edit- i have made this thread here as i feel it's less of a general discussion and more focuses on the default classic survival minecraft
despite the statistics from 2018 insisting that minecraft has never been more popular, its fairly clear that since 2014 minecraft has been on a downhill spiral. Minecraft has lost its shine, that something that made it special so long ago, large servers used to be people for the most part just playing vanilla minecraft with strangers, then minecraft got cancerous, things like hunger-games started coming up, these things were fun but got boring fast, we lost all of the servers where you could invest serious time and keep coming back week after week month after month and having fun. when i say hunger-games i don't just mean hunger-games of course but the trend that it set, prisons, skywars, bedwars, murder mystery etc. as fun as these things are i do believe they played a large role in killing the original community and leaving us with our new community (young kids playing the $5 pocket edition singleplayer).
what makes minecraft such a great game is that its a platform to create a unique experience, whether that's a sci-fi role playing server or a desert only cut throat hardcore server. the player base that was interested in these experiences has for the most part been driven away though, i know the argument is that the player base got older and stopped being interested but i know from experience that downloading an old copy of minecraft where you can still play offline lan with a couple of friends for a few hours is still a fun experience for young adults at least (even if we never regularly play minecraft or think about it). long story short minecraft is/can be a timeless game
for the younger minecraft players reading this i understand if you don't get the nostalgic sentiment, but minecraft wasn't always the way it is now, after roughly 1.7.10 the game kinda just got 'babyish' and if you do a google analytics search you can see that people just aren't interested anymore and sadly the biggest reason is because there aren't enough full servers that aren't another arena, parkour etc, etc quick thrills server.
from my experience for old players the cycle kind of goes like this
-feel nostalgic about what an amazing game minecraft was especially on some of the old servers (my favorite was shadowraze)
- go to a now rather dead website (like pmc) because we remember going there when it was bustling with life and activity
- look through server lists and see there is nothing good and if it is a good server it doesn't matter because it has 0 - 1 players on it
-either lose interest and go back to dealing with the real world or join a crappy 'kids' server and get disheartened
some of my favorite memories of minecraft was managing a 50 player faction on a 1000 person server, dealing with betrayals alliances, wars for land and resources etc. something like that just doesn't seem possible anymore, but even worse just experiencing teamwork and rivalry with powerful adversary isn't possible anymore outside of a quick match on something like skywars, theres no more feeling invested in the game
unfortunately it also seemed like Microsoft tried to kill java edition at one point to force their new editions instead which really hurt the community and now that minecraft is so established its almost impossible for a new server to gain any traction at all when flashy 'kids' servers (such as hypeixel which makes millions) are always at the top of the server lists.
part of me really really misses minecraft, but what we have today just is not the same, i don't want to join another pay to win server, or server run by a business purely to make money, i want to be part of a community again
the reason i felt compelled to write this is that ive had lots of experience moderating servers and helping create them as well as spending too much (way too much) time playing minecraft, and have recently decided that i will pump a lot of money into recreating what minecraft servers used to be like out of passion for the game
unfortunately there are probably more servers than players but im willing to give it a shot because i know i'm not the only one who feels this way
the idea is very simple, a large server with a singular 20k x 20k beautiful realistic world painter map, no flashy or clutter everywhere and pay to win ranks and colored text. factions where you can't create your own faction but are instead grouped together with 9 other people (strangers) who you will initially have to work together with and a system that separates players into 3 races and encourages (semi forces) people of the same race even if in different factions to work together in alliances or at least have common goals they need to work together to achieve. and finally a system which ensures player choices have actual significance to the server economy and landscape (such as players taking complete control over the main parts of the server map such as the capitals of a kingdom) and time investments actually pay off with something that is long term enjoyable.
the easiest way i could describe it, is imagine game of thrones but your in it
i've added a poll because im curious what people ages are reading this, please reply if you had anything to add or think im wrong about why minecraft is how it is today, i know i also didn't explain the server much but if there are any players (preferably older) who would feel passionate about a project like this and growing a community of like minded people then please either message me or fill in the form below (it looks formal but its not) i'm also always just available for a chat if you wanted to talk about any ideas, and would love to grow a community where everyone is on a level playing ground instead of “im and admin which make me better than you blah blah blah” drive.google.com/open?id=1c3Kom6FVAJLbHbe40k1xakfPy86fUObK
on one last hopeful note, if even 20 people found themselves interested in this and joined to become community leaders, a project like this would be very possible and something we could tailor together to make sure it’s enjoyable.
TL:DR minecraft has lost it's shine, but maybe its possible to bring it back in a small way
i must say its odd to see so many views yet no comments, its a bit of a shame, i thought there may have been others who were interested in discussing how you could revive minecraft, even if only in a small way
To say that these forums are dead is putting it rather mildly, they literally used to be hundreds of times more active; places like Reddit are far more active but if you posted this over there it would probably be downvoted into oblivion (as I've seen happen to many similar stories), and in either case you'd be lucky if it stayed relevant for more than a few hours due to how things work there.
As far as my experience goes, I've never played multiplayer so I can't comment on that aspect of the game but I have not gotten tired of singleplayer survival after nearly 6 years of playing the same way, and on a much older version (I've never updated past 1.6.4, just one major release after I started playing, and mostly still play what may as well be vanilla, even my more modded worlds don't change the way I play that much).
that's good to hear, 1.6.4 was always a favorite version of mine, i fondly remember playing offline 15 - 20 people lan worlds with friends at highschool during our classes instead of working. i would sadly have to agree with your point about reddit, despite what you pointed out about how inactive these forums (just like all others relating to java minecraft) have become i think there may still be some people who keep coming back out of passion. i would love to see another active default survival minecraft server like what used to be available, the flashy lights and colored messages popping up everywhere and starting with enchanted gear etc etc, has always killed the experience for me.
edit- i have made this thread here as i feel it's less of a general discussion and more focuses on the default classic survival minecraft
despite the statistics from 2018 insisting that minecraft has never been more popular, its fairly clear that since 2014 minecraft has been on a downhill spiral. Minecraft has lost its shine, that something that made it special so long ago, large servers used to be people for the most part just playing vanilla minecraft with strangers, then minecraft got cancerous, things like hunger-games started coming up, these things were fun but got boring fast, we lost all of the servers where you could invest serious time and keep coming back week after week month after month and having fun. when i say hunger-games i don't just mean hunger-games of course but the trend that it set, prisons, skywars, bedwars, murder mystery etc. as fun as these things are i do believe they played a large role in killing the original community and leaving us with our new community (young kids playing the $5 pocket edition singleplayer).
what makes minecraft such a great game is that its a platform to create a unique experience, whether that's a sci-fi role playing server or a desert only cut throat hardcore server. the player base that was interested in these experiences has for the most part been driven away though, i know the argument is that the player base got older and stopped being interested but i know from experience that downloading an old copy of minecraft where you can still play offline lan with a couple of friends for a few hours is still a fun experience for young adults at least (even if we never regularly play minecraft or think about it). long story short minecraft is/can be a timeless game
for the younger minecraft players reading this i understand if you don't get the nostalgic sentiment, but minecraft wasn't always the way it is now, after roughly 1.7.10 the game kinda just got 'babyish' and if you do a google analytics search you can see that people just aren't interested anymore and sadly the biggest reason is because there aren't enough full servers that aren't another arena, parkour etc, etc quick thrills server.
from my experience for old players the cycle kind of goes like this
-feel nostalgic about what an amazing game minecraft was especially on some of the old servers (my favorite was shadowraze)
- go to a now rather dead website (like pmc) because we remember going there when it was bustling with life and activity
- look through server lists and see there is nothing good and if it is a good server it doesn't matter because it has 0 - 1 players on it
-either lose interest and go back to dealing with the real world or join a crappy 'kids' server and get disheartened
some of my favorite memories of minecraft was managing a 50 player faction on a 1000 person server, dealing with betrayals alliances, wars for land and resources etc. something like that just doesn't seem possible anymore, but even worse just experiencing teamwork and rivalry with powerful adversary isn't possible anymore outside of a quick match on something like skywars, theres no more feeling invested in the game
unfortunately it also seemed like Microsoft tried to kill java edition at one point to force their new editions instead which really hurt the community and now that minecraft is so established its almost impossible for a new server to gain any traction at all when flashy 'kids' servers (such as hypeixel which makes millions) are always at the top of the server lists.
part of me really really misses minecraft, but what we have today just is not the same, i don't want to join another pay to win server, or server run by a business purely to make money, i want to be part of a community again
the reason i felt compelled to write this is that ive had lots of experience moderating servers and helping create them as well as spending too much (way too much) time playing minecraft, and have recently decided that i will pump a lot of money into recreating what minecraft servers used to be like out of passion for the game
unfortunately there are probably more servers than players but im willing to give it a shot because i know i'm not the only one who feels this way
the idea is very simple, a large server with a singular 20k x 20k beautiful realistic world painter map, no flashy or clutter everywhere and pay to win ranks and colored text. factions where you can't create your own faction but are instead grouped together with 9 other people (strangers) who you will initially have to work together with and a system that separates players into 3 races and encourages (semi forces) people of the same race even if in different factions to work together in alliances or at least have common goals they need to work together to achieve. and finally a system which ensures player choices have actual significance to the server economy and landscape (such as players taking complete control over the main parts of the server map such as the capitals of a kingdom) and time investments actually pay off with something that is long term enjoyable.
the easiest way i could describe it, is imagine game of thrones but your in it
i've added a poll because im curious what people ages are reading this, please reply if you had anything to add or think im wrong about why minecraft is how it is today, i know i also didn't explain the server much but if there are any players (preferably older) who would feel passionate about a project like this and growing a community of like minded people then please either message me or fill in the form below (it looks formal but its not) i'm also always just available for a chat if you wanted to talk about any ideas, and would love to grow a community where everyone is on a level playing ground instead of “im and admin which make me better than you blah blah blah”
drive.google.com/open?id=1c3Kom6FVAJLbHbe40k1xakfPy86fUObK
on one last hopeful note, if even 20 people found themselves interested in this and joined to become community leaders, a project like this would be very possible and something we could tailor together to make sure it’s enjoyable.
TL:DR minecraft has lost it's shine, but maybe its possible to bring it back in a small way
i must say its odd to see so many views yet no comments, its a bit of a shame, i thought there may have been others who were interested in discussing how you could revive minecraft, even if only in a small way
To say that these forums are dead is putting it rather mildly, they literally used to be hundreds of times more active; places like Reddit are far more active but if you posted this over there it would probably be downvoted into oblivion (as I've seen happen to many similar stories), and in either case you'd be lucky if it stayed relevant for more than a few hours due to how things work there.
As far as my experience goes, I've never played multiplayer so I can't comment on that aspect of the game but I have not gotten tired of singleplayer survival after nearly 6 years of playing the same way, and on a much older version (I've never updated past 1.6.4, just one major release after I started playing, and mostly still play what may as well be vanilla, even my more modded worlds don't change the way I play that much).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
that's good to hear, 1.6.4 was always a favorite version of mine, i fondly remember playing offline 15 - 20 people lan worlds with friends at highschool during our classes instead of working. i would sadly have to agree with your point about reddit, despite what you pointed out about how inactive these forums (just like all others relating to java minecraft) have become i think there may still be some people who keep coming back out of passion. i would love to see another active default survival minecraft server like what used to be available, the flashy lights and colored messages popping up everywhere and starting with enchanted gear etc etc, has always killed the experience for me.
There is already an active thread discussing whether or not Minecraft is dying:
https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/discussion/2941729-minecraft-is-dying-posts-need-to-stop
Please use that thread for this discussion.
Locking.
- sunperp