So I was watching a MInecraft youtuber tour their forever world, and remembered r/liminalspaces was a subreddit I enjoyed and I could join it here on Lemmy. I'm high, and this led to a thought
Often in the community there are those who feel nostalgic for the old versions of the game. What this means specifically seems to vary between individuals but alot of them sight pre-1.0. You can find any number of diatribes as to why they prefer the old, often mechanics like sprinting, beds, and hunger are discussed. But a somewhat common theme is the commenting on a sort of "vibe" the game is now missing with the abundance of structures and biomes. And I've realized, what they're describing is liminality.
For those who don't know, a liminal space is one which instills a sense of nostalgia and longing, often these are populated transitional spaces (think the airport, or a school hallway) rendered devoid of life and often in a somewhat abandoned state.
This perfectly describes this older period of Minecraft's developments. What few biomes there were were often scarcely visited locations for particular resources. Structures were rare and very simple, and villagers were uncommon and nearly useless. Most of a given world, even where something would usually spawn, would be wilderness. And what structure there was wasn't of much use or value. Add to this the pixelated cube-bases aesthetic reminiscent of early 3D games, and the fact that many of these same players- when these versions were new- were playing on low quality hardware for the time and had to run the game on very low render distances using a CRT monitor.
All of this, plus perhaps some filtering of childhood nostalgia, contributes to the game essentially serving as one giant liminal space. There are many things to describe modern Minecraft, but liminal is hardly one of them. And I think that might be what these folks are missing. At the same time, I don't think that's something that could really be achieved with the game's modern featureset. Even if you removed every structure, asides all the content that goes with them, the greater variety and depth of biomes mean what you're left with will more likely feel like a wilderness. It is a distinctly different vibe.
TLDR: Old Minecraft is a liminal space, and that's part of why people who grew up with those versions have latched onto preferring them
