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Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

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Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#121

Post by Cogito »

Pyrodogg wrote: post #110
Cogito wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in many ways sad I stopped working regularly on Bukkit. My involvement started to wane a couple of months before the 4 founders got acquired by Mojang, mostly because I got a Real Job. I was there just as it was starting, and helped (what seemed like) a lot with the early dev work and community management. Mostly it was just fun hanging out with the team (primarily EvilSeph and Tahg, but of course Dinnerbone, Gru…

Better, if you still have contacts, I encourage you to reach out to some of those devs involved. Otherwise, read wisely. It seems that Bukkit had just been going on too long under it's quasi-relationship with Mojang. Semi-blessed but not supported (and still technically illegal). Energy drained to a point where the developers realized that as fun as Bukkit was they might like to work on other things after so many yea…

I've started going through the 'goodbye' posts from various team members that mbaxter assembled[1]. I feel a profound sense of loss reading through and remembering the many interactions over the years. When I read lukegb's[2] account in particular I almost broke down.

Luke is someone I still have the contact details of (in fact I could probably find most of the guys on irc or through various social network profiles) and I reached out directly to thank him. He was one of the few still involved today who was with us at the start. I was incredibly humbled, and grateful (there are tears in my eyes as I write this), when he listed me along side the 4 who were acquired by Mojang -

"Thanks to @Dinnerbone, @Grum, @Tahg, @Cogito, @EvilSeph for kicking off such an amazing project that’s been a big part of my life"

Minecraft is almost no part of my life today, but I can say for sure I wouldn't be where I am without these people and the Bukkit project. It's sad to see it in turmoil like this, but as you say the world is a bigger place, and no open source project is worth pouring your time into when legal ambiguities abound, the community is so volatile, and the rewards are so fleeting.

[1] http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/an-independent-goodbye.3100...

[2] http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/a-sysadmin-falls.310051/

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#122

Post by otakucode »

Chinjut wrote: post #95
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe Notch's perspective is that Minecraft as an IP is worth more than that. He can probably ride it out for the next couple decades with sequels or other monetization techniques. Why take the big payment today when you can have the bigger payment on-going? Especially if you want to continue to make it your life's work. Look at some gaming stars from the past. John Romero didn't "make us his bitch" with his post iD…

It seems to me that the one-trick pony nature of the gaming business is more reason to take a big payout upfront. $2bn is fuck you money for the rest of your life. Who knows if the Minecraft IP will even be worth anything a few years from now?

And who knows if Minecraft will grow in complexity and interconnection to the point where instead of having websites, every company has a Minecraft world? Who knows if Minecraft won't become the online world from Snow Crash?

In my own personal case though, the second I had anything worth $2 million I would sell out and retire. I just want to be able to feed myself and shelter myself and I'll gladly do independent research the rest of my life.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#123

Post by freshyill »

jwn wrote: post #114
freshyill wrote: post #112

My kid loves it, but I'm the one who has to deal with the mods and the shitty YouTube videos and ad-filled garbage forums made by a community that's somehow never heard of GitHub. Hopefully Microsoft can reign in all of that crap and make the game less of a nightmare to maintain.

Thank you for making me realize I'm not the only crotchety old bastard who bitches and moans about this! My kids are old enough to play Minecraft but too young to understand how to install mods. Speaking of that, I've looked into the mod making scene and it's rather disgusting. Mojang really dropped the ball by not having an official way to write mods/plugins. Instead we get a horrible client side mod environment (Mi…

It was so much worse before Forge. With Forge, it's still incredibly arcane, but it's not batshit crazy like it was before. Of course, now you need to have the Forge version of a mod, and you have to have the right version Minecraft too.

I'm getting mad just thinking about it. I need to stop now.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#124

Post by chris_mahan »

deciplex wrote: post #115
chris_mahan wrote: post #83

I smell franchise with movie rights, books, etc. I can imagine it being like Star Wars in a couple years.

People keep bring up movies and books, so... honestly curious - about what? A Minecraft movie makes about as much sense as a movie about Battleship, and we saw how well that did...

ohhh, the movie is about making minecraft, like the movie about facebook.

Also, the movie could be about teens who play networked and develop relationships in-game and out of the game.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#125

Post by jay-anderson »

freshyill wrote: post #112

My kid loves it, but I'm the one who has to deal with the mods and the shitty YouTube videos and ad-filled garbage forums made by a community that's somehow never heard of GitHub. Hopefully Microsoft can reign in all of that crap and make the game less of a nightmare to maintain.

I very much agree. Last Christmas I gave my kids one mod install each. Earlier in the year I helped them once which set a bad precedent :). I cut them off telling them to wait until Christmas. Since then they've discovered some minecraft launchers which automate some of this process, but it's still pretty ugly.

Mojang really needs to fix this: standard mod interface (which doesn't require jar surgery), sane distribution, etc.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#126

Post by Pyrodogg »

freshyill wrote: post #123
jwn wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for making me realize I'm not the only crotchety old bastard who bitches and moans about this! My kids are old enough to play Minecraft but too young to understand how to install mods. Speaking of that, I've looked into the mod making scene and it's rather disgusting. Mojang really dropped the ball by not having an official way to write mods/plugins. Instead we get a horrible client side mod environment (Mi…

It was so much worse before Forge. With Forge, it's still incredibly arcane, but it's not batshit crazy like it was before. Of course, now you need to have the Forge version of a mod, and you have to have the right version Minecraft too. I'm getting mad just thinking about it. I need to stop now.

This also highlights why client side mods (Forge based or not) are the vast minority of 'Modded Minecraft'.

Configuring a Bukkit server would still have taken some work, but it also only required that to be expended on the server side.

Players would be able to connect with a purely vanilla client and benefit from the enhanced interactions and gameplay mechanics that could be handled on the server side only. This attracts thousands more people than fiddling with launchers, or worse, .jar files.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#127

Post by makomk »

jwn wrote: post #114
freshyill wrote: post #112

My kid loves it, but I'm the one who has to deal with the mods and the shitty YouTube videos and ad-filled garbage forums made by a community that's somehow never heard of GitHub. Hopefully Microsoft can reign in all of that crap and make the game less of a nightmare to maintain.

Thank you for making me realize I'm not the only crotchety old bastard who bitches and moans about this! My kids are old enough to play Minecraft but too young to understand how to install mods. Speaking of that, I've looked into the mod making scene and it's rather disgusting. Mojang really dropped the ball by not having an official way to write mods/plugins. Instead we get a horrible client side mod environment (Mi…

Bukkit's dead now anyway. The entire development team decided to call it quits due to legal uncertainty and general exhaustion, then Mojang announced that they weren't allowed to do that because Bukkit was actually owned by Mojang and had a special deal which meant there were no legal issues, contradicting what they'd told people who asked privately. Then one of the main developers got pissed about the fact that he'd been secretly working for Mojang for free and used the DMCA to kill the whole thing off - something he could do because his code, and all of Bukkit, was licensed under the GPL and using it for modding Minecraft was a GPL violation(!). This didn't stop Mojang from arguing that he had no legal right to do so, though. They're really keen on the whole free labour thing.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#128

Post by math0ne »

readerrrr wrote: post #102
math0ne wrote: post #94

As an avid minecrafter since the early days I can't help but see this as a good thing. The mod community is what has made mc what it is, but it gets no support from the developers. Minecraft has been so wildly profitable but the company is set up in a way which Mojang the developers get a tiny portion of the profits to re-invest in development. Notch essentially diverts all the money into his own pocket while leaving…

If someone could get control of minecraft that was willing to invest in it's development amazing things could be accomplished. Imagine big budget lego minecraft expansions You don't understand. The whole point of Minecraft is user created stuff. In a Lego-like world, for profit expansions are not needed. The mod community is what has made mc what it is, but it gets no support from the developers. Minecraft is more op…

That is simply not true. Do you have any data to back that up?

Other than what I have seen written on it I don't have any hard numbers, but what would mojang be doing with all the money if they had it? I don't think mojang is stockpiling cash.

Nitpick, but Minecraft doesn't make it on the top 10.

It's currently making over 100ml a year, not sure there are many other franchises that can pull that off. I mean total money of course it is smaller because it is only a few years old.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#129

Post by Pyrodogg »

chris_mahan wrote: post #124
deciplex wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People keep bring up movies and books, so... honestly curious - about what? A Minecraft movie makes about as much sense as a movie about Battleship, and we saw how well that did...

ohhh, the movie is about making minecraft, like the movie about facebook. Also, the movie could be about teens who play networked and develop relationships in-game and out of the game.

Already done. Well, your first suggestion.

Minecraft: The Story of Mojang http://www.minecraftstoryofmojang.com/

It was funded through Kickstarter.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#130

Post by math0ne »

robotresearcher wrote: post #97
math0ne wrote: post #94

As an avid minecrafter since the early days I can't help but see this as a good thing. The mod community is what has made mc what it is, but it gets no support from the developers. Minecraft has been so wildly profitable but the company is set up in a way which Mojang the developers get a tiny portion of the profits to re-invest in development. Notch essentially diverts all the money into his own pocket while leaving…

I'm not saying you are wrong about the business structure, but all the money does not stay in Notch's pocket. (story from March 2012) http://www.minecraftforum.net/news/7645-notch-gives-3-millio...

Sure but mc is making over 100ml a year.
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