I started playing Minecraft on version 1.2.5 which was years ago. I got addicted to it and would play it every single day after school. I had no money at the time as I was in middle school, so I had a cracked client until I think sometime around 1.4 I finally purchased it legally.
I think the reason I liked it so much was because the people that played it at the time were teenagers or almost teenagers. A lot of people who play these days are basically just kids and have no sense of maturity. You have to go find a "mature" community, and even then it's just not the same.
I'm not really sure what it was about it that made it so different. It's still fun every once and a while but I just haven't been able to get back into it the same way anymore...