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!
_____________________________________________
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
Because they probably will.
Wow. A fair way to have this work. Why can we not do that?!
Look at the comments section from the previous EULA news posting.
Donate? People don't want to donate? Then close server. How simple is that? Only fools think mojang made minecraft for people to make it a full time job. They would have done the opposite and encourage pay to win if they want minecraft to be a full time job.
How many servers will close due to nobody wanting to pay money in return for nothing though? This is different from people donating to, say, an animal shelter. People won't donate to servers in return for nothing.
My point exactly. Not trying to encourage it but there are so many ways to donate without Mojang knowing it's not even funny.
If the EULA follows through, there will be less massive public server and more smaller and private ones. If you didn't know, this was how Minecraft was back in the early days. It won't change anything. I find it hard to believe no one in the minecraft community has friends irl to play with and has to to play on public servers to enjoy multiplayer.
So what exactly is the problem if there are less public servers to play on? Don't you have friends to play with and host it in your own computer for free? I used to play in public servers until i get tired of pay to win players abusing non paying ones and I found enjoyment playing in a small private server with a few of my friends.
Because many things just can't be done with less people. Survival games with just 4 or 5 people? You don't understand. A lot of larger public servers have minigames that are played better with more people.
You and I both very well know that most servers won't just stop accepting money. How do you expect all the huge servers like Minecade, The Hive, and Shotbow to just stop taking donations? My point is that this rule has been in the EULA for years and servers have been accepting donations for years, a grace period isn't going to change anything.
Donations are okay, where did you get the impression that they weren't?
I'm sure you can do a fun survival even with 10+ with the right mods in it. You don't need 100 people online to have fun because those 100 people, for the most part, are just hiding somewhere in the map and you will encounter players mostly in smaller groups. Heck, I had fun with only me and a friend playing vanilla survival and no one else in it.
Honestly, I am happy that this happened. People shouldn't make money off of other people's work. If you want to have perks, you have to earn it.
To anyone who is exaggerating that Minecraft will die, the majority of players who join a server don't donate. That simple
And now, "donations" are the actual definition of donations http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/donation?s=t
EDIT: Ooh, page 42
By donation I mean the dishonest definition that servers these days are using, aka purchasing. It seems as if a lot of servers think the words donate and purchase are synonyms.
but now the server wont get any money from the users who do...society isnt good-hearted enough for enough people to really donate with no reward or a cosmetic reward to have a total of $5000+, which is the low cost of big servers....and you say most people dont donate ,? hmmm..well from looking in chat of most big servers, this is all you see
[Server] Welcome
[Donor] Bob: hi
[God] Jim: howdy\
[VIP] joe: oh, hello there
[MVP] zach: bye
Onecoolguy: hi
[Donator+] gtfo non donator
To the bolded text: if most people didnt donate, then why is mojang taking action and why are kids stealing credit cards to donate? this wouldnt be a big issue if very few people donated
yea, most people dont donate..