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
All servers........
Okay I'm beginning to lose steam as everyone seems to be turning against the EULA completely.
Is there no possibility that eradicating p2w will not help the community in the long run? Assuming every server with owners with good intentions somehow adapt and pull through?
The problem is it's not just pay to win that's being eradicated. It's perfectly fair use of donation perks. Even the kindest, most player-friendly servers need to live somehow, and Mojang is calling all their methods pay to win. So while there may be some toxic pay-to-win hardcore pvp-with-your-wallet servers out there, plenty of good servers live off of perfectly fair--but beneficial to gameplay--donations. So there is a difference that Mojang is not paying attention to. Let the players decide how much "pay to win" is too much for them and they can avoid these servers.
In the end...... time will show the true aftermath.
IMO, the community is fine. The p2w servers don't affect me at all, so I see nothing to fix. And I'd doubt the community is negatively affected by these, either (at least the forum community). Maybe I see it this way because I don't pay the bad servers any mind. I just play on, and think about the good servers, as would any logical person. Getting upset about 1 bad egg is no reason to throw out the carton.
1/. the WHOLE community is divided even more now (pro-Mojang eula and anti-mojangs eula)
2. Since servers cant really even sell kits anymore, and noone spends money just for a colored name or /hat, and noone donates for free to a GAME, it will just have a new paywall to keep servers going- Pay to Play
3. Now MORE kids will be stealing parents credit cards just to pay to play on their favorite server.
4. small servers will simply die if people dont pay to play or owners cant do advertising bids
5. mojang has probably received a TON of hate mail and probably a few death threats over this in the past week alone
Ditto. Mojang is overreacting to the bad servers and banning a model that can be fairly implemented.
Agreed.
WHY DO MORE PEOPLE NOT SAY THIS.
Hm. I think we have a winner: Noone.
I hope more people sign this
Signed. I'll pass it to all of my friends as well.
The only thing they get is that name color, and it does not expire. People can donate out of the good of their hearts, especially if you let them know that it keeps the server alive. If they don't want to keep your server alive, then I suggest you start figuring out what changes they want added to your server.
well that is vanilla, so there isnt much to expect, and vanilla servers dont cost a lot to run. I'd like to see hypixel run for a while with colored names being the only perk..
the only issue is servers will spam it in your face..a lot of sevrers i go on would be like this
Welcome Bob to the game!
Jim: welcome
Joe: hello:
Admin: welcome to servercraft!
[Server]: Please Donate to us! the server is in desperate need and is in danger of shutting down!
[Server]: Please Donate to us! the server is in desperate need and is in danger of shutting down!
[Server]: Please Donate to us! the server is in desperate need and is in danger of shutting down!
[Server]: Please Donate to us! the server is in desperate need and is in danger of shutting down!
[Server]: Please Donate to us! the server is in desperate need and is in danger of shutting down!
Its literally like that on some servers
I really hope so, but I seriously doubt it. Our server probably won't last that long because of this stuff, unless we (the staff) keep paying for it out of pocket. Which we just can't do. Another question that still hasn't been answered is how it will affect prison servers.