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
If they don't care about you or the server enough to just donate, without expecting a "rank" in return, I say, close it down.
If they care about your server, and want to keep it up and running, wouldn't they continue to do business as usual?
I fully understand your point of view, no need to call names and make assumptions.
Oh well. *wipes traces of creeper gunpowder from face*
(I do not currently run a server, the example of *I* is theoretical)
rule in question..
On this note my example is this:
As of today 6/24/14, the server I operate reaches its "donation goal" (of for example $50) and the perk for that is 7 day XP boost.
Can I restrict that boost to only people who are/were playing/joined my server on or before the day the "reward" was earned?
example:
bonus earned for 7 days on the 24th, person who joins my server on the 25th does not have access to the added feature (as they were not part of the server community when the perk was earned)
The idea here is that, though the restriction is play based.. the new user was not there when the feature was earned by the community, thus has no access to it.
Whatever the next day that the ($50) donation mark is reached (we will say July 1st for example sake); the 7 day count for xp boost is given again, and the member who joined on the 25th now has a 7 day boost to XP along with all existing server members.. but the person who joins on July 2nd does not (until the bonus is earned again).
Would this, or would it not be breaking this new set of rules?
Edit to add..
Basically, I'm asking whether this server rule is allowed :
"To have access to a perk that was community earned, you must be a part of the community on or before the day/time that perk was earned"
I'm sorry, but I fail to see where I called you any names...? You just seem so supportive for Mojang, that to you, they can do no wrong (at least, that's how you come across). Sorry if I'm wrong on this matter. As to people not caring enough about the server to donate, please let me restate that its a Family server. I don't know if you've ever played on one, or ran one, but family servers are "safe places" for kids to hang out without worrying about someone cussing in chat, griefing, etc., etc. When the server was set up, it was initially so that my daughter would have a safe place to play. Over time, lots of other kids joined. Some of them are as young as 8. What am I supposed to do? Should I tell them to break their piggy banks, or spend all of their allowances just to play on my server? Sorry, but I won't do that. Personally, I have never "made a buck" off the server, since as I stated in the previous post that I used everything for the server only. Yes, there are some "pay to win" servers out there, but my server isn't one of them. Every new member can do everything except teleporting to others (they have to use /call instead of /tp), fly, or set multiple homes/world. That stuff is what the ranks buy, basically. My players have always had access to everything else, including a towny world where once they buy a plot (in game boseEconomy money), they can be creative and do what ever. In addition, I have a game world that's free to access, a PvE world (main world) and a PvP. Suffice it to say, all my users have plenty of options to have fun. I don't think I'm "sticking it" to anyone. And I feel that its unfair to me and my users, that you'd group us in with PTW servers. I'm somewhat offended by that.
I am very much supportive of the EULA. So if that much comes across, we are making progress.
I still don't understand why anything has to change because of EULA.
The definition of "donation" has changed. When someone donates they do it without expecting something in return.
If your current player-base doesn't want to do that, to help keep the server going, then what can you really do?
There will all ways be kids taking there parents credit card its just what kids do it will always happen in less there parents lock the cards up some where safe or keep them out of reach of there kids in a way its the parents fault if there kid gets a hold of the credit card and starts spending its as equal as telling a dog to sit and wait while you go the the store to buy it a bone it will just wander around town and when you get back it will be gone it always leads to the parents being unreasonable and not caring and then things like this happen to a group of people like us because one of them get all mad at there kid spending it and take there problems the components like Mojang where they get fed up and have to take action because of some thing that could have been prevented if the parent just had made sure the card was out of reach. kids will be kids its how we raze them that is the problem.
Food for thought.
Fair enough.
I will say this, if the people who donated thus far, to keep the server going to date, doesn't want to continue to do that without you basically making a "sell" to get that done, then yeah...
Nothing has to change because of the EULA but the mentality of players who never really donated, they "purchased" from the server instead.
I wish you the best.
There are many ways you can still make money with servers its just harder and you need to find them with out breaking Mojang's Terms and Rules Rampage dose has a point the term donation dose mean for someone to donate with out expecting some thing in return the problem with servers up to this point was the confusion between BUY and DONATE, Buying would be the right term for getting such as a rank or a kit or in game money for a server but some ware down the evaluation of servers it got confused with donations there is not much we all can do we are all feeling the pain and are all seeking help on this issue of the matter i was hoping that Mojang would have just put a price limit on a donation like say $10.00 or so max for a donation because its not the donations that are the problems its the large prices some kits cost up to $2000.00 and then kid get there moms or dads credit card and start spending it always leads to the parents not taking control of what there kids do and don't and Mojang just had enuf of it and put some rules down we all will adapt to the new rules and we will struggle with it or we will strive if you have a good team on a server you will always make good money from people donating not "BUYING" as far as you not getting money from you server you just where not trying hard enuf or it did not have the right crowd on it there was a Tekkit Server i played on that was pulling in around $1000.00 a month just from people buying kits and stuff so server do pull in a lot of cash not enuf to live off of unless you invest in like 10 of them but ya no one is saying you cant still have a server just maybe tell people "if you like the server think about donating to help us keep it up" that's all you need to say and the people that play will do the rest. it may be a crowd issue your having which means you will need to promote your server on more sites like planet Minecraft or Minecraft forums there are a number of voting sites as well you can post on for free and that will direct traffic to your server which will help to bring in some money to keep it up.
I hope some of that helped or at leased you understand some of it
No. Think of it like this donations mean to give without expecting anything in return if you restrict it to just a group of people it would not be fair so there for it would not work you are still selling some thing for the people that donated so no it dose not work you would have to give it to every one on you server not just a group of people.
the hole reason Mojang did this is to make server fair not unfair so it would be a violation of the rules
I think that when you read my question you misunderstood my phrasing. Mojang already states that having perks go out to players on a server for reaching donation goals is fine. My question is simply to clarify and fine tune that statement a bit better. Perks going out to *all players on a server* .. does that mean all players currently on the server(as of when perk is earned), or must it apply to all future players as well?
What I'd really like on this is official feedback, as I think it is a very valid question and point regarding the ability to deal with game altering mechanics, and who gets them and doesn't.
I don't think it is fair that if a group of players that have been on a server for months have reached a donation point and "earned" a server wide privlidge.. that someone who comes in after that was achieved gets to "ride on their success". I think that restricting according to the outline I laid out in my above example is more than reasonable, and allows for a simple non "pay for play" or "pay to win" way to monetise a server.
EX:
Monthly donationa total $50 -- server reward = XP boost rest of month
Monthly donations total $100 -- server reward = XP Boost + Fly for players rest of month
Monthly donations total $150 --- server reward = XP Boost + Fly + *diamond tool and armor kit* <<--this gets sketchy with the way the rules are now written
As of now.. giving out that special *kit* for reaching a donation goal is unclear. If a user joins *after* the date that the armor kit was given out as a reward.. are they still entitled to that reward?
I would say no. They have to wait until next month.. or the next time the server reaches that donation goal level. But it *could* be interpreted to be that once that kit was given to players.. everyone who ever joins the server again is now *entitled* to that perk.
If the server has run 12 months.. and reached that goal every month for those 12 months.. when a new player signs on to the server is it expected that they suddenly get 12 diamond armor kits?!? I don't think it should be, and I want to make sure that somewhere in the rules/guidelines that Mojang is making about servers, that this is spelled out more clearly.
I think that having the rule that I mentioned for servers...
"To have access to a perk that was community earned, you must be a part of the community on or before the day/time that perk was earned"
Should be expressly allowed by Mojang.. so that server operators have no fear of crossing the line if they don't provide *back earned perks* to new players.
Edit to Add..
There are a million and one ways the rule I have mentioned could be applied, perks that are kits earned server wide, towny based *extra free plots* given to existing members when a goal is hit etc.. the list is nearly endless. The point isn't to limit them to a group of players (only donators get the perks).. but to simply be able to limit them to *current* players, and to not have to try to get every back owed perk to someone who just signed in/up. I feel that giving *back owed perks* to new players would actually alter game balance on servers in a very negative way. If a person suddenly gets all of the kits and things the day they log in to a server for the first time, it will throw off server economies and server balance big time.
Server ops need the protection of giving perks to current players without having to worry about future players being *owed* perks just because of the day they signed up.
Not bad not bad at all that can work its i wanna see that project grow.
Ps: its not a new eula statment its just now they are enforcing it (but yhe same effect as adding a new statment just if you gana state something state it with the right wording so people dont take you as a fool because your not)
scrap what the other guy said yes you can do time limited boost as long as a player can log on at the same time as another player who has the boost and that they can access it too witch oot any limitation
Mojang cannot dictate gameplay of their game to any players or servers! It is not their right, any more than it is the right of Hasbro Games to dictate how individuals or Monopoly Clubs play the game of Monopoly! How absurd this is! Yet is has all the young server owners out there fooled and worried.
Mojang has sold a game to you. That is it. How you play that game is completely up to you! If you give perks to players that is YOUR CHOICE and Mojang has no rights over modifications NOT INVENTED BY THEMSELVES, or any other gameplay that is. It is a club that you have formed and your membership fee structure and how you allocate permissions to players is YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
What I would suggest to all server owners out there, that the only thing Mojang might be able to restrict, or anyone legally could restrict, would be personal profit from their game. Therefore, I STRONGLY advise that all server owners set up separate bank accounts for the club they run, the server fees to go into that and remain there to cover server costs. You should not make personal withdrawals from that account and all payments should have a clear trace of transaction. All above board. We all know perfectly well (but Mojang appears to be blind to) the fact that it is rare for a Minecraft server to make a profit. Keep your member donations/fees in one server account and that is fine. You are then not personally profiting from their game, you are simply managing a club and charging fees for its costs, all quite legal and necessary for any servers to be online, besides little home-based ones.
Mojang will, I predict, close up its open sourcing and try to charge for modpacks in future for its Realms. When they do, this will mark the death of Minecraft as the most popular game out there. And some bright young sparks will replace it with another open-source game for the clever young developers to create mods for. Foolish move, Mojang, if you do this.
More likely the smaller servers will survive due to smaller hosting costs.
No matter what excuses people have for charging players, its all irrelevant as its a COPYRIGHT issue. You cant make money off someone else's intellectual property if they say you cant, its as simple as that. People can jump up and down screaming and yelling all they like, its selling what belongs to someone else and you are not allowed.
Completely agree with you Rampage, if the server cant survive on donations and the owners can't or wont pay for it then it will have to be shut down. Im sure most server owners run the server because they really like minecraft, its up to the owner to pay or fund the server through legal means as defined by Mojang. It is Mojang's property after all, and they get to say how people may use it.
But what about those that played on the server, didn't pay and still got the same things ultimately, we just worked for them in game. At this point I cannot pay to get into those servers, and therefore it is 'restricting my game-play' because I cannot get into servers that have specialty mini games. People seem to forget about us that CANNOT pay and wouldn't pay if we could because paying entry to a server is far worse than paying for in game items. There is a reason the MMO market is heading towards "free to play" with in-game micro transactions compared to those "pay to play" ones in which people for the majority hate, no matter what you do people will complain and things will be unfair, because people will find a way to exploit everything.
There will always be plenty of servers that you don't have pay.
And you will always be able to tell the future. /sarcasm
You cannot guarantee that. One day minecraft WILL die, just like any other game. And when it does, there will be no servers to play on, incuding servers you won't have to play on.