Mojang explains how servers can make money, EULA never changed

A few days ago, we wrote how the Minecraft community (read: lots of misinformed 12 year-olds) went into a dizzy over Mojang apparently forcing servers that were powered by donations to shut down. This never happened, never will, and was never an issue.

However, it did lead Mojang to clarify their rules about how servers are allowed to make money. They specifically want to avoid Minecraft becoming a pay-to-win game, where players who have donated or otherwise paid the server get unfair perks against non-paying players. Mojang explained it thoroughly on their site earlier today, so we will just shorten it:

  1. You are allowed to charge players to access your server (as long as everyone pays the same price, and all players must pay it).

  2. You are allowed to accept donations, so long as they do not affect gameplay and don't give any special treatment.

  3. You are allowed to provide in-game advertising or sponsorship opportunities.

  4. You are allowed to sell in-game items, so long as they don’t affect gameplay and are purely cosmetic (excluding capes).

  5. You cannot charge real-world cash for in-game currency.

  6. Servers must state who the donation money is going to, that it is in no way associated with Mojang, and provide a purchase history/contact details.


It's still unclear if Mojang will ever take legal action against servers in violation of these rules. However, some developers at Mojang did have a few words to say about the new rules. Here's what Michael 'Searge' Stoyke (developer of the popular Mod Coder Pack and Minecraft PC dev) had to say:
"People send me "my server will die". I read "my server is crap". The changes allow more ways (some) to make money than before (none). If you have to ask the question "is ... allowed or not" about the changed rules, you can safely assume it's not. Most times that's true. I'm also not the right person to talk to if you feel the need to discuss any EULA related topics. The most you can get from me is my opinion. There will be a grace period, but as I don't know the details, I can't really tell you how long. My guess is a few weeks."

Nathan Adams, a well-known developer of Minecraft PC Edition, said this:
"So far 20% of my mentions are "everybody hates this you're destroying the 1 good thing about the game", the rest "fantastic it's about time." Now that 20% is more like 5%, but are much more angry at hearing they don't speak for the majority. I should stop statistic tweeting."

It is important to note that the EULA has never changed the entire time this has been going on.  But for now at least, the matter is closed.

Source: Mojang

Comments

  1. Yay no more unfair gameplay in pvp worlds!

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  2. Omg this is soooo great!

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  3. […] To their credit, Mojang made an effort to try and explain the issue. They stated that servers could still ask for donations and provide advantages that didn't change the game (like custom nametags), just not change the game functionality. Mineplex was one of the most vocal opponents of Mojang's EULA, basically saying they wouldn't be able to make enough money if they were forced to take back paid perks. […]

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