Published Jan 18th, 2015, 1/18/15 8:34 am
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Hello all, it is I with another blog.
For a while now I have been observing a well-worn grumble amongst our world-hardened veterans of life on PMC. So many of us now have moved on to university, college, jobs, high school, and the like. Yet there seems to have been an alarming number who have not, who have barely begun to traverse the great road that is life.
“Why” I hear emanating from many a dorm in many a university “are there so many 12 year olds in Minecraft?”
“They’re taking over everything, nothing can escape them anymore.”
“What happened to all the older people who used to like Minecraft? Now it’s just a load of pre-pubescent SkyDoesMinecraft budder fanboys!”
Ergo the point around which this blog will swing. 12 year olds are taking over Minecraft.
No they’re not.
-------
I am now going to introduce a pleasant little item which I’m sure has been experienced by most everyone here at some point. Something which I have lovingly titled ‘Year 7 syndrome’.
Over here in England, secondary school starts in Year 7 (11-12) and is compulsory up to Year 11 (15-16). And from my recollections of Year 11 it was a constant stream of disbelief at the attitude of some of these Year 7 kids.
“Honestly, when we were that age we were never like that.”
The thing was, we actually were.
-------
Perceptions change as an individual gets older. And perceptions perhaps change the most during childhood and adolescence which are periods of rapid psychological development. Yet these changes are too gradual for us to notice. Do you feel any taller than you did yesterday? Yesterday did you feel any taller than the day before? Go back far enough and then compare yourself several years ago with who you are now. You’ll realise you’ve changed a lot since you were younger and it’s only once you remove the transition that you can really see the difference.
I would assume that it is generally older teens who complain about the huge influx of younger players in Minecraft or on PMC. Indeed my experiences would suggest it is such. And what I would like to remind those who complain is that you were once a younger player too. You weren’t always the omniscient deity you are today. This may come as a grievous insult to some, but you were once a ‘12 year old player’ also, however your perception has now changed.
But why are there so many 12 year olds in Minecraft? Easy question. Back when you were 12 the game was much smaller and much less popular. Thus there weren’t as many players. As you’ve grown, the game has grown. What may have only been a community of a couple of million when you started is now almost ten times the size. And with that growth comes the growth of the elements of the community which does include the 11-13 age range.
-------
Let’s take a look at this with a visual aide, the following statistics are merely for example purposes and are not accurate in any way:

The above chart displays how many players were in each age group when the Minecraft community had only two million players. As can be seen here there is a distinct skew in favour of a younger player base. Let’s say that this graph was true in early 2011, four years ago. For the 18 year old player at this time, you would have fit into the 14-15 age classification, one of the largest by far. Thus the number of ‘younger players’ would not seem to be of note to you as you would be, for all intents and purposes, part of that group. Meanwhile, the older player base would have far fewer players in it so its complaints would be largely unheard.
Let’s assume that the age appeal of Minecraft has remained unchanged, if this is assumed then these groups remain proportionally the same size over time. Now let’s take another look:

The bars themselves have remained unchanged, but rather than using a scale of 1:20,000, this chart now uses the much greater scale of 1:180,000 for the Minecraft community today, approximately 18 million. For the 18 year old player now, you have moved proportionally into a group with far fewer people in relation to the 10-15 age ranges. Despite proportionally being the same, rather than the 480,000 12-13 year old players in 2011 there are now 4,320,000. For both charts this is 24%, yet there is a massive difference in the actual numbers. So if you’re wondering why there seem to be more young teens playing Minecraft, that’s because there are more. Though proportionally this hasn’t particularly changed over time.
-------
Let’s tie all this together. Earlier in the blog I talked about Year 7 syndrome and how your perceptions will almost imperceptibly change as you grow older. You will look back at yourself aged 12 now and wonder how you were ever like that. You have matured (hopefully) and as such the antics of the younger players may actually irritate rather than amuse you. In addition, if the above models are used, there are now 2,520,000 players over the age of 18 whilst in 2011 there were only 280,000, far fewer. Thus the complaints of these players about the ‘kids’ are much more prominent as there are now so many more older players than in 2011.
Like it or not, all classes in the age spectrum have increased in size and this includes the younger ones. Even if the Minecraft community had plateaued at 2 million members then over 4 years the 14 year old player would have moved into the 18-20 class without even noticing and would look down at the younger players and wonder why there were so many more all of a sudden. This is only amplified by the fact the community has expanded so much since it began.
So what am I saying as I pass the 1,000 word mark on this blog? There are more 12 year olds; there are not more 12 year olds. There are more 12 year olds in number, yet there are not more 12 year olds proportionally. However, the older player is more likely to notice now than four years ago due to Year 7 syndrome: what the older players once said about you with much less prominence is now being said by you about the younger players with a class that has grown by almost 2 million.
TL;DR, there are more 12 year olds. There are also more 13 year olds, 16 year olds, 20 year olds, any other age has also increased massively over time. So 12 year olds are not taking over the world, regardless of what it may seem. Quite simply, there are more players therefore there are more 12 year olds. You are now in a position to notice. That is all there is to it.
Thanks for reading.
- Torm
For a while now I have been observing a well-worn grumble amongst our world-hardened veterans of life on PMC. So many of us now have moved on to university, college, jobs, high school, and the like. Yet there seems to have been an alarming number who have not, who have barely begun to traverse the great road that is life.
“Why” I hear emanating from many a dorm in many a university “are there so many 12 year olds in Minecraft?”
“They’re taking over everything, nothing can escape them anymore.”
“What happened to all the older people who used to like Minecraft? Now it’s just a load of pre-pubescent SkyDoesMinecraft budder fanboys!”
Ergo the point around which this blog will swing. 12 year olds are taking over Minecraft.
No they’re not.
-------
I am now going to introduce a pleasant little item which I’m sure has been experienced by most everyone here at some point. Something which I have lovingly titled ‘Year 7 syndrome’.
Over here in England, secondary school starts in Year 7 (11-12) and is compulsory up to Year 11 (15-16). And from my recollections of Year 11 it was a constant stream of disbelief at the attitude of some of these Year 7 kids.
“Honestly, when we were that age we were never like that.”
The thing was, we actually were.
-------
Perceptions change as an individual gets older. And perceptions perhaps change the most during childhood and adolescence which are periods of rapid psychological development. Yet these changes are too gradual for us to notice. Do you feel any taller than you did yesterday? Yesterday did you feel any taller than the day before? Go back far enough and then compare yourself several years ago with who you are now. You’ll realise you’ve changed a lot since you were younger and it’s only once you remove the transition that you can really see the difference.
I would assume that it is generally older teens who complain about the huge influx of younger players in Minecraft or on PMC. Indeed my experiences would suggest it is such. And what I would like to remind those who complain is that you were once a younger player too. You weren’t always the omniscient deity you are today. This may come as a grievous insult to some, but you were once a ‘12 year old player’ also, however your perception has now changed.
But why are there so many 12 year olds in Minecraft? Easy question. Back when you were 12 the game was much smaller and much less popular. Thus there weren’t as many players. As you’ve grown, the game has grown. What may have only been a community of a couple of million when you started is now almost ten times the size. And with that growth comes the growth of the elements of the community which does include the 11-13 age range.
-------
Let’s take a look at this with a visual aide, the following statistics are merely for example purposes and are not accurate in any way:

The above chart displays how many players were in each age group when the Minecraft community had only two million players. As can be seen here there is a distinct skew in favour of a younger player base. Let’s say that this graph was true in early 2011, four years ago. For the 18 year old player at this time, you would have fit into the 14-15 age classification, one of the largest by far. Thus the number of ‘younger players’ would not seem to be of note to you as you would be, for all intents and purposes, part of that group. Meanwhile, the older player base would have far fewer players in it so its complaints would be largely unheard.
Let’s assume that the age appeal of Minecraft has remained unchanged, if this is assumed then these groups remain proportionally the same size over time. Now let’s take another look:

The bars themselves have remained unchanged, but rather than using a scale of 1:20,000, this chart now uses the much greater scale of 1:180,000 for the Minecraft community today, approximately 18 million. For the 18 year old player now, you have moved proportionally into a group with far fewer people in relation to the 10-15 age ranges. Despite proportionally being the same, rather than the 480,000 12-13 year old players in 2011 there are now 4,320,000. For both charts this is 24%, yet there is a massive difference in the actual numbers. So if you’re wondering why there seem to be more young teens playing Minecraft, that’s because there are more. Though proportionally this hasn’t particularly changed over time.
-------
Let’s tie all this together. Earlier in the blog I talked about Year 7 syndrome and how your perceptions will almost imperceptibly change as you grow older. You will look back at yourself aged 12 now and wonder how you were ever like that. You have matured (hopefully) and as such the antics of the younger players may actually irritate rather than amuse you. In addition, if the above models are used, there are now 2,520,000 players over the age of 18 whilst in 2011 there were only 280,000, far fewer. Thus the complaints of these players about the ‘kids’ are much more prominent as there are now so many more older players than in 2011.
Like it or not, all classes in the age spectrum have increased in size and this includes the younger ones. Even if the Minecraft community had plateaued at 2 million members then over 4 years the 14 year old player would have moved into the 18-20 class without even noticing and would look down at the younger players and wonder why there were so many more all of a sudden. This is only amplified by the fact the community has expanded so much since it began.
So what am I saying as I pass the 1,000 word mark on this blog? There are more 12 year olds; there are not more 12 year olds. There are more 12 year olds in number, yet there are not more 12 year olds proportionally. However, the older player is more likely to notice now than four years ago due to Year 7 syndrome: what the older players once said about you with much less prominence is now being said by you about the younger players with a class that has grown by almost 2 million.
TL;DR, there are more 12 year olds. There are also more 13 year olds, 16 year olds, 20 year olds, any other age has also increased massively over time. So 12 year olds are not taking over the world, regardless of what it may seem. Quite simply, there are more players therefore there are more 12 year olds. You are now in a position to notice. That is all there is to it.
Thanks for reading.
- Torm
{Bonus Content} The Average Age of PMC
The statistics in this blog were not accurate. For a bit of fun, let’s see what the graph would more accurately (unfortunately trolls cannot be excluded) look like using the information from this thread. Assuming 9 or under to be 5-9 and 30+ to be 30-45:

The two classes that encompass the greatest percentage of players are the 10-12 and 16-17 age ranges with 19% apiece, 10-12 receiving but a single vote more than 16-17.
The mean average age on PMC is 15.26 years.
If we were to line everyone up in age order, the average PMC member would be 14.35 years old.

The two classes that encompass the greatest percentage of players are the 10-12 and 16-17 age ranges with 19% apiece, 10-12 receiving but a single vote more than 16-17.
The mean average age on PMC is 15.26 years.
If we were to line everyone up in age order, the average PMC member would be 14.35 years old.
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Either way, thanks for taking your time to put your own opinion out there, your blogs are extremely well written, and often hit on important subjects >_>
If the subject wasn't important I don't think people would be putting a paragraph of their opinion in the comments.
Great blog! I liked the graphs they helped the perspective/understanding. :D
You are kinda the immature one here.
I am 12 and I am a mod on a server. it doesnt matter about age, only how they think and react. You cant say that every 12 year old is immature, because there is 16 year olds who are as immature as the 5 year olds