Quote from Owen »
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!
Ozi
0_0
I.... Have two words for you sir.... shut up
(jk)
Then really no one should be griping if they never read it. Ignorance of the conditions does not give the players any extra rights. The players are obligated to read the terms and conditions and if they don't.... they don't have any right to complain when Mojang chooses to use those terms.
[3/06/2014 10:06:53 PM] Jake / Dithrlos™ /ZionicGaming™: i've been in this business just as long as you erik
[3/06/2014 10:07:59 PM] Jake / Dithrlos™ /ZionicGaming™: this is like arguing against a brick wall.
after this, if I was grumm, I would find and murder this annoying waste of oxygen.
Who is this? I'm sorry... I guess I don't know who this guy is.
you can read this; http://pastebin.com/YZzY51bx
That's often true, but you might read it when you go log into your server and your ISP and suspended your account after receiving a C&D letter from Mojang.
Even if your account gets suspended, that won't stop a person from running their server in offline mode.
I mean come on, Mojang is pretty much "encouraging" piracy at this point.
As for the ISP situation, I would love to see how Mojang tries to get around Comcast user ISP contracts.
I think that Minecraft Realms might be what you are talking about.
I definitely think that it would have been better to enfore their policy a long time ago, so this problem never started.
If any server can't support itself through legal means it's their own fault, but I definitely would be sad if Mineplex died.
However, the question of allowing servers to be monetized becomes a double edged sword.
On one side there are those that take advantage of their players for their own gain.
On the other there are a great number of quality servers that need the monetization to pay for hosting.
Many of these will be lost in the wake of this decision to block in game perks.
I think a better way is amend the EULA to allow monetization so long as the same perks can be achieved through a fair system of gameplay.
To that end I have created a petition asking Mojang to amend their EULA with this in mind.
Maybe there can be a system in place that players can report servers that are unfair or servers can get their servers approved similar to a BBB stamp. Those that agree please sign the petition. Let's change the rule not violate it.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/mojang-eula-response
4 solutions off the top of my head:
-Get advertisers to advertise in your server for cash.
-Have people donate to keep the server up, out if pure generosity.
-Pay for the server with your own money.
-Only include non-gameplay-affecting items in kits.
Well I am more than willing to pay my share of server cost, but I will not ever "donate" my hard earned money to some random people on the internet. My employer never just donates money to me. I have never had a stranger walk down the street and throw cash at me. My public bitcoin address has never had anything just appear in it, and my paypal has never had money appear in it. Why should money just appear to pay for other peoples use of a server?
I use adblockers and popup blockers for my internet, im sure a crafty dev will devise the same for minecraft.
I could care less what my avatar in the game looks like, and if I pay I want something in return.
Not sure what type of society you are a member of , but since im not a socialist / communist I feel no need to fund anyone else but me and my family. I will surly pay for my fair share, but only if EVERYONE HAS to pay to
So unless humanity online is far more altruistic than in "meat space" , this will end alot of servers.
everyone that owns a server is against it.
everyone that wants to own a server is against it.
everyone who can see that no one will play minecraft multiplayer if there is a connection fee to servers.
everyone who plays singleplayer only supports it (if they have noticed it)
Yeah, my question is how do I report servers to Mojang for violation? MinePlex ed me off and I want them destroyed, soon.