Mojang Declares Paid For Ranks Illegal And Premium Replacement Idea

Status
Not open for further replies.
indyfan98

indyfan98

I'm not narcissistic. I'm just better than you.
Joined
Oct 20, 2013
Messages
846
Reaction score
1,295
Points
0
Location
a crappy hole in the ground, Pennsylvania.
Recently, with the mass hacking of Mine craft accounts, a ton of people had issues. A father, who bought his son high ranks on multiple servers, contacted Mojang after his son's account was hacked. He asked for help. The rep said that "Mojang does not recognize server ranks as they violate our terms of service." Thus, this means that any servers with ranks will be needing to remove them. That includes Premium members.

The rep went on to say that this has always violated the terms of service, and that now, Mojang is taking action.

How will the server make money to run? My idea is this. If you donate a certain amount, you get a special, rare, hard to obtain item from in game. Items like nether stars, god armor and tools, diamond , etc.

That is just my suggestion. The staff don't need to take it, but they will need to take away the concept of premium members, and they will still need money.

Simply put, Mojang has stated that paying money for an in game feature violates the law, and they will take action starting soon. Even if you made the feature. All server ranks are to be removed, and that means Premium on Massivecraft.

Terms of Service:
The one major rule is that you must not distribute anything we've made. By "distribute anything we've made" what we mean is "give copies of the game away, make commercial use of, try to make money from, or let other people get access to our game and its parts in a way that is unfair or unreasonable". So the one major rule is that (unless we specifically agree it – such as in brand and asset usage guidelines) you must not:
  • give copies of our Game to anyone else;
  • make commercial use of anything we've made;
  • try to make money from anything we've made; or
  • let other people get access to anything we've made in a way that is unfair or unreasonable.
…and so that we are crystal clear, what we have made includes, but is not limited to, the client or the server software for our Game. It also includes modified versions of a Game, part of it or anything else we've made
_________________________________________________________________

Please don't dislike this thread because this is bad news for the server. It hurts me. Not Mojang.

Where I found out the news:

Full Minecraft Terms of Service: https://account.mojang.com/documents/minecraft_eula

Terms and Conditions: https://account.mojang.com/terms#brand
 
Last edited:

WHAT. This is awful!

Also, your idea is sound and this is the perfect thing to replace premium (if that is going to absolutely happen).​
 
769181.gif
 
The way I heard it, Mojang stated that paid for ranks and the like do 'technically' violate the terms of service for MC but it is a relative grey area in their eyes. Since without donations and paid-for-ranks, MC servers aren't the easiest thing to run. Specifically, the terms say that it is not allowed to exchange real life money for in-game items and the like. So this idea would, unfortunately, also violate the terms. Mojang said they would redefine the terms of service on this account just to make it more detailed for server owners, but personally I do not believe they will outlaw it all-together. Unless they have released a public statement saying that they are going to outlaw ranks and the like on every single MC server, I do not think we will be facing any immediate changes. But the fact that you are thinking about this, and trying to help the server come up with an idea to fix funding in the event that this takes place is good. If the pay-for-ranks does fall out, it will be good to have back up ideas to keep the server afloat :)
 
Here is a link to the twitter feed that discussed this for those interested. Youtuber, Bebopvox, also shared his ideas on it for those interested
Twitter
Youtube
 
As I see it, the gane is bought and can be altered for the people who bought it and play on a server. Massivecraft has a large number of players and I am sure that people wont make a big deal out of this.
 
I was never a fan of ''premium'' accounts on servers. Massivecraft did an ok job at balancing it, but some things seemed a bit unfair. Personally the change is fine with me
 
@indyfan98 no link, Just what you say, meaning this is irrelevant and likely a fraud. I find it plausible that you just want premium removed and made up a happy little story to try and gain support, I might be wrong but I don't think so.
 
Asmodeus35 said:
@indyfan98 no link, Just what you say, meaning this is irrelevant and likely a fraud. I find it plausible that you just want premium removed and made up a happy little story to try and gain support, I might be wrong but I don't think so.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
No. I did not make this up. I just can't send links on my tablet. I am waiting for this afternoon when I can get on the computer.
 
Asmodeus35 said:
@indyfan98 no link, Just what you say, meaning this is irrelevant and likely a fraud. I find it plausible that you just want premium removed and made up a happy little story to try and gain support, I might be wrong but I don't think so.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Added some links.
 

Technically the idea of the premium feature is that it is a charitable donation, and thus circumnavigates the actual purchase and selling of an item. This means that MassiveCraft does not actually "sell" any form of ingame rank to its players, thus the terms and conditions set by Mojang are not violated. The essence of such a donation is completely within the right of the donator to give up the stated amount of money. While the premium features are given along with this donation it follows on in terms of a "gift" in thanks for the donation made by a player.

For example, say I made a charitable donation to the upkeep of a life support system and the family gave me a bouquet of flowers in thanks, this action should not give the hospital right to withhold my ability to move my own money around even if the life support machine is their own property and that the claim is that I have paid money for a reward (the bouquet in question).

I think this statement generally refers to those that are paid money for services for the sole purpose of it being a purchasable good, it is clearly stated and always has been that you are in no way paying for premium. It is a privilege that comes from donating toward the charity that is the upkeep of the server.

That's just my own personal take on this, but in all honesty I can't see there being any legal backing toward the removal of such a feature, I'll continue to do some research however and see if anything does pop up.​
 
Last edited:
Azas said:
Leave it to the legal people, no need to over speculate, I'd wager we really won't be affected much at all
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Absolutely. The video itself sources Watson's tweets, and Watson clarified by stating that nothing has changed in terms of policy or enforcement. He even specifically notes that donations are acceptable. Indy, I wouldn't worry.

https://twitter.com/Marc_IRL/status/471762881243918337
"Lots of grey areas. I hope that some of those grey areas are addressed in the future. No new policy or enforcement right now."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

levers
 
levers said:
Absolutely. The video itself sources Watson's tweets, and Watson clarified by stating that nothing has changed in terms of policy or enforcement. He even specifically notes that donations are acceptable. Indy, I wouldn't worry.

https://twitter.com/Marc_IRL/status/471762881243918337


levers
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yes, but it says "donations." Yes, premiums "donate" money, but it is often for the perks. Especially the traits and the mcmmo stuff. If you took away the traits, nobody would buy premium. Well, almost nobody. There would still be a few really nice people, who have money (I want money so bad so I can be prem!) who would just flat out donate. However, the main idea of premium us that it is a form of temporary rank so that certain in game features are enabled for you. Yes, I would hate for premium players to be lost. They are important to the community. However, I see where Mojang is coming on this issue. It would be best to ask a representative there for any issues.
 
indyfan98 said:
Yes, but it says "donations." Yes, premiums "donate" money, but it is often for the perks. Especially the traits and the mcmmo stuff. If you took away the traits, nobody would buy premium. Well, almost nobody. There would still be a few really nice people, who have money (I want money so bad so I can be prem!) who would just flat out donate. However, the main idea of premium us that it is a form of temporary rank so that certain in game features are enabled for you. Yes, I would hate for premium players to be lost. They are important to the community. However, I see where Mojang is coming on this issue. It would be best to ask a representative there for any issues.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
As far as I can see @levers just settled all of this, no need for further arguement massive's premiums will not be effected changed or nerfed
 
@indyfan98
Saying No one would buy premium if traits were removed as a perk is very wrong considering the number of premiums before traits even existed.
 
Well if the rank does have to come down, we can always keep the premuims by people gaining the rank through server recognition and admin agreement, meaning if the community see's you work hard, the admins see you work hard, and they want to give it to you, Bam! Green name. That's my take on if this affects prems
 
I am pretty sure the Info team members will look into this. And fix anything needed
 
indyfan98 said:
Yes, but it says "donations." Yes, premiums "donate" money, but it is often for the perks. Especially the traits and the mcmmo stuff. If you took away the traits, nobody would buy premium. Well, almost nobody. There would still be a few really nice people, who have money (I want money so bad so I can be prem!) who would just flat out donate. However, the main idea of premium us that it is a form of temporary rank so that certain in game features are enabled for you. Yes, I would hate for premium players to be lost. They are important to the community. However, I see where Mojang is coming on this issue. It would be best to ask a representative there for any issues.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It really doesn't matter what you or anyone else thinks donations should be called. By donating you agree to our terms of service or disclaimer, thus testifying on both ends that it is a donation. You can say that it wasn't a donation at a later point, but a legal agreement still binds you and us to refer to it as a donation should it go to court or whatever.

Now as for the content of this video: I think there is a very strong part of the video that nearly everyone is ignoring. The representative clearly states that reselling parts of the game are illegal by the terms of service. MassiveCraft doesn't resell any feature created by Minecraft, perhaps with the exception of the ability to ride skeletal horses. All premium features are features generated trough Massivecraft plugins, or secondary plugins. In effect as such, MassiveCraft is not selling parts of Minecraft, but using Minecraft as a gateway to hand out it's own resources for a donation.

The most we could do in response to these revelations, is tighten our terms of service to make sure there are no legal holes, and require a verification button so we can legally force people to regard it a donation.

Even selling Regals on MassiveCraft isn't illegal by terms of service from Mojang, Regals are made by our plugin and they are a resource governed and moved by our plugins.
 
So now you will remove our perk to ride skeleton horses. *Begins to cry*
 
Madus said:
So now you will remove our perk to ride skeleton horses. *Begins to cry*
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Aw man I didn't notice that in the first place! I buy prem for the backpack space which is a plug in. Even if all features of prem would be gone you have to think about this, would you rather have massivecraft go away without ANY money to run it, or pay for nothing but to keep the server up. Some people don't like the prem features as they are a little OP but we can all agree, they are important. Let me know you support this and we can share this with monmarty.
 
Mojang is getting so tight on the rules it's soon gonna be full out single player!
 
My Argument to Mojang. [This is what I would say basically]

I am not buying a rank. I am not paying for items.
I am donating to a server I love, so that it can continue to run.

Is this server selling items? No.
Is it selling a rank? Perhaps arguable. However, the rank is not what you "Pay" for. The status of premium is a gift. A thank you for donating.

So this server isn't braking any of their rules, and does not have to change.

[[ Now, that is my opinion, give an agree or a disagree, and tell me why! ^-^ ]]
 
Last edited:
aprader1 said:
I buy prem for the backpack space
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This statement makes me sad :(
You're not buying it, you're donating to the server.
It's pretty much a big "Cheers" towards you.
It's not a feature you buy, and I hate when people see it as such, or say it is :c

[[ Sorry for the three posts in a row. To clear space on this thread, I could merge them into one if you want @indyfan98 ? ]]
 
Even with
Jack The Unseen said:
This statement makes me sad :(
You're not buying it, you're donating to the server.
It's pretty much a big "Cheers" towards you.
It's not a feature you buy, and I hate when people see it as such, or say it is :c

[[ Sorry for the three posts in a row. To clear space on this thread, I could merge them into one if you want @indyfan98 ? ]]
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Jack The Unseen said:
This statement makes me sad :(
You're not buying it, you're donating to the server.
It's pretty much a big "Cheers" towards you.
It's not a feature you buy, and I hate when people see it as such, or say it is :c

[[ Sorry for the three posts in a row. To clear space on this thread, I could merge them into one if you want @indyfan98 ? ]]
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
even with every premium feature removed I would still donate. I thank you for the extra gifts but the real reason I donate is so the server runs. I'd rather pay and get nothing but an amazing server than not pay and lose massive. I wrongly said buy I meant donate
 
Ben_2025 said:
Technically the idea of the premium feature is that it is a charitable donation, and thus circumnavigates the actual purchase and selling of an item. This means that MassiveCraft does not actually "sell" any form of ingame rank to its players, thus the terms and conditions set by Mojang are not violated. The essence of such a donation is completely within the right of the donator to give up the stated amount of money. While the premium features are given along with this donation it follows on in terms of a "gift" in thanks for the donation made by a player.

For example, say I made a charitable donation to the upkeep of a life support system and the family gave me a bouquet of flowers in thanks, this action should not give the hospital right to withhold my ability to move my own money around even if the life support machine is their own property and that the claim is that I have paid money for a reward (the bouquet in question).

I think this statement generally refers to those that are paid money for services for the sole purpose of it being a purchasable good, it is clearly stated and always has been that you are in no way paying for premium. It is a privilege that comes from donating toward the charity that is the upkeep of the server.

That's just my own personal take on this, but in all honesty I can't see there being any legal backing toward the removal of such a feature, I'll continue to do some research however and see if anything does pop up.​
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You, should be a lawyer.
 
As Monmarty said, selling Vanilla content is a violation of the terms of service.

Selling content from plugins and 3rd party content is not.
 
From what I read it seems there will be no problem but I think there is a law where if a program is created to run off a system then the system owner has the right to claim rights to that program/plugin meaning that they could claim on possibly all donations ever given on massive or any other server. Premium members have the ability to use certain plugins other players don't meaning mojang could in theory claim that the plugins are part of their game meaning they could use their terms of agreement to force the server to repay all the money to them.​
 
jamstersaber14 said:
From what I read it seems there will be no problem but I think there is a law where if a program is created to run off a system then the system owner has the right to claim rights to that program/plugin meaning that they could claim on possibly all donations ever given on massive or any other server. Premium members have the ability to use certain plugins other players don't meaning mojang could in theory claim that the plugins are part of their game meaning they could use their terms of agreement to force the server to repay all the money to them.​
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
To add to this games like Gary's mod have had some of the player created games made on the main games client claimed by the devs because of how popular they got. Some private pay to play servers who supplied these player created games had all the money that was earned by the server taken because of this law.
 
indyfan98 said:
Recently, with the mass hacking of Mine craft accounts, a ton of people had issues. A father, who bought his son high ranks on multiple servers, contacted Mojang after his son's account was hacked. He asked for help. The rep said that "Mojang does not recognize server ranks as they violate our terms of service." Thus, this means that any servers with ranks will be needing to remove them. That includes Premium members.

The rep went on to say that this has always violated the terms of service, and that now, Mojang is taking action.

How will the server make money to run? My idea is this. If you donate a certain amount, you get a special, rare, hard to obtain item from in game. Items like nether stars, god armor and tools, diamond , etc.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah, okay, great, except you're missing one crucial fact:
Premium is a perk for donation! However people began to get it purely for said perk! It's not paying for rank!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
  • Locked
The Ranks Being Illegal Scare Is Not True. ( At Least For Massivecraft)
Replies
4
Views
1K
General
Ha5h
Ha5h
T
  • Locked
  • Suggestion Suggestion
Archived I Have Paid For Premium Yet I Haven't Got It
Replies
6
Views
606
Suggestion Archive
igel_son
igel_son
Top Bottom