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!
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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
Discontented.
Apparently, you have a different definition of common sense then I do. My common sense tells me that not playing at all is not as fun as playing without extra perks. The answer is so ridiculously obvious I don't see how you can't see it. (Jee, that's a weird thought.) Maybe if I put it in green bold letters, you would understand.
Pay-to-win is better then pay-to-play because on pay-to-win servers, I can still lose for free, whereas on pay-to-play servers, I cannot play at all unless I pay.
And you cannot intelligently argue that being kicked from a server randomly does not affect gameplay at all, because it simply does. It puts a limit on time, (the thing you need to get in-game items) and interrupts gameplay a lot. Try turning off the power on your XBox at random times while you play. It's not very fun. Everyone wins except for the non paying players who used to be allowed to play on that server 24/7 and the company who makes the game.
As for your fourth paragraph, this will be a pretty long response. In-game purchases are not about making money; they are about helping pay for your server. Most servers don't make a profit, except for a few abusive ones. I don't really care about people losing their jobs, because I agree that running a server should not be the floor beneath your metaphorical feet. But you want to know who will lose the most money? I'll tell you it's freaking Mojang. Minecraft single player sucks a little bit. I mean, it's not that bad, it's just really dull, and limited. Do you really think a game with pixels the size of bristlin balls would have sold without a good community? I've only ever seen one half-decent Youtube series about single player gameplay (God bless Kurtjmac), and that's simply because it is not nearly as interesting as multiplayer. And you know Farlands or Bust is mainly interesting because of the commentary.
You say it'll kill elitism, but there will still be server admins and moderators who have more power than the other people. You say servers will have to rely on selling content rather than power, but you seem to have forgotten something in the new EULA. Servers cannot sell content. A quote from the interview: "No, you cannot charge for any part of a server other than the initial access." I don't know what gave you the impression that you could, but I'm sure it was an honest mistake. Nobody will be able to innovate on their server if it is to expensive to keep running.
And finally, you used your personal preference as an argument. You said you like tiny, less interesting communities where creations are severely limited by the collective free time of twenty or so people. (Sorry, I was paraphrasing ha ha.) But you get my point, right? Bigger servers can be more exciting, more developed, and more eventful and that's why most people prefer them. Removing an optional feature of the game due to your opinion is not necessarily a good idea. I say that all types of servers have their advantages, and therefore they all should be allowed to exist. I would be quicker to give up if all of the servers were "Donate now just to join the game."
mind telling us how big your server is and how much it costs monthly? or let me gues..you run it from home for free on your computer?
servers like hypixel.shotbow, Mineplex, The Hive; they cant live on solid donations alone...they cost like over $1,000 ..sometimes closer to $5-$10K to run in some places... Id like to see you pay that with no outside help while still working your job, paying utility bills at home, feeding your family etc
and from this, i can many people scamming young kids, even more than before.
*fake example MC forum post*
Join our awesome server!
we have many fun things such as
skywars
spleef
The Walls
Our own version of Shotbow's Annihilation
a call of duty zombies replica!
Hardcore factions
hardcore survival
regular survival
regular factions
Hide and seek/ block hunt
10 new parkour maps
friendly owners!
ranks obtainable without cash!
And best of all, a reallly great kid friendly community!
This server will cost you $200 USD a month to join. AAnd dont worry, thats a normal cost!
*End fake MCV forum post*
Now the kid steals parents credit card, pays the fee to enter , only to find out the IP is fake and it was a scam. Mojang gets angry letters from parents, the cycle continues as before the EULA changes / uprising
I agree with you 100%. When I played on a city server a while back, the most fun thing I remembered about it was that I tried to become just as good as the donators. With everyone being the same on the new servers, it will quickly become bland. The donator vs. non-donator diversity is what really made that server fun. I guarantee that if I went on that server and everyone was the same, I would have only played for 5 minutes and I would have been done.
Are we arguing about rape here?
Nope.
Not once did I say anything like "All laws are ridiculous."
I don't know if that's how you read my comment, but that's not what I was trying to say.
The bold part is kind of what I meant by my comment. It was probably not the nicest way to attempt to say that though, so for that I apologize to anyone who cares. I don't think GoldK saw it, but I can't be sure.
Also the game was running fine before, I don't see why they had to do this now. Alot of big servers aren't 'p2w', I used to play on a capture the flag server, it had different kits, there was like 5 free kits then probably 5 kits you had to buy. The kits that were for sale were like $1.99 at the most. They also did this event every friday, they called it "Free friday". Where when you log on every kit was free for that day. So if you didn't want to play on the days other than friday because it was to hard with the other people using paid kits, then you could just come on friday where everyone would be evenly matched and nobody would be to OP.
GoldK in another one of your post you say something like you always made your bases far out so people with paid ranks could never find you or raid you. So why are you so angry about everyone defending buying ranks. The majority of people posting their opinions on here say they were fine with what was happening before.
yea, i read that wrong. i was tired when i typed that lol