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Oh my goodness... I swear I spent a hand full of hours today reading at least 60-80 different articles on the web about the dos and don'ts regarding the Minecraft EULA... And I am certain I came out more confused then I did when I went in...
Here are the questions I found myself ending the day with:
Here are the questions I found myself ending the day with:
- Can you give players things like "/kit [kitName]" and still follow the EULA? Isn't this presenting an unfair advantage?
- Can you charge money for things like custom made mods, plugins, data-packs? I thought this was a hard no. But then I found this fellows website: https://bluecommand.weebly.com/119810119848119846119846119842119852119852119842119848119847119852.html (where he is selling his services???)
- Are there any loopholes? Here's one I was thinking of (not sure if this works or not). Mojang specifically states that you CAN NOT reward player donations with in game economy. BUT what if you rewarded them with a key/ticket that they could then turn in somewhere within your server for in game currency? (much like the "key" crates you find on large and small servers alike?
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#1 You can easily give players kits, as long as you don't create a "pay to win" kind of setup. So if those kits are available for all your players there's no issue at all.
#2 Of course you can. There is the issue of not being allowed to make money "out of Minecraft" but if you make mods and such then you're not necessarily including Minecraft into your work. You basically sell a separate piece of software which happens to be usable for Minecraft.
And there's even a more important aspect to take into consideration here: your mod will be build against a mod loader (I assume Forge or LiteLoader), so it doesn't even involve Minecraft directly. You're developing something to run on Forge (or LiteLoader), which is completely outside of Mojang's scope. They deal with Minecraft, not Forge or LiteLoader.
I know this may sound weird because in a sense Forge and LiteLoader can be considered part of Minecraft. But when we're talking about legal terms... your product wouldn't affect Minecraft at all. That stage has already been passed once either modloader got installed.
#3 Mojang never stated that. You can reward players all you want. Key is pay to win. If you sell game ranks then those ranks should also be available for players who don't want to pay to reach such ranks. That's all.
In the end... you're probably better off asking Mojang directly than trusting a stranger on the Net.
#2 Of course you can. There is the issue of not being allowed to make money "out of Minecraft" but if you make mods and such then you're not necessarily including Minecraft into your work. You basically sell a separate piece of software which happens to be usable for Minecraft.
And there's even a more important aspect to take into consideration here: your mod will be build against a mod loader (I assume Forge or LiteLoader), so it doesn't even involve Minecraft directly. You're developing something to run on Forge (or LiteLoader), which is completely outside of Mojang's scope. They deal with Minecraft, not Forge or LiteLoader.
I know this may sound weird because in a sense Forge and LiteLoader can be considered part of Minecraft. But when we're talking about legal terms... your product wouldn't affect Minecraft at all. That stage has already been passed once either modloader got installed.
#3 Mojang never stated that. You can reward players all you want. Key is pay to win. If you sell game ranks then those ranks should also be available for players who don't want to pay to reach such ranks. That's all.
In the end... you're probably better off asking Mojang directly than trusting a stranger on the Net.
#1 "Available to everyone" in the response above means: Freely to whoever you choose whenever you want, as long as players can't pay to (speed up the process to) get those kits. It's fine to have admin only kits or kits that unlock after certain hours of gameplay / getting certain achievements
#2 I think ShelLuser is right on this. You can sell any content that doesn't contain Minecraft content. This means resource packs without minecraft resources and mods without minecraft code. I'm unsure about datapacks. However, you can always use donation buttons or sell your service instead. In other words, you can sell "your time" to create something for someone else regardless of what thing that is.
#3 Contrary to what Zip_Z said, I think that it should be fine to transfer money into in-game credits, as long as those credits can't be used for upgrades that give some players advantages over others. They must be purely cosmetic. If your gameplay is centered around some kind of currency, separate this currency from the currency that can be bought.
E.g. Coins (which cannot be bought) for normal gameplay and keys/gems (Which can be bought) for cosmetics only.
#2 I think ShelLuser is right on this. You can sell any content that doesn't contain Minecraft content. This means resource packs without minecraft resources and mods without minecraft code. I'm unsure about datapacks. However, you can always use donation buttons or sell your service instead. In other words, you can sell "your time" to create something for someone else regardless of what thing that is.
#3 Contrary to what Zip_Z said, I think that it should be fine to transfer money into in-game credits, as long as those credits can't be used for upgrades that give some players advantages over others. They must be purely cosmetic. If your gameplay is centered around some kind of currency, separate this currency from the currency that can be bought.
E.g. Coins (which cannot be bought) for normal gameplay and keys/gems (Which can be bought) for cosmetics only.
As far as what you said about #2 and #3 in regards to my previous response, they are directly denied as possibilities by Mojang themselves. So, with respect, it's not what I said. It's what Mojang said.
I'm in understanding of what you said regarding #1 and I agree with you. With the exception of "to whoever you choose". Since here (in this post made by Mojang) https://www.mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/ They (not I) state: "You are allowed to accept donations from players. You can thank them publicly or in-game, but can’t give preferential treatment for donating." So for example, you can't just give a special, player specific, kit to a donator just because they donated $1000 and you like that they donated that much.
I'm in understanding of what you said regarding #1 and I agree with you. With the exception of "to whoever you choose". Since here (in this post made by Mojang) https://www.mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/ They (not I) state: "You are allowed to accept donations from players. You can thank them publicly or in-game, but can’t give preferential treatment for donating." So for example, you can't just give a special, player specific, kit to a donator just because they donated $1000 and you like that they donated that much.
On #2, the EULA is not very clear. They can't say that content belongs to the creator and then prohibit the creator from doing certain things with it. Regardless, I'm very sure about being able to sell your service to somebody. People are allowed to get paid to create stuff for others. It's currently happening all over the place anyways.
On #3. Yes, they say you can't sell in-game currency. But then again, they close off with "If the stuff you sell affects gameplay, we're not cool with it". If you create a completely separate currency for purely cosmetic stuff that runs alongside the actual gameplay currency, I don't think Mojang will see any problem with that.
The last bit you didn't read careful enough. Literally the very next part of that same sentence I said: "as long as players can't pay to (speed up the process to) get those kits". The first part of the sentence (to whoever you choose) obviously doesn't apply to players who donated, it's about being able to give admins or more advanced players better kits that new players can't have (yet).
And although the EULA applies to everybody, you really don't have to worry about legal problems as long as you follow the rules to the best of your understanding and are just an individual creator. They don't expect every user to have a legal team that can fully interpret those juridical texts.
On #3. Yes, they say you can't sell in-game currency. But then again, they close off with "If the stuff you sell affects gameplay, we're not cool with it". If you create a completely separate currency for purely cosmetic stuff that runs alongside the actual gameplay currency, I don't think Mojang will see any problem with that.
The last bit you didn't read careful enough. Literally the very next part of that same sentence I said: "as long as players can't pay to (speed up the process to) get those kits". The first part of the sentence (to whoever you choose) obviously doesn't apply to players who donated, it's about being able to give admins or more advanced players better kits that new players can't have (yet).
And although the EULA applies to everybody, you really don't have to worry about legal problems as long as you follow the rules to the best of your understanding and are just an individual creator. They don't expect every user to have a legal team that can fully interpret those juridical texts.
In Responce to #1
But those kits MUST be available to all players, regardless of if they donate or not, and must be purely cosmetic. So no donations specific items like a "/kit donator" that gives you say a stronger sword or pickaxe? But a "/pets" or "/hats" is fine since it introduces no individual player advantage?
Source: https://www.mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/
"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."
In Responce to #2
But that's the exact opposite of what the EULA specially states? (Section: "OWNERSHIP OF OUR GAME AND OTHER THINGS" Paragraph 2)
Source: https://account.mojang.com/documents/minecraft_eula
"OWNERSHIP OF OUR GAME AND OTHER THINGS" - paragraph 2
"Any Mods you create for the Game from scratch belong to you (including pre-run Mods and in-memory Mods) and you can do whatever you want with them, as long as you don't sell them for money / try to make money from them and so long as you don’t distribute Modded Versions of the Game. Remember that a Mod means something that is your original work and that does not contain a substantial part of our code or content. You only own what you created; you do not own our code or content."
Are you talking about some legal work around for Minecraft mods specifically designed to be part of a mod launcher? And if so do think you could link an example (if you have one, no sweat if not) of where you've seen this work before? And what about data packs and plugins aside from mods?
In Responce to #3
They did state it here though:
Source: https://www.mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/
"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."
But those kits MUST be available to all players, regardless of if they donate or not, and must be purely cosmetic. So no donations specific items like a "/kit donator" that gives you say a stronger sword or pickaxe? But a "/pets" or "/hats" is fine since it introduces no individual player advantage?
Source: https://www.mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/
"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."
In Responce to #2
But that's the exact opposite of what the EULA specially states? (Section: "OWNERSHIP OF OUR GAME AND OTHER THINGS" Paragraph 2)
Source: https://account.mojang.com/documents/minecraft_eula
"OWNERSHIP OF OUR GAME AND OTHER THINGS" - paragraph 2
"Any Mods you create for the Game from scratch belong to you (including pre-run Mods and in-memory Mods) and you can do whatever you want with them, as long as you don't sell them for money / try to make money from them and so long as you don’t distribute Modded Versions of the Game. Remember that a Mod means something that is your original work and that does not contain a substantial part of our code or content. You only own what you created; you do not own our code or content."
Are you talking about some legal work around for Minecraft mods specifically designed to be part of a mod launcher? And if so do think you could link an example (if you have one, no sweat if not) of where you've seen this work before? And what about data packs and plugins aside from mods?
In Responce to #3
They did state it here though:
Source: https://www.mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/
"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."
