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Cubing generations

shadowslice e

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This sort of came as a spin off of the natural talent vs practise thread but I was just wondering what generation would people consider themselves? First? Second? First "revival" generation after the slump in the 1990s-early 2000s? Something altogether different?

I would be interested to hear peoples opinions on the topic.

I'm gonna stick my neck out and and say that we're mostly third/fourth generation: initial early 2000s revival/ the competitive generation after that. (First would be the first cubers- includes people like Rubik himself, petrus and similar, second could be the "lost " generation of the 1990s where cubing seemed to have died down-could include people like Fridirch). Note that your generation does not necessarily reflect your age.

What are other people's thoughts? :)

I would also be interested to hear your thoughts on the "fifth" generation and what charicteristics define each generation.
 

cmhardw

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I consider myself second generation. I was in the first generation that learned cubing from online resources rather than having to develop your own system (for 3x3). We still had to develop for big cubes and other puzzles though. I started in 1998, during the end of the "cubing dark ages" where the craze was still dead.

I think each generation uses the knowledge gained by all the previous generations to improve techniques and methods a step further. I think as each generation tries new things, those things that work well lead the people who use them to get really fast. The next generation takes note of that and makes those changes the new standard.

Also, with each improvement in cubing hardware comes a new generation. Once new hardware allows for newer "styles" a new generation is created, I think. This is a neat thing to think about! I think I would actually argue that generational divides in cubing more closely correlate to development of new hardware than any other characteristic.
 

DGCubes

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I see generations of cubing like this:
1st generation: 1980s, like you described
2nd generation: cubing "dark ages", as described by cmhardw
3rd generation: the revival, from around 2003 to 2008. Pretty much when cubing was starting up again and there weren't too many advancements hardware-wise.
4th generation: I'm going to call this the DaYan generation, from 2009 to 2012, when the DaYan cubes got big, there were some okay speedcubes for other events (like SS big cubes, etc.), and cubing was getting faster and more well-known.
5th generation: the explosion; when cubing got WAY bigger, from 2013 to now. It could be characterized by the release of many modern (non-DaYan) speedcubes, cubing YouTubers getting a lot bigger (I remember around the beginning of this time period when 30K or 40K was about the maximum, and look at people like CBC and RedKB now), and many more competitions and new competitors around the world (2013 had 359 competitions and 2015 had 572).

According to this, I'd be part of the 4th generation. I remember very well seeing the first videos of non-DaYan 3x3s (like the ShuangRen and HuanYing) right when they were released, although I was pretty new to cubing at that point. I started in mid-2012, so I'm late 4th gen.
 
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molarmanful

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I see generations of cubing like this:
1st generation: 1980s, like you described
2nd generation: cubing "dark ages", as described by cmhardw
3rd generation: the revival, from around 2003 to 2008. Pretty much when cubing was starting up again and there weren't too many advancements hardware-wise.
4th generation: I'm going to call this the DaYan generation, from 2009 to 2012, when the DaYan cubes got big, there were some okay speedcubes for other events (like SS big cubes, etc.), and cubing was getting faster and more well-known.
5th generation: the explosion; when cubing got WAY bigger, from 2013 to now. It could be characterized by the release of many modern (non-DaYan) speedcubes, cubing YouTubers getting a lot bigger (I remember around the beginning of this time period when 30K or 40K was about the maximum, and look at people like CBC and RedKB now), and many more competitions and new competitors around the world (2013 had 359 competitions and 2015 had 572).

According to this, I'd be part of the 4th generation. I remember very well seeing the first videos of non-DaYan 3x3s (like the ShuangRen and HuanYing) right when they were released, although I was pretty new to cubing at that point. I started in mid-2012, so I'm late 4th gen.
The "Moyu generation" probably belongs at the beginning of the 5th generation, because they really were starting to dominate the speedcube market for a bit there.
 
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I see generations of cubing like this:
[stuff]

Even though I'd consider myself 5th Gen (as I only started getting into speedsolving/ engaging with the community/ going to comps this year), I first learned to solve a cube during the 3rd Gen (around 07-08), when I first became interested in the Rubiks cube and got all my first twisty puzzles. Interesting.

Cool thread.
 

mark49152

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I'm first generation I guess, having started around 1981-82, although I lost interest for a few decades and came back to it in the 4th generation circa 2012.
 

Sajwo

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I see generations of cubing like this:
1st generation: 1980s, like you described
2nd generation: cubing "dark ages", as described by cmhardw
3rd generation: the revival, from around 2003 to 2008. Pretty much when cubing was starting up again and there weren't too many advancements hardware-wise.
4th generation: I'm going to call this the DaYan generation, from 2009 to 2012, when the DaYan cubes got big, there were some okay speedcubes for other events (like SS big cubes, etc.), and cubing was getting faster and more well-known.
5th generation: the explosion; when cubing got WAY bigger, from 2013 to now. It could be characterized by the release of many modern (non-DaYan) speedcubes, cubing YouTubers getting a lot bigger (I remember around the beginning of this time period when 30K or 40K was about the maximum, and look at people like CBC and RedKB now), and many more competitions and new competitors around the world (2013 had 359 competitions and 2015 had 572).

According to this, I'd be part of the 4th generation. I remember very well seeing the first videos of non-DaYan 3x3s (like the ShuangRen and HuanYing) right when they were released, although I was pretty new to cubing at that point. I started in mid-2012, so I'm late 4th gen.

Mine is better :D You consider youtube channels and speedcubes as a major factor, which is quite silly..

1st generation: Before WCA has been created
2nd generation: Erik's generation (2003-2009). Times when Erik ruled all the speedcubing scene. I consider myself this generation, since I started quite a long time ago.
3rd generation: Feliks generation (2010-2014). When Feliks started setting whole lot of new WR's.
4th generation: Modern cubing (2014-20xy). When a lot of people started getting ridiculously fast (sub8 3x3 averages and sub6 singles).
 

shadowslice e

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Mine is better :D

1st generation: Before WCA has been created
2nd generation: Erik's generation (2003-2009). Times when Erik ruled all the speedcubing scene. I consider myself this generation, since I started quite a long time ago.
3rd generation: Feliks generation (2010-2014). When Feliks started setting whole lot of new WR's.
4th generation: Modern cubing (2014-20xy). When a lot of people started getting ridiculously fast (sub8 3x3 averages and sub6 singles).

I would still say you're missing the "lost" generation after the cubing craze but before the revival/WCA
 

shadowslice e

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Hmm... Actually, now I rethink all of this, I can see 3 different ways to classify generations: hardware, cube theory/methods/meta, cubing community size. Though all of them have the same first two generations:
1) Cubing craze generation: first basic rubiks cubes, still some other cubes first being made to satiate demands. Other variations are also being made such as other n*n*n and megaminx etc
2) The lost generation/dark ages- not much progress here.
3) Chinese generation: emergence of the dominance of Chinese companies on the cube market.
4) Dayan generation: Now not just the Chinese companies in general, Dayan begins to crush all other competitors.
5) Modern era: Dayan begins to lost it's grip though is still a powerful force. Emergence of Yuxin may be seen as the start of this era.
1) Cubing craze: first basic methods are created to solve the cube. Notable cubers include Singmaster (I apologise if I misspelled that)
2) dark ages: not much happens here and not many new methods created though there are notable exceptions (mostly based around puzzle theory such as Kociemba.
3) the revival: establishment of the WCA and cubing forums lead to new important methods such as ZZ and Roux being created.
4) Modern: Methods become based on more abstract concepts. ZZ could actually be seen as the start of this era.
1) The cubing craze where everyone loves cubing
2) "Lost" generation: where most people seem to go off cubing
3) The revival: where cubing becomes more popular again culminating in the creation of the WCA.
4) Static: community grows slowly and is in a period of stagnation compared to the periods around it.
5) Modern: cubing explodes and many, many more people join.

All of the generations actually line up pretty well and all share the first two generations in common: The cubing craze and the "dark ages"/"lost generation"
 

Johnny

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I started in the late fourth generation, and from here on out I think the cutoff between generations is which brand is dominant

4th generation- Dayan is dominant, Dayan is the only major company that is innovating
end of 4th gen- ShuangRen and HuanYing are released

5th gen- MoYu is dominant (this really began with the release of the WeiLong). MoYu is driving innovation
end of 5th gen- MoYu's monopoly evaporates

6th gen (current)- No brand dominates, there are several brands with large market share (MoYu, YuXin, QiYi). Competition between brands is driving innovation
 

Johnny

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But that's only maybe :) Johnny is not a clairvoyant, so he shouldn't assume such a thing

m8, have you seen what they've released lately? The AoLong GT and TangLong are good but they're not innovative at all. The fact that they have 2 other GT cubes coming out tells me that they have run out of good ideas, at least for now. Not to mention the LingPo and TangPo, which have identical mechanisms and are not great (the LingPo was terrible IMO). Like, the Dayan is still the top 2x2. That's insane.
 

Sajwo

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I disagree. 3x3 is basically the signature event of cubing and the fact that MoYu isn't dominant there means that something has changed fundamentally.

How can you disagree with a fact? Almost everybody uses Moyu cubes in 3x3, WR holders too. When Dayan was "dominant" also not everybody was using dayan cubes.
 
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