Minecraft - licensing?

[knelmes]

Our head of IT has come in saying there's been 'loads' of news stories about minecraft being a great FREE program for education. I can't see it being free in anyway, am I being stupid? It seems to be £17.95 and if you download the launcher and use an account that you've not paid for, you can only use the demo.

 

Also, 'loads' of schools are using this. Are you? Are you not?

[IrritableTech]

Minecraft Edu is around half the price, but currently only available in US dollars I think (anyone know of a way a school can purchase using a purchase order?). Check out https://minecraftedu.com/about for more info.

[knelmes]

Yeah, I saw that too, seemed the best way to go, but he swears all the news stories have said it's free

[johnat1121]

My college has somehow brought the edu version even though it's on an open share so now a couple of hundred more people have it

[knelmes]

(anyone know of a way a school can purchase using a purchase order?)

 

From the FAQ:

What methods of payment do you accept?

 

We accept payment via a credit card, a bank transfer or we can issue an invoice and accept purchase orders. It most cases we can accept payment via a check drawn on either a US or European Union bank account. Purchase orders can be e-mailed, faxed, or sent via post.

[Blackshades]

I've never heard that at all. I know people do play it, but they do it because it's fun. I personally find it stupid as it is and ridiculous that they say it's good to use for learning purposes. It's a game... That's what teachers are for; to learn the ways of life that they and our parents prepare us for.

[Arthur]

I personally find it stupid as it is and ridiculous that they say it's good to use for learning purposes. It's a game...

Games can be educational too.

[timbo343]

Just had a request from someone at our place about this. Just wondering what the complications would be about having this on our network or even running it through our connection.

 

Would we need to install anything on the machines?

[localzuk]

Just Java really! And a computer chunky enough to run it basically.

[timbo343]

What would the "server" spec be then. Said person has said they will be able to set it up.

[localzuk]

What would the "server" spec be then. Said person has said they will be able to set it up.

 

It really depends on the number of people connecting. If it is just "vanilla" Minecraft, the requirements aren't too bad - a 100Mb or so RAM per connecting player is a good amount to work with - especially if people spread out. You probably want to stick it on an SSD as well, to try and keep IO lag down a bit (it can be a pain with block lag in game). CPU isn't too high for server side, I'd stick it on something i5 or equivalent.