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Microsoft Games

Minecraft Will Require a Microsoft Account To Play In 2021 (theverge.com) 70

Posted by BeauHD from the forced-migration dept.
Minecraft said in a blog post yesterday that players will need a Microsoft account to play the game in 2021. Those who do not switch will be unable to play. The Verge reports: The game has existed in two separately developed versions since its 2011 launch on consoles. Previously, the original Minecraft: Java Edition used Mojang accounts, while Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, the name for the console and Windows store version of the game, used Microsoft accounts. After this change, the accounts will be the same, but there's still no crossplay: you still won't be able to play with friends using the other version of the game.

Mojang says players migrating from Mojang accounts will not lose any information and that the new accounts will offer two-factor authentication (2FA) and other safety features previously available in the Bedrock Edition of the game, like parental controls and the ability to block chats and invitations -- a concern for younger players on multiplayer servers. Players will be emailed in batches in the coming months on how to migrate and will receive an additional notification on their profile page when they're able to create a new account. Alongside the blog post, Mojang created a video to explain the switch and preempt player complaints. The Verge points out that usernames for Java Edition players are at risk, which could make many players angry.

"In support articles addressing the change, Mojang is clear that your username won't be affected in-game, but if someone is already using your name or it doesn't meet Microsoft's standards, you might be forced to log in with a different one," reports The Verge. "There may not be as many names available to pick from, given that console players have had eight years to snap them up."
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Minecraft Will Require a Microsoft Account To Play In 2021

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  • Ask yourself why Microsoft wants you to have an account.

    .

    If you haven't come to the conclusion that they want to better understand you as a possible consumer of their products (aka "marketing"), or product they can market to other companies (aka "revenue source"), then you are dumb as a rock.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Because maintaining two separate identity services is just a pointless waste of time and resources.

      Microsoft owns Mojang so they have access to both sets of accounts anyway, thus your conspiracy theory about there being some subtle reason for merging them is, well, dumb as fuck. Anything you think they could do after migrating to Microsoft accounts they can do already with Mojang accounts.

  • Ah Microsoft... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Patent Lover ( 779809 ) on Thursday October 22, 2020 @08:38PM (#60638128)
    Microsoft ruins a really good thing. Who woulda thunk it?

    • Microsoft ruins a really good thing. Who woulda thunk it?

      Is it really that big of a deal that you have to move from one account system to another? I bought the game back in Beta and guess what? I still get to play a game that's actively developed and probably is the easiest and best-support cross-platform game ever. In fact, since I bought that beta account, my son was born and now we play together.

      • Microsoft ruins a really good thing. Who woulda thunk it?

        Is it really that big of a deal that you have to move from one account system to another?

        It depends how well it's done. It should work on your mojang ID, which means no matter what name they give you the game will know who you are. Otherwise you might be locked out of whitelisted servers, or log in to find you have no tools or armor and can no longer get into your own enderchest.

        • Microsoft ruins a really good thing. Who woulda thunk it?

          Is it really that big of a deal that you have to move from one account system to another?

          It depends how well it's done. It should work on your mojang ID, which means no matter what name they give you the game will know who you are. Otherwise you might be locked out of whitelisted servers, or log in to find you have no tools or armor and can no longer get into your own enderchest.

          Since Realms is where the money is, I'm assuming they have a plan for not driving all that money away.

      • Re:Ah Microsoft... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday October 23, 2020 @03:04AM (#60638890)

        Is it really that big of a deal that you have to move from one account system to another?

        Depends on the account. If they are just random accounts then no. If for instance it's like the recent Oculus / Facebook debacle (the former of which is a user account for a game device/service, and the latter being a social network account which Facebook is militantly enforcing the banhammer on anything which doesn't look like proper social networks then it's a huge deal.

        Account consolidation is very much the putting all eggs in one basket approach. That may be okay when logging into shitty websites, but not so much when you part with money as part of the process.

    • before you need one for your Microsoft Linux Desktop too?

      Embrace.

      Extend.

      • EXTINGUISH! Crap, caps-lock day is over :-(
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • I thought you just ignored connecting to a network, then the install allows you to create a local account. Has this behavior changed?

          • Nope. Just don't plug into ethernet or connect to WiFi - if you do by reflex/habit/mistake (e.g. USB Ethernet on a hub you forgot about), just reboot it and OOBE (do they still call it this?) will restart and you can try again.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          You don't need one, they just try really hard to make you get one.

          The simplest work around is to not connect to the internet during the installation. When it asks you to set up wifi decline. If you do connect there is a way to opt out but I forget what it is. In Windows 8 it's a tiny link you would easily miss in small font.

          • On Windows 10, aside from disconnecting from the internet, on the Home edition, there is no way to opt out (this has been true since very late 2019; previously, it had roughly the same opt-out link as 8). On 10 Pro, one can presumably do this through the process normally used to join domains, though I have never tried. The most effective solution, as you said, is to stay disconnected.

    • Re:Ah Microsoft... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by khchung ( 462899 ) on Friday October 23, 2020 @01:50AM (#60638786) Journal

      Microsoft ruins a really good thing. Who woulda thunk it?

      Why did you think MS pay so much money for a game, if not for its user base?

    • Microsoft ruins a really good thing. Who woulda thunk it?

      This isn't Microsoft ruining something. It's Microsoft following a major and very negative industry trend requiring a frigging interlinked account for everything.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Microsoft ruins a really good thing. Who woulda thunk it?

        This isn't Microsoft ruining something. It's Microsoft following a major and very negative industry trend requiring a frigging interlinked account for everything.

        In the computer world, things seem go in cycles - it does run on AC after all. In the "good old days"*, a user worked on a green screen terminal and your work was saved on a mainframe. It was the first iteration of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), and almost universally Walled Gardens. Users had to have logins, because work was charged to the users' account based on how many cycles it consumed or how many concurrent users their were. Cycles consumed is why there was (and likely still is) a big emphasis on o

  • Can we get a refund? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by d0ran$ ( 844234 ) on Thursday October 22, 2020 @08:41PM (#60638130)

    I can't see anything about a refund in https://help.minecraft.net/hc/... [minecraft.net] if you don't want a Microsoft account? Could this be seen as a change in the terms and conditions where a refund would apply?

    • Frankly, I suspect if you read the EULA you clicked yes to when you installed MC, they probably have the right to make you.

      • Re:Can we get a refund? (Score:4, Informative)

        by Truth_Quark ( 219407 ) on Thursday October 22, 2020 @11:00PM (#60638478) Journal
        When I installed MC, microsoft were nowhere in the picture. The agreement was I could use it and upgrades for perpetuity, and my understanding from Notch's explicit statements was that it would be open sourced when he was done with it.
        • He's not done with it until he's spent the 2 BILLION (pinkie in mouth) dollars he made from the sale:-P

        • and my understanding from Notch's explicit statements was that it would be open sourced when he was done with it.

          That's what he said, but he lied. Still, it should be a reasonable argument in court if you want your money back... I'd love to see Microsoft hit with hundreds of lawsuits over this, because they're Microsoft and they've done too much to forgive (both historically and recently.)

        • That's the difference between an agreement and a contract. "Agreements" don't mean squat.

        • When I installed MC, microsoft were nowhere in the picture. The agreement was I could use it and upgrades for perpetuity, and my understanding from Notch's explicit statements was that it would be open sourced when he was done with it.

          You almost certainly agreed to a new EULA at some point since MS bought it. You probably don't even remember it happening, few people would. But you will have definitely received a notification of the change and an EULA if not pushed to you somehow then through an update.

    • Yes. But you need an American lawyer and a judge who will agree with you And side against capitalism. So I change my answer to no.

  • This can only speed up the arrival of something new and independent.
  • Next you'll be buying a Minecraft player Certification

  • Anyone have any suggestions for alternatives to Minecraft to play?

    I know there were a bunch of Minecraft clones started when it became big.
    Are any of those worth jumping ship to?

    • How about anything other than Minecraft? Other things do exist, try them out.

      • If someone is looking for an alternative to Legos, I wouldn't suggest they play Risk, Monopoly, or Catan.

        I'd suggest Knex, Erector, or Zoob.

        It's not like I haven't played hundreds of games. Minecraft is not "just another video game". It's digital legos you can play with other people.

        • Zoob seems to be a little bit after my time, but does seem interesting; Knex and Meccano/Erector occupied much of my childhood play time, and to a lesser degree, Capsela. Lego, also, though there were several times when my parents got rid of them due to repeated incidents of finding them with their feet and vacuum. I own considerably more Lego as an adult than I ever did as a kid :) If someone wants something a bit more interactive, might look into some BASIC stamp or Arduino-based robotics kits, or the Le

    • Re:Alternatives? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by toddestan ( 632714 ) on Thursday October 22, 2020 @10:20PM (#60638374)

      There's always Minetest, which is open source. Minetest actually a game engine, but there are quite a few games for it, most of which have a very Minecraft-like look and feel.

      • Minetest is shit.

        * It has too many cooks in the kitchen. The GitHub is constantly full of developers arguing over which direction the engine should evolve.
        * It's UI looks amateurish. i.e. It is barely functional.
        * There are no Render options in the menus.
        * If you want to change the chunk draw distance you use `+` and `-`. It displays distance instead of chunks. While this is better then Minecraft it really should show BOTH to help players make the transition from Minecraft.
        * The non-standard F3 key to toggl

        • Correction. There IS auto-jumping. For some reason it is buried in the "Change Keys" panel ???

          [ ] Automatic jumping

    • Factorio

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Daetrin ( 576516 )
        I've actually looked at Factorio a couple times, but they dark brownish color scheme makes me want to claw my eyes out, so i haven't tried it yet.

        I know it probably seems like a trivial concern, and i guess it doesn't fit the "theme" they're going for, but most of the time i play games to have fun. I don't need a dingy color scheme depressing me. Is there a minecraft skin or something else similarly colorful that i can install? It'd be an instant purchase if they had that.

  • The right thing to do? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Where user names collide, shouldn't the oldest account get to keep their user name intact?
    This reminds me a lot of Skype, centralize the service to exert more control over the service/users.

  • Can't say I'm a huge fan of companies buying other companies and forcing account consolidation for no apparent reason. Can't say I'm a fan of companies being sold to larger companies either. I wonder if Palmer Luckey and Marcus Person will ever log into their Facebook and Microsoft accounts to play Minecraft in VR.

  • Occulus was wildly successful, then sold to facebook. Then facebook said you have to have their account and link it to use the VR glasses.
    Goodbye occulus.

    Microsoft has a LOT of trust to earn before they get my personal info.
    Goodbye minecraft.

    E

  • Anybody still playing Minecraft?
    I mean; anybody in the original target demographic?
    I've known several kids who were Minecraft addicts; none of them play it any more.

    • Re:Anybody still playing Minecraft? (Score:4, Informative)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday October 23, 2020 @04:04AM (#60638974)

      What's the target demographic? People with computers?

      This year alone the game has sold 24million copies. Apparently there are 126million active users according to an article only 2 months old.

    • I still play occasionally. I like a little Skyblock.

      My biggest problem with Minecraft is that you can't create "vehicles" out of blocks, flying machines which use pistons aside. Because blocks can only inhabit spaces on a grid, they can't be used that way. There are some mods which shift grids of blocks to enable a crude kind of movement, but that's a terrible hack. Minecraft would be much better if you could build ships and airships. I wonder if there are any clones that can do it properly. There have been

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dafradu ( 868234 )

        Vehicles and airships would change the game too much, besides, we can fly already with rockets/elytra, why would you need an airship? Horses, the boat and the trident can be used to travel on land and water faster, but again, why would you ride a horse when you can fly? And then there are rails that help moving objects over great distances, i don't see cars or ships making into the game...

    • Minecraft is the best selling game of all time [wikipedia.org] with over 200 million copies sold.

      People are playing and watching. Here is a small slice of some content creators:

      * Dream [youtube.com] has 11 million subs.
      * Mumbo Jumbo [youtube.com] has 6.7 millions subs.
      * SethBling has 2 million subs.
      * ilmango [youtube.com] has 630K subs.

      There are many adults playing Minecraft. Watch SciCraft Presents: How Automation Can Enrich Your Game Experience [youtube.com] if you want to learn how technical players push the game to its limits.

      Minecraft is not going away anytime soon.

  • I own an Oculus Quest, and was disheartened by the whole "you need a Facebook account" thing. I have avoided FB like the plague, and consistently stood up to friends and others who want me to get an account. Whenever a conversion to an FB account is required, that is the time when the Quest becomes a brick. (Well, I am not using it much now anyways, so does not make too much of a difference.)

    But a Microsoft account? Meh. You sign up for it, and then you don't really have to hear from them again. Noone is ra

    • I too have an Oculus product, and when it goes facebook-only I will get something not-Oculus. Facebook holdouts like us are rare things these days though.

    • "This is Oculus Quest again"

      This is nothing of the sort. I've never heard of a Microsoft account being banned or people losing purchases from it, so the risk of merging the accounts for products is quite different between the risk of merging the accounts of a product and a social network.

      • I've never heard of a Microsoft account being banned or people losing purchases from it

        I lost a Batman game when Microsoft closed their Game for Windows service, so yes shit happens.

        • And you stood by and took it? I mean that action isn't legal in most countries. As far as I can see Microsoft still very much runs gaming services and stores for windows. It's a shame they didn't get sued.

    • I deleted my Microsoft account when I sold my 360. More recently, I had to create one again to install Halo: MCC. I guess if all I ever use it for is games, it's not a big deal, but I still find it frustrating.

  • I have a 'for life' license...ported? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mccalli ( 323026 ) on Friday October 23, 2020 @03:35AM (#60638936) Homepage
    I don't actually play, but ages ago when the first beta appeared I paid for a lifetime all-everything-forever license, which is tied to a Mojang account. Well - originally to a Minecraft one I think, I seem to remember having to migrate accounts over to Mojang.

    Wonder if that's still honoured in this new system. Will have to have a look to find out.
  • Of course they do. They want to track you in every way possible for profit while charging you the privilege for them to do that.

  • Anyone who has used a ms acct (as opposed to a local acct) knows the horrors it can wreak on your win10 machine. Playing Minecraft is going to require a dual boot or virtual machine or something equally terrible in order to protect everything else you do on your win10 computer.

  • I will not like having to say, "I used to play Minecraft a lot, but that was before Mojang kicked me out for not groveling before Microsoft. Oh, well, those were good times."

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