Introduction

Ever since the summer of 2014 (when Mojang changed their EULA to its current iteration), server owners have ignored Mojang’s warnings of enforcement. As you may know, Mojang has started blocking servers that don’t comply with their EULA. All I can say is, they had it coming for over two years now. Though, I hope this blog will help encourage you to comply.

Why You Should Comply

When you purchased Minecraft, you had to explicitly state that you agreed to Mojang’s terms, and the EULA is a component of said terms. It doesn’t matter if you approve or disapprove of these terms (or Mojang’s future modifications), if you own a Minecraft account, you must abide by Mojang’s terms.

What Happens If You Don’t Comply

Initially, an enforcement representative at Mojang will send you emails about your server’s donation store with information about what needs to be changed and a deadline. If for some reason you decide not to comply within the timeframe specified, Mojang will add your server to their server blacklist. Players on Minecraft versions 1.7.2 and on won’t be able to connect to your server if it’s on the blacklist.

How to Comply

In order for your server to comply, you must ensure all donation perks offered don’t affect gameplay for any individual player. You may, however, offer server-wide perks that affect every player’s gameplay.

There are a variety of possible ways to comply, but the most common compliant donation incentives are “cosmetic” perks: extras that change a player’s appearance instead of changing aspects of gameplay. Another possible compliant route is Pay2Play, where players must pay money to access your server at all.

Best Way to Approach Compliance

To make donations that comply, it’s best to treat your donations as real donations. People should donate because they want to support a cause, not for something in return. Servers can still offer perks, they just have to make sure they meet the terms of the EULA.

---

Recommended Perks

Cosmetic perks that comply with the EULA:

• Commands that don’t alter gameplay
  
• Effect trails and other particles
  
• Pets
  
• Anything else that doesn’t enhance gameplay for a specific player
  

Here's a table of even more cosmetic perks with permission nodes for your convenience:

Cosmetic Perk	Plugins
Colors in chat	Essentials Permissions essentials.msg.color essentials.msg.format essentials.msg.magic See full permissions documentation here.
Nicknames	Essentials Permissions essentials.nick essentials.nick.color essentials.nick.format essentials.nick.magic See full permissions documentation here.
Hats	Essentials Permissions essentials.hat See full permissions documentation here.
Disguises	iDisguise Permissions iDisguise.mob.* iDisguise.object.* iDisguise.player.name.* See full permissions documentation here. Lib's Disguises Permissions libsdisguises.disguise.* libsdisguises.disguise.*.* See full permissions documentation here.
Edit signed books	Essentials Permissions essentials.book essentials.book.author essentials.book.title See full permissions documentation here.
Prefix or Suffix in chat	PermissionsEx options: prefix: '&d[&5Donor&d]' suffix: '&c<3' See full permissions documentation here.

Perks That Aren’t Allowed

The EULA states that the following donation perks are not allowed:

---

I'll edit this post later with more information. :)