Lately I've been playing an old beta version of Minecraft, specifically beta 1.7.3 often known as the "golden age" to those like me that were playing back then. As a result, I've actually managed to get into Minecraft again.

Introduction

Minecraft is a game that has been steadily receiving new features since it began development in 2009. From December 2010 to November 2011, the base on which Minecraft would become today was developed into version 1.0. This is what's called the "beta" phase.

I played for a little while after the release, but by 2014 I had lost interest and moved on to other things. I did come back to it a few times but never for long. I couldn't even discuss Minecraft with the kids that play it these days.

Although I remember a time before beds were in the game. That was short lived since I started playing during beta 1.2, and beds were added in the next version, 1.3. Those were the "bad" old days.

Why play such an old version of Minecraft?

A lot of people would tell me that modern Minecraft is better, but their argument always revolves around the idea that more stuff equals a better experience. But if you're the kind of person to appreciate my website, you know that often times less is more.

And that's really the crux of why people like beta Minecraft. Beta 1.7.3 is a simpler game that pretty much feels complete. It's also the last version that was made prior to the major shifts that came with the beta 1.8 Adventure Update, meaning that 1.7.3 is the final version of "classical" Minecraft (not to be confused with version 0.30, also known as Minecraft Classic).

But I think the REAL issue with modern Minecraft is that from beta 1.8 onward, the game manages to undermine it's sandbox nature, without actually doing away with it.

Prior to version 1.8 beta, there was no real objective. The entire idea was that while you had to survive you had to make your own fun, and that usually meant gathering resources to build things. However when Mojang implemented a realm called "The End" into the game, that's when it started going downhill.

While you can ignore all of the actual objectives of the game today, the fact that there's actual built in progression in the game detracts from what was once the core gameplay loop of the game: Gather resources, build things, gather more resources, build more things, and so on and so forth.

The very idea that Minecraft has an "end" makes it seem like a more traditional game with a set of objectives. It now seems like your ultimate objective is to go and slay the Ender Dragon, and all the resource management is now for the preparation of this primary objective.

This leads to a point where by the time you reach the post end game, you may not know what to do. You've completed the big challenge, what's next? The beta gives you no defined objective from the start, which forces you into the mindset of having to determine your objectives for yourself. Thus instead of having to search for an objective, your next objective is whatever you feel it to be.

Minecraft during most of it's beta phase was known as a creative sandbox that had an actual survival and resource management game built around it. The gameplay mechanics were in service of providing an outlet for the player's creativity with the challenge that comes from the survival elements.

How can I play it?

Surprisingly, Mojang still provides many of the older versions of Minecraft. Meaning you can get nearly any alpha, beta, or old release version that you want.

You do however need to have Java version 8, which is extremely old and definitely a security risk if not handled correctly. So if that's a concern to you, you should either find a way to isolate these old versions of Minecraft from the rest of the system or just not play it.

If want an easy to use client that's specifically tailored for old versions of Minecraft, you should try BetaCraft. It fixes many of the issues that are present in these older versions, and also fixes issues that have cropped up years after the fact due to changes in software and hardware drivers.

I personally use PolyMC on Linux with a few tweaks to fix some of the issues. Along with a few quality of life mods such as "FOVMod" to allow FOV adjustments, "ExtremeView" (which I haven't really gotten to work), and "ToggleSneak", to save myself the fatigue of holding down shift for long periods of time. I also use an un-nerfed fire mod to bring back the old classic behavior of fire spreading insanely fast, just like the good old days.

There are numerous tutorials on how to set all of this up that can be found easily. So I won't be adding my own here.

Conclusion

Though I think acclaim that Minecraft beta 1.7.3 has is largely due to nostalgia, I think it represents a totally different conception of what it means to play Minecraft in the first place. That's not to say that you should abandon the latest update to go play beta for the rest of your life, but it's something that you should try if you're a fan of the game.