Let's talk server monetization?

[jefeperro]

https://mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/
so I pulled this from mojang's website... Am I misreading it? Or is charging members of the mcsg community different amounts illegal? Is it even legal to charge us at all?

Hello!

Let’s get one thing clear: we love it when Minecrafters host servers. Tiny or massive, running vanilla or modded Minecraft, we think they’re all great. Playing with friends in persistent worlds is awesome. Everyone knows that.

Over the past week there’s been lots of discussion about Minecraft servers and your right to monetise them. Legally, you are not allowed to make money from our products. There has been one exception to this rule so far – Minecraft videos. We’re about to make a second exception – Minecraft servers.

Hosting servers can be expensive. We want to give hosts a way to cover their costs. That said, we don’t want our players to be exploited or to have a frustrating time unless they pay. The following rules, which may be tweaked at a later date, have been created with these points in mind.

You are allowed to charge players to access your server
So long as the fee is the same for all players, you are allowed to charge for access to your server. You are not allowed to split your playerbase into paying, and non-paying users, nor can you restrict gameplay elements to different tiers of player.

Basically, if you’re charging for access to your server, you are selling a “ticket” and there can only be one type of ticket, regardless of how much people are willing to spend.

You are allowed to accept donations
You are allowed to accept donations from players. You can thank them publicly or in-game, but can’t give preferential treatment for donating. You are not allowed to restrict gameplay features in an attempt to make money.

You are allowed to provide in-game advertising or sponsorship opportunities
You are allowed to put adverts in your Minecraft worlds to help with costs. Used within reason, adverts and sponsorship can be appropriate ways to fund a server.

You are allowed to sell in-game items so long as they don’t affect gameplay
We don’t mind you selling items in game, but they must be purely cosmetic. Pets, hats, and particle effects are OK, but swords, invincibility potions, and man-eating pigs are not. We want all players to be presented with the same gameplay features, whether they decide to pay or not.

There is one exception to this rule – capes! We have a lot of fun making cool capes for extra-special members of our community and Minecon attendees. We’d like to keep them as exclusive as possible. So, yeah, no capes please, even if you’re giving them away for free.

You cannot charge real-world cash for in-game currency
We don’t mind in-game currencies which are earned through playing, but you are not allowed to sell them for real-world cash. Remember – if the stuff you sell affects gameplay, we’re not cool with it.

Don’t pretend to be us. Provide your customers with loads of info
If you do decide to monetise your server, you must clearly state that the purchase is not associated with Mojang, declare who the money is going to, and provide a purchase history and contact details. You should also check the legality of selling digital items in your specific region.

Thanks for reading!
As I hope you’ve noticed, these rules are making attempts to prevent Minecraft servers becoming “pay-to-win.” We hate the idea of server hosts restricting Minecraft’s features to players who have already bought our game! It seems really mean.

We’re hoping that these rules will give hosts opportunity to continue creating awesome Minecraft worlds, and for our players to enjoy them without being forced to spend.

I’m sure we’ll get loads of questions about this subject over the next few days. I’ll prepare a follow-up post once I’ve gathered your queries.

Have a good day!

Owen – @bopogamel, and your buddies at Mojang.

 

[RathaYatra]

lol hi jefe

 

[Trilexium]

Considering this only really has an effect on servers from version 1.7.10 when you're forced to agree to the new EULA edit, not at the moment.

The developers are aware of this issue and are trying to resolve it the best way possible.

 

[MoLoToV]

Considering this only really has an effect on servers from version 1.7.10 when you're forced to agree to the new EULA edit, not at the moment.

The developers are aware of this issue and are trying to resolve it the best way possible.

Let me correct you there as at this current moment, every server that accept donations is illegal. in 1.7.10 we are allowed to earn some money

 

[Trilexium]

Let me correct you there as at this current moment, every server that accept donations is illegal. in 1.7.10 we are allowed to earn some money

What he said

 

[Sidopey]

And Notch tweeted later referring to this again stating that you can pay for things on servers as long as you don't gain anything in game from it, we don't have kits. And he said as long as it's not pay to win or pay to join. So MCSG is completely fine.

 

[jefeperro]

And Notch tweeted later referring to this again stating that you can pay for things on servers as long as you don't gain anything in game from it, we don't have kits. And he said as long as it's not pay to win or pay to join. So MCSG is completely fine.

I think it reads differently. It says all donations must be at the same level but that's just my two cents

 

[CrystalKnowledge]

Made a thread pretty similar to this yesterday: http://www.minecraftsurvivalgames.c...-of-mojangs-server-monetisation-rules.112205/
Technically it's not legal as far as I know. I don't think Mojang would really care though, none the less: naughty naughty.

 

[jefeperro]

Made a thread pretty similar to this yesterday: http://www.minecraftsurvivalgames.c...-of-mojangs-server-monetisation-rules.112205/
Technically it's not legal as far as I know. I don't think Mojang would really care though, none the less: naughty naughty.

didnt realize that sry... Looks like you were silenced though

 

[Mooclan]

I made a thread like an hour after the Mojang article was released: http://www.minecraftsurvivalgames.c...ales-donations-and-other-monetisation.111755/
Here's the quote if anyone is too lazy to load the page:

https://mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/
According to a Mojang article released on June 12th, 2014, (today, as of me posting this thread), Mojang has decided where to draw the line concerning servers and money-making.
As many people may know, making money off of Minecraft servers has technically been illegal, but it was overlooked. Mojang recently decided to take matters into their own hands, and discuss this.
I won't go into detail - you'll have to look it up for yourselves, but they've finally posted something which clears things up.

What the article says:

• You ARE allowed to charge for access to your server. In other words, charging money for people to be whitelisted is allowed. However, the price must be the same for everyone, and you can't let anyone in for free if you're charging other people for it.
• Donations are still allowed. You can still thank them in public or private, but you cannot treat them differently for donating, or give them access to different parts of the server because of that reason.
• Adverts and sponsorships are still allowed. Adverts are, I believe, having an ad placed on your server to gain income from it. Sponsorships are, if memory serves, having someone pay you or pay for your server in order to gain credit for it, such as paying for your server, but their name has to be on it.
• You can NOT sell anything that affects gameplay. Weapons, armor, food, blocks, tools. Nothing like that. However, you CAN sell things that are purely cosmetic, or aesthetic such as hats, pets, nicknames, colored chat, etc. NO CAPES, free or otherwise! I think this includes OptiFine capes.
• No real-world money for in-game currency. Easy and simple, you just cannot accept real-world money for in-game money.
• When someone pays or donates to the server, make sure to clarify that you DO NOT represent Mojang. This entire issue was partially caused because Mojang got complaints from parents about their children paying for absurd packages on servers.

Some things that I (or the person who linked me this article) deduced: (please correct me/us if we're wrong.)
Priority - Donor kicking, for example, on MCSG. This is sort of a grey area. You don't pay to play on the server, but you can be temporarily prevented from participating if you are kicked by a donor.
Kits - These are not legal.
Queue priority. For example, on some servers you have to be put in a waiting list for certain things, and donors sometimes get put ahead in that list because of their rank. This is also another grey area.


And now, I open the floor for discussion....
*Stage lights*
*Podium rises from the floor*
"Discuss!"

As it is, MCSG has only a few violations/grey areas of the new EULA that I know of:
Bounty. Not bountying a player, but the bounty points themselves. With a donor rank, you receive extra bounty, and that can be counted as a currency, because it can be spent on in-game items for your friends. Either MCSG has to remove the extra bounty for donors, or they have to remove/alter the sponsoring system. I say, personally, remove it from donor ranks.
Donor-kicking. I consider this a grey-area, but apparently Dinnerbone tweeted somewhere that it was allowed. Donors are allowed to receive kicking power to get into a full server, and it does not violate the EULA.
If MCTF2 implements donor-only classes, then that will be against the EULA.
The Creative server is not allowed to let Donors access things like redstone, while regular players cannot. It's all or nothing for everyone.
Flying, particularly MCSG's flying donor perk, is also not clear to some people. It does not affect competitive gameplay. However, it does affect overall gameplay, in the Hub and Lobby. Mojang doesn't care whether or not it's competitive or overall gameplay, the flying perk has to be removed.

I had something else really important to say, but I had to go sign up for a church camp so I don't remember what it was ;_;
Edit: Not 100% sure but it might have been:
Servers have almost no choice BUT to agree to this. If they don't, they can be criminally charged or some fancy thing like that because as it is, making money the way many servers have previously been is already illegal, just that Mojang hasn't really cared until now. If they DO agree to this, then they CAN still make money - legally! It's just a little bit harder.
Edit 2: Also, MCSG is fully aware of this, and I heard that they're going to rework the way the donation system works so that it complies with the EULA.