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
in may be your hardware but its still there software and whent you signed up and bought a minecraft accout you agreed to the eula satment you can do what evere you want with your hardware just not somebody elses software.
they have power over any server that uses there code and its not posible to not use there code because of the verivication process so no that server is just gana cross there fingers and hope they go unnoticed
instead of an unraidable base...theres somehing even better...
ender chest which is the free version of donor chest
also, things like /fly are good, only when there are rules and stuff as to how and where you can use it, as well as plugins to stop using it and disable it in pvp ..aka one sevrer i used to play on..I
do agree with the armor thing though
also a note for ou, there are 3 ranks on shotbow/minez that arent time related, as they are permanent
premium ($100)
emerald (i think its 250 or 500 dollars in total donations since you joined? )
obsidian (either 500 or 100 i believe ) but htese are all permanent
obsidian
no they cant sell the rank the can still give it to the voters but any exchange of real money to an ingame thing that is not a hat or nick name like violates the eula agreement
I feel bad about circling around on this one, but I still want to touch on that subject just to point this out: This is another case of parental external locus of control. Like the kids who play Call of Duty because their parents don't read the rating system or look at the game before letting their child play it. What parent lets their child have access to their credit card? Out of those, what parent doesn't have some kind of limit on their credit card, and why wasn't there any kind of need for approval/verification before making a $10,000 purchase?To avoid having future enforcement and/or changes in the future, the rest of us need to be cautious as to avoid having this happen. I suggest putting security announcements for avoiding scammers (something like "be wary of what you purchase online") on your servers if you own them, and being a bit safer online yourself. Also, reporting people who are obvious scammers to Mojang via email or alerting everyone to the presence of scammers via the forums.That way, whether the enforcement harms servers or helps them, we can avoid being caught off-guard like this again.
Pay to play will be the only viable way to host a modded minecraft server like feed the beast or technic.
Most kids will have to beg their parents for an account. The whineing in the fourms will start soon after the eula enforcement begins
Cant wait!!!!!
donations are not violating the eula agreement in any way
so far that c# project still require a custom client as well so accout verification has probably been cut out on server side as well as access to the uuid system. most clean roon develpoments arent very effective because they cut out featuers provided by the host company such as security so its not 100 untrue but yes it can go either way and nothing say thet mojang cant just buy it like the bought bukkit
Any decent server should still be able to stay afloat with standard subscriptions or non-perk donations.
Any servers that die off, the community probably didn't need anyway.
Ya now you have to pay to play yay haha they don't know nothing.
If your player-base likes you as the server admin, likes the server in general, they should conform to the new ways.
Also, Mojang isn't saying you can't ask for monetary help. It's what you do as the "thank you" that is restricted.
I run a Family server. that means, most of my players who log in are kids/teenager. Yes, there are a few adults, but not the entirety of the base. I have never used a cent donated to the server for anything other than the server. And since mostly kids play on it, they can't afford to donate or what ever. That's why I always let the server be 100% free. No one ever had to pay to log on, but I have depended on donations (or monthly rank purchases, etc.) to keep the server up and running. So, you tell me, Rampage_x, how I'm supposed to charge a "monthly fee?" My server population will lose 90%, and only about 5 people could play if I use a monthly charge. Does that sound fair to you? Or are you just a mojang apologist?