Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

billboard.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 75 posts

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#31

Post by ARob109 »

Novosell wrote: post #15
encom wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm further annoyed that Microsoft stole Minecraft from me. I can't play a game a paid for. Absolute scumbags of the highest order.

Hmm? What'd they do to it?

That and before The Minecraft Movie came out, you could play multiplayer LAN from Xbox to PC cross platform without an XBox Live subscription.

Once the movie was released and they updated the game to add movie related content, this feature stopped working. Now to play multiplayer cross platform LAN, you have to pay for M$ servers you don’t use.

You couldn’t even load your world locally on the XBox if it was marked for multiplayer unless you had an Xbox Live account, meaning you got locked out of your world.

Fortunately you can edit the world setting to remove the multiplayer option to recover, but this was not documented at the time encountered.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#32

Post by hungmung »

sneak wrote: post #17
Novosell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm? What'd they do to it?

They require a Microsoft account. There was a period of time where you could port over your Mojang account, but I and many other people did not, because I didn't want a Microsoft account or to have to agree to the Microsoft Terms of Service, a new legal contract which didn't exist at the time I paid for Minecraft. It's a classic bait and switch. Then, the account migration window closed, and Mojang accounts stopped w…

Yep, and when you get your Microsoft account, you have to deal with their fucked up login system. Many a child's tear (also adult's tears) has flown over their jank. Mojang never locked anyone out for 30 days when they reset a password.

Oh and they routinely give you other people's custom skins.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#33

Post by rollcat »

vintermann wrote: post #12
rollcat wrote: post #4

The later composers for Minecraft have also crafted some exceptional pieces. Lena Raine's work was an instant hit. Nothing better than playing a Pigstep music disc at the end of a speedrun (because memes are more important than PBs).

Pigstep is OK, because the music disks were a bit oddball anyway, but I really don't like the non-c418 in game music. They feel out of place. It also an issue that the reason c418 didn't get to keep doing the Minecraft music, was that he refused to do it on "work for hire, sign over all the rights" terms.

I'm quite certain there's a mod to manage your in-game playlists, and unlike in e.g. Factorio, the server doesn't even need to know about it.

As for c418, you're privileged as an artist when you get to keep your rights and make decent money. That was a very smart strategic move. Microsoft could've responded in any number of ways, but keeping the music + hiring new artists doesn't even sound like a bad compromise; these artists deserve the exposure, even if they can't match c418.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#34

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

sneak wrote: post #17
Novosell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm? What'd they do to it?

They require a Microsoft account. There was a period of time where you could port over your Mojang account, but I and many other people did not, because I didn't want a Microsoft account or to have to agree to the Microsoft Terms of Service, a new legal contract which didn't exist at the time I paid for Minecraft. It's a classic bait and switch. Then, the account migration window closed, and Mojang accounts stopped w…

There were also many stories (myself included) where Microsoft indifference could not port your account, even if you did it within the window. Sheer malfeasance that they could not just email a new code to everyone who had purchased the “lifetime” license.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#35

Post by hungmung »

vintermann wrote: post #12
rollcat wrote: post #4

The later composers for Minecraft have also crafted some exceptional pieces. Lena Raine's work was an instant hit. Nothing better than playing a Pigstep music disc at the end of a speedrun (because memes are more important than PBs).

Pigstep is OK, because the music disks were a bit oddball anyway, but I really don't like the non-c418 in game music. They feel out of place. It also an issue that the reason c418 didn't get to keep doing the Minecraft music, was that he refused to do it on "work for hire, sign over all the rights" terms.

Yeah I like Lena but nobody was going to live up to the bar C418 set unless it was just ripping off of him entirely. Maybe if they got Brian Eno. But how many tracks are you going to get him to do for a videogame?

(Trivia: Eno did the win95 startup sound)

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#36

Post by kjkjadksj »

sneak wrote: post #17
Novosell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm? What'd they do to it?

They require a Microsoft account. There was a period of time where you could port over your Mojang account, but I and many other people did not, because I didn't want a Microsoft account or to have to agree to the Microsoft Terms of Service, a new legal contract which didn't exist at the time I paid for Minecraft. It's a classic bait and switch. Then, the account migration window closed, and Mojang accounts stopped w…

This happened to me as well. I just opted to pirate the game. I figure I am allowed to since I have a lifetime license since alpha, just m$ dropped the ball porting my account.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#37

Post by bearjaws »

Quick check shows he made about ~$2M in royalties on Spotify, maybe a bit more with YouTube monetization.

Maybe the movie made a good chunk for him too.

Curious what the offer was, it likely was higher since Microsoft just wanted to have clear ownership over the entire IP.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#38

Post by mcv »

donatj wrote: post #6

It really annoys me that Microsoft brought in new composers. You're so insistent on "owning" the music you give up on a major part of what made the game what it is today.

It annoys me even more that they forced everybody to migrate their Mojang accounts to Microsoft accounts. I never wanted a Microsoft account. They suck enormously, but even if you buy a non-Microsoft thing, you can apparently still be forced into their ecosystem.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#39

Post by mcv »

sneak wrote: post #17
Novosell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm? What'd they do to it?

They require a Microsoft account. There was a period of time where you could port over your Mojang account, but I and many other people did not, because I didn't want a Microsoft account or to have to agree to the Microsoft Terms of Service, a new legal contract which didn't exist at the time I paid for Minecraft. It's a classic bait and switch. Then, the account migration window closed, and Mojang accounts stopped w…

I think companies should be required to repay the original purchase price when they pull shit like that.

I did migrate, though with extreme reluctance, and my son's Minecraft account somehow ended up in my wife's Microsoft account (she'd had a Hotmail account since forever, he had no MS account).

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#40

Post by mcv »

sneak wrote: post #25
tialaramex wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There was a period of time where you could port over your Mojang account, To be fair that was a fairly long period IIRC. And they really put some work into that last migration once they announced everything else is going away. Minecraft has all these legacy systems because nobody knew it would be huge, so during the Alpha and early Beta periods it's just whatever payment system they've cobbled together this week. I…

You are missing the point. I was well aware of it. I don’t want a Microsoft account. I don’t do business with Microsoft. Microsoft demanded that I agree to a new contract, the Microsoft Terms of Service, to which I do not and will not agree, to continue to use the game I already paid for. This is called a bait-and-switch. I paid money, got the product, used the product, then they altered the deal, Vader style. Sign t…

It's Java. Wouldn't it be possible to decompile it and just remove the account checking? Maybe mod it out? There are mods that change the game dramatically, so why not this?
Post reply on HN