Party Points And The EULA

[AverageGuy]

So, I made a post about the terrible paywall that is currently in Murder. I do not agree with the idea of party points and having cosmetics as behind a paywall. After being told by an Admin that obtaining party points through gameplay would be breaking the EULA I did some investigation and read it for myself. First off these are two bullet points which I think shows that PP (party points) infringe the EULA.

• ask for donations (as opposed to direct charges) IF you do not offer the individual donor something in exchange that only he or she can use. You may offer server wide rewards if donation goals are achieved though.

Party points are donation only.

• use in-game currencies IF (i) they are “soft currencies” i.e. a currency earned or expended only through gameplay that has no real world value and that cannot be cashed out, used or transferred across free or paid servers, or converted into “credits”; and (ii) you don’t give the impression that it comes from or is associated with Mojang.

These bullet points can be found here https://account.mojang.com/terms#commercial

Now, in the first bullet point we can see that PP is only available to those who donate to the server for PP. So only the individual donor has access to the PP. Nobody else. Also there is no sytem where after the server gets x amount of money, everyone gets PP.
In the second bullet point, it states that soft currencies are only allowed if obtained by gameplay. Which, PP can not be obtained by gameplay. Along with this, PP has real world value, simply because it is in the shop. Anyways I looked even deeper for some examples because I was hoping I misread something, and sadly I found this example on a Mojang post about Minecraft Commercial Use.

"Hard currency is real money or anything that can be converted into real money, including, but not limited to, Bitcoins. Soft currency is available in-game only and has no real-world value. You may not sell soft currency for hard currency, neither separately or along with ranks as a single or recurring payout. This is regardless of what you can use the soft currency for."
Which can be found here https://help.mojang.com/customer/portal/articles/1590522-minecraft-commercial-use

This was an example of what you can't do. PP is a soft currency, that is being sold for hard currency by MCPZ. Mojang themselves have basically stated this is not allowed. It even says it does not matter what the soft currency is being used for. It does not matter that it is only being used for cosmetics.

Most players who are going to stay are going to stay because of the gameplay, not because they were able to earn a cosmetic item. I do understand the enjoyment out of grinding to earn cosmetic items, and hopefully we'll figure out a way to implement this without breaking the EULA, but I really don't see this as a huge problem. Most networks hide a lot of gameplay behind a paywall, PZ puts cosmetic items behind a pay wall - which right now I would say is the best way to do it

Looks like the EULA has been broken, so how is this the best way?

PZ needs to make money whilst being EULA compliant, so cosmetics are an amazing avenue for the network to gain money whilst not breaking previously mentioned EULA. It is worth mentioning that it would break the EULA to have PartyPoints earnable through playing, if the currency can be bought it cannot also be earned through playing.
items?

Sounds to me like the currency is not available through playing. Which as shown before, Mojang does not enjoy.

This honestly just saddens me to see. As a player, this feels wrong. This feels like the community has been straight out lied to. This server is practicing things that are not allowed. Nobody wants the server taken down. Please, change the system.

 

[ABennn]

(This is a lot to read so I’m only touching on one point currently)

Party points aren’t a soft currency. Soft currencies are able to be earned in-game (coins), PartyPoints cannot be earned through gameplay. Having PP available in the store does not go against EULA.

They're soft currencies, soft currencies mean it's mode of currency for in-game which is being sold to buy things in-game, so technically exchanging in-game money for real money, that's why generally selling coins/in-game currency was removed by many servers and replaced by others.

I don’t entirely understand, but regardless, it’s not against EULA. Hypixel has a currency system you can buy from their store, however they have a separate one that can only be earned in-game. (Like PZ)

 

[ABerryyy]

I don’t entirely understand, but regardless, it’s not against EULA. Hypixel has a currency system you can buy from their store, however they have a separate one that can only be earned in-game. (Like PZ)

Yes I deleted it and agree with you, a server is completely allowed to sell cosmetics, as party points can only be used for cosmetics and do not give an unfair advantage it doesn't go against the EULA.

 

[AverageGuy]

(This is a lot to read so I’m only touching on one point currently)

Party points aren’t a soft currency. Soft currencies are able to be earned in-game (coins), PartyPoints cannot be earned through gameplay. Having PP available in the store does not go against EULA.


I don’t entirely understand, but regardless, it’s not against EULA. Hypixel has a currency system you can buy from their store, however they have a separate one that can only be earned in-game. (Like PZ)

"Hard currency is real money or anything that can be converted into real money, including, but not limited to, Bitcoins. Soft currency is available in-game only and has no real-world value." Doesn't mean Hypixel is automatically in the right. Still want more answers and a better explanation as to why this is okay. I pointed out a few things that would make this not okay.

Yes I deleted it and agree with you, a server is completely allowed to sell cosmetics, as party points can only be used for cosmetics and do not give an unfair advantage it doesn't go against the EULA.

"

• use in-game currencies IF (i) they are “soft currencies” i.e. a currency earned or expended only through gameplay that has no real world value and that cannot be cashed out, used or transferred across free or paid servers, or converted into “credits”; and (ii) you don’t give the impression that it comes from or is associated with Mojang."

I've seen Mineplex sell loot chests which makes sense to me, but this genuinely does not. Still want real answers. Says right there that you are allowed to use an in game currency only if they are soft currencies. Also just thought maybe nobody noticed Hypixel had this way of currency because I sure didn't know this existed.

 

[ABerryyy]

"Hard currency is real money or anything that can be converted into real money, including, but not limited to, Bitcoins. Soft currency is available in-game only and has no real-world value." Doesn't mean Hypixel is automatically in the right. Still want more answers and a better explanation as to why this is okay. I pointed out a few things that would make this not okay.


"

• use in-game currencies IF (i) they are “soft currencies” i.e. a currency earned or expended only through gameplay that has no real world value and that cannot be cashed out, used or transferred across free or paid servers, or converted into “credits”; and (ii) you don’t give the impression that it comes from or is associated with Mojang."

I've seen Mineplex sell loot chests which makes sense to me, but this genuinely does not. Still want real answers. Says right there that you are allowed to use an in game currency only if they are soft currencies. Also just thought maybe nobody noticed Hypixel had this way of currency because I sure didn't know this existed.

You see they're allowed to sell cosmetics individually but instead the server is making the system more simpler by making it partypoints which can only be used for cosmetics and nothing else, they in no way give you an unfair advantage. In-game currency is for general perks and shop items but partypoints can't be classified as in-game currency because they're only there to buy cosmetics.

 

[NobleProductions]

Certain actions in regards to enforcement of the commercial guidelines by Mojang has been spotty since its first set of enforcement. With that said, as mentioned, certain other servers are being allowed to sell what is considered to be a soft currency on their store (despite the commercial guidelines stating otherwise).

We are already in direct contact with Mojang, and by extension, Microsoft, about the current commercial guidelines for Minecraft to make them more lenient towards servers like ours. Right after I post this response, I'm going to be in another meeting with them about a variety of topics including but not limited to the monetisation policies.