The Hypocrisy of Minecraft's New Rules?

If I said I've been disappointed with the way Mojang has been running Minecraft over the past few months, I'd be doing them a disservice. Disappointed, it doesn't even begin to explain it as much as I would like. Currently, Michael McCill and I have three background video scripts that we've created and every time we're about to put in the effort to produce that video, Mojang outdoes itself with almost every product you buy and every online service it attaches a agreement, these could be terms of service, general

rules

, guidelines or what we call an end user license agreement, also known as Eula, if you've heard this term with Minecraft in the past few years, that's not surprising to some.

Some of Minecraft's biggest changes haven't come about because of actual coded content, but because of a piece of paper behind the scenes. This document details pretty much every way you can use the game as a player, sometimes alongside the EULA which has usage guidelines. Minecraft is no exception to this, the Minecraft usage guidelines or mug for short were recently updated and, To put it simply, these types of changes change everything in an attempt to protect the Minecraft brand. Mojang and Microsoft have seemingly put tighter control over many of Minecraft's key monetization methods and even ways you can play the game, with some pointing out that this is no big deal and others claiming it's the end. of the days, who is right in this video we plan to address?

At the outset, the first thing I must say is that I am not a lawyer. None of this video is legal advice. I'm not saying this because I'm trying to protect myself, but because, in the grand scheme of things, legal jargon. can be extremely difficult to understand, while these documents are definitely sillier than others I have seen over the years, that does not mean that it makes them any easier to read, if anything, with multiple grammatical errors, contradictions and Better yet, it's definitely not easy to read. I understand this on a first try now that we have it figured out, we need to establish some language and definitions.

When I say Eula, I mean the end user license agreement. When I say mug, I mean using Minecraft. guidelines when Mojang says our name or the name of Minecraft, they also refer to the name of any of their games, taglines, features, events or company identity, they also refer to any name that is confusingly similar to their names, when they say your brand, they refer to any names, logos, fonts, textures and any other distinguishing characteristics of any part of your name and games and when they say our assets they refer to the code software Graphics textures images models sounds and other audio taken from any of your games and any videos or screenshots taken from your games on the surface for basic players Minecraft does not necessarily have

rules

but it does have community standards its values ​​are quite simple number one Minecraft is for everyone number two diversity powers our community number three playing with others should be safe and inclusive and hate number four don't have put it here, in a nutshell these are excellent guidelines and most, if not all, games should strive to meet these standards, there are additional rules, but they basically boil down to including, Don't be an idiot and don't use Minecraft's chat or building features. for hate, violence, intimidation, fraud or threats to others in a clear and simple way, where it doesn't get so clean and simple is when we go from EULA to The Mug right now.

I want to start with the ways in which you guys actually interact with the game because Frankly, some of these changes and rules could affect the way you interact and enjoy the content, to paraphrase slightly, just because it's everywhere in the mug and there's not exactly A better direct place to draw from Minecraft's target audience: children and miners, this is not the case. a shocking development as the game went from young people and adults playing in the beginning to literally being in thousands of schools around the world, but even now we have it in writing as of this moment.

Mojang considers anything that is not appropriate for children to be a bit problematic. whether you sponsor the theme of an event, the right of the servers that advertise the whole thing, if your server's texture pack modifies skins, anything is not appropriate for almost anyone 10 years old or younger, you run the risk Before Mojang removes it in the EULA and mug combined, there are literally six instances of the words we reserve the right followed by some way of removing any content to decide if you are monetizing your server correctly, suspend or ban, stop any event or change of opinion at any time, for example, if people start to Take advantage of our good intentions now.

I think Mojang will warn everyone and give them warnings or worse actual takedown notices, probably not, but I would like to offer a hypothetical situation when driving a car, motorcycle or any other type of vehicle. One of the first things you will encounter as a new driver is a speed limit sign, it doesn't matter what the number is on that sign, but let's say it's 50 miles per hour, that's your speed limit, your mom, your dad or whoever tells you. you can go a little further, no one gets stopped for that, so instead of going to 50, you go to 55, maybe after a while they don't stop you, so you get a little bolder and take it to 60 and then they throw you Also, you didn't get pulled over at 55, so you feel like that's your limit, you'll never go back to 60, but regardless of opinion, you can get pulled over for going even one mile per hour over the speed limit.

Is Mojang going to give you? everyone a ticket for going 51 in 50. They probably couldn't be sure that my fear is not that they will be given the ticket, but that the rules are so open that they could actually apply them however they want now. I really need to express how big this is. The next part we will talk about is servers. Without a doubt and understandably, Mojang has had a very well-documented history with the complications surrounding server monetization and what that has meant for a long time. If I haven't explained how big this was, let me start now.

Mojang has made this path harder to understand than they needed, but after a long session we think we understand it, on top of that we have some disturbing things. confirmations first, let's go over the do's and don'ts if you want to monetize your server, it must be kid-friendly, this means no gambling, graphic adult content, violence, explicit lyrics or other unsafe material or adult content. . You can sell your players Cosmetics, but you can't sell them caves, no matter what you call them, no capes, whatever, you can't have them, you also have to follow the built promotion guidelines, this means no built-in sponsors, corporate brands , products, services, practically anything that is not directly related to the Minecraft brand. or things they haven't approved are technically off limits now to do any of this you have to get permission from Mojang or Microsoft.

You can sell virtual currencies in the game as long as they do not look or have a similar name to minecoin or any other virtual currency, such as Bitcoin, they cannot be redeemed for real-world value, transferred between servers, or converted into real-world currencies. You also cannot hide built-in dialogue messages in Minecraft. Warning messages from Eula. Error messages. They must all be seen. If you are going to sell something to your players, you should provide a purchase history per user. Hosts should also require social influencers on platforms similar to, but not limited to, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch to disclose their relationship with the host when promoting, they must also follow guidelines published by the US Federal Trade Commission.

This all makes sense to me, but now is where we enter extremely frustrating territory, a few days ago after this all blew up on Twitter, a handful of creators were contacted. Mojang informed me and advised me that answers and guidance were attached to clear up the confusion frankly, even after there was definitely more confusion, although I would love to share everything that was said, we were told that we were not allowed to share images or any messages word for word when we were asked if servers with player signals were allowed, we were basically told that servers that offer players paid levels and have different perks along with each level are against

minecraft

usage guidelines despite that not being anywhere in the cup is the closest thing to that.

We found that you can make money by charging for access to your server by soliciting donations, as long as you don't offer the donor something that only they can use; However, you can offer rewards to all players across the server if donation goals are met. I have never paid for anything on a server before, this may not seem like a big deal, but for server owners this is huge in every way. What I've read along with the messages Mojang gave means that server rankings are dead. once again we were told not to share these messages word for word.

Why is just speculative, but I assume it's so that Mojang and Microsoft can enforce these rules when, where, and how they see fit. This wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for the fact that some, if not most, of the largest Minecraft servers break these same rules, in-game currency betting range ads, hidden messages, Most larger servers do many of these things to run the update, operate with moderate maintenance, and unfortunately, more servers need to have similar features. to these to maintain a profit and with these guidelines set so arbitrarily, Mojang can come in and change things as it sees fit, as often as it sees fit, or worse, shut everything down completely, whatever its opinion on the Minecraft servers and the way they are monetized.

Chances are you have some kind of experience with them, for better or worse, they say we reserve the right to decide if the way you monetize your server is consistent with our brand. In short, don't do bad things to players and you should be. It's okay, whether you want to take risks or not is up to you, although remember how long you're willing to do 55 in 50. Depending on how you enjoy Minecraft content or even how you produce it, these rules can affect how where you watch or create content. What you do one of the terms I used before when I talked about servers was built promotions, in short, Mojang does not want Minecraft to become a hub of advertising.

This includes, but is not limited to, commercial companies, corporate brands, advertising agencies, non-profit organizations, politicians. Political action committees, governments, individual artists, and other entities may not use Minecraft Gameplay in any way to promote or market non-Minecraft related products, Services, events, campaigns, or brands without the prior written approval of Mojang or Microsoft. . This basically means that you cannot place a corporate sponsor. branding product or service logo on a Minecraft mod or world server for promotional purposes, essentially this means that Minecraft tournaments where sponsor logos or images are integrated directly into the game are prohibited if you want to get technical if you believe a company for the purpose of creating Minecraft events I think you could argue that you can't self-promote your company at your own event.

In-game branded charity fundraisers could also be considered dead unless you get permission from Mojang. YouTubers and streamers also have changes here. Additionally, if you are going to have a sponsored segment in a YouTube video, you must now have the title cards, sponsorship notices, and other mentions outside of the actual game content. Sponsors and mentions must also be suitable for children and minors. and must not cause harm to the Minecraft brand. Anything that could be considered confusing can be removed by Mojang whenever they want if we go back to the server section. One can even argue that Twitch Slash Patreon Creator subservers are dead if you take the line Access to your server cannot be limited or controlled directly or indirectly by a player who owns or has access to content products or services outside of the game.

Seriously, to be fair, on the next line they say you can charge for access to their provided server. that the cost of accessing the server is the same for everyone, but do you want to take the risk? I really think the references here are nfts, but the problem with your wording is that it is left so open that again they can choose to apply it. However, they want another section that is poorly worded and deals with charging viewers to watch Minecraft content. They say it seems good to go upvideos to websites like YouTube and make money by allowing advertising around the video, but it doesn't seem right to them to create a video. and put it on services like Tunes or Amazon Prime Video and charge viewers to watch it, the two scenarios they offer do not answer the question of whether putting videos behind a paywall, like YouTube memberships, Patreon is just a Twitch Vods that requires subscription or anything else.

It's okay, but it certainly doesn't seem that way anymore. I can think of many scenarios where this could cause problems if not worded correctly again, not word for word, but what Mojang told us in the attachment they gave us were these. Monetization routes are fine, but if that's the case, why not express it properly on the mug? Wouldn't that cause a lot less confusion? As for the last one in this section, this makes less sense to me and definitely makes me a little cautious. Regarding Mojang's intentions in his own words, if he decides that you want to share your creation with the community, you can do so.

In fact, we are excited for you and can't wait to see what you will do when you decide to share your content with the community whether you plan to make money from it or not, you are doing what we consider something commercial. When you do commercial things, that is, anything, you must follow commercial usage guidelines. This applies, for example, if you want to set up and run non-commercial blog servers. Community forums. Fan sites. clubs, newsgroups, events and meetups, by the way, this includes screenshots, any screenshots you have posted on any website, be it Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, any commercial activity, this means a lot, post an image they don't agree with on Twitter, delete it, have a blog and gives an unflattering opinion on an update delete it you are damaging the brand and want to put your logo web address or overlay it on top of yours their gameplay or from someone else in their own words they reserve the right to decide if your content is unique enough that a game like Minecraft inspires people to create and be artists without limits and then go in and decide this hurts Mojang this hurts the two last things we're going to talk about are events and mods that start with events Let's talk about in-person events first and lay out the ground rules.

Simply put, large-scale in-person events have basically been banned. If your event will have 150 participants or more, we will have a for-profit sponsorship. It is not appropriate for all ages, uses Minecraft branding or assets, or has Minecraft in the convention title. It can't happen if Mojang will come to you to create a block-themed convention and use pixel art as a theme, we're not sure. What if you want to advertise your event as a Minecraft event by putting it in the description with a secondary name or a secondary title which seems fine but you can't have more than 150 people and all the other rules I said before are It's okay for you and 148 of your friends meet at your favorite pizza place to chat and play Minecraft, but they don't agree with you renting a convention center and charging admission by inviting visitors to the construction site and if you think they wouldn't close.

At a convention, they did exactly this to my invention five days before their event last May, after people had spent money on hotels, flights, all to make things worse in 2017. Mind Fair Mindvention and Multiplays Block Fest were They considered official Minecraft conventions. This was ironically announced during Mojang's first non-convention, Minecon Earth, an event that eliminated all future official Minecon events and instead began a six-year series of Minecraft livestreams announcing updates. with many unfulfilled promises when it comes to the events of the game. such as in-game concerts, fundraisers, fan meetings, online conventions, whatever the event is, it must now be completely free to view or attend virtually, you must obtain permission and authorization from the owners of any intellectual property you use, You must comply with local laws and everything you do. with external parties should fall under the build promotion section discussed above, and to top it all off, Mojang reserves the right to stop any event if we feel it doesn't follow the guidelines we've set out here.

It's also just a note that we can't. We sell tickets to in-game events, but we can sell access to servers, why can't people who sell access to servers be guilty of making empty promises, as can happen with events, and last but not least, modifications to say it clearly? Mojang states that by modifications or mods we mean an original add-on that extends the functionality of Minecraft but does not contain a substantial part of our code or copyrighted content. We have the final say on what constitutes a mod and what doesn't when you combine your mod with Minecraft. that combination as a modified version of Minecraft, if you want to distribute your mod, you can only distribute the mod itself and not a modified version of the game.

The mod also cannot create a play-to-earn feature where players can win real-life money with the mod. It also cannot be used to directly or indirectly verify whether or not a player owns in-game content products or services. Simply put, they don't want nft mods to be something understandable, they also make it explicitly clear that mods that promote their core corporate services of branded products or those of their clients are prohibited, I wouldn't be surprised if mod creators started receiving takedown notices if your mods are based on popular games like Pokémon branded cars or anything else, whether the person who made the mod was or not. paid by the company and if I may say I don't see why we can't sell mods but we can sell cosmetics and access servers in your own words you the creator of the mod only own what you created you do not own our code or content.

If mods can't contain a substantial part of your code, why not allow people to sell them? Mojang's immediate follow-up to this section of the EULA states when we update our games, some changes may not play well with other software, such as mods. If that's the reason we can't charge for our mods, what happens to the servers when the game updates? Servers have to jump through hoops to make sure they work properly. Just because servers are played more than mods doesn't mean they should. being intrinsically favored on the monetary side of things. I get it, more players online equals a visible increase in player numbers, but we, the Minecraft Java Edition community, have been asking for a mod API for almost 10 years so we can ensure easy updating of mods to the game and You've ignored us every step of the way and let Fabric Forge and Quilt do the heavy lifting for you if the movement allows a market for Bedrock to exist and refuses to create a safe space to share and sell mod resource packs. skins Map experiences in Java Edition, then they should politely step aside if servers can sell cosmetics.

I'm also not sure where this falls with mods and allowing purchases like cosmetics because technically, the wording in the EULA says you can do whatever you want. you want with your mods, as long as you don't sell them for money or try to make money with them. Mojang, you're making this unnecessarily harder than it needs to be. Not allowing us to sell mods in Minecraft, frankly, seems like a tactic for people who want to make money creating mods for the game to move to Bedrock, which is just an inferior platform, and create an inferior product. I ask the modders if their artistic integrity is worth it at this point in the script that we have officially broken. eight pages in and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of many of these issues.

At the end of the day, Mojang says that these decisions are to protect the Minecraft brand and I understand that my problem does not lie with the idea that Mojang wants to protect themselves, but the rules are set so that even if you are tiptoeing between eggshells, you will inevitably break some eggs, if Mojang wants the guidelines to be followed and truly protect their community then they should have their rules stated more clearly, especially considering that many people have built their entire careers on financial stability around your product without video creators, server owners, mod creators, resource pack creators, fans, artists, convention owners, fans and viewers like you.

Minecraft wouldn't be as big as it is and I hope Mojang hasn't forgotten that my name is Aunt Venom and I say goodbye to everyone, thank you very much for watching.