With the recent announcement about changes to the EULA (and in particular, how they will affect multiplayer servers), many questions have arisen. Mojang has looked over numerous discussions by you, the community, and has released a new Q&A announcement, to address some of the most frequently-asked questions to come from the announcement. More many come in the future, but for now, check out these clarifying answers, direct from Mojang!
Quote fromAre any servers exempt to the EULA?
No. It affects all servers and players equally.
Do server hosts have a grace period to implement changes to their servers?
Yes. All servers must comply with the EULA by August 1st, 2014.
Can I charge for access to my server?
Yes. How players join a server is up to you. Single entrance fees or subscriptions are both allowed.
How often am I allowed to charge players to access my server?
You can charge players as regularly as you like. You can even charge for timed access if you think it’s the best way to monetise your server.
What counts as a server? Are proxies one big server, or lots of smaller ones?
A server is something a user connects to with their client. The user is on a different server when they leave the one they are connected to and manually join another (in the multiplayer screen). Virtual servers and proxies make no difference here, to the client it’s the same server.
Can I charge access to a specific part of my server, such as a minigame or world?
No, you cannot charge for any part of a server other than the initial access. Once on a server, all players must have the same gameplay privileges. You may make a different server for the user to connect to which features “premium” areas, and charge for access to that server instead, but the benefits cannot carry over to your other servers.
So can I charge for my minigames or mods?
Yes, so long as all players on your server have access to the features.
Can I offer a limited trial period for all users?
Yes. So long as both trial and paying users have access to the same gameplay features during the trial, we’re cool with it.
Can I give paying users priority access to my server?
Yes, but you cannot restrict gameplay elements to specific users.
Does the EULA still apply for access to user-created mods?
Yes. It doesn’t make a difference who made the mods, or how they were implemented onto your server. All mods require Minecraft to run. You are not allowed to charge for Minecraft features which affect gameplay.
What do you mean by “hard currency” compared to “soft currency”?
Hard currency is real money or anything that can be converted into real money, including Bitcoins. Soft currency is available in-game only, and has no real-world value. The restriction in the EULA only apply to hard currency; you may unlock anything with soft currency.
Can I sell “kits” for hard currency if I provide a balanced alternative for non-paying users?
If the “kits” contain gameplay-affecting features they are not allowed. Gameplay balance is not relevant to the EULA. If the items included in the kit are purely cosmetic, you can charge real money/hard currency.
My server features a currency that you can earn through gameplay, but which can also be bought for hard currency. Is that OK?
Soft currencies that are solely earned in-game are fine, but you cannot sell in-game currency for hard currency. Hybrid/dual currency systems are not allowed.
Can I sell boosters, which provide faster gold gain, XP, or other in-game resources for hard currency?
No – boosters, item generators, and all other features that affect gameplay are not allowed.
So how do I make money from cosmetic items?
You can sell cosmetic items for hard currency directly or allow players to fund an “account” specific to your server. It’s up to the host of the server to decide how this works. Remember that capes are the exception to this rule – you are not allowed to give them away or sell them.
Can I sell ranks on my server?
Yes. Ranks are allowed so long as any perks gained are cosmetic. Coloured names, prefixes, special hats etc. are fine.
Can users purchase something that affects the entire server, such as a temporary XP boost?
Yes, but everyone who can access the server must be able to use the feature, regardless of whether they purchased it or not.
Can I award all players with a gameplay feature if I reach a donation goal within a time period?
Yes, so long as all players receive the benefit regardless of who donated then it’s OK.
Can I charge for access to server commands?
Yes, as long as their effects are purely cosmetic. Commands that affect gameplay, such as a command to fly, cannot be sold for hard currency.
If all players get access to a feature such as a plot of land, can I sell access to multiple plots for hard currency?
No – that would be a gameplay affecting change, so it’s not allowed. All player who access your server must have the same gameplay features offered to them. The same rule applies to items, such as potions.
How should servers deal with users who have already spent hard currency on features that affect gameplay?
Users may keep the perks they have paid for, on the condition that the same perks are available to other players on the server (directly, or purchasable using soft currency). It’s up to the server host to decide how to compensate users for previous transactions.
Do you have a question you would like answered about the EULA? Let's discuss it in the comments!
_____________________________________________
EXTREMELY FRIENDLY REMINDER OF FRIENDLINESS AND HAPPY-JOY FEELINGS
Please keep all discussion as civil as possible! This is a very hot topic, and we understand that there are very strong feelings about the EULA. That's okay! Open discussion is a GOOD thing! However, please avoid the following:
- Name-calling
- Encouraging (or claiming to engage in) EULA violations
I don't really get why people like high pop servers anyways (but then I don't get into minigame stuff, prefer Survival). I've never joined a server with more than 100 people that wasn't a horribly laggy experience. But I'm probably in the minority, sometimes I like just firing up SSP or just playing with an extremely small group of people.
Actually you can, provided the paying members and free members are treated the same in terms of gameplay. The only equality mojang wants is gameplay but they are fine if there is no equality in terms of how you access the server. Kicking a free player to make room for paying members is acceptable. That is actually more generous than outright restricting access to only paying members.
Because they know their game better and know what's good for it. You have to trust mojang on this one. They don't want minecraft to fail as much as we do but us and them have different ideas about it. If it works for them, then good. If not, they may change a few rules to bring back old monetization schemes. We will just have to wait and see and it would be better if the community doesn't actively destroy minecraft for not getting what they want like a spoiled child destroying everything after the parents denied him of what he wants.
http://www.ovh.com/ca/en/vps/vps-classic.xml
You didn't actually read what I posted or you continued to choose to ignore it.
I specifically asked HOW it is good for the community. All you've explained is that Mojang has the right, which I don't believe ANY of us disagree with. They own the game, of course they have the right to choose how its used. I cannot trust Mojang when they do something as hap-hazzard as change something a large portion of the community relies on, without actually creating any kind of discussion with the community first.
If you're going to continue to quote me and respond to my posts, would you please at least answer the question I asked, rather then continue to repeat the same thing over and over?
It doesn't always meen that they don't care about these servers, they have already payed for the game, why should we now have to pay to support servers? thats like only being able to campaign on games like call of duty! Also, parents of 10 year old kids aren't all made of money, they don't just give their children money to play games, lots try to keep their children away from games! Also parents are old, in their days, they didn't have things like this, they don't understand thing like you would need money to play games.
How is it good is very subjective which is why I try to reason in an objective manner with mojang knowing what they are doing. If you ask me for my personal opinion, I always hated inequality in games that favors paying players. Having a community that encourages equality and discourages elitism is better in my opinion. Server quality should go up because there is no more easy way of luring players to spend money and you have to make an actual good server to do it. There is no right or wrong opinion because personal opinion is subjective so we should not use it as a basis on why the EULA should or should not be supported.
Tell me, what's the difference between the $20 you spent for perks and $20 you spent for server maintenance? You spend the same amount of money in both cases but it is the attitude that matters here. Now that I think of it, why not make a server that is pay to enter but has all the perks in it? Would you pay for it or not just because there are no free players to abuse your power on?
I think even your grandpa knows that you pay money to use a service like paying a taxi to get you somewhere. Just tell them servers are like services that needs money to operate and they will understand unless you are a liar and your words can't be trusted.
If you want an answer, then you can ask Notch or keep waiting. The simple fact is IT DOESNT MATTER. No one is answering your question because 1) We aren't sure what Mojang is up to and 2) they will do this regardless of whether the community thinks its a good idea.
Mojang could shut down the authentication servers tomorrow, because they can do whatever they want. This is good for the community because we are still allowed to play Minecraft
To whom cannot read this poor souls miserable grammar, let me split this for you.
Constructive criticism: Only being able to to play single player if all servers go p2p. More transactions = more hassles.
The rest is a 12 year old's rant. Read at your own risk.
Who do you think pays for those online CoD servers? Most of the time (on computer versions) the players pay for them. You just don't see the cost because other games don't allow monetization of their game. There are plenty of server owners that will continue allowing you to play on their server for free because they enjoy running it.
#AtLeastSomebodyHereKnowsWhatThey'reTalkingAbout.
http://www.operationblackout.net/
That will not even run my server it takes 4gb just to run the mods I play with. then if you want players you need allot more.
As for buying there own server and running it from home I have even tried to do that be for I went to hosts just 1 with 1 player it lags to bad there no way you can play to even have fun so much lag. You have to live some place where you can get fiberopics which is not many places in the US at lest not right now 2 years form now might see allot more of it. I live in the US and even I buy servers that is not in the US because its a far better network the US network line is just so far behind other country's.
I wish there was a downvote option for hashtag speak. Too bad this thread isn't on slashdot.
But wait, isnt that something that gives paying members an advantage and is more than cosmetic?
Get your head out of a perfect world dude..society itself is greedy and has a "hi, my name is jimmy, whatcha gonna gimme" mindset ..
Sure, maybe a few whole hearted people will do so. but remember a good majority of the community is kids.
Kid: hey can i donate 20 dollars for the server?
mom: what wilol you get for it?
kid: nothing, just the sever needs cash to keep running
mom: its a waste, obviously the sevrer will die anyways if it needs real donations. So no.
then some parents dont want to pay twice for a game.
Will this be permitted to go on? Will this still be allowed? Does anyone know how this will work since the money is going to a charity, but the players who donate to said charity receive points to use on the servers website for items.
Theres a difference between hosting a 12 player TDM lobby on Call of DUty compare to hosting a 5000 player server loaded with mods on minecraft