I've been cubing for six years.

[StachuK1992]

http://blog.stachu.net/?cat=6

Just a rant.
I'll repeat the end question here:
does anyone else feel a certain degree of passion for the subject, and despises the apparent complacency, or am I alone in my feelings here?
I used to feel like people really cared - now the age of the average cuber is diminishing and the people that used to care are dying off quickly.

Stachu

 

[scottishcuber]

I started on the 13th October as well...2008 though.

To be honest, I've never heard anyone talk about what cubing means to a cuber and the effects it has had. I find that people often talk about cubing as a hobby and a community with a very positive regard, but never with much of a personal attachment.

I don't really know what to say... I love cubing and I don't see myself ever stopping, I learn knew things all the time and I've only just started competing.

Maybe the direction that we are heading towards is the natural path; cubing gets more appealing to a younger group, older cubers find less time to devote to this hobby (as a result of education, careers, familes etc.). As information is so readily available and the simplest questions now are so easily answered - when in the past they not have been - maybe new cubers are making less of an effort to learn something new for themselves without such a heavy reliance on others and without putting in the legwork themselves.

 

[teller]

I am *very* passionate about cubing, though unless I'm at a comp, it is a rather solitary experience most of the time. All of my kids have learned from me at one time or another, but few of them persisted long enough to get to sub-20. I'm always dismayed when a nephew or a son comes back after being away for months and they are 10 seconds slower...and by the time a weekend goes by with me, they are usually tuned back up and remark about how they forgot just much they enjoyed cubing. So it goes. My wife, thankfully, is very accepting and has learned to tune out the sound of the cube when we're watching TV together...hehe...

I'm not sure what you mean by complacency in this context...the fact that many cubers retire after awhile? Or that they don't seem to enjoy their craft?

 

[Owen]

I don't take it very seriously at all, it's just something that persists.

 

[Tim Major]

Well a short answer to your question is "sort of".

I probably solved all twisty puzzles combined less than 100 times at home from late 2011 to mid 2013. I was unbelievably bored of it. Yet I still went to every single Melbourne competition, and I had fun at most of these.

I only started in 2009, 4 and a bit year ago, but I can't see myself missing many Melbourne competitions for many years to come. I have spent more time cubing than any video game, or probably sport. I have spent SO much money on cubing, more than you even. I even started a business selling puzzles, which I made decent money from and enjoyed. In hindsight this "forced" exposure to cubing is probably what made me get bored of it.

I think the average age is certainly going down at our competitions, but that could just be me going from 13 years old to 17 whilst the average age stayed the same. Cubing feels different now. The world records have advanced so far. So has everyone else. Cubing has also expanded so far. I used to make the finals at our comps with a 20~ average. Now? Sub 15 or bust.

Technology has also advanced far. At a recent comp I heard a kid say "get a Dayan 2x2, LanLan is old school and horrible." When the LanLan came out it was so much better than the good old, throw against the wall Eastsheens. I still have a Haiyan Memory on my desk which was a ridiculous advancement from F2s, A2s and A1s. Back when I started cube4you was the main cube store. What happened to them?

(posted this from phone, if there's no line breaks, there was meant to be one after every . without a space)

 

[Julian]

Cubing is so much fun for me

The speedcubing community is one of the best that I've ever been a part of. Worlds this year was one of the best experiences of my life.

I'm really glad I found speedcubing. I definitely enjoy it and am passionate about it.

 

[KongShou]

i only cube cos i wanna break the wr

and im not gonna

 

[pipkiksass]

So it goes.

Is that a Kurt Vonnegut reference? If so, well played, sir!

Re the OP: I care about cubing. For me it's far more than a hobby, it's something I do because I like researching stuff, and it relaxes me, and a billion other reasons... but I don't have the time to dedicate to cubing that I wish I had. I first discovered cubing when I was a student, but there were nowhere NEAR the resources there are now. I found some algs, and got better, but then for ten years I just solved a cube occasionally, in a minute or so.

Then one day I stumbled upon the wealth of YouTube videos about cubing, that simply didn't exist a few years ago.

So here's my point - I think the accessibility of cubing means that more people will take it up. Obviously. Even if the attrition rate were the same as it was 10 years ago (let's say 70% continue cubing), due to the volume of new cubers, more will stop.

Also, again due to accessibility, you don't have to go out of your way to find out how to solve a cube. I think anyone could be at least sub-40 now, which simply wasn't true when I started cubing - there was no such thing as finger-tricks, or anything like that. The kind of people who would spend 3 hours reading a text-only tutorial about solving the cube (me) aren't the kind of people who forget this information lightly. The kind of people who want all of their information in bite-size, snappy, 5 minute YouTube videos are less likely to retain the information. It just doesn't take the same level of dedication.

If I'd had the same resources available to me that there are today, I'd still love cubing just as much, I'd just have spent many hours studying RLS or COLL, or WV, or ZBLL, or **(insert obscure method here)**. In many ways, I wish I'd had a combination of the time I had when I was a student, and the resources I have today. But I don't.

I don't take cubing seriously, I just love doing it. I hope I always will!

 

[emolover]

If you would have asked me this question only 6 months ago I would have truly given you a very passionate answer about how cubing had become something that was ingrained into me as a person, but that is by no means true any more. As teller mentioned in his post cubing is a mostly solitary activity, this I believe is what drives many of the long time cubers away from this hobby. Don't get me wrong, going to the competitions and seeing the awesome community is great, but driving several hours just for a day of fun cubing gets old.

Cubing for me offered a perfect escape from the boredom that grew on me from video games, this lasted me a good 4 years. But now it is turning into the opposite, video games are giving me an escape from the boredom of cubing. This entire summer I devoted the time I would have used for cubing towards DOTA 2. What cubing has become with me is just to waste away the time I wait in between games of DOTA.

Honestly I don't think I will be getting anymore cubes(besides the shenshou 10x10 and 11x11) or will being going to any competitions besides the Fishers summer competitions or if there happen to be any in Bloomington. Thanks for the years of fun cubing.

 

[Escher]

This entire summer I devoted the time I would have used for cubing towards DOTA 2. What cubing has become with me is just to waste away the time I wait in between games of DOTA.

Hah, precisely what I did, except with LoL. Thought I might get into DOTA 2 for a while, played a few games, and realised I'd rather just get into Spirit Breaker, no need to learn anything else about the game

I found with cubing that I simply didn't want to invest the time into being the best any more, since there were people who were more talented, or better at practising, or had just been doing it for longer. I also kind of wanted a life, and to stop turning down social events just to grind PLLs! After a while I realised that the joy I got from cubing was solving intelligently, rather than trying to become godlike. Now most of the time I just slow-solve and try to be as efficient with f2l as possible. Speedsolving is just too luck based

To me though it's more about a hobby that was important to me throughout some of the best and worst times of my life, with a bunch of old friends and faces that have been there all the way. It also taught me a lot about myself, as it gives you so much time for introspection during solves and inbetween them. As little as I care for the competitive scene these days, I still love cubing

 

[tx789]

I started when I was 11. Young for 2009(or at least I have that impression). I already knew a bit about the speed ubing world such as v cubes existed mainly a 6x6 and 7x7 was available for purchase. That was in mid 2008 or so they were new back then. I only knew this because a friend had one and I decided to research it I did that a lot back then. I researched stuff like names of units measurement like yoctometres. I didn't know about this forum to about the time I jointed so before my first comp I researched on the web about how to get faster YouTube helped a little but old cubing site helped wit algs ones like Chris Hardwick's on speedcubing.com. Newer cubed just demand answers on YouTube and here and don't research themselves.

 

[elrog]

I really like cubing and whish I had more time to do it, but school and sports take up all of my time. Not having a lot of time to do it is bearable though because it just makes me enjoy it that much more when I do it. If I had all the time in the world for cubing, I can see how I could get burnt out on it. However, if I had my own computer that I could design cubes on and download an algorithm generator to, along with a larger cube collection, I don't think I could ever get bored of cubing. There's just so many different aspects of cubing that when you get bored of one, you can move on to another. Most people who get burnt out on cubing mainly just try to speedcube rather than exploring cube design, BLD, FMC, big cubes, cube theory, and all their varients.

 

[Dene]

Now Stachu, we've known each other for many years now. We used to talk a lot, although not so much these days. So from one homie to another, I really don't get what you're trying to say here. Nothing has changed from when we started cubing, in terms of the community. There were always people who were "complacent" as you put it, and always people who were passionate. That is still the same.

I am inclined to disagree with your view on the average age of cubers; I definitely do not think it has diminished. You're just getting older. In fact, I would expect that over the years the average age of competing cubers has increased (perhaps someone like Mr. Pochmann could shed some light on the topic with real stats).

Either way, I still see new cubers at every competition, with the desire and passion to cube and enjoy it, and to compete with friends and push themselves to get better. Of course there are those that are more complacent, but gimme a break, some people just want a hobby and not a whole lifestyle.

What I suspect is happening is you are noticing that the people you have been friends with for many years around here are the ones becoming complacent, and you're applying that to the whole group. I suggest you take a good look around and perhaps you'll notice, as I do, that in reality nothing has changed.

 

[emolover]

I'd rather just get into Spirit Breaker,

Oh god you're one of those people, did you also play Riki, Drow, Huskar, and Viper? JK(sorta)

MOBA ftw

 

[Bh13]

I have only been cubing for about a year, so please don't forgive me for anything stupid I am about to say.
I first became interested in Rubik's cubes when I was about eight years old. My grandmother bought me a cheap dollar store 3x3 one time while I was staying with her so I wouldn't watch too much TV. I tried to solve it, and got the first layer done intuitively, but then got stumped. So when I got home I checked out a bunch of cubing books from the library. Although they were far too complicated for me, I learned a lot about the history of cubing and how there were many more cubes than the classic 3x3.
Now fast forward four years, right about the time of my 13th birthday. I found the old 3x3 in the bottom of my closet and thought "I wonder if I could solve this now that I'm older and smarter" (lol). I couldn't, so I checked out all the books from the library again. I somehow found out about the layer by layer method, and tried to solve the cube again. I got all of the 2nd layer, but then messed it up. That is when I finally broke down and looked up a solution in a book. I finally was able to solve the cube, and immediately memorized all the algorithms neccisary for the beginner's method. This is when I started getting crazy about cubing. I looked up "Rubik's cube" on google and found rubiks.com. On their front page they had a video of someone breaking the European record, and when I saw this I instantly thought it would be cool if I could do that. So I went back to the library and checked out a book about speedsolving "Speedsolving the Cube" by Dan brown. With my basic knowledge of cubing notation I was able to understand basic f2l and started memorizing some cases. After a little while I realized I needed a faster cube after watching Feliks break the work record with his 5.66 single. So for my birthday I asked my parents for a "real" Rubik's cube. Unfortunately I broke my left arm right before my birthday, so I couldn't compare the Rubik's brand to my dollar store cube (I did get a little good at OH though). Eventually I got to sub minute and decided I should give myself a challenge and try a 4x4. So I asked my parents for one for Christmas. They got me the 4x4, and a void cube, the both of which I almost solved intuitively, but ended up having to look up the parity. Right about this time is when I joined this forum, and found out about "real"
Speedcubes such as DaYan and Shengshou. So I eventually bought a shengshou 4x4 and wiltong 2x2, and a DaYan Zanchi right before my first competition. When I went to my first competition, I realized how educated I was in speed cubing and how fast I was compared to other cubers. I also found out a bunch of usefull things, such as why you should tension your cubes and how horrible I was at 2x2 (I still am). I won a square-1, and was determined to figure it out by myself, which I eventually did about four months later. I just recently got a DaYan megaminx and Fangshi ShuangRen.

Now the reason I posted this incredibly long (and probably boring) biography is this: I think that young/new cyberspace like me are very rare. Most younger cubes find out about cubing when they see someone at school solve a 3x3 and think "that would be cool if I could do that". They then come to youtube or this forum, and don't really do any REAL research themselves. They then usually go to a couple of competitions and get fairly fast, but start losing interest when they realize how much commitment cubing actually takes. This is why I think there are so many young cubes, but there gets to be less and less as age increases (besides the obvious reasons like less time, different priorities, jobs, and families.

 

[Rubiks560]

Hah, precisely what I did, except with LoL. Thought I might get into DOTA 2 for a while, played a few games, and realised I'd rather just get into Spirit Breaker, no need to learn anything else about the game

I found with cubing that I simply didn't want to invest the time into being the best any more, since there were people who were more talented, or better at practising, or had just been doing it for longer. I also kind of wanted a life, and to stop turning down social events just to grind PLLs! After a while I realised that the joy I got from cubing was solving intelligently, rather than trying to become godlike. Now most of the time I just slow-solve and try to be as efficient with f2l as possible. Speedsolving is just too luck based

To me though it's more about a hobby that was important to me throughout some of the best and worst times of my life, with a bunch of old friends and faces that have been there all the way. It also taught me a lot about myself, as it gives you so much time for introspection during solves and inbetween them. As little as I care for the competitive scene these days, I still love cubing

Idk why, but it's posts like this that make me wanna quit cubing.

 

[Escher]

Idk why, but it's posts like this that make me wanna quit cubing.

I know you said idk, but do you have any theories?

With any hobby doing it solely to be the best at it is a sure-fire recipe for failure in 99% of cases; it should be about the sensation itself, with success as a byproduct. I was just doing it for the former, and now I realise the whole time I should have been doing it for the latter

Edit:

Oh god you're one of those people, did you also play Riki, Drow, Huskar, and Viper? JK(sorta)

MOBA ftw

LOL. I tend to just play Spirit Breaker or Tiny. People don't tend to like me much in pub matches, on either team.

 

[Faz]

I doubt anyone who attended worlds would say that 'people are becoming less passionate' or 'cubing is becoming boring'. For me, a huge huge part of cubing is the competition aspect, being able to meet and see people from all around the world and have lots of fun. People whom I would have otherwise never met.

 

[Adam Heyn]

I doubt anyone who attended worlds would say that 'people are becoming less passionate' or 'cubing is becoming boring'. For me, a huge huge part of cubing is the competition aspect, being able to meet and see people from all around the world and have lots of fun. People whom I would have otherwise never met.

Feliks for president?

 

[Deleted member 19792]

I first solved a cube in 5th grade, (2008 ! ) November 8th.
I stayed with beginner's method until last year where I actually discovered CFOP. The four years before that was an attempt to learn Fridrich (There is a difference..)

Does cubing count as when you first SOLVED a cube or when you started speedcubing

(I cubed recreationally with higher order puzzles in summer to 6th grade as well.