Minecraft Forums

I'm out of the loop with all of this. I haven't played in well over a year, and I used to run 5-6 servers over a 6 year period. I also wrote overtop an ad-hoc server wrapper (MCLawl) about 5 years ago.

I saw a YouTube ad that made it seem like Mojang is killing the Minecraft community and doing everything in house. If that's true, it's over in my opinion.

I haven't logged in here in months, played the game in months nor have I posted here in months, but as I'm checking in and reading this article I can already see the OS-centralization coming into play. Much like how Apple controls their ecosystem (Handoff, AirDrop, AirPlay, etc.) Microsoft wants to do the same, and Minecraft on Microsoft products will contain "special" features that aren't available on other platforms.

Under the previous Mojang, such a move like this would've been called ludicrous.

Quote from Mr_Crayfish»

Dinnerbone stated himself that the launcher is for Windows just for now but will be ported to Mac and Linux in the future.

Quote from pi4t»

I've been seeing a lot of references to Microsoft buying Skype, and that that was a bad thing, but no one seems to say why. As someone who's been using Skype daily as a text based chat system with occasional voice chat for the last year or so, I'm not really sure what the problems are. Is it that it's been "improved" to not work properly on non-windows systems?

Quote from FishOnAPogoStick»

Guess Phil and his team weren't so evil after all.

Quote from MEGAMJRS»

I wouldn't get all happy yet. Microsoft don't always keep to their promises. There were a lot of promises about the XBone that weren't kept, so I wouldn't be so sure that this is true.

Quote from DrProScream»

So microsoft bought them that means its the end of EULA

Quote from catbox01»

I think that Notch probably created something that quickly went far beyond his control or understanding. The important thing to realize is that Minecraft became a multi-generational game, and in the history of computer gaming, those are incredibly rare. I don't mean a game that hangs around so long it's played by your kids; I mean a game that you and your kids can sit down and play together. A game where you know exactly what your kids (or parents) are talking about, and can connect on a level elsewhere impossible. But Notch didn't just create a game; he created a culture of potential. Look at all the modders that were encouraged by the original EULA to do their own thing, but still contribute to a growing game, without ever being thought of as "hurting the brand." Notch didn't worry too much about it, because there was plenty to go around; maybe he should have.

You can't stay a laid back kind of guy when your product suddenly shoots the moon. Money changes everything, and for some reason, once the money starts coming in, people begin to worry more about that than they do about the culture that made the money possible. Promises get made and broken; people begin to move away from each other, and away from an ideal. Notch made no secret that he was stepping away from the Minecraft product to work on other things; I don't think anyone that understood why he needed to move on blames him for doing so. Unfortunately, when he stepped back, the culture that made the game so special went with him.

The new generation of Mojangstas, with their console and mobile deals, lawyers, accountants (and the ensuing threats), became more interested in control and money, and less worried about having fun, and making something that other people enjoyed. Maybe there was a little blame there, because you really shouldn't leave small children unattended; and Notch had left the building. The new EULA didn't just take a shot at those servers charging a fortune for items of nebulous value; it took a shot at every publically supported server everywhere. Nonetheless, You have only to read it to realize that Notch would never have written something like that. He certainly didn't deserve the hate, but nor does that count as an excuse. As CEO, he was certainly aware of it, and allowed it to continue. To run a company, you must be willing to be responsible for the actions of your employees. Notch never wanted to do that, and having made his pile, I can't blame him for wanting to get way from it.

So now, Microsoft, a giant with a counter-indy culture, if ever there was one, will take over. A company that, despite feedback, continued to produce the God-awful and unfinished windows 8, then 8.1 to fix Windows 8, and now I even hear rumors of a Windows 8.2 to fix 8.1, followed by a return to sanity with a windows 9 version. Yes, if you want to buy everyone off, they are one of the few companies that has the money to do it. I think in some ways, the sale to Microsoft is a shot back at the community for the fury expressed over the new EULA, and the griping about the promised, but never manifest, API.

Are we all going to leave and play other games? No. We have time, money, and people invested in the game, and that isn't going to change quickly. No, we'll slip off to other things a few at a time, like many of the modders have over the last several incarnations. A lot of good people are going to leave slowly, and I don't see their replacements coming along. Microsoft isn't going to do anything to change that; I would be surprised if they put much effort into the game at all, except to scoop up what sales they can for their various platforms. I don't think any gaming franchise has ever really benefitted by being bought out by Microsoft.

But hey, when you're done reading a book, you close the cover, right? Hopefully, you remember the story for along time afterwards, but there are other books to read.

Thanks for the story, Notch.

Quote from embron»

GUYS microsoft will NOT MESS UP MInecraft, you wanna know why? they payed a flipping 2.5 million dollars, they must have studied what the player wants need etc. just trust me on this

Quote from ogradyjd»

To those who are so worried about Microsoft's acquisition of Minecraft - yeah, it's going to be worse than you think. Let's go over the top 10 ways MS can FUBAR MC:

10.) Single player game files hosted on OneDrive.
9.) You need a Live account and have to log in to play - even for the single player game.
8.) Minecraft API can only be used in Visual Studio.
7.) One license per computer, and don't change the hardware configuration too much or you get the "Your copy may not be 'Genuine'" messages.
6.) Updates only available through Microsoft Update - all other platforms have to download K213451 and 40 other update files individually.
5.) Minecraft servers require IIS to run.
4.) In-game text formatting only possible with Word 2013+
3.) Minecraft SP1
2.) MinecraftForum.net, Minecraft.org, and PlanetMinecraft all best viewed with IE.

And the number one way MS can really screw up the game we all love:
1.) Minecraft development moved from Java to C#

It took me three minutes to put that list together, and I guarantee that what Microsoft actually does to the game within two years will probably be worse than that. Anyone who rings the "it's not that bad" bell has no idea what they are talking about. I've been dealing with Microsoft my entire career - starting with when they encrypted a few lines out of the entire Windows 3.1 codebase - the few lines that made sure Windows only ran on MSDOS and broke on PCDos. I watched them destroy Novel NDS by touting how much better Active Directory was - a year before AD actually existed. They gave IE 2 and 3 away for free and required you to install them to run any update or install disk, all in order to destroy Netscape. When Netscape died, IE's development team was reduced to one guy for over two years because they had "won", and were safe from anyone running programs on a browser instead of Windows.

Then MS co-opted Java, and there was the Sun-Microsoft lawsuit for three years to stop MS from creating a Windows-only version of Java. At the same time, MS paid PC manufacturers to NOT install BeOS on machines, eventually killing an operating system that could run 10 simultaneous video streams with no lag or skipping - something even Win8.1 still has trouble doing. More recently, MS bought skype, which was built on providing highly encrypted and secure communication. Guess how secure Skype calls are now?

I could go on and on - 25 years of proof that MS (understandably) only cares about running a business and making money. This means that if developing another version of MC for IOS doesn't provide a large enough profit margin, it will kill that team. If MS can "monetize" any part of MC, they will. If they can exploit "synergies" between MC and any other MS property or system, they will. Facts like MC is a game or people love it and are making money off of it are secondary to what they can do with it to drive people to pay them more money in any way possible. The fact that MC succeeded because the people who created and worked on it and had personal stakes in it all these years did it to make a cool game that people could have fun with also means nothing.

Does this mean that MC is doomed? Who knows? Personally, I wouldn't bet against it. The odds are in favor of MC being changed in ways that will "benefit" MS, even as they only **** off or cut off long time players. It may be years, but eventually MC will be changed to benefit MS. When it happens, just remember - It's not personal, it's just business.

Quote from Mr_GeO»

So, in 1 year (and I'm massively sanguine here) we will have:

- compulsory 'always online' to play SP game

- compulsory saves in cloud only

- compulsory game registration / DRM binding it to one, specific machine

- want to create more than one world? Provide your credit card number to purchase this feature.

- want a high tier/valuable blocks to be generated in your world? Provide your credit card number to purchase this feature.

- want structures in your world? Provide your credit card number to purchase this feature.

- want to install a mod? Please select one from the list of Microsoft approved mods and provide your card credit number to purchase this feature

- want a RP? Please select one from the list of Microsoft approved RP and provide your card credit number to purchase this feature

- want to play with friends? Please contact Microsoft for details about approved servers renting fees.

- want to show your Minecraft stuff on Youtube? Please contact Microsoft for details about required payments and conditions.

And of course a usuall metric ton of bollocks in the form of advertisements for microtransactions for everything, poping out on your screen every 10 seconds and not possible to hide or close before timer runs out or to be switched off.

Good job Mojang. Good job indeed.

Quote from SeriousCoder»

Then feel free to jet man, take the other whiners with you please. In a few weeks maybe this'll be a nice place to talk to fellow Minecraft fans.