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
It is not an advantaged created by the server. It is like a guide book for a game or like watching a youtube video on how to unlock an achievement that is already in the game. It is simply a message containing information what this information pertains to is not specific - it could be a time or a string of numbers. Whether or not these string of numbers or times relate to the server is an unknown factor but it may just happen that a player puts a / before those strings of numbers or goes to a certain location at that time they were mysteriously given and then something special happens.
-1 Minecraft Player.
Well technically you can't get a refund so probably.... -1 Minecraft Multiplayer Player.
No server is hiring their own lawyers. Do you have any idea how much they even cost?!
There's a 99% chance that Mojang is not going to change the EULA to allow for purchasing gameplay elements. The thing that most of you are forgetting is that: THE EULA POLICY ALREADY SAID THAT YOU COULDN'T SELL ANY PART OF THE GAME BEFORE ALL THIS DEBATE STARTED. Mojang is simply starting to enforce this policy. So for all of you complaining that this isn't fair - you should have complained when it had just been added to the EULA, not now. Now that the policy has been in place for a while, the fact that almost all server owners completely disregard it is forcing Mojang to start really enforcing it.
Now, I'm not saying that I agree with the prohibition of purchasing gameplay elements. In fact, like many posters here, I DO think that it's somewhat unfair to the servers who haven't completely adopted a "Pay-2-Win" mindset. All I'm pointing out is the fact that the EULA already stated this a while before all this debate started. They are just now enforcing it.
They will not get any donates off of purely ascetic features.
No one donates so that they are pretty. They donate for fun extra or helpful stuff.
I can assure at least 75% of servers will be down by end of 2014Why should awesome developers make awesome stuff if they can't get some money out of it?
All they can get some money to make people more pretty.
Either that or all servers will turn into Pay-2-Join and it will be absolutely terrible...
Technically, anyone under 17 can't be legally upheld for signing anything, in the US, at least. So that's 95% of Minecraft's population.
Ok so first: I DESPISE this new system. I'll continue running my server as I always have. I work my hardest not to make 'pay-to-win' systems in my donation perks. I've always hated that style of gameplay, and have avoided certain servers like the plague in order to make sure I'm not affected by it. Yet, as somebody who has fought against that aspect of minecraft's community for 3 years now, I find that I'm breaking Mojang's new EULA.
1. I refuse to charge players to access my server. You want to stop pay-to-win? Well, pay-to-win becomes an absolute when you completely cut out the ability to compete without money. Just because a server feels like they're pushed into a corner with your new EULA terms, thousands of players will now be unable to access the servers they love, due to the fact that they've changed to this new system.
2. A purely donation based server won't last long. Even when ran well, it's hard to meet monthly payments and population demands when there's no incentive for donation. On top of this, there's absolutely no way to track and determine whether we provide perks after the "donation" has taken place. An anonymous chest of goodies appearing outside of somebody's house can't really be traced.
This 'rule' is just silly. It's like the standard "No Running In the Hall" rule. It's only there to attempt to push people into walking based on the fear of the very, very, very minor amount of people who actually get caught doing so.
3. I'll just skip this bit about in-game advertisement. I don't think I have to go over why I don't plan to include this in my roleplay environment.
4. Can't sell in-game currencies? Well, I sell creditpoints which can be used for cosmetics. Now, I'm well aware that it doesn't go against their "As long as it doesn't affect gameplay" tidbit, but just the fact that I can be 'reported' to Mojang for something like this is absolutely childish.
I think that last bit pretty much wraps up how I feel about all this. Childish.
I feel like Mojang is attempting to play schoolteacher with all its subjugates right now, and I don't appreciate it in the slightest. Whether I'm in violation or not, this sort of Big Brother behavior is completely and utterly unnecessary, and makes me want to avoid running a server.
Legally it would fall onto who is paying for the server. Since a 17 year old can not apply or own a credit card without an adult. The adult on the card or paypal would be the one liable.
First of all, I think servers should resort to actual donation with no benefit. In the past servers relied on OP packages to attract people. Now that servers abilities to sell in game items have been drastically reduced, servers can not rely on that, instead put people in the mind set that they should donate to you because they like the server. Second of all, about current donators. I believe those ranks shouldn't be finite, let donators pass on their ranks on to other people, and let those people pass it on. This will give more people a chance to experience these ranks, without donating, and encourage more social interaction on your server.