Mine-Ads Cancelled

This is a copy of an email I sent earlier today to those that subscribed for updates on Mine-Ads

It’s been about a year and a half since I announced that I wanted to do this thing. Rest easy knowing that I sadly did not get very far.

However, with Mojang’s new changes to their Commercial Usage Guidelines - I’m going ahead and Cancelling the Mine-Ads Project.

Mojang is cracking down on what sort of promotions you can do in Minecraft - and it’s basically nothing. Minecraft is locking down it’s ecosystem, and while the language of their CUG is shaky enough that Mine-Ads might be allowed, it is far too risky for me to think it worth spending my time on.

You can read Mojang’s post about their new guidelines here: https://mojang.com/2016/05/lets-talk-promotions-in-minecraft/

You can discuss my decision on /r/admincraft here: https://redd.it/4lvm05

While I do not think it is a risk worth taking, I offer my plans directly to you to implement yourself if you wish. Unlike Mojang, I firmly believe in openness and freedom in software.

Mine-Ads was to have several phases. The first phases would be one thing people were used to and one they were not.

Phase 1 involved text-chat ads, like every other little tiny ad network operating in Minecraft - but it also involved map-based advertising. The current plan was to setup Mine-Ads like Project Wonderful - where money stays in the system but can be pulled out or put in, and you can submit advertisement bids for approval and they go up for x amount of time. Images would be turned into maps and be automatically generated to fit the space the billboard image could fit in the Minecraft world.

We then hoped to expand this functionality so that it was easy for players in-game to purchase the ad space as a “supported by user” space, and to add some analytical capabilities, such as people looking at or interacting with the ad within the game. Payment types initially being cost-per-click or cost-for-time, and extending that once we were sure we got “view” analytics down.

From there, we hoped to expand it so that these ads could support mini games. Click the ad, go through a restaurant, perform some menial task, etc - possibly be rewarded in game for doing so. We wanted to make advertisements fun like the servers.

While my main concern with the CUG is that it says NONE of this is okay, it definitely says the later part is not.

So, I am out. I thank you all for subscribing and being interested. If you decide to start up what I decided not to yourself, please do shoot me an email so I can be excited for you.

But in general, it is my personal opinion that it is not worth investing effort into Minecraft while Mojang continues to lock their ecosystem down further and further into a closed garden.

Thanks for reading,

Navarr Barnier
Founder at Mine-Ads