Mojang blacklisting servers?!

ChocoFox

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Okay, first off, before I begin talking about the main discussion of the thread, I'd like to point out that the blacklist DOES NOT affect EscapeRestart since Escape dosen't violate the EULA to begin with. I'm merely bringing this discussion up since I find that it is worthy talking about and it would be interesting to read up the responses.

Introduction & background information
Recently, Mojang has been blacklisting servers which have been violating their End User License Agreement (EULA). Around 2 years ago, Mojang posted on its official page to clearly state that servers selling "advantages" that can affect actual gameplay in exchange for hard currency is not allowed, however selling items like cosmetics are. A few weeks after that, it posted a thread on the monetisation of servers and gave servers about a month to comply with the new EULA. Both of these happened in mid-2014. Some bigger servers followed and started selling cosmetics instead. However, not all the servers complied and some continued dish away advantages to players who donated hard currency.

Earlier this year, a few server owners were sent emails regarding their EULA-violating servers. They were apparently given a month to amend their servers to EULA-compliant ones. Accordingly, after receiving the emails, many of these server owners still remained errant and took Mojang's warnings for granted. From what I've heard, one of these servers even tried to negotiate with Mojang through emails.

Subsequently, Mojang decided to start blacklisting servers that did not change their monetisation even after Mojang sent them the emails. In their latest pre-release - Minecraft 1.9.3-pre2 - they have implemented a blacklisting system that disallowed any player using that version from joining a blacklisted server. Some servers have made public posts that claimed that they would rather stay at the current version of Minecraft so that players can still access it. But is this reliable? Mojang can force a blacklist through all the versions and prevent players from accessing the server from all versions, and basically render the server inaccessible. As for modifications on the client, I wouldn't say that this is exactly a viable method, as even if the programmers are able to carry this off, not everyone would know and would allow the installation of unknown mods in their game, on their computer; that is also provided that these people are able to do so without having to face consequences from Mojang. Not every player would also like to remain on 1.9 for the rest of the time.

People have found a list containing servers IPs in an encrypted form, listing a total of 31 IP addresses as of the moment. 27 of these IP addresses have been uncovered. I won't be sharing the IP addresses here, obviously, but you could search it up if you want.

Another part of the discussion is the way how the disconnect message on blacklisted servers look like. Instead of placing out a message that states that the server is blacklisted, the message simply shows (as of 1.9.3-pre2) that the server is unreachable. Some people have expressed their concerns over this for some reason, too.

A YouTuber AntVenom did a good job in explaining the enforcement in a video he posted. You may view it here:

My opinion on this
Speaking of the EULA enforcement itself, I feel that Mojang has already given plenty of time to servers to change their monetisation ways. In fact, I believe that 20 months is a lot more than required, and that the servers which still haven't changed their EULA-violating ways are basically defiant.

Honestly speaking, donations should be strictly voluntary, and servers have been indirectly "forcing" their players to donate to them by offering them advantages. The term "pay2win" itself is rather self-explanatory - servers have been utilising that to their own advantage and offering players to top the game should they pay them with hard currency. If players want to keep a particular server alive because they love the gameplay or the server itself, they would automatically pay up to keep the server alive (provided that they have the capability to). As for these pay2win servers, the constant pressure about someone else having better advantages than you because they donated has been enough to drive children in begging their parents in giving them the money to donate for the benefits. As for those who can't pay up, they would just have to remain at the bottom. Is this really fair?

I have absolutely no sympathy for servers which are still pay2win and have been blacklisted. Errant owners of theirs are simply being defiant against Mojang. Should they have not bitten off more than they could chew, Mojang would not have taken such harsh measures in the first place. As for servers who claim that they couldn't sustain themselves should they comply with the new EULA, I say that this is never a more clear-cut, blatant, stupid excuse of getting revenue. Money hungry owners with gold-digger servers deserve to be destroyed by this enforcement.

So, what do you think of this EULA enforcement? I'd like to see people's responses.
 
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Mastersten

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Basically mojang has the full right to enforce this but blacklisting looks a bit extreme in my eyes. Especially now minecraft is starting to be.....less hyped.

I would personally say that mojang could get a cut of the p2w servers income but on the other side, that doesnt support the situation at all.

Honestly I overall don't really care since its not on here.
 

Enderfive

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mojang has every right to do it, not much more discussion needed

i wouldn't say that all offending servers are money-hungry cesspools of rebel scum, as there are some actual reasons to keep this kind of strong incentive for "donations", but they were warned, given plenty time, then warned again and after that i don't see how anyone could claim to have any basis for negotiating with mojang or trying to resist at this point