Notch Requiring Licenses for Minecraft Mod Developers
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
And so thousands of Minecraft fans regret their March Madness choice.neonit said:
Seriously, this is ridiculous. Mods should always be free. Imagine if, say, Qarl decided to sell his Oblivion texture pack. It would defeat the purpose of the modding community, which is based around the free exchange of fan work.
I know this is a bit up the page but I haven't seen anyone mention it and this is what I was coming in here to say.Witty Name Here said:
Hate to break it to you guys, but you know that amazing game company everyone who owns a PC worships and loves? Valve? Ya, this has been their marketing strategy for years now.
Think about it. Every single game that isn't Half-Life released by Valve was originally a mod, indie game, or student project that they saw and thought "That's genius!" and gave funding to.
Now, what it comes down to is how Notch does this. Valve doesn't just buy these mods out, they hire the team, give them funding, and (I believe) more or less let them continue to make their game. And it's worked incredibly well from Valve, they continue to release top-notch games. If Notch follows a similar strategy to how Valve runs their company, I think there's some serious potential here for another incredible company to rise to the top along side Valve.
... of course, this could also go horribly wrong in that they'll buy out the rights to the mods and just make money off of it. Hopefully Notch doesn't go this route, this is a brilliant marketing strategy that has already been proven to work by a major gaming company.
You an't win Notch, you can't win.
On a side note, dick-move.
On a side side note barely related to the topic, mine crafts cult following is kind of scaring me... reminds me of... like people who buy Saturns. I think Minecraft is actually a tool to train Notch's personal army that can find him supplies once he uses them to put the world through a nuclear holocaust... just saying guys.
On a side note, dick-move.
On a side side note barely related to the topic, mine crafts cult following is kind of scaring me... reminds me of... like people who buy Saturns. I think Minecraft is actually a tool to train Notch's personal army that can find him supplies once he uses them to put the world through a nuclear holocaust... just saying guys.
Seriously, should I just stop going on any thread about minecraft? I just want to enjoy my game, mods, for me, equals good. Since I may be interested in modding, free access to the source code is a good thing.
Don't take this personally, your post was just the one that "broke the camels back". I kept seeing a lot of people saying the exact same thing.Witty Name Here said:
Valve has never sold a mod. Ever. What Valve has done since the days of Counter-Strike and Team Fortress is they approach the mod team and ask if they'd like a job at Valve. As was the case with the CS, TF, and Narbacular Drop teams, they all took the offer. Then, once employed fully at Valve they were given the option of choosing their project. Obviously, they all went with what they knew. (save the Portal team. they applied their concept, loosely, to the Half-Life universe) Thus CS 1.6, TFC, and Portal were born. Valve doesn't buy and sell mods. They look for talented mod teams (comprised of programmers, artists, and designersJ) and hire them. There IS a difference.
Also, Blue Shift and Opposing Force were not mods. They were addons developed by Gearbox and licensed by Sierra. Back when Valve didn't actually own the rights to Half-Life in full. They shared the property rights with Sierra, of whom handled the production costs and marketing. Valve now currently owns the rights to Blue Shift in full, but not quite Opposing Force. You can't buy OP by itself, but only as a package deal. (even old CD keys for it don't work)
Now, as to the nay-sayers, this news isn't as bad as you're making it sound. He's not trying (yet) to gouge modders and players for their money. While I think it's a bit "power mad" to require the modding community to obtain a modding license, it's not a "Kotick" move by any stretch of the imagination. While it's partly true that this setup could help to alleviate some of the stresses of mods breaking from updates, it's also true that this will not always be the case and that this will also greatly lengthen the time in-between updates. Even the minor ones. You think it's bad enough the game's not even done, just wait until you're waiting several months for a small update.
I have to point out though, what happens later on when (sorry, if), after a number of modders have acquired their license, Notch and crew decide to start charging for the licenses? It would seem to me, as this agreement is worded, that should a modder not retain their license Notch would gain full rights to the mod. Now that may not ever happen, but the sheer possibility of it occurring with this setup is a bit worrisome.
[edit] On a side note, I'm hoping Notch changes this license policy and instead opts to do what Valve does. Either provide modder tools and support (without registration) or hire the most talented modders and let them do their own thing. It would be great to see Mojang grow it's talent base.
This is modding as in changing the actual sourcecode, not as in "making a replica of the Enterprise for my friends to run through"
Get a licence and you can program in your own creatures and screw with the physics and the very fabric of reality itself!!! muahahahaa..
You know how you can make a portal that takes you to another dimension for faster yet more dangerous travel? THAT kind of mod making. Quit yer bitchin
Get a licence and you can program in your own creatures and screw with the physics and the very fabric of reality itself!!! muahahahaa..
You know how you can make a portal that takes you to another dimension for faster yet more dangerous travel? THAT kind of mod making. Quit yer bitchin
What is everyone whining about?
Notch is attempting to implement modding support and everyone bitches at him? I even sort of see his reasoning behind first making people pay to get a license, obviously goes against the spirit of modding but he only wants some form of quality control.
Selling mods on the other hand? No. Bad Notch.
Notch is attempting to implement modding support and everyone bitches at him? I even sort of see his reasoning behind first making people pay to get a license, obviously goes against the spirit of modding but he only wants some form of quality control.
Selling mods on the other hand? No. Bad Notch.
Let me get this straight:
- He will make it so that you can register in order to get full access to the source code, something extremely few games have.
- You can then make as many mods as you like, from small things like making water flow upwards to game-changing mods turning Minecraft into an RTS.
- If you make such a huge total conversion, Notch might actually license you to sell that mod, so you can earn money on making mods.
- All of this is done to ensure that no malicious content or "destroy your PC" mods are released from totally anonymous sources.
And still people ***** about it? Goddamnit people, why are you so fucking stupid?
- He will make it so that you can register in order to get full access to the source code, something extremely few games have.
- You can then make as many mods as you like, from small things like making water flow upwards to game-changing mods turning Minecraft into an RTS.
- If you make such a huge total conversion, Notch might actually license you to sell that mod, so you can earn money on making mods.
- All of this is done to ensure that no malicious content or "destroy your PC" mods are released from totally anonymous sources.
And still people ***** about it? Goddamnit people, why are you so fucking stupid?
So long as if he doesn't steal peoples' work or take arbitrary control over what mods can and cannot be published then I'm not certain I see much difference from a very basic EULA agreement that modders have to accept with most games.
Though if mods are transformed into Notch's own personal DLC-for profit packs then I think I'd be extremely outraged.
Though if mods are transformed into Notch's own personal DLC-for profit packs then I think I'd be extremely outraged.
Hehe. Thank Escapist for misleading title and Article. Imagine if they had left out the part about him 'thinking' about making it a paid license. Which was all it was, thinking. I mean the guy above me said it well. And so did the Narrator in Sims-Medieval. People, are dumb.
From what I understand: The license is free, and it gives people extra support so their mods don't break on every update.bob1052 said:
I don't really see an issue. If he'd have continued with the pay-for-license idea, then no, I wouldn't agree, but he revoked it in 15 minutes.
I was one of the first ones to rage on facebook to them when it was announced. It was only after they changed it I felt bad. Personally, I think a deposit system would have worked, where you pay a small fee and get it back after you submit a decent mod.
It IS the source code they are giving out, to be fair.
It IS the source code they are giving out, to be fair.
Personally I completely and utterly support this idea. The first thing some jackass will do when Notch releases the source code is try to undercut his prices by selling his own copies. Paid licenses would allow Notch to track whose trying to cheat him out of his rightful golden bathtub, as well as going a long way towards preventing shovel-ware mods, or mass mods that are just someone elses mods with a tiny tweak.