Are we prepared for potential Microsoft harassment?

[rubenwardy]

Origin is what mainly makes EA evil.

[Samson1]

I think that as soon as Minetest gets onto Microsoft's reader then Minetest is going to be in trouble. But as Minecraft is not open source I will say that Minetest is betterXD

[benrob0329]

I don't think that MC has any ground to stand on when it comes to a lawsuit. As MT doesn't have copyrighted blocks, code (its C++ and Lua, it would be impossible!), and its FLOSS software...so Microsoft shouldn't even think about it, or we will be harassing them.

[MirceaKitsune]

I don't think that MC has any ground to stand on when it comes to a lawsuit. As MT doesn't have copyrighted blocks, code (its C++ and Lua, it would be impossible!), and its FLOSS software...so Microsoft shouldn't even think about it, or we will be harassing them.

Yes, I ultimately agree with this. The most they can do is claim that we stole their artistic design (only a concern for minetest_game), as well as the "Mine" in the name (Minecraft / Minetest). There aren't any patents to using voxels (thank goodness) so no matter how rich Microsoft is, they couldn't ever find a basic plausible reason.

Even if they tried, they would fail in court, and only get a lot more hate directed at them. And even if they magically did succeed in court and Minetest went down, there are already several forks, and people would immediately make more to get back at them and ultimately continue the project as if nothing happened.

[BobbyBonsaimind]

...so Microsoft shouldn't even think about it, or we will be harassing them.

Uh, Microsoft is already taking shit for much more important stuff, like the whole Windows 10 privacy thing and the sideloading of executables provided by the BIOS. Given that they don't care about that stuff, I highly doubt they care about the Minetest community, no matter how much noise it makes.

Even if they tried, they would fail in court, and only get a lot more hate directed at them.

You are assuming that someone in the community does have the capabilities to invest time and money for multiple years into a legal battle. I don't know a lot of people, or well for that matter, in this community, but I'd be very surprised if there would be someone in here with these capabilities. Therefor it does not matter if Microsoft is right or wrong, if you can't proof them wrong in the court they will be victorious one way or the other.

For that matter, I do not believe that the "voxel market" is anything Microsoft is really interested in and I would not be surprised if they'd drop Minecraft altogether at some point because "it fell short of expectations". They seem to use Minecraft mostly to sell their new and awesome VR/glasses technology, and the Minecraft community has proven to be a mass of people that want all the shiny things right now. They are really only interested in the community that is deeply tight against Minecraft, their wallets and their opinions. Remember that many Minecraft players will downplay, insult and harass any other game that might look similar, pretty similar to how it happens with Windows and Office users. That is what Microsoft wants, Lemmings.

Outrightly attacking any other voxel game will do nothing for them, it will not gain them more users and it will not gain them more money. Also, given how freely a big part of the Minecraft community handles copyright, they really would shoot themselves in the foot with such an action in the long term.

So my prognosis for this? Not going to happen.

[MirceaKitsune]

You are assuming that someone in the community does have the capabilities to invest time and money for multiple years into a legal battle. I don't know a lot of people, or well for that matter, in this community, but I'd be very surprised if there would be someone in here with these capabilities. Therefor it does not matter if Microsoft is right or wrong, if you can't proof them wrong in the court they will be victorious one way or the other.

You only need to engage in a legal battle if there actually is a legal battle to carry. If there are no legal arguments for Microsoft to threaten us, the battle ends before it even started. If rich companies could really sue everyone for every reason, you and me and everyone we met would be sued by random corporations on a monthly basis, simply because they have more money and could try making an extra buck this way... yet this thankfully this doesn't happen, because they still need a legitimate reason to do so.

[SAMIAMNOT]

If Notch had patented Minecraft I bet he could've sued us though.
Maybe we should patent it so they cant sue us...

[benrob0329]

MT is open source, so im not sure who he/they would sue in the first place...maybe c55 but I'm not sure..

[programmingchicken]

MS may bring up posts from the forums, and 4aiman's subgame 'Magichet' is NOT helping us by trying to copy MC.

[FreeLikeGNU]

I think minetest stands on its own. IANAL, but whatever patents might cover minetest, infiniminer looks like prior art for the sake of voxel block sandbox game, so minecraft is no more novel a game than minetest in that regard.

[benrob0329]

True, how could Microsoft sue for something that they themselves are doing? Leagle or not.

Of course, this is Microsoft we are talking about...

[programmingchicken]

Microsoft would sue a 10-yr old programmer for making a game that has spaceships in it because:
'Spaceships are in Halo, and we have money'
#MSwillPayTheJudge

[benrob0329]

Reasons to not use MS stuff......LINUX AND MINETEST ALL THE WAY! :-P

[Gael de Sailly]

That's sure that MT don't take an important part of voxel games players, but I think that, if MS wants to attack the MC-similar games, MT would be the first in their line of sight. BUT :

Even if they tried, they would fail in court, and only get a lot more hate directed at them. And even if they magically did succeed in court and Minetest went down, there are already several forks, and people would immediately make more to get back at them and ultimately continue the project as if nothing happened.

In the worst case, MS can impede MT's popularity and development, but they can never get the complete disparition of the game. If they try it, at least 200 people, if not 1000, will keep the source code of MT on their local computers. And the project would be resumed.

But, without being harassed by MS, we are pressured by the MC players and community. That's not a danger for the game because they have no power, but it's annoying and boring.

[PoignardAzur]

A lot of people here seem to assume that Microsoft is lead by a bunch of moustache-twirling villains who enjoy nothing more that eating live puppies at breakfast and playing kitty baseball. I mean, sure, Microsoft is evil (like all big companies owned by shareholders), but they're trying to make loads of money, not to hurt as much people as they can.

Anyway, Microsoft is probably not going to sue Minetest before it gets much, much bigger than it is right now., because trying to take MT down is basically the best thing that could happen to Minetest short of Notch deciding to fund it or something in that vein. It would be a waste of their money and time, it would bring attention to MT, and it would incite some players to switch from MC to MT. So, nothing to worry about here.

[Gael de Sailly]

A lot of people here seem to assume that Microsoft is lead by a bunch of moustache-twirling villains who enjoy nothing more that eating live puppies at breakfast and playing kitty baseball.

Generally people don't act by pure nastiness. When someone makes something bad, there is almost always a reason. Money is one of the main reasons. That's why we should beware of people that have much money. Without these vices, Microsoft would be one of the best societies of the world. They are able to do the best… and the worst !

It would be a waste of their money and time, it would bring attention to MT, and it would incite some players to switch from MC to MT. So, nothing to worry about here.

I haven't thought to that. I agree, definitely. So the most dangerous for Minetest would be Minecraft ads ?

[PoignardAzur]

Generally people don't act by pure nastiness. When someone makes something bad, there is almost always a reason. Money is one of the main reasons.

Sure. My point was, a lot of people are assuming that Microsoft is going to take whatever course of actions hurts the most people at the same time as they can, when realistically speaking they do :
- random things, because big companies usually have a much more incoherent leadership than you'd think,
- whatever brings them most money.
By the way, notice how Microsoft has bought MC a year ago and still haven't done anything evil (or done anything at all, for that matter) with it ?

I haven't thought to that. I agree, definitely. So the most dangerous for Minetest would be Minecraft ads ?

Minecraft is getting better every day, and is getting faster at getting better, while Minetest is stagnating. The most dangerous thing for Minetest is status quo.

[benrob0329]

Wow, I never would have thought that such strong religious views would have come from a gaming forum!

Mindblown

Andyways I also agree with paramat, we need new ideas that aren't tied to MC.

[programmingchicken]

Wow, I never would have thought that such strong religious views would have come from a gaming forum!

????

[Gael de Sailly]

I suppose that benrob0329 has only read until page 2 xD

[Ranzabar]

It might. A 2.5BN purchase indicates MS has a lot of plans for MC. Into Xbox, Windows, Windows Phone, etc. If they perceive the brand has to be protected against even the most minor of threats, MT could be targeted.

But, MS would be hard-pressed to tick off the FOSS community considering that they've assumed a non-hostile stance as of late.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. We can keep working on MT and playing with it without too much worry.

My 2 cents anyway

Oh, and hi to all. First time posting. Long time watching.

[Don]

Welcome Ranzabar. I agree that we shouldn't worry.

[SabreMC]

Why do i suddenly feel like there are less minecraft players here than i thought? i've been playing minecraft for several years, the reason i play minetest is it's ease of modding. it has quickly become a bit of a testing ground for the just starting programmer i am. modding in minecraft seemed like a daunting task, so i began searching for alternatives. i for one am loving minetest, and do not regret discovering it one bit. i doubt microsoft would ever pursue legal action against MT, but if they tried to scare us off, i think they'll find us much stronger a community than they might think