Opinions on Microsoft buying Mojang

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dothrom said:
That's the thing. Technically, we already have. In the theoretical worst case scenario: MS buys Mojang. Decides to stop/disable modding, decides to be a bag of dicks about it, etc; that doesn't END everything. We all have licenses to use Minecraft as released by Mojang, access to future updates to Minecraft under MS could be held, but we still have every right to play with the version(s) we had prior to the sale. The downside being that nobody but Mojang (and MS by extension) has the right to distribute those files. Furthermore, under fair use we have the right to do whatever we want, including decompiling, to those files. Again, we just can't distribute those files. Mods would still be able to be written, and distributed, as long as they contained no code created by Mojan (which is legally true now (pre-buyout) as well). I don't know about the core files of forge, so I can't comment on how those would be distributed.
The final thing in our favor is how Minecraft functions. Minecraft is a "roaming" app. It's files don't "install" like a lot of programs do, making lots of registry changes and other crud in the process. So once you have a working "installation" of Minecraft, you can easily back up those pristine files to your choice of backup (presuming again that this is all done privately. otherwise that would fall under distribution). So in essence we don't have to worry about the older versions being locked behind a "always-online" gate.
And just to be clear, I'm not advocating any piracy. Distribution of any Mojang (or Microsoft) created content is and will be illegal. However we can hold onto our own files (that we paid for) as long as we want.
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u wot m8?
 
midi_sec said:
u wot m8?
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TL;DR for that then.
We in essence already did buy the community.

The "worst case" scenario won't necessarily end the community. Every version that was made, we still will have (just keep a hold of the files you already have). We just can't distribute it. They can end mods on new versions. But not on the old ones that we already have and have license to since we bought the game.
 
dothrom said:
TL;DR for that then.
We in essence already did buy the community.

The "worst case" scenario won't necessarily end the community. Every version that was made, we still will have (just keep a hold of the files you already have). We just can't distribute it. They can end mods on new versions. But not on the old ones that we already have and have license to since we bought the game.
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"We may also change this EULA from time to time but those changes will only be effective to the extent that they can legally apply. For example if you only use the Game in single player mode and don‘t use the updates we make available then the old EULA applies but if you do use the updates or use parts of the game that rely on our providing ongoing online services then the new EULA will apply"-mojang EULA
correct.
 
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dothrom said:
TL;DR for that then.
We in essence already did buy the community.

The "worst case" scenario won't necessarily end the community. Every version that was made, we still will have (just keep a hold of the files you already have). We just can't distribute it. They can end mods on new versions. But not on the old ones that we already have and have license to since we bought the game.
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I disagree. A large portion of "community" is dead if all you have is SSP.

I see what you're trying to say, but I'm afraid it still has nothing to do with what you quoted. :P

My post said that if everybody who bought Minecraft pooled $20 from each copy they bought, we as a community could buy mojang/minecraft instead of microsoft.
 
Technically SMP wouldn't be over either, just the number of players would stop growing.
But it could be made very difficult, so I'll concede that point.
 
dothrom said:
Technically SMP wouldn't be over either, just the number of players would stop growing.
But it could be made very difficult, so I'll concede that point.
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This. This this this. ffs This.

There is no point in continuing if it is a closed ecosystem.

but as I said previously, nothing has happened (yet), except for many minecrafters freaking out for no reason (yet) :)
 
midi_sec said:
I disagree. A large portion of "community" is dead if all you have is SSP.

I see what you're trying to say, but I'm afraid it still has nothing to do with what you quoted. :p

My post said that if everybody who bought Minecraft pooled $20 from each copy they bought, we as a community could buy mojang/minecraft instead of microsoft.
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We'll still need another $1 Billion.
(only 54 million copies of MC sold)
 
keybounce said:
Microsoft doesn't have to make $2bn off of minecraft for this to be profitable for them.

Microsoft isn't buying a product, they are buying a brand.

George Lucas demonstrated years back that licensing and franchising were worth far more than anyone realized. He found money were no one was looking.

Microsoft only needs to think "We can see something that everyone else is blind to" to be able to justify $2bn. It doesn't have to be off of Minecraft, or Scrolls, sales.

What if Xbone comes with free minecraft with your purchase? Microsoft won't make a cent from Minecraft, but you can be sure it will kill the PS4. Isn't that worth $2bn to them right there with nothing else?

That alone -- winning the console war which is currently 50/50 -- is enough. Everything else is gravy.
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Or, as someone pointed out in an earlier post, if a version of PE is finally written for Windows8 Phone and bundled with new devices for free? Microsoft also has the resources to potentially improve the PE version from a 256x256 block world size to that of Console versions (800-something x 800-something?) at least, and that could generate a ton new sales on the hardware limited tablet/phone market if done properly.

Improved Win Phone sales could be enough of a reason to justify MS' interest in MC...
 
dothrom said:
Oh neat. HuffingtonPost actually had an article that mentioned modding for a sentence or two.

Sauce: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/minecraft-microsoft-deal_n_5804316.html

So I guess we should feel important now.
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truestory.jpg
 
Dunno how far its come, yet, since I really don't pay much attention to this kinda crap, but...well, I read a bit back in this here thread that MS would kill modding because "look at the Xbox!!!!11111!eleventy!11" Wait, the Xbox is a console, isn't it? Since when has any mainstream console supported modding? There might be instances of individual games, or somewhat smalltime consoles allowing it as a selling point, but more times than not, consoles never support modding in the traditional sense. Level creation? Sure, I've seen that a few times, but not modding.

Think about it from a business standpoint: if Microsoft does purchase Mojang, and therefore Minecraft, what exactly would they get out of locking it into some draconian DRM architecture? First off, they'd have to divert time, effort, and most importantly money to integrate it into Minecraft. They'd then have to spend extra time and money on enforcing those copy protection schemes since many modern ones now require a connection to a company-run server, something else they'd have to maintain. They'd also piss off pretty much the entire fucking community and effectively kill the game, stifling sales. All in all, changing Minecraft in such a way would be a very, very bad business move, and they'd end up wasting the $2,000,000,000, which is not freaking chump change, on an IP that has become effectively worthless. And, let's face it, if they buy Mojang, it'll be for Minecraft. Everyone knows this. Minecraft is the only thing Mojang's done that anyone either knows of or cares about.

These portents of doom are nothing more than near-Fox News calibre fearmongering.
 
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Let's just continue with 1.7.10 and 1.8 and pretend that we never heard these rumors. And possibly prepare to just stick with 1.2.5/1.6.4/1.7.10/1.8 for a very long time. Until some other game comes around with a great modding community.
 
Ithithdui said:
Let's just continue with 1.7.10 and 1.8 and pretend that we never heard these rumors. And possibly prepare to just stick with 1.2.5/1.6.4/1.7.10/1.8 for a very long time. Until some other game comes around with a great modding community.
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They may be able to put a C&D order on previous versions...
 
Ithithdui said:
MultiMC 5 has had offline mode name changing for about a month now.

So yes, 1.7.10 will work no matter what Microsoft does.
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I just tested MMC for the mac. There is a "play offline", but you can only choose an account that has validated with Mojang.

So, as a quick example, if I wanted to login as "Keybounce", to an older server that only knows usernames, not migrated email-based accounts, there's issue number one; if I wanted to log in to my own server as one of my users, I can't just give the username, but instead need the full login credentials.

Sorry, that's not what I'm looking for.
MMC 5 0.4.2
 
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