As some of you may be aware, Mojang has expressed their intention of changing their EULA to prevent "pay-to-win" servers. I never considered The Sandlot to be "pay-to-win" and have always been adamantly against it, and as such, I've only ever offered "convenience" perks to those who gratefully choose to assist in paying for the server. With these changes, a few of our perks and items in our store are going to be in breach of the new EULA. Unfortunately, this is going to require us to modify how VIP and the store works. I am still working out the details of this, but you can expect to see a formal announcement and implementation late next week. But for now: Effective immediately, Hunger Games kits are no longer available for purchase on store.sandlotminecraft.com. This does not affect those of you that have already purchased kits on the website. You will retain access to them and it will not be taken away. This also does not affect the purchase of kits via tokens in-game. You simply cannot purchase them for $3.00 on the website anymore. Also, for now, VIPs will retain access to all of the HG kits. This will likely change, but for everything removed, a reasonable replacement or compensation will be made. There are bound to be lots of questions about this. I'll do my best to answer them. What I do know at this point is that the following perks will not be affected and will remain under VIP benefits: Flying in the lobby (it gives no in-game advantage) Pets in the lobby (purely cosmetic) /hat /me The gold star VIP designation Access to BigCreative (the way it works will likely change, however) Other things will be replaced as I am able. Again, a formal announcement will be made late next week.
I have mixed feelings on the changes that Mojang intends to incorporate, I kind of like this change in a way, because it means that players are truly donating to help the server. This server was always somewhat like this, I like to think, but many other servers offered benefits that where far beyond what I think is an appropriate initiative. My only huge problem with this is that Mojang came out with the whole realms thing... It's hard for me not to judge them harshly and make assumptions, but I guess it is their game to do with what they want.
I don't like the changes to the EULA, but even if I got no perks, I'd still be a vip. I do it to support the awesomeness that is the sandlot; Not for the perks.
I don't like the changes to the EULA either. When I purchased the game and set up The Sandlot, everything I did was fully within the bounds of what I agreed to. The EULA has changed several times now, and the most recent one expressly prohibits "earning any money from Minecraft". They are playing the game that now they are letting you do so in a limited manner - how nice of them, since you currently aren't allowed to whatsoever - but in reality, the original EULA allowed mostly anything that wasn't piracy of the game. I also have mixed feelings. Servers selling "ranks" for $360 that include a /kit command that gives fully enchanted diamond armor once daily on a PvP server is ridiculous. That definitely needs to go. But I only ever received one "complaint" - it was more an expression of concern about what could come next - about the perks/benefits that I had set up for this server. That said, I don't mind adapting it. I always preach following the rules, expect it from others, and I do the same. They change the rules, I will follow them - whether I agree or not.
I'm disapointed that mojamg is doing this, but I'll accept the changes. I'll no longer be op in hg then oh who am I kidding I never was op in hg...
Wait... When you say not allowed to earn money off it, does that only mean server owners? Seems like otherwise, every YouTuber is violating the EULA (or at least those who use monetization)
I do exactly that. I give to authors of the plugins I use, as well as to many charities. This doesn't matter to Mojang.
No its not we pay for it its not just handed out cause they like. Just cause some people cant get it dosent mean that its rude or mean.
To summarize this, Mojang says you can't buy to win a game. That means you are paying for kits, which give advantages.
The notion of "pay to win" is a long standing discussion all over the internet, not just in minecraft. The term "pay to win" isn't something that has a clear and plain definition to it, but i will give my take on it since i play many games that deal in micro transactions (ones that implement them both well and badly): Pay to win is the idea that you can simply spend money to get an immediate advantage in game. Examples of this include: - A raw increase in stats or attributes, either temporarily or permanently - Items with unique abilities or above entry-level stats that are not obtainable without spending money - Gating progress to the point that it takes an unrealistic amount of time to achieve a goal, while offering "boosts" that speed this progress up by ridiculous amounts (such as 300%-400% experience or currency boosts). Now, i currently do not see any of this within Sandlot. The VIP model that cheracc has implemented for the most part is a convenience thing. Extra warps on easy and SV are purely just for ease of transport, hats and pets in lobby are purely cosmetic and so is the star beside the player's name. I'm not sure why people are looking at the HG kits as a potential breach of the new rules. The kits are by no means "pay to win". I could see this being an issue if you started with no kit at all and had to buy your first kit while playing against people who have one already, but this is not the case. Everyone starts with a kit, with a small selection of free kits and even a random kit option that could get you any kit whether you've purchased it or not. Yes, there are certainly some kits that are stronger than others as a whole, but that does not render the other kits useless. after achieving 100 tokens (which is 7 wins or coming 2nd 10 times) you're not restricted to buying a kit in any particular order. In addition to this, HG rounds tend to last anywhere between 4-10 minutes, which means you're probably looking to buy your first kit of your choice (if you're an average player) about 2-3 hours of play. By this point you've seen what most of the popular kits are, and have seen how they are used and can then spend your tokens knowing exactly what kit fits your play-style. Again, this is just my viewpoint on the matter. The one thing i do find a little questionable in terms of advantages is that VIPs are never kicked from any servers for idling. This could maybe be seen as an advantage as VIPs can simply idle within the vicinity of automatic mob/resource farms and generate alot of resources while not needing to play the game or even be at their computer.
Based on my experience on other servers, I understand Mojang's intentions. I felt those servers were ruining the game. You couldn't compete without donating, and donators had no challenge. One of the reasons that Sandlot is so great is because you don't have to donate to compete, and thus I feel compelled to donate anyway. Never felt like giving a dime to those other servers. My only concern is losing the ability to afk farm
Yeah, servers have have advertising signs everywhere: "OMG pay $200 dollars to get starter pack!! And doubled the price, get the second kit!!" That's just a big no no.
