Minecraft, with it’s funky, pixelated 3D graphics, has taken the video game world by storm. Developed by Mojang it is played by millions of users daily do to a style of play that encourages curiosity and exploration. Now, it seems to be encouraging discord. As its popularity continues to soar a war is brewing due to its end user license agreement (EULA) that may have users looking elsewhere.
The Minecraft community is up in arms over what they perceive to be an unfair crackdown by developer Mojang. According to the EULA, servers can charge players to enter a domain or for any game piece that does not affect the outcome of the game. In other words, servers can not charge for swords, potions, lives or anything else of that nature or they are violating the EULA. The problem is that up until recently Mojang never enforced this rule and many servers did in fact charge for many of these game “advantages”. Now that Mojang is cracking down servers are balking because even those who are said to be in compliance are being told to change how they provide their service.
MineCraft is hugely popular amoung gamers.Mojang founder Marcus ‘Notch’ Persson, explained via Twitter that the company was aware for some time of these unfair practices, they were just too overwhelmed by the games popularity to address the problem. He went on to explain that the company is being besieged by parents who’s kids bought these game extras, spending hundreds of dollars that they were never given permission to spend. Since many of these kids are under 18 parents are demanding their money back and creating a nightmarish situation for Mojang.
Minecraft was always meant to be an open platform game and by charging for various valuable game items these servers are creating unfair advantages and ruining the original vision of the game. Many of the servers argue that after 3 years of letting them operate as they saw fit Mojang can not expect immediate change. In addition many servers charge for game modes and other perks that do not violate the agreement. Some, for instance, host in-game matches to rank players and award prizes and packages that in no way give any one character an edge over another.
What’s worse is that Mojang rolled our Minecraft Realms, a PC and MAC service where you and 20 friends can make your own Minecraft World for a small fee. Many think Mojang is cracking down to drive users towards their own server. As of this writing they are sticking by their assessment that ranks and kits give unfair game play advantages, so for now servers are forced to comply, but this battle is far from over.
This war has overshadowed the exciting news that Minecraft will be available for XBox One, PlayStation 4 and PS Vita this August. What’s more, these new platforms will have expanded worlds with more features and drawing distances for fans. Expansion of Minecraft will continue as new platforms and versions become available. This news is a bright spot for fans who are hoping this EULA battle ends soon and amicably so that they can concentrate on what counts: playing the game.
