I live in Iran, and when I tried logging in today to play on my legitimate copy of the Java game that I was gifted by a friend and had for years, I couldn't. They've banned us completely now from logging in at all. It worked just a day ago but not now. Looks like they've rolled out a ban on us along with their newest update.
Why have they banned us on a game and deprived it from us when we already bought it? Isn't that theft and illegal?
A children's block game is not going to help us build nukes or anything, so the sanctions excuse doesn't make sense especially since I already own it.
The Minecraft reddit moderators didn't even show my post, and downvoted it too. Real "inclusive" of you, guys. Great job in helping our government ingraining the belief that the whole world hates Iran in the newer generations minds. The normal people are being squeezed both from the outside and by the government. And just a few days ago before this, our own government banned Discord for us, so I am both isolated from my friends, and now I can't play my game…I am so tired and burnt out by it all. I just want to cry.
This apparently happened in June 2023 as well.
I won’t rule out MS being MS and it being a bug, but it’s possible that they are complying with an order to do this.
Sorry this has happened! Was hoping it may be a migration issue.
VPN?
The old pre-MS client should still work. Can you grab a copy somewhere? I still use the old Mojang to play.
Damn as if the girlies in Iran don’t have enough problems
If VPN’s don’t work, the only thing I can think of is somehow convincing/lying to your Microsoft account that you no longer live in Iran. I however have NO IDEA how to get around to doing that. I’m sorry to hear about your predicament.
I’m so sorry. People have more in common than our governments would like us to think; we can love the same games, music, movies, etc., and (as an American) our countries being “enemies” doesn’t change that. I hope more peaceful times are ahead for all of us 🫂
Another case where buying legitimately will screw you over more than piracy. They can totally do that because like most software, you don’t actually buy a game, you but a right to access the game, which they may revoke at any point without telling you. It’s all part of the end user agreements and it’s in almost everything these days. It’s also how streaming services get away with removing stuff even if there’s no good reason for that. They just can
If purchasing isn’t ownership then piracy isn’t theft
I know this probably doesn’t help, but it is more likely the Iranian government (National Information Network, iirc… I remember some controversy about 5 years ago) or your specific service provider than Microsoft. I believe this type of monitoring is allowed as it is written into the Constitution, but don’t quote me on that.
According to [older sources](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/hello-microsoft-im-iranian-i-bought-minecraft-i/9a35d497-ec9e-45b4-b8e2-a206503d3e83) Microsoft does not engage in banning per country, but merely complies with bans from those governments.
Iran is fairly notorious for keeping a tight control on its internet and associated service providers. They monitor everything (well, not quite as thoroughly as China), and immediately hit the ban button when anyone does anything moderately against their goals. Anything too violent, anti-government, anti-Muslim, etc… It is possible that someone typed something in game chat with a single Iranian player on the same sever that was talking about the Israel/Palestien conflict and the monitors hit the ban hammer immediately on the whole game.
Since Minecraft is creative and people can make what they want, it is only a matter of time before someone stumbles across something they deem inappropriate. The game is banned preemptively while they investigate, then after a while they realize that it doesn’t really need to be banned and then they unban it. This has happened numerous times to many users over the past few years (I think usually at the ISP level).
Either way, I am sorry you are inconvenienced and I hope you can get back to gaming soon.
Ask/search for solutions on Russian Forums. They are the most experienced for this.
How does banning Minecraft even help them?
maybe there are alternative launchers where you don’t have to sign in? something like multiMC or TLauncher? Try googeling around a bit, I mean you have the game installed, you “just” need to to bypass authentification to play offline/single player.
i don’t have anything helpful to contribute but i’m very sorry that this happened 🙁 the least they could do is refund you so you could spend that money on another game to enjoy while everything is going on :/
Ugh I’m so sorry to hear you are dealing with this. It’s not fair and you shouldn’t have to, but if you have access to (or a way of emulating on your PC) either XBOX360, PS3 or Wii U, none of those versions of Minecraft require an active internet connection to run.
Obviously they are older versions but maybe a small consolation for what is terrible and wrong.
If buying isn’t owning, pirating isn’t stealing. Hope you are able to find an old version that doesn’t require login 🙁
I have the same problem
atleast they could give us refund
>Why have they banned us on a game and deprived it from us when we already bought it? Isn’t that theft and illegal?
1. It should be illegal
2. The reasoning is that you don’t own the game, and that you own a license… that they can terminate.
>A children’s block game is not going to help us build nukes or anything, so the sanctions excuse doesn’t make sense especially since I already own it.
This doesn’t help much but the reasoning is that by stopping companies inside Iran from making profits they force them to support policy changes…
I don’t support sanctions against Iran, btw, much less for the reasons America states.
>I live in Iran, and when I tried logging in today to play on my legitimate copy of the Java game that I was gifted by a friend and had for years, I couldn’t.
I’m pretty sure reddit has rules against circumventing sanctions, so I’m not going to suggest that you can probably find a way to crack the game online. Besides even if you could it wouldn’t neccesarily let you access the servers. Reddit also has rules against advocating software piracy, so I’m not going to suggest that you can edit the software to make it work.
I know it’s tempting to do this, especially since there are tutorials online for cracking every kind of software, especially something as common as minecraft, but piracy is illegal and should not be done. So don’t google the tutorials, or videos to circumvent these sanctions.
So my kid can’t play brawl stars without vpn because we’re Russian… This will surely help achieve world peace /s
This is so stupid, i could see why they could ban purchases from sanctioned countries – because moving money through borders is hard – but these pointless bans are just ugh… I guess if they do not want our dictatorship-stained money we would keep money and sail the high seas 🤭
I’m really sorry it is happening to you 🙁
As usual, whoever is in charge are just making things more difficult for common people. And it absolutely sucks to be isolated from both sides
I’m so sorry. VPNing a whole new account located in, say, Germany might work, but you’d have to pay for the game again and might need an alternative payment method, too.
I think this has to do with the government ~~banking~~ blocking stuff. I’d recommend you put ~~off~~ on the pirate’s hat and sail the high seas. There are subreddit about those in which you can ask questions and find safe resources. Subreddits like, “Piracy” and “PirateGames”.
Ask questions there.
It’s pretty much how it goes with any country that the west doesn’t like
personally, i’m in russia, and about a month ago i was sad for a while because my comfort game wasn’t a free demo anymore. and because i can’t add any money to my steam account (i know there’s ways, i don’t want to do them), i can’t play the new version
of course that goes far beyond games. rich and powerful people get to do what they want, while the common people suffer
ukrainian and russian citizens losing their lives over a nothing war. palestinians get genocided while jewish people get opressed. hell, even the simple fact that kim jong un got his uni education in europe while north korea does its best to keep its citizens ignorant of the outside world. the only winners are the people on top
In Iran and other countries with restrictions, it’s basically mandatory to sail the seven seas
If I had the money to get an extra copy of Minecraft for you, I’d just make a new Microsoft account, buy the game, and give you the info. I live in the US so I’d like to see them say shit to me. If they asked why I was trying to sign in from Iran I’d tell them you were my sister. Fuck them.
im from Russia and i heavily sympathize with you, i have been dealing with a lot of the same problems since 2022 and i think this is really stupid
if you want to try playing legitimately, try PrismLauncher, i think it might bypass the region lock while still allowing you to use all the official online features
if that doesn’t work, try using PollyMC (2 Ls, not 1, look for it specifically on Github), since it’s not protected by DRM. you’ll have limited online features and would probably have to use a local network emulator like Radmin to be able to play with friends, but at least you’ll still be able to play the game (if you’re having issues with the setup, DM me)
I’m Iraqi American! And honestly I am so so sorry this is happening to you 🙁 American companies just love silently banning countries or not including them at all war, politics even it’s not in the picture. I remeber going to Iraq one summer and spent a few months feeling how these companies control content and such. And I was disappointed and took my life my parents gave me for granted when others aren’t as fortunate
I’m sorry. I’m assuming Microsoft has to do this in response to the heightened sanctions on Iran.
A few years ago there was a bug that prevented anyone from my country (Norway) from logging in. It was resolved within a few days or faster IIRC. I could login during that time period using lunar client for some reason. If it turns out it’s actually just a temporary login bug, you can try using some alternate minecraft client.
OMG thats horrible X_Xm im tired of countries that make their own people suffer just because and me being from a neighboring country i understand how all of this must be feeling,
all i can say is my heart is with you my friend from accross the gulf and i hope things get better for ALL
Ugh that really sucks 🙁 Like – it’s just Minecraft, what does taking it away even accomplish??? I’m sorry the way US politics have influenced your personal life. I so wish America would get its shit together instead of fucking things up for people elsewhere.
That sucks mate, Maybe try a VPN?