bacon repost

Hello Microsoft,

I am writing this open letter to you in response to your purchase of Mojang, and am speaking as one of the many people who make their full time living in the Minecraft world who are not employees of Mojang. I am a content creator. I use Minecraft as a medium for entertainment on my live broadcasts on Twitch.tv and the money I earn while doing that pays my bills and puts food on my table.

I have every confidence that the employees of Mojang will be well taken care of, the purchase price alone is evidence of that. I am also confident that with Microsoft at the helm Minecraft will do amazing things on mobile platforms and the future of Minecraft as a franchise looks bright.

There are some things left uncertain however and I would like to encourage you to create a way for us as a community to work together with you going forward to ensure a smooth transition and to make sure problems get addressed.

Minecraft, like many indie games, has benefited greatly from the work done by its community. I don’t know what Mojang spends annually on Marketing, but I’m willing to bet that it’s tremendously low given the high volume of sales that Minecraft has. In fact, I’m quite sure that is one of the factors that made the valuation of Mojang so high. Shoestring budget, AAA results. To a large degree they don’t have to market the game because we do it for them. Content creators produce entertainment that millions of people enjoy on Twitch and on YouTube, which has become a monstrous unofficial marketing arm for Minecraft. Additionally, many other talented people are full or part time employed with Minecraft related activities as well. This includes developers, artists, server administrators, animators, marketing specialists, hosting companies, and much more.

As of today however, Minecraft is no longer an indie game. There are those within our community who fear this transition. There is fear that new lawyers will become hostile toward our monetized activities which have been tolerated in the past. Fear that your focus on mobile will make PC Minecraft languish. Fear that non-Microsoft platforms will be dropped. Fear that we will no longer be able to modify and tinker with the game like we have enjoyed doing for so long. Fear that your vision for our community will not match up with ours. And fear that we won’t have a way to communicate concerns with you and have you actually hear and respond.

I believe we have a common interest in that we all want Minecraft to continue to be successful. Below are the things that I would like to see happen in order to make certain the community is still able to flourish:

- Ensure that in spite of your focus on mobile Minecraft, PC minecraft will continue to be developed and that progress on the game won’t be stifled or lag behind, and that non-Microsoft platforms will continue to be supported.

- Demonstrate your commitment to modded Minecraft. Assure us that no matter what directions the game takes, it will remain friendly for modders to tinker with and won’t become encumbered with DRM or hostile EULAs.

- Make sure that when you are drafting EULAs and setting legal policies that you remember that there is a big difference between piracy and content creation. That making videos isn’t an attempt to violate your intellectual property, but an expression of our love for this game. Remember that the people who make money from this game are also acting as your marketing arm and driving both sales and word-of-mouth awareness.

- Perhaps the most important, appoint some sort of community manager that we can directly engage with. Not just an answering machine in a PR department. Someone that we can have a relationship with who will come to us to find out our perspective on things before major changes happen. Someone that we can go to with concerns when changes being made might be bad for the community or threaten our livelihood. This will give us a way to express problems to you so that we don’t have to resort to twitter, reddit, and other social media in order to get your attention.

My particular corner of the Minecraft universe is that of Twitch broadcaster, and while I don’t pretend to speak for everyone in this community, I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have about Twitch culture as it relates to Minecraft. Don’t hesitate to ask.

I sincerely hope that we can find a way to communicate going forward. I hope that fears can be calmed and this wonderful community can continue to flourish. I hope you can trust us enough to share more of what your vision is for this game and what the future holds.

I honestly believe that with open communication and a solid community focus, there is nothing but bright things in store for Minecraft!

Bacon Donut, Minecraft Broadcaster
twitter.com/BaconDonutTV
twitch.tv/bacon_donut