Modded, yes. The Minecraft mod scene is incredible. The Create mod ecosystem is my favorite.
Pirated? Really? How cheap are you guys? It’s a $30 game with all ~15 years of content updates included.
I’m not trying to be some kind of corporate bootlicker here but I think you have to have apathy toward taking care of the stuff you own to have failed to get your Minecraft license converted from the Mojang account.
Saying 15 years of content updates feels disingenuous when most of those years, at least lately, feel like minimal updates from a company that's out of ideas and doesn't want to change anything that might have a chance at annoying some people.
It seems like every year is "a new mob and a new biome", which is... not much. If you sign into Minecraft from five years ago I doubt you would notice many changes at all.
To be fair, Minecraft is a huge thing to be a steward of, and they're doing dual-development across Bedrock and Java, but... it's obvious that this isn't what they want to be doing and I think at some point they just need to make a decision what they want to be, let everyone know, and start making it work.
Also, with regard to Mojang account - I tried to get mine converted. I followed the steps, they didn't work. I opened a ticket, no one responded. I worked on it for six months and couldn't get any reply from them until it was too late. Now I've lost that account, not because I didn't care but because they didn't seem to.
As far as the approach to content updates, I think what you describe is exactly the right one. Mojang knows that anything more opinionated belongs in a mod. Minecraft is more of a platform than a game.
I’ve seen the debate come up often about software that should just be a one time purchase, it’s “done” and that we don’t want to be paying a subscription for every little thing, so my feeling is that for a buy-once game like Minecraft having so many content updates for so long is a real plus.
As far as your loss of your license, that’s really unfortunate, and hopefully a rare circumstance. I’m disappointed that support wasn’t able to help you.
Pragmatically, if I liked the game enough, I’d probably just buy it again. Most of my most-played old games have been purchased multiple times for some kind of reason like a format change or something along those lines. I’ve definitely bought Morrowind multiple times. I owned Oblivion on a disc, then bought the steam version, then bought the remastered version.
I absolutely realize how you absolutely shouldn’t have to buy the game again.
If I was too busy building my startup while my Starbucks Frappuccino melted, Starbucks didn’t “steal from me.”
I understand living by your principles but in my experience, the process of running a pirated server/clients is enough of a pain that it’s not worth $30 of anyone’s time, even if it’s the second time you’ve had to pay it in the span of multiple decades.
Ah, yeah...that's exactly the same thing. Great point. Totally changed my mind!
Edit: Your edit clarifies things a bit. Eh, I got my start in software development working on an emulated Lineage 2 server ~20 years ago, and eventually building my own server from the ground up which extended the game in ways that the normal servers / client didn't support. I think tinkering is fine if that's what interests you.
I don't spend much time these days with games (compared to the past) regardless.
Microsoft has never revoked a Minecraft license (fraud/abuse notwithstanding). You just have to do basic account maintenance like keeping your email up to date and you had to respond to emails to complete one single account migration in 15+ years. Microsoft asked you to do one 5-minute thing in the span of 15 years.
I am a little surprised that someone who built their own startup is so opposed to the idea of personal agency. This seems like you’re taking a victim’s mentality.
If I stored my Myst CD-ROM in a moldy basement for 30 years and it got ruined that way I don’t get to complain about having it stolen from me. Clearly by my lack of action I didn’t care about that possession that much in the first place.