Minecraft has been around for a long long time at this point, far longer than it's release in 2011 even implies. To this day there are still thousands of Minecraft beta-testers who play, create mods, and write blogs about (wink wink) Minecraft to this day. As of this May, we're approaching Minecraft's 14th birthday, celebrating yet another massive milestone in the history of a multiplayer game that has touched everyone's lives in massive ways. Happy Birthday Minecraft!

For Shockbyte, this means a whole lot more too! This means an online celebration on our social media, and a celebration for the company too! We started with only hosting Minecraft servers and look at us now! As we almost approach 40 unique games in our library, we're eager to host even more, and it's all due to Minecraft opening that door for us! Well, whether you're playing modded Minecraft, or vanilla, let's join together and look back to where it all started 14 years ago!

Minecraft Birthday

After many Minecraft Updates

Minecraft almost looks like an entirely different game. From randomly generated structures, to NPCs with trade screens, the original game of Minecraft has been completely flipped on it's head from a simple block-building game into a survival roleplay adventure. The concept of having decorated armor, derived from loot obtained in different dimensions is a concept that would have had a Minecraft beta tester laughing back in the day, only for it to be true in modern times.

We've had over a decade worth of Minecraft updates and continue to see more that shake Minecraft to it's very core, leaving even vanilla Minecraft at a state repeatedly worth replaying for some of the most veteran players. Multiplayer servers provide borderline infinite replayability, and continual additions to the base game allow even players who play without mods to have something new to look forward to each time they return from a break.

Minecraft Update

And many Minecraft Servers

Almost the entire Minecraft community is extremely familiar with the multiplayer capabilities of Minecraft; hey, that's why we're all still here! Managing, playing, and hosting servers is the whole reason Minecraft has lasted this long! Multiplayer ruled by the players is the best way to go. You don't see anyone complaining online about multiplayer of Minecraft like you for Call of Duty, or Rainbow Six Siege! If you don't like the way one server works, simply find a new one, or host a Shockbyte Minecraft server yourself!

Some of the most popular Minecraft servers out there include the likes of Hypixel, Brawl, Pixelmon, the Skyblock Network, Mineplex, and endless more that the Minecraft community has had the chance to call home over the decade. There are even some lawless servers such as the iconic 2b2t that has gone down in history as one of Minecraft's most unique server landmarks. These 14 years have opened up generations of experiences and communities to gather online.

Minecraft 2b2t Server

And even more Minecraft Changes

Minecraft's updates have continually changed the landscape of the game, adding new biomes, and drawing veteran players back for that "one more playthrough," but what about all the changes that simply made Minecraft a different game than it used to be? Minecraft's combat used to be an intricate dance of slashing, bouncing off one another, and controlling the knockback on both ends. Ever since the combat rework, Axes reign supreme...but it wasn't always that way.

Enchantments as another example was only added to Minecraft in update 1.0. Minecraft Update 1.0. Literally ON the release of the full game, enchanting was added. Many modern Minecraft players, even veterans at this point may not remember the times when enchanting your gear wasn't available, and diamond tools and armor was the strongest a player could achieve. The End as well was released in the same update, which at the time, finally marked a true playthrough ending for Minecraft.

Minecraft Village
The idea of a "NPC Village" back in the day was such a crazy concept for Minecraft...

It's all come back to these Minecraft Seeds Roots

Get it? Because seeds grow and form roots, anyway, the point is: Minecraft may have been the absolutely incredible game to draw communities together, but it's because Minecraft is so open-ended. All the changes and Minecraft servers have only allowed players near-infinite options to express themselves and enjoy Minecraft exactly how THEY want to enjoy Minecraft. Whether you're a builder; you're an explorer; or if you're a monster fighter, there's a seed for that.

Hosting your own Minecraft server allows you the complete flexbility alongside your friends to own the world, and shape it as you see fit. With whatever rules you decide, or even (in 2b2t's case) maybe no rules at all! While gaming couldn't be replaced to us as gamers, the experiences we've had over these 14 years have come from the people we've met online and played with, not always the game we've spent it on. Although that one time you won Bedwars was really cool.

Minecraft Bedwars

How can I celebrate Minecraft's Birthday?

By playing of course! What would be more appropriate than building a nice house in survival with friends, setting up some beds under the stars, and rigging up some nice fireworks to celebrate all the great time's we've had? Sit back and shoot a few in-game fire works off for all the survival game wins your friend group got all those years ago. Shockbyte's going to be celebrating for a full week starting on Minecraft's official birthday of the 17th!

Now you may be thinking...this isn't when Minecraft was released...what gives? This marks the anniversary of Minecraft's original release to the public in the form of the "Java Edition" in 2009. We're honored to be celebrating so many years of Minecraft, so we'll be giving away discount codes all week long across our social media and website for the occasion! Stick around for cheap Minecraft servers!

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About Shockbyte

Shockbyte is a game server host for Minecraft, ARK, Rust and more.

Do you want to start your own Minecraft server? Click here to view our Minecraft server hosting plans.

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