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
Well the video basically explains my opinion, so... It's worth the watch, though.
Thing is me and most other people dont want to have to watch a half hour long video just to here somebody's opinion or to get a tiny bit of information, thats the main reason why there were complaints against Sachverell posting videos for the news. I'm not saying dont think want you want to think about the EULA (I do disagree with your opinion, but I still respect it) I'm just saying type it out
"Pay to win" generally means "If you pay, you get an advantage; if you pay more, you get a bigger advantage; if you pay the most, you get the biggest advantage". For competition games.
"Pay to win" can also mean "You reach the point where further progress is horribly slow unless you pay for a temporary ability that lets you finish a few more levels".
"Free to play" does not have to mean "Free to play everything".
It is perfectly reasonable, and possible, to have "Free to play the basics, and pay to get access to A, B, C, or D; all of them are equivalent." In this situtation, do paying players have an advantage over non-payers? Potentially, even probably. Does this make it "pay to win", or does it make it just "This is the basic subscription fee"? The real issue is probably more of disclosure, and information. Letting people know that the free version is basically the trial, and the rest costs such-and-such. In other words, "free to start playing".
Far too many things are "free to start" but claim "play for free". Without making it clear that you have to buy.
And then, buy more. And more. And sometimes, LOTS more, and more, and more.
Imagine a major company that sold a "game", a sandbox construction game, but had only some of it available for play at first. You could buy some "expansion themes" to get more features. But, they won't make it clear which feature you get from a given theme -- and there might be hundreds of these themes. And, the advertisements show all sorts of things, with just a brief "some features shown require additional purchases", with no way for you to know ahead of time how much you will have to spend, nor even any way to get an idea of the cost. No clear indication of anything. No way to shop around, etc, because everything after the "starter set" is sold online through a monopoly, with no clear information made available to the end user.
Just imagine that. Do you think that something like that would be allowed to happen in the united states? Fair trade rules, full consumer disclosure laws, etc?
The company is Disney. The product is out and sold today. And yes, it really is -- as far as I can tell -- that bad. I have stayed away from it just because it really does seem, from all the research I could do, to be as bad as I described.
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If you buy, download, use or play our Game, you are agreeing to stick to the rules of these end user licence terms ("EULA”). If you don‘t want to or can‘t agree to these rules, then you must not buy, download, use or play our Game. This EULA incorporates the terms of use for the mojang.com website (“Account Terms”), our brand and asset usage guidelines and our privacy policy. By agreeing to this EULA you also agree to all parts of these three documents, so please read through them carefully.
I havent played vanilla minecraft in years. I like the FTB, Technic, AT launcher packs. I also like playing on large servers.
A modded minecraft server that can host 50+ people would be able to handle 200+ people in regular minecraft. This new enforcement will most likely kill what i like about minecraft.
I donate fot the perks. I refuse to pay for other peoples access, they arent paying for mine. The age of the freeloader playing on the donor's dollar is coming to an end.
I forsee either pay to get access or monthly access charges coming. This change in enforcement will not stop the crooked server from charging a small monthly recuring access fee with large termination fees. So much greif can still be given to all the kiddies parents who dont sit down and read each servers terms of service
As normal, the good guy gets the shaft, the crooked guy still profits.
Way to fix something that isnt broken, they must have been goverment employees before they were mojang
But it is broken. They are losing control of the core game they created. I am surprised it did not happen earlier with all the cracked and hacked servers out there.
If someone really cares about a particular server and finds it valuable to themselves and/or others they'll donate, perks or no. If there is some case where they can't do anything monetary they will find some way to support, even if it's something like volunteering to help out new players once in a while or find others who might be willing to donate/sponsor. You'd be surprised how many players (and even other people) are willing to contribute, once they understand the importance and value.
ok yeah i hate that to but what most of you here don't understand is that ALL THE SERVERS you play on are gone! bye bye to mineplex, mcpvp, hypixel GONE POOF! why mojang WHY!
Sheesh, quit with that drama, that is a complete exaggeration. Many if not most "pay" server will have to change what they charge for, but the updated EULA leaves plenty of room for folks to not only pay their server bills, but actually make money.
And, do most of the smaller servers even have ToSes? ((It's in the blockquote but I know some people skip them.))
It's called the bystander effect. Everyone just stands around and hopes someone else will pitch in. A few people may take responsibility, but not enough. Servers cost thousands of dollars to maintain, and if they don't have enough funding to make ends meet, poof. Your online experience is eviscerated and Mojang has to start all over again with their next game. Maybe it'll also be blocky.
Agreed