Can you sell ranks on a Minecraft server? What Mojang's rules allow

Running a server costs money, and most owners pay for it by selling something in a webshop. Mojang allows that. It also draws a few clear lines, and crossing them can get your server in trouble. This post goes through the Servers and hosting part of Mojang's usage guidelines, the page that decides what a server may sell.

This is our reading of the rules, not legal advice. Mojang changes the page from time to time, so check the source before you change your store.

The short version

Mojang says you may make money by:

• Charging for access to your server, as long as the price is the same for everyone and everyone who pays gets the same mods.
• Asking for donations, as long as you don't give the donor something that only they can use. Server-wide rewards for a donation goal are fine.
• Selling cosmetics, except capes or anything that tries to look like a Minecraft player cape.
• Selling things that affect gameplay, as long as they "don't ruin other players' experience or give a competitive advantage in the game".
• Selling in-game currency, as long as it has no real-world value, can't be cashed out or moved to other servers, and doesn't look like Minecoins.
• In-game advertising that doesn't hurt gameplay.

They close with a line worth remembering: "don't do evil things to players and you should be fine."

What that means for ranks

A rank is fine. What matters is what the rank gives.

Safe: a coloured name, a chat prefix, particles, pets that only follow the player, a cosmetic hat, a join message. Nobody plays worse because someone else has a gold name.

Careful: anything that helps in the game. Extra homes, a bigger claim, a kit every week, /fly in survival. Mojang doesn't ban these outright; it bans them when they give "a competitive advantage". /fly in the lobby is harmless. /fly in a PvP world is not. Ask yourself whether a player without the rank would lose to a player with it. If yes, leave it out.

Not allowed: capes, and anything that only some players can use because they paid, when it beats the players who didn't. Selling the best sword on a PvP server is the textbook example of pay-to-win.

Crates and keys

Crate keys are popular and Mojang doesn't name them. Two rules from the same page still apply. What is inside must follow the gameplay rule above, so cosmetic rewards are safest. And everything on your server must be "suitable for audiences of all ages", with gambling named as an example of what isn't. Many players are young. A key that opens a known reward is a safer choice than a paid spin for a rare item.

What every server that takes money must do

Whatever you sell, the guidelines ask for a few things on top:

• Show the content and prices of your server before someone joins or signs up. A public webshop does that.
• Give every buyer an online payment and purchase history for what they paid with real money.
• Say who you are. Don't pretend to be Mojang or Microsoft, and make it clear that you, not Mojang, run the server and the shop.
• Don't hide Minecraft's own screens, like the EULA or error messages.
• Influencers who promote your server must say that they work with you.

How this works on Minecraftstore.io

A store on Minecraftstore.io is public, so players see what you sell and what it costs before they join. Every order has its own order page and an email receipt, the store says it is your server and not affiliated with Mojang, and a player never needs an account to pay. What you put in your store is up to you, so the rules above are still yours to follow: keep ranks cosmetic or harmless, skip capes, and keep crates fair.

Want to see what a store looks like? Open one for free, it takes a few minutes.