Discussion for article #227474
Well that was fun while it lasted! Canāt wait to see how many name changes and re-branding attempts this baby goes through. Oh and the new restrictions to mods, price gouging at every turn and of course the added bloat to the code ā¦ Ugggggh Iām dreading breaking the news to my little ones ā¦
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Really? Microsoft is devolving to pixelated legos. Way to step on Appleās moment todayā¦ NOT. It seems they are paying $2 Billion, just to get laughed at in certain circlesā¦ like the planet Earth.
Somewhere in [insert preferred destination here], Steve Jobs is laughing his ass off.
Good luck monetizing this one, Mr. Gates.
The one thing Microsoft could do with Minecraft that would enance their corporate reputation is to acquire it, then other than protecting it and nurturing itās community and itās growth, leave it alone.
This is, of course, Microsoft, and they canāt not meddle, exploit, corrupt, and destroy; but imagine the benefits to their corporate image if just this once they could play nice.
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As if my ten year old son werenāt pissed enough already what with school starting back up. This is gonna put him over the edge.
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And this is importantā¦why? As long as they donāt touch Eve Online, Iām okay with it.
Wasted money.
This seems like a pretty good move for Microsoft. There is a whole cottage industry of renting out virtual Minecraft servers for people to run their own multi-player games. They could tap into that on Xbox Live and make it easy for people to run their own Minecraft servers and pay Microsoft for the privilege rather than random companies. Plus Microsoft can sell a bunch of add-ons and mods for the game.
Minecraft has been played heavily by my kids over the past 3 years and I have not seen a game captivate them like that. itās pretty amazing.
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āI am Billgatus of Borg! Resistance is futile! You shallā¦NOT RESPONDING? What the fug? ResistāNO, not the fugginā Blue Screen NOOOOOOOOO!ā
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Iām doubtful it will be good for Microsoft or Minecraft. My son also loves the game, and part of the appeal is the stories and mystique surrounding the developers. I think placing the game under a giant corporate umbrella will change the relationship between the users and the game in a way that will diminish the experience. Minecraft will still be fun, but part of that fun was the apple-like fan base that anxiously awaited the latest developments. And even if there were glitches in an update, all was forgiven because of that relationship between the developers and players. Microsoft wonāt be forgiven so easily.
I could be wrong, but I just have a feeling that this is one of those ideas that looked great on paper, but will turn out to be ill-conceived.
its hard buying anything from todayās tech companies because I donāt trust them. I would never buy any hardware from amazon or facebook - I think they would probably have a central office specifically for spying on its users. however it seems apple and some of the others are doing it already anyway
Who gives a shit.
Lone Apple, who do you fly with?
This makes me think about the Star Trek TNG episode in which Wesley Crusher returns from Star Fleet Academy for a visit, and finds the Enterprise crew all playing some sinister alien video game.
MS involvement or not, I think if my kids were āheavily intoā any video game, Iād take them hiking and camping.
Having an abundant appreciation of, and familiarity with, the world outside does not prevent being āheavily intoā a computer game - back in the day, one of the best mage players Iāve ever known in World of Warcraft was, among other things, a deacon at his local church, an avid pilot, and a boy scout troop leader.
Nor should you even begin to react that way to a virtual sandbox that can be used to spark creativity and interest in art, architecture and design, electrical engineering, transit engineeringā¦
Seriously, what minecraft can do with just a little willingness to learn is impressive as hell. Iād rather see kids doing this, than playing in organized football leagues (pick-up games, w/no pads and no focused training, tend to be a lot less prone to injury). Better to learn to use your mind, instead of concussing yourself out of having one.
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Iāve never understood the appeal of video gaming. At first, I thought that perhaps this was just an āageā thing (Iām a techie, but am 62). Then it occurred to me that among all my friends and extended family, thereās not a single gamer that Iām aware of, not even among the younger members of the group.
I donāt pretend to have an explanation for any of this. Itās just something that surprises me.
The comments on this thread illustrate a couple of things. For parents of children who play (and those who play, too) there is a mix of trepidation and respect for the savvy move.
From those who are not in touch with the nature of this game and the nature of the way kids play it, I see derision.
This is a fantastic move on the part of MS, and they got it cheap at $2bln.
But like any great move in chess, the moves that come after are important, too. Iāve seen some great responses as to why Minecraft is a valuable asset, and how they could waste the move.
But to the doubters, the one thing I read that you need to understand is āto teens and pre-teens, Minecraft IS computingā
My 8 year old nephew is running mods and has a youtube channel to show off what heās doing. It goes beyond first person shooters that essentially just waste your time. Kids are doing massively creative things here, really pushing the envelop.
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They donāt have it yet.
Please donāt mistake my puzzlement for derision. In fact, the Mojang CEO is an old friend of mine from his days at jAlbum, and I know a few more of the principals from the same connection.
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I agree with you that itās an extremely sharp move for Microsoft because as the guy says, Minecraft is teaching a new generation about coding. I do have a lot of trepidation though about what it means for Minecraft.
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This would have been better in Apples hands, but MS could get this right. If they maintain the core principles, and provide added utilities (design kits, more customized games, better/easier multiplayer interface, control over cheating and trolls, ect).