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Going Backwards? My issues with Mojang and how Minecraft is moving forward

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Cosmopath's Avatar Cosmopath
Level 27 : Expert Scribe
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I've been playing Minecraft for...god, who knows, six years now? As with any product created by a growing start-up, I experienced the wave of changes that Mojang brought to Minecraft over the years. Some were fantastic updates, and others were disappointments, but for the most part that was okay; we all understood that Mojang was just a tiny Swedish studio with a handful of employees founded by oblivious and ambitious gamers (Persson and Porsér), with a more traditional but just as ambitious business executive (Manneh) to ride along.

Mojang has no excuse anymore. The news of Mojang's acquisition by Microsoft in 2014 shocked many, and players including myself were both confused and skeptical of why this was. Thankfully not to my dismay, Microsoft seemed to keep the studio the way it was for quite some time. With the exception of all of the original founders leaving, Mojang chugged along just like it did years before, this time with more employees and funding from one of the world's most well known corporate giants.

Image result for microsoft buys mojang

Under the assumption that Microsoft would keep up this behaviour, I felt that Mojang was safe in their hands, and that it could only produce positive results for consumers, but with some notable advancements and updates made recently, I'm not entirely sure if I can assume this anymore.

My worries mostly fall under Mojang's new engine for the game, dubbed the Bedrock Engine. This engine is powering not only the console versions of the game like the Xbox One's, but also the new Windows 10 Edition copy that was released on the Windows Store in mid 2015. While the old version was built on the programming language Java, this new engine is coded entirely in C++, which has shown results of the game being much more responsive and playable on older or weaker devices, along with some other minor features like being touch-friendly if you have a tablet like the ones Microsoft's Surface Pro series.

This all sounds great, but new developments essentially create a blank slate. There is a massive community around modifying the game all the way from using a texture pack to changing how the entire game runs and plays using "game mods" such as Feed The Beast. Many of these members are veteran Minecraft players who have grown out of the unmodified "Vanilla" version, and as such have resorted to mods.

Image result for feed the beast ,minecraftAs of now, it is impossible to add any mods to versions of Minecraft running on the Bedrock Engine. While this is not much of a problem for console copies, it definitely raises some concern for the Windows 10 Edition. Although at first this version was only seen as a way to bring Minecraft to phones and tablets running Windows, Mojang has gone on the record to say that they would like to replace the new version with the old Java version entirely (example). They have also not said anything about using mods on the new version, both in terms of if players can use their own or how developers can make new ones for the new engine. That raises the question; will any type of user modifications, even if that means creating your own player skin, come to the Windows 10 Edition? If not, it's bound to take a lot of players off the game including myself, or convince them to keep the old version going while it is unsupported (which must be done manually; it's heavily rumoured that Mojang is planning to update everyone to the Windows 10 Edition through their launcher), causing a major divide between players.

On a very similar topic, Mojang recently announced a "marketplace" for versions of the game with the Bedrock engine. This store will offer player skins, texture packs, and maps created both by a highly selective number of people from the community and by Mojang themselves. Here's the real kicker; they're all paid.

Marketplace devices

This announcement has sparked huge controversy, especially in the modding community. Everything mentioned above has been free ever since the game was a tiny clone of another game called Infiniminer, and to a great extent, arguably helped kickstart its success. Somewhat ironically as others have pointed out, Mojang has forbid the sale of any player-made assets including skins, texture packs, and maps through the EULA (End User License Agreement), and yet that is exactly what Mojang is doing here.

At the very least, this entire scenario brings up a very interesting point for discussion. If Mojang was still an independent studio, would this have happened? Critics have been quick to compare the in-app purchase decision to Microsoft, citing how they have held an interest in and incorporated in-app purchases in their own products, along with relating it to the criticisms of Windows 10, and how Microsoft has been shown to take user data and show advertisements for their own services inside the operating system. Combine that with the fact that Microsoft clearly has a goal of making as much profit as possible, saying that Microsoft has been responsible for all of these changes may be a valid assumption after all.
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1
07/23/2017 5:25 pm
Level 42 : Master Dragonborn
IndyJacksonTT
IndyJacksonTT's Avatar
Microsoft has done a lot of good and a lot of bad for minecarft...
1
06/20/2017 10:24 am
Level 70 : Legendary Engineer
Bertiecrafter
Bertiecrafter's Avatar
Logdotzip did an interview with Jeb asking about java and the community edition. What I get from the video is that they plan on first getting all the devices on the same level, with the same game (if that didn't happen already). Then they will try getting the community edition and the java edition on the same level. Lastly, they do plan on adding better and more customizability.

During all this time, probably years, the java version will keep being updated for the modding community until there is mod compatability or an alternative. They surely know how much the java version is used and as long as the alternative is a worse version, they won't force us to move.

This is my opinion, don't roast me (it's simply what I got from his video).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZWBJwpaGcI
1
06/19/2017 4:54 am
Level 69 : High Grandmaster Architect
Xoyjaz
Xoyjaz's Avatar
This is a nice blog, its interesseting reading this but if you are referencing things f.eks Mojang has said you need to have source links. I think that helps a lot. Other then that keep up the content :)
1
06/19/2017 9:51 am
Level 27 : Expert Scribe
Cosmopath
Cosmopath's Avatar
Good idea. After further review I did get one thing wrong in my post, the launcher update was only a rumour (but a very strong one that seems likely). I've edited my post appropriately, and added a link to comments from Tommaso Checci in my post. Thanks for the heads up.
1
06/18/2017 3:45 pm
Level 1 : New Crafter
Zeshio
Zeshio's Avatar
Well written article, and I agree this is a major concern (not just for 'hardcore' players, but everyone). Almost all the content we see on Minecraft via Twitch.tv or YouTube is modded. If you remove that, I could see that really denting the popularity and purchasing desire for Minecraft. I think MS would at least acknowledge that issue, and hopefully come forward with the future for modding support on the C++ version.

If not, then we need to come together as consumers and demand it from MS. Consumerism goes both ways, and we also have some power when we band together.
1
06/18/2017 1:11 pm
Level 45 : Master Procrastinator
mincerafter42
mincerafter42's Avatar
Also, I've just come up with a solution for this. Buy Mojang from Microsoft and tell them not to discontinue the Java Edition! Perfect, right?
1
06/18/2017 1:08 pm
Level 45 : Master Procrastinator
mincerafter42
mincerafter42's Avatar
Mojang can't install Windows 10 edition through the launcher; I use Windows 7!
1
06/18/2017 3:25 pm
Level 27 : Expert Scribe
Cosmopath
Cosmopath's Avatar
"Windows 10 Edition" is nothing more than branding. The new engine works fine on Windows 7, it may require some optimization though.
1
06/18/2017 4:48 am
Level 67 : High Grandmaster Modder
HbTextures
HbTextures's Avatar
Honestly, who cares about the win10 edition?
1
06/18/2017 10:37 am
Level 27 : Expert Scribe
Cosmopath
Cosmopath's Avatar
People should start to care soon, because it's intended to be a full replacement to the current Java version. They're going to be dropping support for Java and moving all focus and development to C++.
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