Bukkit: It's time to say ...

Discussion in 'Community News and Announcements' started by EvilSeph, Aug 21, 2014.

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    EvilSeph

    [​IMG]


    When we first set out to add our personal touch to what hMod offered the community 3 and a half years ago, none of us foresaw the success the Bukkit project would end up having. From a rocky start that wasn't of our own making (hMod suddenly disappeared without warning while we were just starting up the project, leaving us ill-prepared to fill the void left over), we stepped up to the challenge and managed to put together a usable, respectable alternative to other server mods. We even went so far as to improve on the Minecraft server itself. I can proudly and confidently say that Bukkit was and is a success: not only were we able to provide a platform for hundreds of thousands of Developers to build upon and make use of, we were also frequently providing our Server Admins with peace of mind knowing that the latest exploits and security holes were addressed in a timely and responsible manner.

    From the get go we were plagued with issues and obstacles we needed to overcome, one of which we were sadly unable to tackle despite our best efforts: the legal barrier of licensing and permission. When starting the Bukkit project and even getting involved with hMod before that, we all knew that our work - no matter how well-intentioned - fell into a dangerous legal grey area. As such, my first priority at the start was to do things right: contact Mojang to try and get permission to continue on with the project and discuss our licensing. Unfortunately, while we did get into contact with Mojang and managed to have a chat with Notch and Jeb themselves (who have said that they don't like our methods but understand that there isn't any alternative and are thus fine with what we were and are doing), we never did get an official meeting with their business side to get legally sound permission to continue as we were and were unable to sort out our licensing issues. To this day we find our project in limbo with a half-applied license some could argue is invalid and little power on our end to do anything about the situation.

    With that realisation came a nagging unease at the back of our minds that at any point in time Mojang could decide they didn't like what we were doing and shut us down - something we were all expecting for the first year or so of the project's life but, to our surprise, never occurred. Naturally, Mojang's conscious decision to not take action on our project gave us the confidence to continue on (something which I'm sure Server Admins out there can relate to given the recent, sudden and unexpected EULA enforcement) and we even later got further confirmation from Notch himself that we were and are allowed to keep proceeding as we always had.

    Fast forward to more recent times and Mojang have made the abrupt and sudden decision to start enforcing their EULA in an effort to quell the outlook of Minecraft being pay to win. While I can completely understand where they are coming from and support their mission to shut down pay to win servers, it's difficult to be supportive of their abrupt turn-around with enforcing rules they consciously decided not to enforce since the start of Minecraft. On top of this, there are also clauses - which it would be irresponsible of us not to be aware of - within the now suddenly enforced EULA that directly affect the Bukkit project.

    Most notably: "The one major rule is that you must not distribute anything we've made". While the EULA does go on to try and clarify what is meant by "anything we've made", I feel that it only serves to confuse the situation even more so. At the end of the day, it seems that Mojang can determine what is a "mod, plugin or hack" of their game on the fly and their recent abrupt turn-around on enforcing the EULA has us understandably worried. Couple this with the fact that it isn't legally viable or acceptable to enforce the EULA piecemeal and our future is clear.

    At this point in time, I think it's safe to say that it's no longer worth it for us to put up a fight when it comes to keeping Bukkit and modding alive. With large and significant changes coming in Minecraft 1.8 that we'll be hard pressed to provide support for and the lack of support from Mojang with updates since acquiring our original core team (Mojang used to provide us with mappings to speed up the update process), there is little motivation for us to continue limping on across various aspects of the project. From a project management standpoint, it's become increasingly difficult to find willing and able individuals to help out the project on a purely voluntary basis due to people losing interest in Minecraft or people looking for something more. Simply put, this was ultimately the final nail in the coffin.

    Nonetheless, no one can deny that we've had a fantastic run as a project. This is due in no small part to the support we received and continue to receive from both the Minecraft community and the many companies and organisations that have graciously chosen to support us with a ridiculous amount of resources, infrastructure and backing - far more than we could have ever asked for. No amount of words can adequately express the gratitude we have for all our sponsors who have supported us through our journey and ensured Bukkit had the infrastructure required to be the vast success it is today. To list all of what these sponsors have done for us would be a post equal in length to this one, so we will unfortunately need to keep it brief. We want to give huge shout-outs and thanks to: eXophase.com for getting us off our feet and hosting us at the start; Multiplay and Curse for swooping in and providing us with (emergency) hosting we continue to use to this day including dl.bukkit.org and our BukkitDev service; as well as AllGamer for providing us test servers whenever we needed a server to certify update and promoted builds or attempt to reproduce a bug report.

    Last, but definitely not least, we'd like to thank the many staff, both past and present, that have volunteered countless hours over the years. I am at a loss for words to express just how much these people have meant to the project and to myself. The core team who have constantly worked hard to update to every new Minecraft version, while adding in new API and improving the server itself. The BukkitDev staff who spend countless hours checking over the fantastic plugins our community creates. Our moderation staff keeping our forums orderly and safe for all people seeking out a great community to be a part of. Additionally, the many unsung people who have helped in various ways despite having no official title, simply because there was work to do. Finally, my administrators, who have tirelessly helped me keep the project functioning as a whole. I would especially like to thank TnT and mbaxter for sticking through it with me to the end, always ready to discuss an issue and provide me with advice.

    It's been a fantastic 3 and a half years of providing what we believe to be the absolute best modding platform for the wonderful Minecraft community to use. We really enjoyed seeing the amazing feats our many Developers and Server Admins achieved with the product we provided and continue to be amazed every day at the ingenuity our community shows. Thanks for everyone's continued support! It has and will continue to mean the world to us. Together we were able to provide a Minecraft server used by hundreds of thousands of servers out there (with our last Recommended Build having over 2.6 million downloads!), which is certainly something to be proud of and a great note to end on.

    This is the end, it's time to say goodbye. It's been an amazing run and we achieved much more than anyone thought was possible, even ultimately culminating in Mojang hiring our original core team. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and the Bukkit project has run its course, leaving me to make one final - incredibly difficult - decision to shut down the project I’ve poured 3 and a half years of my life into which means so much to me. We're no longer able to confidently distribute our modified versions of the Minecraft server and it is no longer smart for us to continue with our update process. Sadly, this means we will NOT be updating Bukkit nor CraftBukkit for Minecraft 1.8 and, since Minecraft 1.7.10 introduced the EULA enforcement, we will be placing the project under a code freeze for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, due to obvious legal reasons we will not be helping anyone else complete any updates nor sharing our methods despite any desire to the contrary. Although the project itself will essentially be no more, we'll continue to support our community, the forums, IRC and BukkitDev as long as we are able and as long as our partners support us with the resources and infrastructure to do so.

    As for us? Well, who knows? Maybe we'll find another game, program or project to be passionate about and we'll be back with a vengeance? Only time will tell, but I hope that we'll see you around the next passion-project of ours when it happens :)


    [lukegb]There's more to come on this. Please read this for more information about where we stand.[/lukegb]
     
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    GamerAuthority

    No! I can't believe this.

    Mojang what have you done!

    I think about 75% of the servers I play on are Bukkit servers. I was fine with the EULA enforcement but now no more bukkit? I think Minecraft's future is coming to an end.

    I will no longer be playing Minecraft after the 1.8 update.

    Great run and I really appreciate the great work you guys have done! Goodbye Bukkit!
     
    GreenMonkey4569 likes this.
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    MylesIsCool

    Thanks for everyone who's contributed to the Bukkit project & the staff which have been behind the project and the community. I wish you guys luck in the future.
     
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    Daxidol

    Thank you for everything, it's been a blast.
     
  5. Thank you guys,
    for such wonderful content! I'm really a fan of you!
    Thanks for all,
    and Goodbye! !
     
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    Schuttle

    I didn't see this coming. But I can't say I am in complete surprise given recent events. Either way, thank you Bukkit for everything all these years and good luck to the future.
     
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    JBoss925

    :( It was a great run. No other server mod can do what you guys do. And you sure made developing a hell of a lot easier :) But I'm sad to see it end.

    You've made multiplayer better than it could have ever hoped to be. Reading that post made me want to cry:'(. We will forever miss the legacy that is Bukkit.

    And with that, I suppose this is the downfall of Minecraft…It's been an amazing experience and every server owner, dev, and player has been affected by your work. Bye Bukkit, I can only hope Mojang sees the errors of it's ways. As for now, I can't wait to see what the next project is. Hopefully it will be as great as Bukkit and have a community just the same.

    One last time…Goodbye Bukkit...

    EDIT: Maybe not???:D
     
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    Gerov

    It was a good project. About 90% of the minecraft community has just been killed off.
     
    SpongyBacon likes this.
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    RandomV0x3L

    Wow this is so sudden. Bukkit has played a huge part in improving the Minecraft server experience and I am sad to see it go. I wish you guys all the best in your future endeavors!
     
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    Xyplo

    I think that it'd be cool if we were to get the #ByeByeBukkit trending on Social Media. (As many as we can).
    http://ctt.ec/zfb55

    [​IMG]
     
    justcool393, ShearsSheep and JBoss925 like this.
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    master801

    Wow. Bukkit is unfortunately shutting down. :\

    I'll miss you Bukkit...
     
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    kamild1996

    Soo... Does it mean there will be no way to extend Minecraft server's abilities in any form from now on? Some people probably thought that you being hired by Mojang means the vanilla Minecraft server will get Bukkit functionality.

    Thank you for contributing to Minecraft community, it's been pleasure to have you there. :(
     
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    dintendocoltd

    So many years of coding into this amazing project - All the developers of Bukkit deserve a final party.
     
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    Bloxcraft

    Wow. It's been a good run, Bukkit, sad to see it go.

    R.I.P. The Bukkit Project, 2011-2014
     
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    jkcclemens

    Shame that this has to be. I'm continually surprised by how amazing the Bukkit community is, and it's honestly one of the best things that has happened to me in my programming career. Bukkit has been a cornerstone of many a server and a creator of great friends and ideas. It's hard to say goodbye, even for me, so the creators of such a brainchild giving it up can only be the more terrible.

    I may not be terribly well-known in the community, but I was BukkitDev staff at one point (and TnT will probably remember me working for a while and then dying off), and I ran two successful plugin-creation competitions. I was very much looking forward to remaining active in the community and riding the wave of fun that the project has created. I have met some amazing people here, and I'm sure we'll remain good friends. It's a shame that others may not have that opportunity (in the same way).

    However, I remain hopeful that Mojang may make changes to the wording of its EULA and that EvilSeph (and team) may want to take it back up again. I hope that, if that happens, there are people talented (plenty, in this community) and willing enough to help hoist Bukkit back up. If not, it was a wild ride. I may not have been here from the beginning, but it was a great experience.

    Thanks for the awesomeness. Actually getting a little teary-eyed writing this. Of course, I'll remain in IRC, which is like a home. It's been fun, and I hope that, one day, it can be fun once more.
     
    Zettelkasten, Bone008 and kamild1996 like this.
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    DevSock

    It was a good run, lets hope someone steps up to the plate to continue on the legacy. Otherwise, this decision might just kill Minecraft for good. The original Bukkit will be missed though. Thanks for the years of work.
     
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    Searchndstroy

    Bukkit will be missed. :(
     
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    amazed2025

    I... I'm crying... :'( :( Great job Bukkit! You've done us all well. :)
     
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    ObiCrowe

    I shed a tear reading this. I wish you all the best of luck in life and to everyone who worked with Bukkit. It's been a nice run, take care lads I'll always have your back.
     
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    frash23

    How much did Mojang pay you?
     
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    CrazyCloakedMSC

    This is.. hard to believe.. I'm sorry to see you guys go. Thank you for supporting servers for so long. I'm having a hard time understanding how many servers are gonna continue.
     
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    Pepijn96

    Thanks for the great work! You helped Minecraft becoming what it is today!

    And uhm... Maybe give out some stuff. For others to mess around with, mhmm...?
     
    ChipDev likes this.
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    Drew1080

    Been here at Bukkit for over 2 years now, and I have loved every bit of it.
    Thanks to everyone that has made it such a great experience to be here. :)
    Really going to miss the members here.

    Thanks again guys for the awesome time here.
    -Drew1080
     
  24. Thats not funny! Srsly?
     
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    LilProgrammer

    Wow, thanks alot for all of this. If it weren't for the Bukkit project, I would've never gotten into programming. Thanks for the great run. :)
     
    tangochicken likes this.
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    Syd

    Thank you for all you did so, far, but don't expect me to feel any sympathy for this decision.
    I think it's simply wrong and the reasons are made up.
     
    frash23 likes this.
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    Dant35tra5t

    Thank you soo much for your efforts Bukkit Team. You may not know me, but Ive been around bukkit since it was founded. I have not known any better mods that can do what you guys do. I have been Hosting minecraft servers for 3 and a half years and i've got to say its been a long but fun journey. Something that I will not forget for the rest of my life. Its been fun guys and i hope you return to kick some more @$$!
    LONG LIVE BUKKIT
     
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    Tanki_Wide

    It was a very good project. Thanks for everything and goodbye :9 !
     
    Skyost likes this.
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    jarroyonaples

    Thank You for everything. Bukkit is what basically brought a lot of huge servers to exist today. It we a great run, and your legacy will live on. :)
     
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    trentman678

    Long story short Bukkit has stoped running and minecraft is going to die
     
    ChipDev, Cliffordlittle and gzehler like this.
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    Phiwa

    I really thank you for your effort and your way of making Minecraft the best multiplayer game in the world!
    My project DragonTravel somehow changed my life and it was only possible because Bukkit existed!
     
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