Ways I can monetize my server that dose not break the EULA?

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Are 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.


Ways I can monetize my server that dose not break the EULA?

1: You can sell anything that is cosmetic. I will include a list of some cosmetic things below.
  • Ranks (You may only sell ranks as long as the perks are cosmetic)
- Some cosmetic perks you can put in ranks are:

+ Nicknames so people in your server can have a fancy nickname
+ A set custom chat title / prefixes before their name
+ The ability to set block particles to spruce up their builds (Block Particles)
+ The ability to use player heads to spruce up their builds (Head Database)
+ The ability to wear blocks on their heads as hats
+ The ability to wear banners they create as capes
  • Particle Effects
  • Custom Pets
  • Disco armour that changes colours
  • If you have mcmmo on your server you can sell a server wide booster that effects all players for 2X xp or a more expensive option for 4X xp
  • In 1.9 you can sell custom textures so donators may have different elytra textures than the default group same applies to any other item that takes damage
  • Custom Hat Textures

Thats all i can think of at the moment but if you have any suggestions leave a comment and ill update the list with your suggestions and feedback!
 
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Sloth

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OR you can just ignore Mojang and the EULA because eventually they will piss off too many people and the hate will be unstoppable
 

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What are they possibly going to do? Give you a slap on the wrist?
There was talk of mojang being able to block people from joining your server and other stuff. Anyway this thread wasn't about how to not comply with the EULA but to help give ideas and feedback on how you can still make money and comply.
 
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KeithSt0ne

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Would selling crate keys be considered anti-eula? What about things like extra plots?

If it's not cosmetic, then it's technically against the eula. So, key's, extra plots, etc is anti-eula.
 

Ekouh

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IF your server is found selling ranks that give other player advantages mojang (Microsoft) will shut down your server. THey are taking this very seriously. I recommend complying before any harm is done.
 

Ivain

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There are a few options. First off, crowdfunding. have players chip in something on a site like patreon or Gofundme, and set specific goals that affect the entire server. You can have a "hall of fame" for all people that support your server.

server subscription: you can have 2 servers, 1 a free "demo" server, the other a subscription server where people pay $5 per month, or buy a "season pass" for all I know. Or you could whitelist donator ranks on a "early beta" server, where new minigames or features come out before they come out on the main server. As long as it is a SEPARATE server

Also, it is allowed to have things that do not directly affect gameplay for other players (extra plots, crates, maybe ingame money etc, but not PvP kits and the like) be acquired by donator ranks as long as it is reasonably possible for free players to access those same things.
 

VintageDon

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There are still a few reasonably interesting ways to monetize your server, but the days of selling plots, skills, spawners, and so on are definitely out the window; at least if you're making enough for your server to be a job. I like most others, think that the smaller player base servers are going to either be the last to get hit, or just left alone. Remember that the reporting form specifically states that Mojang will NOT share with you if they have contacted the server owner, what the outcome is, whether a server owner is under investigation or anything along those lines. This gives them the ability to ignore a large part of the requests. I imagine that since they've hired Brand Enforcement, they want to see "victories" and "actionable intelligence" come out of that money they're putting into that department, and seeing a bunch of small servers get taken down I don't think is what they're paying them for.

The thing is, on a lot of the threads in other forums, on Reddit, and so on that I have been following, there have been an overabundance of snitches ready to run to Mojang/Minecraft with glee holding up evil servers and shining Batman spotlights on those that they don't like. I've seen enough "Oh! They're going doooooowwwwnnn MUAHAHAH!"'s to last a lifetime. I'm not saying that there aren't any servers that aren't abusing pay-to-win (we know there are), but for every one of those, there are a multitude that are selling balanced packages that although they violate the EULA, they aren't money-mongering.

I also have an issue with them interfering with me spending my own money on something that I don't mind spending it on simply because they feel my economic position gives me an unfair advantage. Smacks of wealth-redistribution and communism. If you don't like the way a server is run, and you don't want to pay for something that you feel is unbalanced ... you have the right to go the f*ck somewhere else. *shrug*

All right, now that I'm off my soapbox ... although cosmetics are one option, there is one very interesting one:
Priority Access to Servers: this is an interesting one, because it can still be on the same "server" [remember that a server is anything that you connect to with the multiplayer screen, so even having a VIP lobby is against the EULA unless you have to totally disconnect back to the Multiplayer screen and re-connect to a new server/proxy] and is, as far as I know, the only "same server" charge you can make that is actually "worth" anything.

Anyway ... it's just time to get creative.
 

KeithSt0ne

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Also, it is allowed to have things that do not directly affect gameplay for other players (extra plots, crates, maybe ingame money etc, but not PvP kits and the like) be acquired by donator ranks as long as it is reasonably possible for free players to access those same things.

Go read the eula, you can't sell in game money or items for real money.

However, I think Arkham has a really good idea about how to handle it, go read what they have proposed.
 

Hannes

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Unless I'm contacted personally by Mojang, I'm disregarding the EULA and doing whatever the hell I want. If they're not going directly for me, why not take advantage of that and monetize my server with everything that isn't allowed?
This is what I'm going to do atleast.
 

Ivain

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Go read the eula, you can't sell in game money or items for real money.

However, I think Arkham has a really good idea about how to handle it, go read what they have proposed.
true, arkham has been doing well on the eula thing for a while now.
And yes, you can't sell it directly. What you can do is have a system that makes it easier to obtain a currency, provided that you cannot use that currency to influence gameplay significantly.
 
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