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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

#241

Post by Pyrodogg »

Tepix wrote: post #228
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nextgen Minecraft could be a XboxOne exclusive maybe as a launch title with whatever VR/AR device MS is supposedly working on. So, I could buy the Oculus that works only on a super-powered gaming PC that costs more than I make in a month, or the Sony Morpheus product which I'm sure will be great, but Sony won't have Minecraft, they'll have Playstation Home II. MS will have Minecraft. Which one will kids buy? I'm gues…

Minecraft is not ideal for VR in the near future because it's a game where you run around which causes simulator sickness for a significant percentage of the population. VR is better suited for other types of games, especially those were you are inside a cockpit and your avatar is sitting just like you are in real life.

Its not just the moving, it's the extreme range of head motion. I've been trying out Minecrift with my DK2 and you get sick of looking up and down at extreme angles very quickly.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#242

Post by Pyrodogg »

jmspring wrote: post #199
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.

Honest note here - no idea what will pan out, but if it does ping me about getting some github traction. I don't play minecraft, but happy to help organize some forum or such.

Proper version control strategies have been employed by larger projects and more established mod authors for quite a while now. See Pahimar, Forestry, MinecraftForge, Sponge, Bukkit (now DMCA'd) on Github.

Minecraft is probably attracting tens of new people to Java and game modding every day. Backgrounds vary all over the place. Not everyone knows the best practices well enough to just go out and start on them.

This leads to the scenarios described around here about poor mod management in 2014. The 'state of the art' definitely has changed, but it's not a structured community so the outside view still looks similar to 3 years ago.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#243

Post by annnnd »

> The deal would be valued at more than $2 billion... > Mojang has sold over 50 million copies of "Minecraft" since it was initially released in 2009...

$40 per a customer? It seems a bit excessive to me, unless MS counts on extracting more money from the same customers...

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#244

Post by annnnd »

logn wrote: post #117
georgemcbay wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have any "FU money", but it seems very likely to me that once you have that sort of money, there are only a couple of reasons to run it up any further: 1) You have "Big Plans" that need funding (eg. Elon Musk) 2) Running up the numbers as a life gamification to "beat" your peers, or just because you can't stop chasing yourself, like one of those freak beast weightlifters that looks like a space monster but is…

Or maybe: 3) you don't want the project to lose its integrity/vision. The dollar amount matters less than finding a fitting buyer at a good enough price.

In that case you shouldn't sell. The buyer might promise you everything, but once the deal is done, he will make his own calls, implement his own vision.

Microsoft can sell Mojang to EA the very next day if they want to.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#246

Post by jpttsn »

josso wrote: post #209
nandhp wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Mac App Store is not (yet) the only software source, though that restriction is available as an opt-in setting in System Preferences. Applications from outside the App Store run just fine, as long as they're signed with a developer certificate. The certificate presumably costs $99/year, but you don't need Apple to approve your application. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5290

The certificate is free, but does require you to register an account at Apple.

Furthermore, you don't technically need the certificate. The deafest are protective but the system will happily launch unsigned apps if you right click them.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#247

Post by Filligree »

jay-anderson wrote: post #125
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 distribut…

Point them at the FTB launcher, go from there?

I would find it difficult to live with just one mod. Half the time it doesn't even make sense; they assume the presence of others.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#248

Post by Filligree »

nl wrote: post #176
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.

Oh yes!! See my previous comments on this exact problem[1]. I'm actually working on a server app thing to make this easy. The idea is pre-configured sets of mods which will work together, installable with a single click. I have various techniques to constrain the resources used by mods so they don't kill other servers on the same machine, too. The mod part isn't ready yet, but on-demand Minecraft server provisioning…

Um... so, the FTB launcher?

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#249

Post by Ntrails »

JamesBarney wrote: post #171
ekianjo wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I bet Bill Gates has a hard time finding enough qualified people to wisely manage the money he is giving away. That's hardly surprising. Managing money is investing, and wise investment requires a lot of skills, market information, and connections. There's only so many good investors out there.

I don't think managing a charity successfully and making savvy investment decisions are similar. Investing outside of angel investing/accelerators is fairly close to a zero sum game, and there are many more excellent opportunities from a societal investment perspective in charities than in investing. Not investing as a whole is a zero sum game but specifically increased levels of investing sophistication and savvy.

In general due to fees investing is considered to be a negative sum game.

Re: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang

#250

Post by _superposition_ »

_superposition_ wrote: post #75

All good things come to an end, I guess. Strictly from an MC perspective, nothing good can come of this.

Ahh yes, votes of disapproval... Sorry, just venting my frustration at [[insert corporation with soulless corporate board here]] gobbling up another [[insert small company with real passion for the craft here]]

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the exit frees those with passion to really let loose and experiment. I hope so.

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