Is it me, or do some people not "get" that FTB and its mods are free ?

[MigukNamja]

The vast majority of the modded MC player community "gets" that FTB and the MC modding community in general is comprised of volunteers whose primary motivation is a "labor of love". This is in contrast to a traditional, for-profit gaming company whereby the user pays their money, and there is an explicit, legal-system-backed service level agreement in place that things have to work as advertised.

I think most FTB players understand that difference and they change their mindset and manners accordingly when they switch from a for-profit gaming company forum to the FTB forums, Minecraft forums, Reddit, etc.,. However, it still bugs me that some people apparently don't "get it" and they carry that self-righteous "consumer is king" mindset with them without pausing to appreciate that - besides the base MC itself from Mojang - the *vast* majority of their modded MC experience is provide gratis, built on goodwill and a belief in giving.

This is both a rant post and an appreciation post for the FTB staff, MC mod devs, wiki/documentation authors, and every other volunteer that works to make modded MC a better place.

 

[RealSketch]

Well, you have to pay for a mojang account.

 

[MigukNamja]

Well, you have to pay for a mojang account.

Absolutely, so I understand a certain sense of entitlement when complaining about vanilla MC. But, I don't think everyone understands the difference between Mojang and the modded MC community.

 

[RedBoss]

Well, you have to pay for a mojang account.

A paltry sum that actually isn't worth the effort they put into updating the vanilla game. Let alone the fact that you paid ZERO dollars for your mods and the devs are not employees of Mojang so they see none of that revenue. I truly don't even understand what you're trying to say.

Bravo to the mod community that gives up this expanded game play

 

[RealSketch]

Absolutely, so I understand a certain sense of entitlement when complaining about vanilla MC. But, I don't think everyone understands the difference between Mojang and the modded MC community.

I get what you mean, but in a beginner/low intelligence person's eyes they would have the idea that mods are pricey, therefore FTB must cost money.
If only they read this on the official minecraft site.

"If you've bought the Game, you may play around with it and modify it. We'd appreciate it if you didn't use this for griefing, though, and remember not to distribute the changed versions of our software. Basically, mods (or plugins, or tools) are cool (you can distribute those), hacked versions of the Game client or server are not (you can't distribute those).

Within reason you‘re free to do whatever you want with screenshots and videos of the Game. By “within reason” we mean that you can‘t make any commercial use of them or do things that are unfair or adversely affect our rights. If you upload videos of the game to video sharing and streaming sites you are however allowed to put ads on them. Also, don‘t just rip art resources and pass them around, that‘s no fun."
https://account.mojang.com/documents/minecraft_eula

 

[Tristam Izumi]

You're right, this mindset does exist, though thankfully it's not too prevalent on the FTB forums from what I've witnessed. Thankfully, it seems that many people that do come here (especially with support related problems) seem to at least on some level realize this is a very community-level setup. I've been spending more time in the Tech Support forum and only very rarely do I see that sense of entitlement in someone's post.

I think a lot of that understanding comes from the exposure of people seeing the devs as living breathing people through various channels, including YouTube (Direwolf20 chatting it up with people on his Forgecraft series), streamers (a number of devs stream coding, and others get involved at some level in other streams), and just social media in general. Essentially, it makes it so the modded Minecraft community isn't some faceless branch of Mojang, but a dynamic group of people.

 

[AlanEsh]

The vast majority of the modded MC player community "gets" that FTB and the MC modding community in general is comprised of volunteers whose primary motivation is a "labor of love". This is in contrast to a traditional, for-profit gaming company whereby the user pays their money, and there is an explicit, legal-system-backed service level agreement in place that things have to work as advertised.

I think most FTB players understand that difference and they change their mindset and manners accordingly when they switch from a for-profit gaming company forum to the FTB forums, Minecraft forums, Reddit, etc.,. However, it still bugs me that some people apparently don't "get it" and they carry that self-righteous "consumer is king" mindset with them without pausing to appreciate that - besides the base MC itself from Mojang - the *vast* majority of their modded MC experience is provide gratis, built on goodwill and a belief in giving.

This is both a rant post and an appreciation post for the FTB staff, MC mod devs, wiki/documentation authors, and every other volunteer that works to make modded MC a better place.

What triggered this post? Come on, post some name and shames

 

[MigukNamja]

What triggered this post? Come on, post some name and shames

Heh heh. While such a revelation might have some cathartic benefits, I wanted this post to focus less on the negative than on the positive. Haters gonna hate, but I know my what side my FTB bread is buttered on

No volunteers, no FTB, no mods, and then...

<--- very sad panda

 

[John.E]

 

[twisto51]

Your biggest haters are your biggest fans, just depends on if the mod is doing what they want it to do that day.

 

[MigukNamja]

@John.E LOL, pretty much. Don't ever want my favorite mods and community I enjoy to end in a "This is why we can't have nice things" whimper.

 

[Democretes]

What triggered this post? Come on, post some name and shames

Have you been on Reddit?

And I agree with this 100%. The problem isn't so much the FTB forums. Generally speaking, the lot of us carry thoughts that aren't detrimental to the modding community. Modders honestly don't get enough appreciation for what they do. This is why I will never post on the FTB portion of reddit and I'm putting off the MCF forums as long as I can.

 

[RedBoss]

Reddit is like reading the comments on local news articles. In other words, a cesspool.

 

[MigukNamja]

@Democretes and @RedBoss Agreed about Reddit. A good as demonstration as any for John Gabriel's GIFT theory.

 

[hiroshi42]

I think it's one of those human nature things. Most of us (or is it just me?) like to complain about things we like. I don't complain about Gregstuff because I don't use it and probably never will, it does not affect me. I don't complain about computercraft because quite frankly I hate coding and refuse to do it in my free time unless I absolutely have to so it does not affect me. I don't complain about dartcraft because it is perfect... erm ya.

I do agree that is one of those things we (I hope) just leave as unsaid or taken for granted: I dislike this one thing, but everything else is just spiffy, thanks for making it. There's probably also a little bit of familiarity in there, people disliking things because they are too different from what they are used to (IC2 exp) or too much the same.

It is also useful to keep in mind something that was "learned" when I used to frequent the WOW forums. Not everyone who plays posts here. Shocking I know, but we are truly the vocal minority. Most people don't have anything bad to say (and saying good things is far less rewarding) and so say nothing.

As some final (ha!) thoughts: I thank all those who mod, even those I don't use. It is because of you people and the FTB team that minecraft has remained tied for my second favorite game of all time.

 

[RedBoss]

@Democretes and @RedBoss Agreed about Reddit. A good as demonstration as any for John Gabriel's GIFT theory.

Ahhh, good reading. I think if we're all honest, at one point or another we've all acted like douchebags on the internet.

 

[Eyamaz]

Just as a premptive because of how these discussions usually end up.
Keep it clean, no hate, etc, etc. You know the rules.

 

[Tristam Izumi]

Aye, good call on no name-n-shame. That's generally in bad form in the first place. 'Don't be a dick' and 'Stay awesome', two sayings to live by.

I guess I just have a hopeful outlook on this all; between the exposure I mentioned earlier, and a generally aging gaming community (which hopefully leads to maturity), I think we should be able to have a fruitful environment both for the Minecraft modders and players. We've definitely had growing pains, but hopefully for the better.

 

[Vauthil]

Yeah, I could add some protracted commentary on the differences between how the forums here and the venues elsewhere prioritize and are run, but it's not really anything to inspire an era of good feelings. Double that on my commentary regarding the demographics of the Minecraft community at large.

Bottom line: at least around this neck of the woods, the most egregious violators of common courtesy get smacked in the face with a clue-by-four. People will have opinions, but when you have an opinion that everybody else on the other side of the monitor are subcreatures unworthy of consideration, you tend to break the rules a lot more and go away that much quicker.

 

[snooder]

Bottom line: at least around this neck of the woods, the most egregious violators of common courtesy get smacked in the face with a clue-by-four. People will have opinions, but when you have an opinion that everybody else on the other side of the monitor are subcreatures unworthy of consideration, you tend to break the rules a lot more and go away that much quicker.

Yeah, but then the drama dries up that much faster. It's certainly conducive to a more civil environment, but you also don't get the really hilarious flamewars that keep you entertained for days.