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Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

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Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#11

Post by UncleEntity »

phone8675309 wrote: post #4
LinuxBender wrote: post #3

It would be up to Microsoft to say why they did it. It's probably buried somewhere in the sanction documents. [1] If Microsoft are complying with a sanction then perhaps they may have issues getting a refund, but could at least open a ticket to get an answer if they have not already. Maybe there is a corporate lawyer on here with experience in this matter? [1] - https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-and-countr…

Why the flying fuck should sanctions infringe on someone's ability to play a game they already purchased?

Half the point of sanctions is making the life of average people difficult so the leaders fear them revolting over not being able to play a game or, you know, feeding their children.

The other half is to reduce their ability to wage war on their neighbors.

Either way, the leaders are still sipping wine and eating cheese.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#12

Post by mmis1000 »

red_admiral wrote: post #9
ImJamal wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sanctions sometimes ban providing services to people in countries. Apparently Minecraft requires you to login (a service) to use the game. If the game was completely offline this wouldn't be a problem.

Barely a week goes by without some variant of "Iranian Hackers" in the tech/security press - maybe, inshallah, they could release a version that lets you play on Iran-hosted servers without needing to connect to the US for a login?

No, they don't need a 'new' client for that. That already exists. Since minecraft is basically open source, it's not really a secret that how to make a client that simply don't require login. (Surely you don't want to say it loud or legal team of MS is going to chase you hard, but lots of client just slip that function in silently)

Besides that.

The minecraft login is basically a license check allow you to join 'legal purchase required' server. And whether you want to enable the enforcement is up to server owner.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#14

Post by John23832 »

bastardoperator wrote: post #10
LinuxBender wrote: post #3

It would be up to Microsoft to say why they did it. It's probably buried somewhere in the sanction documents. [1] If Microsoft are complying with a sanction then perhaps they may have issues getting a refund, but could at least open a ticket to get an answer if they have not already. Maybe there is a corporate lawyer on here with experience in this matter? [1] - https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-and-countr…

Microsoft has been known to get around sanctions: https://github.blog/2021-01-05-advancing-developer-freedom-g...

Why would Microsoft want to go through the effort of securing a license to allow people to play a game? That is not worth the financial effort.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#15

Post by gspencley »

> A children's block game is not going to help us build nukes or anything, so the sanctions excuse doesn't make sense especially since I already own it.

While I agree with that sentiment, and while I admit that I don't know exactly what the sanctions entail, it is quite possible that this is a legal compliance issue and not strictly Microsoft's doing. And of course it could also be a "better safe than sorry" policy when it comes to legal compliance.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#16

Post by [deleted] »

Rietty wrote: post #8
fernandopj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minecraft is an online game, so in today's world, he didn't purchase the game, just a license to play it online. No server access, no game.

Minecraft is not an online game, it has a multi-player option sure.. but it doesn't strictly need to be online. There is a single-player mode since basically forever..

[deleted]

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#19

Post by marzell »

Rietty wrote: post #8
fernandopj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minecraft is an online game, so in today's world, he didn't purchase the game, just a license to play it online. No server access, no game.

Minecraft is not an online game, it has a multi-player option sure.. but it doesn't strictly need to be online. There is a single-player mode since basically forever..

I'm not arguing your point, but this is the general state of gaming today. A significant portion of "single player only" games require you to be online, contain "online" content, and access to the game can/will be effectively removed when servers/services go offline.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#20

Post by toast0 »

LinuxBender wrote: post #3

It would be up to Microsoft to say why they did it. It's probably buried somewhere in the sanction documents. [1] If Microsoft are complying with a sanction then perhaps they may have issues getting a refund, but could at least open a ticket to get an answer if they have not already. Maybe there is a corporate lawyer on here with experience in this matter? [1] - https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-and-countr…

It's possible to comply with sanctions and offer some services to people in Iran. It's been a while since I read the text, but I'd expect purchases and refunds are difficult, but allowing login should be ok in theory.

On the other hand, actually doing it is a lot of compliance work, and some hosts block traffic to Iran by default. Could be that something changed in the hosting and it's going to take attention and time to get it back to opened up. Microsoft should know better, but...

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