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Hello!
Let’s get one thing clear: we love it when Minecrafters host servers. Tiny or massive, running vanilla Minecraft or a heavily modded version, we think they’re all great. Playing with friends in persistent worlds is awesome. Everyone knows that.
Over the past week there’s been lots of discussion about Minecraft servers and your right to monetise them. Legally, you are not allowed to make money from our products. There has been one exception to this rule so far – Minecraft videos. We’re about to make a second exception – Minecraft servers.
Hosting servers can be expensive. We want to give community members a way to cover their costs. That said, we don’t want our players to be exploited, or to have a frustrating time unless they pay. The following rules, which may be tweaked at a later date, have been created with those points in mind.
You are allowed to charge players to access your server
So long as the fee is the same for all players, you are allowed to charge for access to your server. You are not allowed to split your playerbase into paying, and non-paying users, nor can you restrict gameplay elements to different tiers of player.
Basically, if you’re charging for access to your server, you are selling a “ticket” and there can only be one type of ticket, no matter how much people are willing to spend.
You are allowed to accept donations
You are allowed to accept donation from your players. You can thank them publicly, or in-game, but can’t give them preferential treatment for donating. You are not allowed to restrict gameplay features in an attempt to make money.
You are allowed to provide in-game advertising or sponsorship opportunities
Running servers can be expensive, with that in mind, you are allowed to put adverts in your Minecraft worlds to help with costs. Used within reason, adverts and sponsorship can be good ways to fund a server.
You are allowed to sell in-game items so long as they don’t affect gameplay
We don’t mind you selling items in game, but they must be purely cosmetic. Pets, hats, and particle effects are OK, but swords, invincibility potions, and man-eating pigs are not. We want all players to be presented with the same gameplay features, whether they decide to pay or not.
There is one exception to this rule – capes! We have a lot of fun making cool capes for extra-special members of our community and Minecon attendees. We’d like to keep them as exclusive as possible. So, yeah, no capes please, for free or otherwise.
You cannot charge real-world cash for in-game currency
We don’t mind you making up currencies which players earn through playing but you are not allowed to sell it for real-world cash. Remember – if the stuff you sell affects gameplay, we’re not cool with it.
Don’t pretend to be us, and provide your customers with loads of info!
If you do decide to monetise your server, you must clearly state that the purchase is not associated with Mojang, declare who the money is going to, and provide a purchase history and contact details. You should also check up on the legality of selling digital items in your specific region.
Thanks for reading!
As I hope you’ve noticed, these rules are making attempts to prevent Minecraft servers becoming “pay-to-win.” We hate the idea of server hosts restricting Minecraft’s features to players who have already bought our game! It seems really mean.
We’re hoping that these rules will give hosts opportunity to continue creating awesome Minecraft worlds, and for our players to enjoy them without worrying about cash.
Have a good day!
Can't help but think of Incredibles.
This is possible yes, but definitely not bulletproof. The bigger servers would not want to run under such conditions, especially when they are such big, bullseye targets. Mojang could trace the IP and have their lawyer(s) contact the server's host and/or ISP and have the internet access cut off permanently if the server doesn't listen to a "friendly warning" and correct the course, with a domestic court order if necessary. Of course this is the worst case scenario for the server and may very well not happen, but I don't think any party with reputation and interests would want to test the limits of the law.
i always hated pay-to-win servers and donation ranks. This forces people to make money in a fair and balanced way. if a few serevrs die because of it, so be it.
It probably doesn't help the majority of posters sound like spoiled, entitled children whining because they can't do whatever they want with the new toy they bought. A gun may be a weapon, but you're not entitled to rob someone with it or break any other 'rules'. Same with the game.
Btw, I've seen this argument used too much by certain posters on this thread. You may or may not own the server hardware with which you host a Minecraft server, but you definitely do NOT own the 'server', that is, the software written by Mojang, based on their code, or ported. That covers Forge, Bukkit, Spigot, etc... ALL of these software setups are based on Mojang code, and arguably 'belong' to them. You, as a player, 'server' owner, coder, modeler, pack maker, etc... are not entitled to anything outside of the EULA.
To the people with the "We can/will do as we please".
You are not right, you are wrong.
You're breaking their rules and can be held legally accountable. If you choose to do that, fine. You know what that means. Don't give those of us who legitimately want to work within the system set up by Mojang to advance the game and it's wonderful community a hard time because we choose to play within the rules. You have made the choice to act in the manner that best suits you, not your users. Don't try to pretend this isn't about the money. Yes, servers cost money. I would add that the poster who mentioned $300/year in hosting costs for a semi-popular server is most likely thinking of a small 1-20 person server. Anything with 50-200 is considerably more, and $300 per month, not year, is definitely logical and common. It's a reality that few players take seriously.
It basically comes down to whether or not you choose to follow their rules or not. If you do, good for you. If you don't, don't be surprised when it bites you in the backside.
I'm okay with server owners who run big operations to charge for them, personally. Doesn't mean I'll join that server, but you mistake my intent. I don't think it's okay at all to charge for gameplay enhancing items. I do think it's okay to ask for donations and even to charge for membership into a server. But to go under the guise of F2P and say "Well if you give us this much we'll give you access to iron tools, if you give us this much we'll give you diamond tools, and if you'd like your own special plot of land in game to develop on, give us this much." That crap is just that, crap and it turns me (and most people) off to the big servers. I've tried playing on a few servers like this and in the end it always made me leave and just play on my own or in small groups with my friends. I honestly don't think it'd hurt Minecraft, it'd just hurt the people trying to leech off Minecrafts success by trying to make a living off of running a server. You can run a server perfectly fine with donations and even membership fees when done right. No reason to do that other bs.
It is very much their business.
Good job Mojang!
Pretty much summed it up better than anyone. +1
That's why you pay with PayPal, so you can file a complaint with them to get a refund if the server people screw you over. This is also why I personally wouldn't pay any significant amount of money to join a server, as this is obviously a potential issue. That being said, if something like that happens I'd also come here and post about it (with screenshots as proof). Reputation is a big deal in the Minecraft community and most of the more mainstream servers want to maintain a good rep.
You can charge for access to the server? Define "access".
Everyone paid or not spawns into a "tour of server" space that talks about the server, what it does, and offers captive teleport portals to glassed-in sightseeing platforms in various towns and popular spaces for anyone to look around and see what there is to offer. People in this area cannot speak in global chat (if available) but can see it at least, and can talk to mods/admins to ask questions about the server.
But to actually leave this introduction-to-server access space to actually play on the server, that requires paid access.
Well my six year old son thinks that everyone should be able to use TNT, but this is why we don't let him play on other peoples servers
I get what you say, but I think there are ways to control griefers without making a paywall. Some of the better servers I've been on usually have a tiered ranking system and you have to basically behave well and contribute to the community to earn rank and eventually get the capability of using stuff like TNT.
Maybe they would, if it was honestly worth the money, and the community actually willing to keep it alive themselves. However, above are two other options that could also support the server, advertising and universal fees as well. Hell, if I actually played Minecraft more frequently and had a server to play on that required donations, I'd gladly donate a few dollars if it was good (or pay a small universal fee).
But, your argument is essentially irrelevant. This is how it is, and how it should have been according to the EULA. If you don't like it, there isn't much that can be done anyway, this is what Mojang wants, this is what the players agreed to, and that's that.
seeing as far as I can tell hardly any servers are even going to bother changing even the smallest little detail about their donations or the way they run things.
oh well the fame, power and money was bound to go to your head sooner or later.
congrats on the running start down the path that EA, Activsion and countless others have paved.
Actual access beyond a read-only view of the world requires payment.
That's unfair and just shows laziness on the servers side along with lack of resourcefulness.
IT IS PERFECTLY possible for EVERYONE to have access to TNT if it was a non-donating ranking system + a non-grief or roll back plugin.
THIS is what the Minecraft community is about! Adapt, change, get creative! If there's a problem, help find a solution. I personally wouldn't mind a few ads in a game to help defer server costs. Or a fee, or any other method Mojang allows. Work within the system to effect change, not outside of it. Those who do ruin it for everyone else.
You've never been involved in litigation before.
It is pretty simply: ignore the summons on the lawsuit, don't show up, and you lose.
IP addresses are easy enough to track. In the event that a service provider covers it up, the litigant goes after the provider. If they resist attempts, namely covering up for you, they can and would be sued successfully, as well as any pending criminal charges for abetting and otherwise contributing to unlawful activity. This generally doesn't happen, as most providers are not willing to go to prison or pay fines and restitution to "cover your back".
It all depends on if they (Mojang) chooses to pay attention to you or not.
I find it funny that a company, who has painstakingly attempted to guard its name from brandishings such as "greedy" and "immoral" through countless acts like refusal to profit from youtube videos made on their product, and refusal to work with companies deemed with such brandishings like Facebook, is now pushed back into a corner by a fair amount of its community members by an argument, and their only defense is people like yourself throwing up the word "OWNERSHIP" in the face of their opposition.
They didn't shoot themselves in the foot, they saved themselves from what would've been a shot in the foot PR-wise if they continued to allow some of these ***-hat server owners to run sham operations of charging ridiculous fees for elite status, essentially. This thread is continually reminding me why I tend to favor SP and private MP servers over the big ones.