Mojang will soon start its transition of Minecraft: Java Edition Accounts to Microsoft Accounts

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

This is Tech News, right?

 

Summary

Since its inception, the security behind Minecraft accounts have been, well shit. But not anymore! Now, all new Minecraft Accounts in 2021 will be linked to a Microsoft Account, and all existing Minecraft/Mojang accounts will have to be converted into a Microsoft Account. Mojang is gearing up to start this transition in early 2021. Unlike the change that happened in like what, 2013? This transition is Mandatory, meaning if you do not convert your Mojang account, you will not be able to play. This will bring 2FA, added security, and parental controls to Minecraft: Java Edition. You'll also receive a "special" cape, which won't be so "special" because literally everyone else will be getting it... woo...

 

Everything will be kept, including skins and IGNs. All that's changing is the infrastructure behind the account.

 

Quotes

Quote

"Change can also pave the way for a better future. That’s why we’ve decided that moving forward, all of our games will require a Microsoft account to play – including Minecraft Java Edition. Why? Think of it as moving house; when you outgrow one place, you move on to the next. It involves a logistic effort, but once you’re settled in your new home, you realize you’d do it ten times over just for that extra room. Except in our case, the extra room is all of these features, from which all Microsoft accounts will benefit: 

• Increased security for your account with two-factor authentication. In other words, it’s harder for someone to access your account without your permission.   
• All your PC Minecraft games will be connected to the same account. Currently, that’s Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons, but who knows what we'll do next?   
• Improved parental controls to help keep kids safe when playing online.   
• Chat and invitation blocking.   

Now just to be clear, migrating from Mojang to Microsoft accounts is mandatory...."

 

"After you’ve moved, everything you love about Java will still be there. You’ll still be able to create and use mods and skins (while keeping your existing ones, of course), as well as play with friends on Java servers (regardless of version). You’ll also keep your Minecraft Java username, and new players will still get to choose their Minecraft username. The only difference? You’ll receive a cool reward once you’ve logged in with your Microsoft account: a special cape!"

 

My thoughts

2FA. Need I say more? This is something that the Minecraft community has been lacking for years, and for it being the most popular game in the world it was actually shocking to see that its security level is just a single email to a possibly breached account. No 2FA apps, no special recovery code, hell not even an SMS verification code. Just a link in an email. Actually appalling. A change is overdue in this department. I don't know if I would've seen this specifically coming at all, but at the same time why reinvent the wheel when you're owned by one of the largest and one of the best tire companies? This will break all 3rd party launchers as soon as this transition starts, but so did the first transition, so that's pretty much a given.

 

Overall I think this will be a positive change. I guess boohoo to the people that really hate Microsoft and how they spy on people yet have Google/YouTube and Facebook accounts to complain about it (that's seriously beyond me), but this change was long overdue and I'm glad it finally happened.

 

Sources

Java Edition is moving house | Minecraft

[pythonmegapixel]

The important question I have is whether logging into Mojang with a Microsoft account on Windows 10 will add that account across the entire OS. There are several reasons I do not want to do that.

 

The other question I had was whether I would be able to keep the name "pythonmegapixel" in Minecraft (my concern being that my full, real name associated with my MS account will start to appear in-game) but according to the FAQ this won't happen.

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, pythonmegapixel said:

The other question I had was whether I would be able to keep the name "pythonmegapixel" in Minecraft (my concern being that my full, real name associated with my MS account will start to appear in-game) but according to the FAQ this won't happen.

hell no, imagine the mess with servers. A username change will not change what's on the server, so you lose all your stuff and on whitelisted servers, cannot log in at all.

[Kanna]

Well that would just be shit mac users would have to create a microsoft account for like no reason same with linux users, It could also benefit by getting 2fa but I just don’t like this idea

[pythonmegapixel]

Just now, Kanna said:

Well that would just be shit mac users would have to create a microsoft account for like no reason same with linux users, It could also benefit by getting 2fa but I just don’t like this idea

No different to before, when you had to create a Mojang account to play Minecraft...

 

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

hell no, imagine the mess with servers. A username change will not change what's on the server, so you lose all your stuff and on whitelisted servers, cannot log in at all.

Excellent point...also MC usernames have to be unique and I hate to think how many John Smiths play Minecraft!

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

4 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

The important question I have is whether logging into Mojang with a Microsoft account on Windows 10 will add that account across the entire OS. There are several reasons I do not want to do that.

No. Since Windows 8 introduced Live/Microsoft accounts on a system level, you've been able to log in to your Microsoft account on an app to app basis. Remember, the same MS consumer infrastructure is used in E365, and for many reasons people don't log into Windows with their work/school account, so this workaround is present.

 

Of course it will beg and plead you to log in with it, but just click "this app only" when it says if you want to use your Microsoft account on the computer.

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

1 minute ago, Kanna said:

Well that would just be shit mac users would have to create a microsoft account for like no reason same with linux users, It could also benefit by getting 2fa but I just don’t like this idea

The same would happen if Mojang were bought by Google or Apple, just replace "Microsoft Account" with GMail or iCloud.

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

Just now, Escanor said:

I absolutely hate the way they keep nagging for secret questions its complete BS they should've just setup a mail that sends you a code which would be actually secure, secret question just adds annoyance, figure phishers are gonna have a field day soon since migration has not started yet by the looks of it so people will be googling how to migrate and end up on phishing page.

On the FAQ it said they would send instructions directly to you on an email. This will be an issue for the millions who don't have access to that email or for some godforsaken reason are still unmigrated, but for most I don't see this being a huge issue.

[Kanna]

2 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

No different to before, when you had to create a Mojang account to play Minecraft...

 

Excellent point...also MC usernames have to be unique and I hate to think how many John Smiths play Minecraft!

Well I just feel a mojang account is easier 

[pythonmegapixel]

Just now, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

Of course it will beg and plead you to log in with it, but just click "this app only" when it says if you want to use your Microsoft account on the computer.

I've had this before when I tried to set up Office under my school's 365 license - it wanted me to log into the entire system with my school account, and while I had to confirm about 3 times that I only wanted to set up Office, it did eventually let me off...

 

Just now, Kanna said:

Well I just feel a mojang account is easier 

Why?

[Kanna]

Just now, pythonmegapixel said:

I've had this before when I tried to set up Office under my school's 365 license - it wanted me to log into the entire system with my school account, and while I had to confirm about 3 times that I only wanted to set up Office, it did eventually let me off...

 

Why?

Well my microsoft account is actually my moms and I want to reuse that for xbox reasons but now I will have to use her mail to log in / verifiy

[pythonmegapixel]

Just now, Kanna said:

Well my microsoft account is actually my moms and I want to reuse that for xbox reasons but now I will have to use her mail to log in / verifiy

Fair enough... but that is something specific to you... most people will have their own Microsoft account, and if they don't then they'll easily be able to create one.

 

I don't think the system is intended for you to share accounts anyway- why not just get your own?

 

*************************

 

One other thing I don't like about how they're handling the transition is that you have to wait for an email to come through and then go through the process. In my opinion it would be better if they let the "early adopters" - those who are of the mind to find out about the change by themselves - do it, and then start emailing people after a certain amount of time if they haven't done that.

 

The main issue I have with this system is that my Mojang account is associated with an inbox I rarely check, so you bet I'm going to miss that email...

[Kanna]

3 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Fair enough... but that is something specific to you... most people will have their own Microsoft account, and if they don't then they'll easily be able to create one.

 

I don't think the system is intended for you to share accounts anyway- why not just get your own?

 

*************************

 

One other thing I don't like about how they're handling the transition is that you have to wait for an email to come through and then go through the process. In my opinion it would be better if they let the "early adopters" - those who are of the mind to find out about the change by themselves - do it, and then start emailing people after a certain amount of time if they haven't done that.

 

The main issue I have with this system is that my Mojang account is associated with an inbox I rarely check, so you bet I'm going to miss that email...

Yeah it is a issue specific to me tbh, but I will fix it, I could always setup a mail forwarder

[Zeexel]

Quote

 You'll also receive a "special" cape, which won't be so "special" because literally everyone else will be getting it... woo...

Wonder how this is gonna affect people who support OptiFine since they get a free cape when they donate. I dont remember how optifine handles players who have vanilla capes.

[Kanna]

1 minute ago, Zeexel said:

Wonder how this is gonna affect people who support OptiFine since they get a free cape when they donate. I dont remember how optifine handles players who have vanilla capes.

It will probably stay the same since you will have your mc username

[Zeexel]

Just now, Kanna said:

It will probably stay the same since you will have your mc username

I don't mean like how OptiFine will handle capes based on the user, I'm talking about how they plan to deal with players who have vanilla capes already. Afaik that was never thought of but I could very well be wrong.

 

e.g. if DinnerBone were to support optifine, since he has a cape, how would optifine deal with him already having a cape?

[Kanna]

3 minutes ago, Zeexel said:

I don't mean like how OptiFine will handle capes based on the user, I'm talking about how they plan to deal with players who have vanilla capes already. Afaik that was never thought of but I could very well be wrong.

 

e.g. if DinnerBone were to support optifine, since he has a cape, how would optifine deal with him already having a cape?

They stated that every mojang detail will transfer

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

14 minutes ago, Caroline said:

RIP my pirate launcher I guess.

 

I only play survival and alone so it's not like I'm hacking into the CIA servers to play with others.

I'm pretty sure pirated copies of MC will still work. Not gonna go into it too much though for obvious reasons.

[rcmaehl]

Quote

Will I now be able to play Bedrock on PC and Java with the same account?

A: If you migrate your Java account to a Microsoft account that already has Bedrock (on any platform) then you’ll be able to access both games under one account!

[JoeCoke]

I hope Hytale tears this game down... This game adds a few new blocks, a mob, and +10% server lag and calls it an update. (seriously, this game has been laggy shit since 1.13) That's been the cycle for years now. Mojang is lazy and Microsoft sucks. This game is completely carried by it's community (servers are built by community, mods are built by community, plugins, etc etc etc) and all Microsoft has done is make it harder for the community. Trying to take down bukkit, trying to get a cut of big server's income, etc. As someone who has played off and on since beta, I'm ready for better. Bye Minecraft!

[Salv8 (sam)]

no. just no.

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

6 minutes ago, 2Buck said:

I hope Hytale tears this game down... This game adds a few new blocks, a mob, and +10% server lag and calls it an update. (seriously, this game has been laggy shit since 1.13)

Pre 1.13 I would've made the same case that Minecraft doesn't listen to its community. But since then, I would say quite the opposite. They've added features the community has wanted, community votes, etc. For instance, we say oceans are bad, they fix them. We say villager trading is bad, they fix it. We say the Nether is boring, they fix it. We say caving is bad, they fix it. It's pretty disingenuous to sit here and say that Minecraft updates are trash and they don't listen to the community.

 

And peak server-lag for me was in 1.9. Since 1.13 and recently 1.15, lag has been all but solved. And like most other games that have evolved, Minecraft's minimum/recommended requirements have changed. Now, they recommend you run Minecraft on a Haswell-based i5 processor, while years back they were touting Sandy Bridge and Nehalem. They have to work within a bigger footprint now, because the game has gotten a lot bigger. It's not just a simple game that launches in 3 seconds anymore. If you expect a game to evolve like you want it to + keep the same hardware requirement, you're nuts.

12 minutes ago, 2Buck said:

Mojang is lazy and Microsoft sucks.

Gone through the first part, and nevermind the fact that Microsoft has no intention of changing the Java Edition at all, and has stated that. This transition has been the closest they've been to touching the Java edition, and if the people at Mojang really didn't like it, I'd think you'd see some people resign from their jobs.

14 minutes ago, 2Buck said:

This game is completely carried by it's community (servers are built by community, mods are built by community, plugins, etc etc etc) and all Microsoft has done is make it harder for the community.

Minecraft has quite literally always had a dedicated community. This isn't something that popped up like 2 years ago, what are you on about? And servers like Hermitcraft and the Dream SMP prove your "community-made only thesis" wrong as many people still enjoy both watching and playing pure-vanilla Minecraft. What has Microsoft actually done to make it harder for the community? They didn't add microtransactions to Java edition like everyone feared they would, they didn't axe modding, like everyone feared they would, and they didn't stop skin changes and name changes, like everyone feared they would. Microsoft only has the "Minecraft" name for bedrock edition, something they see as more profitable than the Java edition. They don't touch the Java edition.

15 minutes ago, 2Buck said:

Trying to take down bukkit, trying to get a cut of big server's income, etc.

I'm not aware of the first part, sources? But Bukkit is dead and Spigot has long replaced it, and Paper that. I assume you're talking about the EULA for the second part, which wasn't the premise behind it. Many servers were acting against Minecraft's EULA with p2w and other stuff, so Mojang enforced it. Microsoft literally had nothing to do with it, in fact if you want the actual timeline, Mid 2014, Mojang enforces its EULA, and after community backlash Notch sells the company to the highest bidder, aka Microsoft.

[pythonmegapixel]

17 minutes ago, Salv8 (sam) said:

no. just no.

could you possibly elaborate?

 

I'm yet to see a convincing argument that this is on the whole a bad thing.

[JoeCoke]

28 minutes ago, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

 

Geeeee..... I wonder what sparked recent and sudden motivation from Mojang... Oh wait...
 

1.15 all but solved lag? Uh. Okay, why does a almost stock paper server lag with only 20 players and 8 client view distance suffer from lag spikes? If this game were optimized, clients would be able to have 16 render distance, but the default setting is 10 and even that will lag with enough players. I've done testing on 1.15.2 and it's crap!

Microsoft has barely touched Java edition, but it's clear what Microsoft wants. One look at bedrock and you can see the future of the game.

 

I never said the game was only recently community carried, since when did I say that? It's always been.

 

What has mojang done to make it harder? Off the top of my head, worse performance with each update, worse server lag with each update, doing shit like completely changing the way item IDs are handled causing lots of plugins to have to be built from scratch for virtually no reason, not addressing how easy it is to cheat, etc. I could probably come up with a lot more, point is, until recently, the company has done NOTHING.

 

Forgot that dumpster fire was pre-microsoft, no matter, it still happened and is probably the sole reason Hypixel started making their own game in the first place.

[Kanna]

10 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

could you possibly elaborate?

 

I'm yet to see a convincing argument that this is on the whole a bad thing.

His answer will go ”no, just no”