A Word on Modern Minecraft

I love minecraft, over the 12 years i have been playing it, i don't think i have had more then a months break from it. And i don't think i've gone even a day without consuming content from the community. The game has certainly changed from what it was;

AND THAT'S A GOOD THING!

I have been seeing more and more people complaining about modern minecraft; too many blocks, too many things to do, too different from what it was.
And that's fine, i don't mind people having those views, what i do mind is them Constantly treating them as fact!

So i am going to talk about the good things about modern minecraft that i love:

• So many blocks! I love so many blocks!
      A recent video essay i watched said this:
     

  The question i always asked myself was "what can i make with these blocks?" the more that was added the more the question became "what blocks will i use to build this?"

   
      and to that i say? so? you have the power to restrict block types, or experement with including more then you usually do. BdoubleO100 is amazing at this, in a recent hermitcraft episode^[1] he mixed 15 different blocks into a single wall, not including detailing, and it looks like one of the most cohesive and unified walls i have ever seen in minecraft! you do not have to use the new blocks, often at the begining of a world you can't, and that is fun! but choice is also fun and you have the choice on whether to use them or not. Minecraft is full of wonderful and creative blocks and you should try them out, because you just might like them!

• The new textures are beautiful
      A common thread i see in people's hate of modern minecraft is the texture change but i think it was well deserved and that they should update more textures! In recent snapshots we just got a whole bunch of dog variations! im very excited for that because primarily i want a black one as tribute for my dog who past away last year, but also just more dogs! and the textures look awesome! all the new blocks have amazing textures too! 
      one argument i see is that the textures are softer and not as grainy and that the grainy felt better but, i simply disagree, i like that the textures feel more cohesive, no longer do we have random completely black lines in out cobble stone, it also means that textures are more likely to work well together, gravel and cobble stone used to be horrible building material due to their textures, it just didn't look great next to other textures, now i use both everywhere! one of the most versatile blocks! I know, change is hard and nostalga is strong, but is was a really good move for minecraft as a game for continued enjoyment.

• Spoiled for choice!
      People love to complain about how much content there is in minecraft, but then they turn around and complain when mojang releases an update with only a few new things in it. The reason minecraft is still around as a game is Continuous Free Updates for Over A Deacade, nearing 1.5 decades. Name one other game that has had free updates for that long? Dwarf Fortress is about all i can think of off the top of my head. (No, tf2 doesn't count, have you seen how long it has been since a proper content update? those poor fans are starving.)   
      While it may feel like a lot from a top down point of view, when you are playing the game and just enjoying the experince of minecraft, its not overwhelming at all, its the whole "mountain" game design. you can see a mountain and go "i wonder whats over there?" and check it out! except the mountain in this case is so many different things.

• A home with friends
      This one has no complaints i have found attached with it, but i wanted to talk about it anyway because its something i love and the reason smps like hermitcraft have thrived. When playing casually with friends, minecraft isn't just a game, but a virtual world in which you can spend time with your friends, either directly or by parallel play, and that is something that is so precious. I know several people who will hop onto a minecraft server just to be there, no need to build or mine or anything, just muddle around while chatting with friends. It's really precious and imo has only gotten more enjoyable with time.

• Game Mechanics Galore!
      This ties into the many things to do point, but there are many tiny things about minecraft that you can learn and master, there are people who dedicate all their time to Specifically building storage systems, there are people who are amazing at dropper maps, people who spend their time mastering the elytra. minecraft has a low skill floor, and a high skill ceiling, maybe not in the same way as other games, but its certainly there. Mojang also consistently adds things that have a large range of potential exploration!

Minecraft is a beloved game for me, and i hope that i have expressed my love of it to you. there are so so many more points that i could include, but i have written this in a bout of passion, and i am running out of the energy needed to write this.  
It's not a perfect game, there are many things i wished were different about it, but it still means so much to me and its still imo one of the best games on this planet.