You can allow unverified accounts onto your server if you run java edition. Nobody will have their account skins but who cares. This will allow people to connect and play without purchasing the game. Idk how you get one of these copies though

I miss the experience I had with my old minecraft games from time to time but I'm on Luanti now and no longer at Microsoft's mercy.

It's never the same going back to an old place anyway.

ShatteredPrism, it's a fork of Prism Launcher that don't give a shit about the rules.

I highly recommend freesmlauncher, it’s a fork of prism launcher that doesn’t make you sign in.

You can then set up a Java server and in server.properties, set “online-mode” to false, that makes it so unverified accounts can join.

The only thing to note is that no skins will be present if you do this. There might be a mod that helps, but idk

Have you been keeping tabs on the mineclone projects these past few years? Mineclonia and voxelibre are both excellent Foss alternatives. Most people would struggle to be able to identify MCLA with a MC texture pack as any different from real deal.

I've read that there are some 3rd party launchers that will let you bypass the account requirement for solo play. I haven't dug into it to figure out which one(s) though.

Pretty much, Luanti it is

I have a ligit account I play with.

However, you can play in offline mode using Prism Launcher. Doesn't require a Microsoft account. If you put up a personal Minecraft server, you can disable account checking. I've never tried it though.

I use Prism Launcher offline mode since I only play singleplayer.

I just use legacy launcher https://llaun.ch/en it have banner ofc if u are from EU or USA So here direct links which work

• Windows : https://dl.llaun.ch/legacy/installer

• Mac os : https://dl.llaun.ch/legacy/dmg

• Ubuntu/debian : https://dl.llaun.ch/legacy/deb

• Generic java :https://dl.llaun.ch/legacy/bootstrap

• Source code of project : https://github.com/LegacyLauncher/archive

• wiki of project : https://docs.llaun.ch/

It have integration with Ely.by which implement oauth authorization and allowing to play Minecraft lan version higher than 1.7.10 without Ely.by it not possible ,it will fail encryption communication checks

In addition to what everyone else said, if you are hosting a server, authlib-injector is a thing that switches the auth server from Mojang to something else, meaning that there is actual verification of identity beyond just username.

Multiyggdrasil is a fork of that that lets you use both Mojang and another auth server for maximum compatibility and security with friends.

As someone who has run an offline mode server, it's a question of when, not if, you get griefed