A lot of people don’t realize this from my typing style but I’m actually 14! edit: wait that means I joined EMC when I was 9??????
There is a reason my friends from my early days on EMC called me Papa Susu, lol. When I was in the age range most of you mentioned above, 8-track tapes were big, cassette tapes were just coming into their own and an LP was an actual vinyl disk in one of 3 speeds! Yet to be invented were VHS or Beta tapes, CDs, personal computers, flat screens, cell phones, satellite TV programming . . . I think you get the picture. I joined the Air Force just after my 18th birthday (signed up 10 months earlier). I saw the future on the family farm and realized I would never see anything or go anywhere if I didn't make a break from the customary path that nearly everyone I grew up with thought was perfectly normal. Small town America - it means something completely different now. I saw the world, met a lot of good people, lost a few along the way and had experiences you can't get from the TV or online. In my late 20's, I met a beautiful young Korean lady who knew almost no English and I knew even less Korean. Despite a huge language and cultural barrier, we made it work. In 1987, Korea was still a 3rd world country - that was before the "88 Summer Olympics. I had to convince her father in the traditional Korean way, that I was worthy of marrying his daughter. That was not an easy, rainy afternoon. Being a man meant something very different from what I see in the culture today. She and I are coming up on our 32nd anniversary in a couple of months. Along the way, we raised a family and I had two careers. We are raising our grandson - he's 8 now - and he is an avid Minecrafter. My two sons introduced me to Minecraft after I was laid off from Boeing - we lost all of our contracts and more than 300 good people. A sad day it was when I left my office out on the base for the last time - a lot of memories made over three and a half decades of serving my country. November of 2014, I had been unemployed for about a month. It was the first time in my life that I didn't have a job or a career. Alien territory for me. There were a few young folks (Nony and Dramanya) here and a couple of older ones (Bara and Perry) who took me under their proverbial wings and showed me the ropes, introduced me to chat, social media and survival in the wilds, lol. I have developed some wonderful in-game relationships here on EMC. Video games didn't exist when I left home to see the world. And, I never had time for that "foolishness" when they did come along. I was too busy building computers and programming - much more fun. How things have changed. While Minecraft isn't a game, per se, I have never had so much fun being creative and taxing my brain to make Redstone do things like the electronics I used to work on IRL. Over the past five years, I have had the opportunity and privilege to become acquainted with some truly awesome people, some of them young enough to almost be my great-grandchildren. This is a wonderful community we have here - I enjoy watching new players come into their own here. Sadly, so many have also moved on. Commitment is a rare thing in this culture these days - it wasn't always that way. For the most part, I know within a few lines in chat the approximate age of the participants. A couple of times I have been pleasantly surprised to discover someone of unusual maturity ensconced in the body of a teenager. I have had great convos with young and old alike - I doubt I am close to the oldest here on these servers. But, I have a wealth of experience IRL and enjoy a good old chat. Now and again, I have to laugh (I try not to cringe, lol) when a younger player joins chat and tries to come off as experienced and worldly. I just smile to myself and patiently help them along if they need it. IRL has become difficult once again, but I do have the time now to jump on here and put in a good word or two. I hope to see you all in-game - play nice and have fun. The Sus
if i am 21 right now (turning 22 in April, yeet) and I joined in 2012, that means I would have joined at the age of 13... oh god smh, i know i was quite cringy then but then again, I feel as though I am still maturing on another note, emc has been my one and only minecraft multiplayer experience-- was the first one i selected from server lists and still is the only minecraft server I play on to this day.
Thank you for the kind words Hashhog! I am going to share this little sentence that I probably thought was well put together. This was back in October 2012, which means I was about to turn 11 years old and it was a PM on the forums with another player. Enjoy the cringe. "I noticed that but i misit and i wondring why did you taked it away and you was gold supporter before right?" Yes, now you know how much I cringe when I go back to check on old threads and PM's.
607, thank you for the compliment. And 607 and Padde73, both of you are doing quite well with your English. I converse regularly with vikingur82 as we are partners in a large outpost on Utopia. He is an Icelander - it has been fun to watch his English improve over the last few years. His "big" sister is D (Dramanya), now going by IceQueenDawn and she introduced us, since we have similar philosophies about building and mining. In my experience, age is not the critical issue - what is, is how you use your experience and wisdom to effect change and influence others to do what is right. If a teenager can teach me something, I am humble enough to close my mouth (still the keys, lol) and open my ears to listen. I have heard some profound words come from folks who are a quarter of my age. Always makes my day, speaking of which, have a great EMC day, have fun and be nice - as always. The Sus
Lol, Sage, lol!!! Our little one will turn 9 this summer. He is currently honing his chat skills in Roblox, so maybe this summer, if he has matured enough, I will let him join EMC. I have been preparing my alt Thourne for him for that day. Already voted up through 1000 days and ready to go - just waiting on him to be ready. Don't want him to get banned . . . The Sus
I really enjoy seeing how people change and grow throughout their years on EMC. It's one of the things that makes us such a wonderful community, because we can all play together and encourage each other regardless of age or other factors. I have younger family members that play on EMC, and I am grateful that they have a safe and friendly place to have fun.
15-19 is currently at a higher percentage than 20-24. That doesn't necessarily go against my hypothesis, though, as it is possible that there were more people 8-12 than 13-17, 7 years ago. Although that does not seem too likely. Of course the average gets moved by people in the other categories upwards more probably than downwards, as for most people there is a lot more life after 24 than before 15.
(I initially meant for this post to be a three sentence half-joke, but it turned into a nice multi-paragraph anecdote ) Thought this part was pretty funny. One of the weirdest things to happen in the musical world in the 2010s was the colossal resurgence of the vinyl - in the UK, LP sales hit an all time high of 4.3 million in 2019, while CDs have suffered consistent and rapid decline. I'm a huge, huge, huge fan of Joy Division. They released a 45th anniversary edition vinyl of their first (also last as a band with all of its members, r.i.p Ian Curtis) album last year. The sleeve was white and the record was a sexy red. Due to it being limited edition, I bought it. Didn't have a record player, so my mum got me one for Christmas so I could play that and build a collection - I realised that, if I'm going to spend money on an album, I don't want a crappy little CD case with a disc that disappears into a tray. I want to look at a big canvas of album artwork as I take a big, custom coloured record out of that canvas, I want to carefully place it onto a platter, I want to drop the needle and watch the record spin. On top of that, it served another use - my dad grew up in the 80s, that's where his music taste and his passion for it was formed (hence how most of the music I listen to is either straight up 80s music, or modern music that sounds like more nicely produced 80s music), and he died in October last year to the tune of Purple Rain. While we were sorting through his stuff, he had boxes and boxes and boxes of 7" and 12" records, as well as some random CDs. My mum wanted to throw them all away and even threw all of his custom-built speakers, his CD player, his amp, somehow managed to throw away my amp from my room as well without telling me while I was in another country because she was 'sick of seeing amps everywhere'. So... I got a record player for Christmas and have now started a vinyl collection, the vast majority of it being... well, the only assets I could possibly inherit off my dad, because we're poor smh. What I found funny was that I got a record player with... two speeds. Everything sounds normal in the first speed, but the second speed makes everything sound like really dumb nightcore remixes, and I want more. I cannot find a record player anywhere with three speeds. What is this sorcery you speak of????
Well lets see I'm turning 16 this year and joined EMC when in 2016 so there is that... I literally took a guess on this server and it brought so many amazing and kind people into my life... I'm so glad to be able to have grown and matured with all of you and I look forward to many more years here!
it appears we're getting sentimental here, eh? i have probably the most boring story of coming here haha. joined when i was 12? 11? somethin like that.... and 3+ long years those have been. still feels like last year that i moved time zones EMC was like my 4th server ever and the first that wasn't minigame focused. I don't play as much anymore as i've shifted to the other games in my narrow library, but it's cool to chat with everyone in discord and here sometimes. everybody in discord thought i was 17 until like a year ago (haHA yOU WERE FOOLED) not too far off tho. check my ingame age and do quick maths.
I think I had a record player in the house, while I was growing up that had 3 speeds, can't be totally certain of my memory of those controls, I was young... But all of the rest of the players I have ever used or seen were 2 speed. One for LP and one for the little ones (the correct name escapes me just now). So I agree, why was there a 3rd speed.... (American, if that makes any difference)
