Exploring Minecraft's Liminal Spaces 

Reminds me that someone once described Steve as lonely god. He was pretty much only limited by his imagination, but he had no-one of who had his sort of power. Wielding reality-bending power, not being bound by death, etc, but also being alone, in an infinite landscape with no sign of true company...

4:00 I think one of the reasons the lack of ambience sounds/animal ambience like bugs or birds scares us because our monkey and lizard brains are wired to subconsciously deem silence as suspicious and scary because in nature when predators are around, birds, insects, frogs, ect- go quiet. If you are out in nature and suddenly you can't hear any animals at all and it is almost *_completely silent.._* : *_You are not alone._*

that jump scare was kinda a dick move ngl

You are right. It is easy to build a huge castle, but it is always empty. I tend to always head for the nearest village, and start building it. Villagers are weird but they are at least company.

Alpha minecraft as a whole felt like a liminal space and that's why I love it so much now. When I was younger I was scared of it when I played alone or just watched some crappy lets play with no talking. And now I find it quite relaxing and calmer than modern minecraft. That feeling of being watched is gone in modern minecraft and that just doesn't feel that good anymore

Bro don't creep me out like that... I knew that thing looked weird but didn't realize you would just make it into a slight jumpscare, bro you did me good :D

When I play modern Minecraft, I don't get that feeling at all. But like you said, old Minecraft's atmosphere is completely different, even though it's fundamentally the same game. Old Minecraft and Garry's Mod are my two favourite games to boot up if I want to explore some liminal vibes. There are some chill maps on Garry's Mod where I can just hang out and think about stuff and soak in the atmosphere.

the jumpscare troll is actually good lol

Anyone else get creeped out by square shapes rooms / spaces in Minecraft? It’s still the one thing in the game that manages to make me feel uneasy.

Great anthropological analysis. Even though I started playing in version 1.13 (now, 1.20), the feeling of liminality is the same. The strangest thing, the feeling of nostalgia is real, even though there is no motive for it (for me, of course). That's why I think Minecraft is an incredible game.

Amazing video, I think i have finally figured out why og players dont find the new versions fun anymore, they just dont feel it: the loneliness, the feeling of somebody watching them, the liminality, the sorta off felling. The new versions feel safer in a way, like there isnt much unknown.

Slowed down Fallen Down works just perfectly with the concept. I mean.. It's so familiar, nostalgic, like you wanna go back, even though you can't.. So it is perfect

It was especially potent way back in the day before villagers were added -- there were structures like the occasional abandoned mineshaft or the underground fortresses, and sometimes even above-ground structures here and there, and if you were playing in "peaceful" and not distracted by the various monsters... they still feel kind of eerie, like... who built those? who lived there? Now there's the villagers and stuff so it's a bit less "empty" feeling.

Basil: lets talk about the lack of sound Cave sounds: am i a joke to you...

For those scrolling through the comments while watching the video, if you haven't made it to the 6 minute mark, be careful because there is a minor jumpscare at 6:46 so please skip past that part if you can't handle jumpscares, thanks for listening

To me, it is very strange to explore a made world where it should be very lively in actuallity (like a remade world but in minecraft), I guess it carries over to a dead server as well, and it gets way more interesting when both are combined

The early versions of Minecraft PE felt a lot like a liminal space, sad that it no longer exists…

6:43 JUMPSCARE WARNING MAN!

I always find generating unnatural chunks in an old world gives a liminal feeling. Something not quite right, mixed with nostalgia.

I often explore abandoned Minecraft servers. I always feel like I'm being watched, even though no one has played on them for a long time... 🤔😬

Personally, I don't see it. I personally don't get the creepiness.

To be honest, i feel a bit more sad than creeped out especially when playing with my friends 5 of us have been playing together for years now and when they log off and im alone ingame the "creepiness" gets replaced by sadness knowing that soon or probably more sooner than i thought since ill be busy with college few months from now the fun times will come to an end, and i always hope this isn't the case and it'll be those "we dont quit minecraft, we just take long breaks" kind of stuff Man how i will miss these days when years gone by, hope i will actually get to meet them in person by then. "Don't cry that its over, Smile that it happened"

You sir have perfectly described the feeling I got when playing this game as a kid back in version 1.5.2 (2013). The strong sense of absence yet the feeling of nostalgic places was really something to experience. I remember times when walking down the school passageways alone would suddenly trigger a Liminality sensation like the image 1:23. Thank you so much! Your videos on the older Minecraft versions are true gems of content. 👍

Great video! Short and straight to the point. I've seen images/videos about liminality in Minecraft, but I've never actually seen anyone discussing it. Old Minecraft gives off a specific feeling and for the longest time, I was never able to accurately describe it. That was until I found out about the term "liminal", which is a perfect sum of the feelings that old Minecraft gives you. Comfort, fear, warmth, uneasiness, you name it and it'll be there along with a contrasting feeling as well.

I wasn’t expecting that jumpscare 😭 amazing video!

I have a bit more to add to the sound design part, a big part of why it feels so liminal is because there's very relaxing and calm music that keeps you from feeling afraid from the liminalness, and then it just stops and it's very silent, just the sounds of your actions for way longer than in most video games, and sometimes the silence is suddenly interrupted by ominous cave noises, that aren't really jumpscares, as they don't make you freak out and then right after calm down, but instead they make you feel like you are being watched, like there is a threat somwhere, but you don't know where, unlike most jumpscares that make you feel like the danger is over, like the threat catched you, but the immersion got broken and you know you can try again.

This guy is one of the most underrated minecraft RU-vidrs I have seen . I mean he only has 700 subs! Good job dude

Cool and interesting video, as always. Keep it up!

very good video, keep it up!

Adding ambience mods COMPLETELY CHANGES the atmosphere of Minecraft.

I know I'm quite late, but this video does a great job at exploring this topic. I also believe this ties into the recent (relative) "resurgence" of older versions of Minecraft, mods for said versions and even ARGs.

well i used to download city worlds just to explore by myself as a kid so i definitely get this. now im obsessed with liminal spaces and old minecraft

I don't think it's really fair to say the liminal aspect is gone from modern Minecraft. It's certainly still there, even if not all the time.

This video is crazy! Great job bro

i hate to admit that jumpscare got me way to good

I get a massive feeling of limitality in parking lots when it’s raining a lot I just get so nostalgic and if I’m alone I’ll just sit there confused but comforted as if I was over came by a sense of pure happiness and peace

You know now that you bring it up I’ve seen it in a lot of games

Love how one of the channels behind one of these vids has the characters "希望" in the name (it means hope and is one of my favourite words in Chinese)

i sure so love watching this before going to sleep, gonna watch a video about horror mods after that :D

I remember there was a brief period on the Xbox 360 version where villages existed, but they hadn’t added villagers yet. I remember 8 year old me coming across one of these villages and feeling a genuine terror, even though I was in peaceful.

Im so glad i found your channel your content is great

The cave noises are haunting bro

I should go to bed, but this is a cool video, just this one and I'll go to sleep The video:

Ngl for me it’s two side of liminal spaces like one where it’s just some creepy place or a place that reminds me of when I was younger or a old place I’ve see before

Jesus man I wasn't expecting a jumpscare in my Minecraft liminal space documentary!

Amazing video! How do you only have 700 subscribers!? Keep on goin ⛏️

I agree that the liminality doesn't really exist much in modern minecraft. Modern minecraft feels much brighter, much more hopeful, much.... lighter. If Fallen Down is fitting for old minecraft (and it absolutely is), I think Hopes and Dreams is really fitting for modern minecraft. Now, there is one place i do get immensely creeped out in minecraft these days, the place that's the most similar to how minecraft was back then: caves and mines. I do think the liminality does still exist in mines.

Seeing liminal spaces is yes the absence of people and the fact it looks familiar it gives off a nostalgic creepines

Congrat Basil on 1K Subscribers

Never felt so even when i create void world to play with command blocks. I always feel like something is behind the horizon watching me like an angel or just harmless observer. Never feel alone😌

You are underrated, man . 812 subs when your video is THIS quality!?

My friends, i saw the birth of minecraft as "cave game" and now i see its desperation, i have become the timeline itself, born in 2009 and now still alive in 2024

Old Minecraft screenshots paired with mice on Venus definitely would make anyone shed a tier

I remember being scared of the ps3 tutorial world, also all of the pre generated maps on that version creep me out

I be honest with you, I'm a old minecraft player and i found something odd about liminal space is that as long its perfectly blocky i don't find any eerieness in it... mostly comfort

Admittedly, I actually find the ambient fog and simple quiet of old Minecraft relaxing.

this jumpscare hit grandma 🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥

I'm not even mad at that jumpscare.

I really enjoy the liminal space that is Minecraft beta. Sometimes when I’m mining I hear footsteps. It usually just ends up being a mob in a weird place, but it still is creepy.

6:46 JESUS CHRIST THAT SCARED ME SO BAD WHY DID YOU DO THAT 🥺

6:41 Thank you for my free heart attack 😊

I was totally unaware of the coming jumpscare and was looking at the funny structure next to it

"The creep part of Minecraft is not the fact that you are alone, but the thought that you might not be." Captures Minecraft's aesthetic (that has been lesser so in newer versions) perfectly. The game can literally be the happiest, cheerful game one second and fright the next, almost like life, aye?

6:44 I was zoning out looking away of the screen, and that thing hit me like a fking brick to the face, dont ever do that sh again man. I was genuinely scared for a moment there.

I used to play Minecraft Pocket on LG Optimus L3 back in the day. It was really spooky with that short render distance

It’s more nostalgic for me, I would play the old version of Minecraft on my Wii U while roaming around listening to Aria Math. It was before I was even old enough to go to school. It just reminds me of my childhood.

bro this video is sooo good like your gonna be famous watch this

nahh liminal spaces is the first thing that comes to my mind when i think of minecraft

When i played in the older versions i was absolutely scared of mining because i always felt like something is gonna jumpscare me from the back

I’m watching this at night and I confirm I shat myself right around that one part

i always feel this thing. sometimes i just go to creative to fly up beacuse i dont feel safe on the ground.

What are these type of videos called? Are they like documentary videos or like explaining videos? I always see this style of video when someone is explaining liminal spaces. They also have really good microphones

There’s a pleasant feeling looking at liminal spaces, but when you look at it too much its get eerie and uncomfortable and you start to question reality.

6:45 my heart popped out :)

For me it feels sad, those "liminal spaces" a hallway that I stop going through because I erase the world or I simply forget to enter the world for many years, especially with Minecraft without mods, my lonely world, I feel uncomfortable as if I were being watched or like every time I pass through those spaces there is a heavy energy that makes me sad, all alone despite having the wolves, common enemies, this feels so nostalgically sad at least for me, instead of having fun

it makes me feel empty, and uninformed, its like I’m vulnerable in a way that I’m uncertain, but yet familiar

BRO, it's 3am for me, and it's dark in my room, so that jumpscare gave me the chills... lol 6:42

One of the best way to also see nostalgia, is (minecraft story mode)

my concept of liminal spaces is: this looks human made... but its empty...? and quiet...

was watching this late at night and almost pissed myself at that jumpscare lol

the reason minecraft was so creepy during alpha was bcz at the time computers werent strong so render distances used to be low. you coud not even switch off the fog. Try playing with fog at 3 render distance

When I play the single player archive I feel fear because I'm the only one in this archive and the silence is horrible

I love Minecraft. And I’ve loved it ever since the first time I played it years ago.

Just one word: beautiful

i feel like modern versions of minecraft cant recreate the same feeling as old mc, just playing survival alone late at night

my childhood beautiful minecraft became into a creepy nightmare that will keep me awake

The jumpscare go me there. LMAO

For those who aren't feeling it, look at gameplay of the Alpha/beta stages of the game. The dense saturation of the block colors, the heavy fog, the low lighting, the lack of biomes, etc just made the game seem baron.

These images and videos just make me feel… good. Unexplainably good.

I play on a lot of huge mod pack with sometimes even 300 mods, and the feeling of being alone is gone because of all new mobs and structures but sometimes there are some weird moments when you walk into a cave or something and everything just stops, there is nothing, no mobs, no sound literyally NOTHING, and its even scarier than normal Mc because you are even more used to not being "alone" cuz of 300 mods adding shit tone of things, but when the moment arrives it is very unsetling and scary

6:46 I pressed ALT+F4 so quick that my computer freeze

Since i basically only play on my ultra realistic Minecraft server with cities and countries and stuff with over 80 mods (that has been running for 4 years btw) I never get to experience this… well, no, actually I do… when everyone leaves and i go into my bunker in the capital of my country and close the huge hatch, when I stand in that empty hallway, it gives me that feeling like the portal games give you (also that was kinda intentional, to create that feeling), or, when I go to one of the space bases (either a space station or a bunker on another planet, or sometimes just another planet), I get that weird feeling too… but mostly in the bunker…

Gritty filter just makes it more fun.

2:33 the doctors office i went to for my childhood looked almost exactly like that

The fog of old Minecraft really contributes to the liminality.

+1 subscriber :D

Basil smells good (both you and the one without a smiley face) Also every time I play with my sister she steals my mine cart from the track I built while I’m mining and then the cave sound for the minecart rolling plays and I check it and well… you can never be safe

Old nether makes me feel a little like that

thank you for the jumpscare my heart went down my pants

liminal space is the first thing to come to mind in a single player world