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[freeformschooler]

Huh... Notch wanted money ("for quality assurance") for the mod API and all the modders said "NO" because that would be essentially paying him to see the readable version of the code which he obfuscated himself.

Now modders can work for free, and see the SVN! Ain't indie games great? (I would like to use the SVN personally and am a java developer but have no interest in modding minecraft. Also I ended this paragraph without a right parentheses to make you uncomfortable.

[ductape]

I am actually not sure that FREE is the best outcome here if he ends up not making it as nice. I would like to see some sort of modder rating system for trusting modders and such, and improvments to the API over time, etc. Without money involved he doesnt have much incentive to simply make it functional and then leave it as is.

[Dutchling]

The cost of the mod api
Because of overwhelming feedback, the cost of the mod api access will be 0 dollars.

Our intention wasn’t to make money off selling the access, only to ensure some level of quality. Obviously that wasn’t the most popular idea in the world.

Can I go back to working on the maps now?

scource

No worries guys!

[PTTG??]

)

[Niveras]

I'm glad he decided to make it free and to keep modability basically as it is now (by directly modifying source rather than working a system in-game that may not expose all parts of it to modding). That said, I'm sure there might be legal concerns with this direction. I don't think this choice would work with a high end title, because Minecraft is going to basically become open source: "agree to this license, and you get access to the full source." This is already how modding works, except it's not yet legally sanctioned and that anyone who does want to go through it needs to get the unobfuscated code (or do it themselves). Hopefully Minecraft's 'indie' cred will keep this from being exploited in some unforseeable way.

Pros:
* Minecraft stays completely moddable. An API could never match or allow everything that's being done right now, because these mods are more like hacks that modify source and an API may not, for example, allow for the possibility of a new resource like electrical energy (or modifying unit AI, for example).
* Modders get to update their mods faster because they don't need to wait for an ubobfuscated source.

Cons
* What will it mean for Minecraft's future? Maybe nothing, maybe everything.
* Who determines whether mods are not 'malicious'? Is someone going through all of a mod's code to see that it's not actually doing anything malicious? Does it merely wait for some industrial player to read through and then pan the mod for this?
* What are the restrictions for being licensed? Presumably owning a copy of Minecraft to start with. Presumably if you break the license your Minecraft account gets banned. Do you need to provide your own real name? Identification?
* What stops piracy of the source(!), which are then developed by people without a license? Accept that it may happen?

I guess all of those cons are really just unanswered questions. I like this change because it keeps things as they are and mods can continue to be game-altering if you so choose (and who knows where things will go with full source access: mods with goal-specific scenario gameplay, maybe?). My concerns are just the unanswered questions.

(!)I guess if you tag the source with an identifier specific to the login which downloaded it, you could track piracy in that way and ban the offending account. That does not preclude the identifier being somehow altered or removed before being rehosted.

[Duke 2.0]

 I understand the reasoning behind both sides and I don't really know which one I agree with more. All the really large mods(Industrialcraft and such) have received enough donations to purchase such licenses so no threat of any quality mods being discontinued by such a system. If you would want to try out modding it would be basically same same as it is now and people have modded it just fine, so there is somewhat of an entrance availability. Kinda roundabout sure, but whatever.

 It's a very tricky situation, and this could easily fall into the same fate as Infiniminer. Minecraft is pretty much what is sustaining his company now, so losing it to multiple fan versions and open-source creep would be devastating.

[Cheese]

Perhaps Notch could have a system like raws for DF, so people who want to dabble can dabble and have the source code licensing for those who really want to get into it.

[Duke 2.0]

 That would pretty much be the modding API. There are not too many stats tied to every block and item, and while opening them all up to the community would be swell they have made stuff that transcends changing the default attributes of blocks. Like information flow from one block to another, animations like in the Piston mod and entity editing like with airplanes or new creatures. He wouldn't be able to give the flexibility that modders need.

[PTTG??]

On the subject of mods; how about a kind of A-life sort of mob that needs to find some kind of block- perhaps something as simple as a grass square that it turns into a dirt square to "eat".

The AI for these could mutate over time, changing the way they choose and path to new food sources and how they detect and avoid predators.

Different climates and terrains would lead to different populations of these critters. The player could corral them and try to train them to follow specific patterns.

[JacenHanLovesLegos]

Like the old sheep?

[0x517A5D]

( [...] Also I ended this paragraph without a right parentheses to make you uncomfortable.

It worked.

Unmatched braces send a chill down my spine. }

[PTTG??]

( [...] Also I ended this paragraph without a right parentheses to make you uncomfortable.

It worked.

Unmatched braces send a chill down my spine. }

Don't worry, I fixed it.

[Tilla]

On the subject of mods; how about a kind of A-life sort of mob that needs to find some kind of block- perhaps something as simple as a grass square that it turns into a dirt square to "eat".

The AI for these could mutate over time, changing the way they choose and path to new food sources and how they detect and avoid predators.

Different climates and terrains would lead to different populations of these critters. The player could corral them and try to train them to follow specific patterns.

This would be really cool, would need to modify creature spawn in general though as things tend to despawn whenever you leave the area.

[Jopax]

A similar thing occured to me, but only malicious, basically a mob that feeds on light, it spawns only underground when there is light there (torches, magma, fires), then either lingers around feeding off the light and attacking players if they come nearby, or if it can consume the source of the light it does so, gaining the ability to glow in the dark thus enabling itself to wander around while attracting others of it's kind.Of course the only lightsource it could eat without harming itself would be torches and lanterns

[0x517A5D]

On the subject of mods; how about a kind of A-life sort of mob that needs to find some kind of block- perhaps something as simple as a grass square that it turns into a dirt square to "eat".

The AI for these could mutate over time, changing the way they choose and path to new food sources and how they detect and avoid predators.

Different climates and terrains would lead to different populations of these critters. The player could corral them and try to train them to follow specific patterns.

This would be really cool, would need to modify creature spawn in general though as things tend to despawn whenever you leave the area.

I think sheep and/or cows used to change grass blocks to dirt blocks. 

Ah hah!  Back in Survival Test, which I never saw.  http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Sheep#Trivia

Regarding A-Life, one of the simplest is already implemented.  It's a Grey Goo Scenario block that turns other blocks near it into its type of block, thus 'eating' the landscape and propagating itself.  I could dig up the discussion on the MC forums, but it would probably take a while.