for their own interpretations.

And speaking of mods, I currently got stuck with Better Than Adventure, it's sort of like if I was seeing Minecraft updating itself without feeling confused as hell. Everything in this mod makes sense to me. You can color wood? Fuck yeah, I'm sold. I also like how flags work because you can just draw whatever you want there, how dogs can pick items and have an armor. And how this mod basically said "Fuck you, horses" and made pigs with a saddle actually useful. It succeeded to hook me up in a way none of the mods could. It's almost as if I rediscovered Minecraft again. This mod may have it's own review post someday, if I don't forget about it, but yeah, it's that good.

Conclusion

As you see, version preference fully depends on aesthetic preferences and the play style. I'm thankful to the Minecraft community that constantly develops mods and preserves all versions, even those who are at the end of support. I grew up with this game and I'm glad that I was able to found love in it again, even if it's not the shiny new version that is also good, but just not for me.