3 ms·

Huh, is Minecraft Java edition free now? I haven't played in a long time but I thought when you download the regular client you only get to play after signing i

Huh, is Minecraft Java edition free now? I haven't played in a long time but I thought when you download the regular client you only get to play after signing in with an account that purchased the game, how is this thing just starting the game directly?

looperhacks 2y ago
You could always play Minecraft without an account. But you can't join most servers that enable authentication checks
- h4x0rr 2y ago
  Well yeah you could play without an account with a cracked launcher
  - lelandbatey 2y ago
    At first, there was no launcher there was just the Minecraft.jar file which you could launch to start playing. That's what the parent page is doing; it's just having us download and run the game, no need for a launcher.
    - immibis 2y ago
      Yes. Downloading a game file you don't own and running it is called piracy, so beware of possible legal ramifications.
- __jonas 2y ago
  Ah cool I didn't know, I thought the download of the actual full client was gated behind a login since even third party launchers seemed to require you to log in to play, good to know!
immibis 2y ago
Nope, this is piracy. Which you may or may not consider a bad thing, but there will be lawyers in this person's future.
- jillyboel 2y ago
  > Clicking the button below will download the client from mojang.com. By clicking it, you agree to the Minecraft EULA. It's literally just downloading the client from https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/4a2fac7504182a97dcbcd7560c6392d7c8139928/client.jar https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/4a2fac7504182a97dc... where mojang makes it publicly available. It's an older version so it's not linked on their website anymore, but you can find the same download link on the wiki: https://minecraft.wiki/w/Java_Edition_1.2.5 https://minecraft.wiki/w/Java_Edition_1.2.5 What makes you think they will have "lawyers in their future"?
  - immibis 2y ago
    Lawyers and judges care about the overall effect of a thing, not the technical steps you take to make it happen. The overall effect is: Someone goes to your website, and plays Minecraft for free. Therefore you gave them the service of playing Minecraft for free. Which is illegal. The fact that the file comes from Microsoft's server is one of those "technicalities" that you've heard about some people sometimes, but not usually, getting off on. Microsoft will probably argue that the login prompt is a technological protection measure, which makes it blanket illegal to work around, due to the over-broad DMCA. That technicality is about as likely to work against you, as the "it's from their server so I didn't distribute it" technicality is to work for you... Mandatory disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.
    - jillyboel 2y ago
      Start with suing the minecraft wiki then I guess Also you should probably advice mojang to put some authentication on their download URLs, which have been publicly documented for more than a decade by now. There is no login prompt. This project is over a year old. You are just misinterpreting the situation. This is like threatening to sue Mozilla because you can use Firefox to click on a download button, or Microsoft because double clicking on an exe on Windows runs the application.
jillyboel 2y ago
It's running minecraft 1.2.5 which was released in 2012, which mojang still makes available
- accrual 2y ago
  One can get early Alpha and Beta versions of Minecraft through the official launcher too. I think this is a nice benefit - you buy the game once and have perpetual access to the latest version, but also all the old versions which are worth playing for various reasons e.g. Beta 1.7.3 is very popular because it's one of the last versions before the terrain and cave generation was significantly changed.
  - tialaramex 2y ago
    Also Modded Minecraft is extremely popular, and the mods necessarily aren't version agnostic, so you need to be able to run a specific Minecraft version to play the pack of mods you're currently enjoying. Right now I am playing Enigmatica 2: Expert, which is a mod pack for Minecraft 1.12 Today I need to teleport to my spaceship which is in orbit around a distant planet and then fly it back to our solar system and visit Mars, as I have neglected to obtain materials from Mars which I need to build this end game item I'm working on. It's still recognisably Minecraft even though I'm working with a 9x9 crafting grid. It has internal consistency, dragons hoard rare metals, Plutonium is a rare metal, therefore make sure to bring hazmat handling equipment if you're about to plunder a dragon's hoard.
autoexec 2y ago
A long time ago I looked for a way to download Minecraft to install on systems without any internet connection and it just wouldn't work. I even tired alternate launchers, but eventually gave up. Maybe the situation has changed and it's possible now though.

looperhacks 2y ago

You could always play Minecraft without an account. But you can't join most servers that enable authentication checks

h4x0rr 2y ago
Well yeah you could play without an account with a cracked launcher
- lelandbatey 2y ago
  At first, there was no launcher there was just the Minecraft.jar file which you could launch to start playing. That's what the parent page is doing; it's just having us download and run the game, no need for a launcher.
  - immibis 2y ago
    Yes. Downloading a game file you don't own and running it is called piracy, so beware of possible legal ramifications.
__jonas 2y ago
Ah cool I didn't know, I thought the download of the actual full client was gated behind a login since even third party launchers seemed to require you to log in to play, good to know!

immibis 2y ago

Nope, this is piracy. Which you may or may not consider a bad thing, but there will be lawyers in this person's future.

jillyboel 2y ago
> Clicking the button below will download the client from mojang.com. By clicking it, you agree to the Minecraft EULA. It's literally just downloading the client from https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/4a2fac7504182a97dcbcd7560c6392d7c8139928/client.jar https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/4a2fac7504182a97dc... where mojang makes it publicly available. It's an older version so it's not linked on their website anymore, but you can find the same download link on the wiki: https://minecraft.wiki/w/Java_Edition_1.2.5 https://minecraft.wiki/w/Java_Edition_1.2.5 What makes you think they will have "lawyers in their future"?
- immibis 2y ago
  Lawyers and judges care about the overall effect of a thing, not the technical steps you take to make it happen. The overall effect is: Someone goes to your website, and plays Minecraft for free. Therefore you gave them the service of playing Minecraft for free. Which is illegal. The fact that the file comes from Microsoft's server is one of those "technicalities" that you've heard about some people sometimes, but not usually, getting off on. Microsoft will probably argue that the login prompt is a technological protection measure, which makes it blanket illegal to work around, due to the over-broad DMCA. That technicality is about as likely to work against you, as the "it's from their server so I didn't distribute it" technicality is to work for you... Mandatory disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.
  - jillyboel 2y ago
    Start with suing the minecraft wiki then I guess Also you should probably advice mojang to put some authentication on their download URLs, which have been publicly documented for more than a decade by now. There is no login prompt. This project is over a year old. You are just misinterpreting the situation. This is like threatening to sue Mozilla because you can use Firefox to click on a download button, or Microsoft because double clicking on an exe on Windows runs the application.

jillyboel 2y ago

It's running minecraft 1.2.5 which was released in 2012, which mojang still makes available

accrual 2y ago
One can get early Alpha and Beta versions of Minecraft through the official launcher too. I think this is a nice benefit - you buy the game once and have perpetual access to the latest version, but also all the old versions which are worth playing for various reasons e.g. Beta 1.7.3 is very popular because it's one of the last versions before the terrain and cave generation was significantly changed.
- tialaramex 2y ago
  Also Modded Minecraft is extremely popular, and the mods necessarily aren't version agnostic, so you need to be able to run a specific Minecraft version to play the pack of mods you're currently enjoying. Right now I am playing Enigmatica 2: Expert, which is a mod pack for Minecraft 1.12 Today I need to teleport to my spaceship which is in orbit around a distant planet and then fly it back to our solar system and visit Mars, as I have neglected to obtain materials from Mars which I need to build this end game item I'm working on. It's still recognisably Minecraft even though I'm working with a 9x9 crafting grid. It has internal consistency, dragons hoard rare metals, Plutonium is a rare metal, therefore make sure to bring hazmat handling equipment if you're about to plunder a dragon's hoard.

autoexec 2y ago

A long time ago I looked for a way to download Minecraft to install on systems without any internet connection and it just wouldn't work. I even tired alternate launchers, but eventually gave up. Maybe the situation has changed and it's possible now though.