So I talk a lot about Minecraft servers. It's a fun and easy hobby to get into, and even helped me pick my major for college in server administration. Most of that is because of project like Craftbukkit and Spigot where I only need to download the server jar and run it in Java. It's very basic and can be as complex as you want it to. I've gone as far as being able to automate updates, backups, and restarting through cron jobs where my maintenance is mostly just checking in every few days to see if the gears are still turning.
During the last two weeks there have been two very drastic problems in the Minecraft community which affect server admins quite badly—first is the DMCA takedown of the Bukkit project which trickled down into Spigot and Cauldron/MCPC as well. It's quite complicated—essentially because Mojang came out and say they “bought” the Bukkit project a developer realized his GPL code was incompatible with Minecraft's license. This has always been the case, but both sides had looked the other way for years now. So the dev issued a DMCA against the Bukkit repos and all development has halted on it.
From the ashes of Bukkit, the community is trying to pick up the pieces. LexManos is trying to build an abstraction layer on top of Forge to allow better mapping to vanilla Minecraft a-la Bukkit (so server side plugins for Forge much like Bukkit) as well as a very promising SpongePowered project that's organized by the most notable developers within the community. It stands to be the ultimate stand in for Bukkt using it's own API and an original implementation of the Minecraft server rather than Mojang's official one bundled with Craftbukkit.
Now, a week later here's the new drama-bomb. Apparently Mojang and Microsoft are in talks to sell Mojang for $2bn. A Minecraft backed by Microsoft—my god, doesn't that just feel uncomfortable. Now, I should emphasize that until now this is solely just a rumor—nobody knows anything but Mojang's been silent about it since the rumor started turning out. That they've made no commentary yet to dispel its truth means that yes—they are in talks but haven't come to a final conclusion.
Regardless of what Microsoft might bring to the table for Minecraft, whether it be the legendary modding api, more frequent and optimized updates or even a movie (my god, no, please—this game just doesn't work for a movie) there's the problem that Microsoft will assert control. Minecraft videos on YouTube paying the Yogscast, Sethbling and other's paychecks through ad revenue? Gone, likely. Independent servers where the sysop controls every aspect of their server? Gone—Realms will probably be defacto. A premium license to the server software? $600 a year, maybe? Mods—that's DLC, you pay for that.
What I'm getting at is that as a Minecraft admin, I'm a control freak. I want SSH. I want FTP. I want to pick and choose plugins and mods. I want to pick between various server platforms. I don't want my hand held and have Microsoft tell me what I can and cannot do with my server.
My personal theory, however, is that 1.8 is likely the last independent, moddable Minecraft version. SpongePowered, at the rate it's going, will have a 1.8 implementation of the server but after that should Microsoft acquire Mojang, independent server platforms will start receiving C&D's. I also suspect, too, that in an effort to keep players always on the most recent version of Minecraft Microsoft will also exercise it's use of Mojang's authentication servers to blacklist non-Microsoft certified servers running any version prior to what they have current. What's an admin to do, then?
The answer lies in the Minecraft server's offline-mode option in it's config file. Offline mode is a very dangerous mode. If I OP myself in Minecraft and logout, somebody can log into my server under my name and OP themselves and start causing mayhem on the server. Or do it under somebody else's name—say somebody OP's let's say Katkid3000 and then logs in to the server using that name and starts screwing around. My logs would simply say “hey, a player named Katkid3000 did all this stuff.” I'd know that he wouldn't do those things, but it leaves me with the problem of not knowing who'd really do it.
Luckily, however, there are in-server authentication plugins. You log in under a name that's password protected. If you are who you say you're logging in as, you'll know your password and can play. If you're actually spoofing an account and aren't a registered player on the server, you're stuck. Most of these authentication plugins I've found prevent the player from moving or performing any action until they authenticate. So running a server in offline mode isn't as scary as it might sound if you exercise strong permissions, have server-side authentication, enforce a whitelist, and never play with OP or in an admin group.
So should I be right, and Microsoft acquires Mojang and start's restricting how servers can be run I certainly do have contingency plans—some we may incorporate into the Outpost. I've already started assembling an offline-mode emergency kit which contains quite a few server platforms be it Bukkit, Forge, or MCPC/Cauldron—all at least versions 1.4-1.7. Plus a few server platforms we'd probably never use like Canary or Spout but I digress—I have them should we ever need them. Besides, if we never update past 1.8 that far from means that the game will never have new content. There are so many Forge mods out there that add so much new content you'd never play through every mod 100%. Apart from that, no matter which version of Minecraft you play there's always going to be somebody finding a new mini-game in the vanilla game or redstone machine. It's that communal ingenuity that's made Minecraft so versatile since it's inception. From the first person who slapped signs on the sides of a stair block and said “that's a chair,” to the first game of Spleef. Mojang's always let the community decide how it wants to play their game.
I don't necessarily think Microsoft would discourage or stop this sort of ingenuity should the acquisition happen, either. It's just different views where this acquisition would be great for the average player, but restrictive and frustrating to an admin where if we want to continue as we have been for years, we have to brace for being more security conscious than ever and prepare to accept that we'll never update past 1.8, and have to keep the legacy versions as interesting as possible to ensure that nobody gets bored with our servers.
If you haven't played Minecraft in a while, you oughta stop by ChewYork City on the Outpost—a classic example of YouChew's creative ingenuity that transcends version numbers. If you want a different experience than what the vanilla game has to offer, try my forge server Revisionist Fables running a custom modpack that's easily installed with the Technic Launcher.
During the last two weeks there have been two very drastic problems in the Minecraft community which affect server admins quite badly—first is the DMCA takedown of the Bukkit project which trickled down into Spigot and Cauldron/MCPC as well. It's quite complicated—essentially because Mojang came out and say they “bought” the Bukkit project a developer realized his GPL code was incompatible with Minecraft's license. This has always been the case, but both sides had looked the other way for years now. So the dev issued a DMCA against the Bukkit repos and all development has halted on it.
From the ashes of Bukkit, the community is trying to pick up the pieces. LexManos is trying to build an abstraction layer on top of Forge to allow better mapping to vanilla Minecraft a-la Bukkit (so server side plugins for Forge much like Bukkit) as well as a very promising SpongePowered project that's organized by the most notable developers within the community. It stands to be the ultimate stand in for Bukkt using it's own API and an original implementation of the Minecraft server rather than Mojang's official one bundled with Craftbukkit.
Now, a week later here's the new drama-bomb. Apparently Mojang and Microsoft are in talks to sell Mojang for $2bn. A Minecraft backed by Microsoft—my god, doesn't that just feel uncomfortable. Now, I should emphasize that until now this is solely just a rumor—nobody knows anything but Mojang's been silent about it since the rumor started turning out. That they've made no commentary yet to dispel its truth means that yes—they are in talks but haven't come to a final conclusion.
Regardless of what Microsoft might bring to the table for Minecraft, whether it be the legendary modding api, more frequent and optimized updates or even a movie (my god, no, please—this game just doesn't work for a movie) there's the problem that Microsoft will assert control. Minecraft videos on YouTube paying the Yogscast, Sethbling and other's paychecks through ad revenue? Gone, likely. Independent servers where the sysop controls every aspect of their server? Gone—Realms will probably be defacto. A premium license to the server software? $600 a year, maybe? Mods—that's DLC, you pay for that.
What I'm getting at is that as a Minecraft admin, I'm a control freak. I want SSH. I want FTP. I want to pick and choose plugins and mods. I want to pick between various server platforms. I don't want my hand held and have Microsoft tell me what I can and cannot do with my server.
My personal theory, however, is that 1.8 is likely the last independent, moddable Minecraft version. SpongePowered, at the rate it's going, will have a 1.8 implementation of the server but after that should Microsoft acquire Mojang, independent server platforms will start receiving C&D's. I also suspect, too, that in an effort to keep players always on the most recent version of Minecraft Microsoft will also exercise it's use of Mojang's authentication servers to blacklist non-Microsoft certified servers running any version prior to what they have current. What's an admin to do, then?
The answer lies in the Minecraft server's offline-mode option in it's config file. Offline mode is a very dangerous mode. If I OP myself in Minecraft and logout, somebody can log into my server under my name and OP themselves and start causing mayhem on the server. Or do it under somebody else's name—say somebody OP's let's say Katkid3000 and then logs in to the server using that name and starts screwing around. My logs would simply say “hey, a player named Katkid3000 did all this stuff.” I'd know that he wouldn't do those things, but it leaves me with the problem of not knowing who'd really do it.
Luckily, however, there are in-server authentication plugins. You log in under a name that's password protected. If you are who you say you're logging in as, you'll know your password and can play. If you're actually spoofing an account and aren't a registered player on the server, you're stuck. Most of these authentication plugins I've found prevent the player from moving or performing any action until they authenticate. So running a server in offline mode isn't as scary as it might sound if you exercise strong permissions, have server-side authentication, enforce a whitelist, and never play with OP or in an admin group.
So should I be right, and Microsoft acquires Mojang and start's restricting how servers can be run I certainly do have contingency plans—some we may incorporate into the Outpost. I've already started assembling an offline-mode emergency kit which contains quite a few server platforms be it Bukkit, Forge, or MCPC/Cauldron—all at least versions 1.4-1.7. Plus a few server platforms we'd probably never use like Canary or Spout but I digress—I have them should we ever need them. Besides, if we never update past 1.8 that far from means that the game will never have new content. There are so many Forge mods out there that add so much new content you'd never play through every mod 100%. Apart from that, no matter which version of Minecraft you play there's always going to be somebody finding a new mini-game in the vanilla game or redstone machine. It's that communal ingenuity that's made Minecraft so versatile since it's inception. From the first person who slapped signs on the sides of a stair block and said “that's a chair,” to the first game of Spleef. Mojang's always let the community decide how it wants to play their game.
I don't necessarily think Microsoft would discourage or stop this sort of ingenuity should the acquisition happen, either. It's just different views where this acquisition would be great for the average player, but restrictive and frustrating to an admin where if we want to continue as we have been for years, we have to brace for being more security conscious than ever and prepare to accept that we'll never update past 1.8, and have to keep the legacy versions as interesting as possible to ensure that nobody gets bored with our servers.
If you haven't played Minecraft in a while, you oughta stop by ChewYork City on the Outpost—a classic example of YouChew's creative ingenuity that transcends version numbers. If you want a different experience than what the vanilla game has to offer, try my forge server Revisionist Fables running a custom modpack that's easily installed with the Technic Launcher.