If you are a veteran Minecraft player, chances are that you probably have a dedicated server that houses one of your most cherished pieces of work.
Whether that be a long-running survival seed, an amazing Redstone project, or a true-to-life city. Well, thanks to recent EULA changes, Mojang can now take it all away, if they want to.
In the first End User Licence agreement change since 2020, Mojang introduced a rule for players that could see them lose access to the content they have created when using Minecraft servers.
The EULA changes were laid out on August 2nd via their online blog, showcasing all the proposed changes, but outside of acknowledging that they exist, Mojang has quietly gone about slipping this past players.
This has naturally angered the Minecraft community as they fear that years of hard work could go down the drain at a moment’s notice.
If you want to see the uproar for yourself, quickly take yourself over to Reddit.
Breaking Down The Minecraft EULA Changes
This can all get a little dense and confusing, as this is effectively reading the terms and conditions, which most people tend to agree to without so much as a glance at the terms on the page. However, on this occasion, it could spell disaster for your long-running server.
Here’s the snippet in question from the EULA changes that are causing such a stir:
All permissions and consents are given by us at our discretion and may be revoked at any time if we think that it is appropriate to do so, or we don’t like what you are doing.”
The changes proposed are an attempt by Mojang to essentially distance themselves from any content that they don’t want representing Minecraft, as they aim to clean up the game and make it ‘suitable for all ages.’
While this is an admirable thing on the surface, what Mojang are outright ignoring is their large portion of players who are not children. Many mature gamers have been rocked by the decision, as well as a number of creators who will no longer be able to use the Minecraft name to promote their content.
This move from Mojang is thought to be in direct response to a recent controversy regarding a server named ‘Grand Theft Minecraft,’ which was recently deemed inappropriate for Minecraft servers due to the use of firearms within the server.
Then with a wider lens, this could also be a pre-emptive move after seeing the ramifications of Epic not restricting their voice chat settings within Fortnite, which saw them receive a hefty $520 million fine from the FTC.
Mojang did try to make their intentions clear in the EULA changes; within the document, Mojang made clear that the EULA changes were created to:
“update the language and voice, remove Mojang Accounts terms as we’ve migrated to Microsoft Accounts, reference some recent Minecraft offerings and services, more clearly integrate our community standards, and remove specific things that are already covered in the Microsoft Services Agreement.”
So, in short, if you aren’t behaving in a way that Mojang like, they can and potentially will take it all away, and they don’t need to do so with any rhyme or reason. 
Then to make things worse for Minecraft creators and streamers, Mojang will be cracking down on the use of the term ‘Minecraft’ in any external media too. With Mojang likely to hit any creator that uses ‘Minecraft’ in their primary title with a copyright strike.
It is likely that this will only occur if the creator is directly copying the work of others, or promotes content that isn’t something that the company wants representing their property, but still, it’s all a little dystopian if you ask us.
It’s a pretty strange move from Mojang as Minecraft has always prided itself on being a complete creative sandbox where imaginations can run free, but these restrictions could prove to be a major turning point for the title, and who makes up the Minecraft player base. Only time will tell.
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