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
I'm starting to suspect that you are just here to try and advertise a server that's in violation of the EULA rather than to contribute to the discussion.
Your lego analogy.
That they can't make a clear and direct statement. If you read my post you'd understand.
They had to compromise, then they had to clarify things... so....?
OOOO Shots fired.
- I do understand what the EULA is trying to do. It is trying to stop those people who take advantage of the intellectually handicapped people . (i.e donating $500 for 100 diamonds 100 gapples god armor and tools as a daily kit.....and maybe 'promote realms)
There are those servers out there that do run off of just the owners expense and that is fine.
There are also the servers who find a good balance of kits/donor items that do not effect the players experience that much. (i.e $10 for something like /feed a weekly kit of some tools and food and other basic commands like /hat or /me. Those servers are not the problem, they are just given a bad reputation because of the server owners who just want to profit and nothing else.
No, they tried to make a compromise a week ago, yet no one understand what was going on, so they had to clarify, which they still made no since as their EULA says otherwise and they say something completely different. Then here is today, where they have to come back and clear up what they said last week, changing more stuff. So yes, they are trying to compromise, it's just they're terrible at making a clear and direct statement, as I've said before, and if you read my posts you would understand.
So basically, they are just wording it badly?
.... How many times do I have to say it. And they keep changing what they are saying too, regarding what we can/can't do.
You keep saying they don't give a direct/clear statement, do you not think they are finalizing their statement already? I mean they even put the date till grace period ends.
And like the people who don't understand, it is because we the community are being vocal about this, that they are changing what their EULA means. If we give up now we could be left with something like 1200 page healthcare bill that not one politician bothered to read before passing.
I don't get that impression at all. Maybe you live in a different reality?
Are you asking me this question because you have a genuine point, or are you just trolling?
My questions are because I'm curious where Mojang would draw the line in these paradoxical situations. While well-reasoned opinions from others would be nice, I don't really expect them.
I also don't see a "questionnaire" anywhere obvious. I see a FAQ here and an earlier post that lays out some guidelines, but both still leave a grey area in the distinction between "cosmetic" and "gameplay".
In the first series, the end result is still "a hat", but each step gets closer and closer to something that's already in vanilla. The second series is trivial if the answer to the first step is "no, that's gameplay" (which would make perfect sense for Creative but maybe not for other modes), but otherwise proceeds in the same manner by taking a "cosmetic" feature closer and closer to something already in vanilla.
You could also take the examples the other way: "particle effects" was mentioned as an example of a cosmetic feature. Is it still cosmetic if it's done via potions instead of a command, and the recipe just gives you a mundane potion if you haven't paid? Then what if Mojang on a whim throws in particle-effect potions for 1.9?
Or what if some server makes a mod item that is purely cosmetic and sells the crap out of it. Then suddenly they stop selling it, and then they give it an actual use. For a concrete example, consider fireworks: they don't affect gameplay (word of Jeb). So assume Mojang says servers can make them pay-only. Then what if 1.9 implements Jeb's idea of having them scare wolves? Suddenly all those fireworks someone bought with hard currency aren't cosmetic anymore!
Like some of us said. I feel as if some of us are being punished because of those greedy server owner's.
If they made a clear and direct statement like you said they wouldn't have to keep coming back to change stuff like they are now.
Have you not followed what they've been saying for the past week or so? It's been different everytime, if they made a clear and direct statement they wouldn't need to do this.
Actually, they are allowed, just not on one server.
Here's the new model.
You have a free to join server and then several other whitelisted servers with premium content and gameplay.
On the free server all abilities available to one person of any rank are available to all players unless the ability is only a cosmetic, like changing your nickname would be cosmetic.
In the free server are announcements and ads talking about the premium servers with the special content and minigames and links to pay to get access to those servers.
So a player wanting to join one of those servers will click a link and pay the suggested fee or donation is and then get whitelisted into that server to access that servers premium content while having all abilities of all other players there.
In the case of admins, staff, ops, you can have ranks of them with power distribution amongst them, but you can't charge for those ranks, you'll just have to award those ranks based on stuff like trust. Administering a server is different from playing a server. It's no longer a game at that point, but since it's done with a MC character, the ranks must abide by the EULA.
The other way is to have everything on one server and you have a trial account that last like a week, which is more than enough time to build something awesome and get mentally attached to it. Upon which, their free time expires and they must pay for more time. The length of the trial and time allotment per amount is up to the server owner to decide. So long as free people have access to all the same powers that paid people do. Neither of those two have to have access to the power of the administering staff so long as the administering staff didn't pay for their powers, if they did, then you have a problem.
So yes, it's possible to still make money under this EULA, it might even be easier. But things like permissions are basically out the door, their only good for cosmetics and power distribution amongst administering players.
So will places like ShadowRave, Ubercraft, Hypixel die? Nope, they'll modify to be complicit with the EULA and no doubt will make even more money than they have now.
My main question is, can they clarify what is exactly 'cosmetic' in minecraft.
Like a cape? Like something that changes you into a creeper?Dyed leather armor?
The core of this issue is purely a parental issue and I feel it shouldn't be something Mojang should address at all. Do they have the right? Absolutely. However, any reasonable person would choose not to pay for features they feel have an unreasonable cost and they would also refuse to play on a server outright if they weren't having fun due to those pay features. The issue is parents are letting their children buy things and then complaining to Mojang when they realize that it wasn't worth it. Mojang shouldn't be restricting sensible people just because people cannot monitor their own children.
Honestly, this is just another stab at content developers by Mojang in my opinion. I love Minecraft, but a few months back, there was the whole drama issue created over modding, and now they crack down on server owners. These actions have given me a bad view of the future of creating content for Minecraft and I'll be moving my content development/design to another platform (currently looking into http://minetest.net, but that may change as well).
Honestly, the way people attack server owners in these threads is also quite disheartening. If you guys don't like a server for whatever reason, don't play on it. The only reason I can see for attacking server owners like this is that you DO like the server, but were frustrated because you couldn't afford to pay for some perk and somehow feel like this will let you get it now. I have news for you, if said server was a large (500+) server and they cannot manage to find another way to make equivalent income (which will prove to be a pretty rough challenge), they probably will be GONE. You won't get your perk and all that will be accomplished is the community losing quality gameplay.
I've also heard people say that server owners are greedy, wanting to make a living off of running a server and that also makes me sad. What gives you guys the right to demand they give up their time, create tons of content for you to interact with, and all that...for free? Who's the greedy ones? Yes, you payed for Minecraft, but that doesn't include the right to have whatever you want on a server run by a third-party. This selfish attitude was also present during the whole modding drama thing a few months ago. Do you think that a content creator's time is worthless? That their talent isn't worth paying for? Its just sad.
Honestly, I hope servers find a way to keep going. I'm hedging my bets on a different engine where I have more rights with my content and would encourage others to do the same. However, if you (server owners) choose to stick with Minecraft and manage to make it work, I do wish you the best and hope that some future change doesn't shake the ground for you again.