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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

#51

Post by rangerelf »

esprehn wrote: post #32
mikestew wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not all about preventing the creation of nuclear weapons. It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain. User UncleEntity says it better than I could in a comment that is buried a few levels: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40158797

That would seem to suggest countries should do extensive sanctions on wine and cheese?

Not all wine and cheese is imported. + lack of imported wine or cheese should --eventually-- boost the appearance of local alternatives + lack of foreign video games? I don't think it's a cornerstone of the economy the way foodstuffs are. Will a local-grown alternative appear? Maybe; that depends on the local priorities and capabilities.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#52

Post by thriftwy »

willismichael wrote: post #35
amluto wrote: post #27

I don’t play Minecraft, but I’ve noticed that there are plenty of what appear to be open source Minecraft clients and servers. Presumably one could connect an open source client to an open source server without any particular involvement from MS. It’s not even immediately obvious that doing so would infringe on any of MS’s rights. So why do people, especially in places like Iran, use Microsoft’s Minecraft implementat…

I had my children playing one of the open source Minecraft clones for a few years, but after they saw all their friends playing Minecraft, they wanted the "real thing". It's not exactly the same game, and don't discount the value of shared experience with other people. Minecraft is as much about the community that you play with, and it's hard to get people to play an open source clone that sits in this uncanny valley…

The obvious answer is that either you eat it up and build an Iranian community based on the OSS thing, or use a VPN and conceal your connection to Iran.

This is the way.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#53

Post by lupusreal »

Good thing Java edition is a trivial game to pirate. Microsoft stole my legit copy of the game by demanding I sign up for a Microsoft account and accept a new TOS. So I downloaded a third party launcher and commented out the account verification code. There are also prebuilt "cracked" clients of course.

Pirate servers with friends is more fun anyway, people can change their nicknames on a whim as they can on IRC/discord. And you don't have to worry about the built-in snitchware banning you for talking shit with your bros, or daring to be born in a country the state department is mad at.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#54

Post by Alupis »

mikestew wrote: post #28
gspencley wrote: post #15

> 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 w…

It's not all about preventing the creation of nuclear weapons. It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain. User UncleEntity says it better than I could in a comment that is buried a few levels: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40158797

> It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain.

This is exactly it - otherwise the populace can just ignore their government's foreign policy decisions. There's consequences for being a bad actor on the global stage... and today that means no more Minecraft, of all things.

Perhaps the OP can write a letter to their representative and pressure them to work on easing sanctions...

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#55

Post by dhruvmittal »

sandworm101 wrote: post #33
gspencley wrote: post #15

> 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 w…

They also appear to be banning the country, not the people. People cannot play from Iran, but Iranians apparently remain free to play the game while outside the country. That suggests it is something to do with the provision of network services to Iran IPs rather than anything about the game itself being/sold used by Iranians.

If this was the case, wouldn't the VPN work? Reddit OP said that it didn't.

> Even VPN doesn't work. Because Microsoft has linked Minecraft to your Microsoft account and it's hardcoded into it that I am iranian. I tried VPN, and it still said it's banned in my country.

source: https://old.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/1cckj2q/today_m...

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#56

Post by swarnie »

Johnssmithss wrote: post #34
geff82 wrote: post #30

From my experience with and in Iran: every western sanction leads to more products and services from China. Life becomes a bit more difficult, yes. But the government does what it wants to do. And China essentially takes over the economy. At the expense of the West. Is the Western behavior wise? I do not know. Sometimes, I hear a "boom" in the air, coming from far away. Those are the bottles of champagne that Chinese…

Selling stuff to dictatorships is bad, even if you make money from it.

Why?

Is one system provably better than all others and therefore must dominate?

I personally find the idea of an Oligarchical Republic to be a bit batty nuggets... Do i get to trade? Am i up against the wall in your world?

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#57

Post by cesarb »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #22

Blame the new launcher from micro$oft. You used to be able to play offline with no account. Now you can’t even play offline apparently.

AFAIK, you still can play offline with alternative launchers like Prism Launcher (you need an account to do the initial setup and download, but once everything is downloaded, you can add as many offline accounts as you want), and the downloadable server still has a "do not validate the accounts online" option which allows offline users to connect and play.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#58

Post by ImHereToVote »

mikestew wrote: post #28
gspencley wrote: post #15

> 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 w…

It's not all about preventing the creation of nuclear weapons. It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain. User UncleEntity says it better than I could in a comment that is buried a few levels: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40158797

I applaud sanctions because this time Iran simply went too far. It is completely unprecedented that Iran bombed the consulate if Israel. This is an incredibly reckless escalation of violence.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#59

Post by lupusreal »

Alupis wrote: post #54
mikestew wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not all about preventing the creation of nuclear weapons. It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain. User UncleEntity says it better than I could in a comment that is buried a few levels: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40158797

> It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain. This is exactly it - otherwise the populace can just ignore their government's foreign policy decisions. There's consequences for being a bad actor on the global stage... and today that means no more Minecraft, of all things. Perhaps the OP can write a letter to their representative and pressure them to work on easing sanctions...

Their government says that America is an evil spiteful bully. The apparent truth of that claim has now been demonstrated to any Iranian who plays Minecraft. You think the result is more Iranians questioning their government? I doubt it.

Re: Today Microsoft Banned My Country Iran from Minecraft

#60

Post by Johnssmithss »

swarnie wrote: post #56
Johnssmithss wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Selling stuff to dictatorships is bad, even if you make money from it.

Why? Is one system provably better than all others and therefore must dominate? I personally find the idea of an Oligarchical Republic to be a bit batty nuggets... Do i get to trade? Am i up against the wall in your world?

If you are against democracy then yes you may be up against the wall. Tough luck.
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