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• • General: The Great EULA Debate

  • Originally posted by Alverant
    

     

    Originally posted by soulwynd
    

    You're not required to accept an EULA, but then you don't play. If you don't like the EULA, don't play, state you're not playing because the eula and spread the word to other players about the horrible rules they don't know they abide to. That's the best you can do.

     

    So let's say I buy a MMORPG at timecard, open it, install it, run it, read the EULA and decide it doesn't match the advertising or I just don't agree to it. Can I return the game and timecard for a full refund? Most stores don't let you return opened merchandice and that goes double for software unless you can prove there's a physical defect. Why should I have to waste $60+ on a game before finding out it has a bad EULA or otherwise doesn't live up to the advertisment?

    Most companies provide a trial issue of some short time, simply because they are aware the retailers are taking advantage of the customers by not allowing them to return merchandise that did not suit their gaming need.  The answer to your question is therefore obvious.  Take the trial time and see if you like it before you buy it.

  • Posted: 4/03/08 12:29 PM
    General Discussion
• • We are all sick

  • Originally posted by Kayless
    

    hehe, from what I've seen then alot of WoW players are really sick, sheesh the hours some of them put in is crazy...

    You're the one who is sick.  Do you think they actually put all those hours in?  Most of them are probably running some sort of bot program 75% of the time to autolevel or autofarm.  As to gaming addiction, it is no different than any other obsessive/compulsive behavior.  Gaming addiction has been around since long before computers even existed.  However, it is becoming prominent now that it is available in every house around the world.  Generally speaking, people with obsessive/compulsive disorders have some chemical imbalance in their system that causes normal thinking processes to be put behind the desire to continue doing whatever it is that fills their obsessive compulsive desire.  With some people, children most specifically, it is a behavioral trait that simply needs to be squashed.  As we are all aware, most children have things they would rather do more than anything else, usually evolving around playing.  Proper parenting can usually solve this issue, however, in the cases where the child will go to extreme means to get around the proper parenting, i.e. sneaking around in the middle of the night etc etc, a visit to the doctor may be necessary to see if the child does have some sort of chemical disorder.

  • Posted: 4/03/08 12:21 PM
    General Discussion
• • General: The Great EULA Debate

  •  

    Originally posted by jmerriex
    

    EULAs are interesting beasts.  I know with Sword of the New World we spent about 3 months going through and writing, editing, re-writing and re-wording the EULA to make sure it fit Federal and International laws.  The biggest issue truely is 'ownership'.  Without our ownership clause I know we would have a lot of issues with removing players (even with it, there are myriad legal snaffoos with banning accounts).  The most important of which is not refunding an account blocked for violation of policies.

    As a player I understand that there are rules and if I break said rules I lose my rights to any monies I spent on the game.  As a publisher this is critical since it opens up a whole can of legal worms.  Which is why the 'ownership' clause is important.

    As far as content changes, I do feel that certain major changes deserve a refund but others do not.  We are not going to give you a refund because we nerfed a class (especially one that was clearly overpowered).  But when we made our move to Free2Play we did MAJOR compensations and infact refunded players who were no longer going to be playing our game due to the change.  But in reality that is more of a courtesy thing.  It is understandable that a major change like that would require fair compensation and sometimes full refund.  Unfortunately not every company is willing to make consessions for their players and that doesn't really have anything to do with a EULA, that has to do with basic customer satisfaction.

    Umm, I fail to see the problem with banning and not refunding accounts for violations.  Every company is allowed the rights to service.  i.e. The right to provide or deny service.  Criminally, that right can't be broken.  Civil rights however can cause cases where the company is sued, but then again, if you look at someone funny or breath the wrong way, at least in the US, you can be sued.  I understand the issue of having the funds to actually fight the perpetual battle that will ensue from things of that nature, however, setting precedence would probably solve the issue quickly.

     

     

    As to EULAs.  Did any of you sit down and spend millions in development cost and years of coding and testing to make the game?  Are any of you providing space, bandwidth, facilities or any other form of support to the company besides having an account?  As an IT professional, I am well aware of the enormous task involved in setting all this up.  For a real life example that everyone can equate to, if you built a house with your own hands, would you not have rules about what happened inside that house.  If one of your friends came over and trashed that house you worked on so hard, would you say, "Oh well" and let them continue to come to your house?  The EULA is a contract, yet companies like Black ICE entertainment and IGE have made a mockery of them, thereby making contracts no longer a valid legal stance.  However, in the US, remember that, playing MMOs is not a right.  It's a privilege, and with any privilege, it can be removed.  Again another real life example, you do not have the right to have a driver's license, you have the privilege.  If you speed too much or have too many accidents, that privilege will be removed.  Also, as Kasmar pointed out, ignorance of the law, or rules, does not make breaking the law, or rules, right.

  • Posted: 4/03/08 12:05 PM
    General Discussion
• • Has racism always been a part of MMOs?

  • Every game has it's over powered race/class.  As with most MMOs, the people doing the testing are not saying, I feel over powered because when the game/update goes live, they know to roll that toon and powerlevel it up to have some fun before the devs figure out they were duped and start smashing the nerf bat around.  Also, just because something is deemed as ghey or FOTM, doesn't mean you should not enjoy it.  If that is what you like, then by all means, do so.  After all, you are the one paying to play, so why should someone else's ghey opinion factor into your playstyle/fun?

  • Posted: 4/03/08 11:38 AM
    General Discussion
• • Hey, new to the game

  • Originally posted by isurus
    

    All classes are useful in pvp except maybe Shilen Elders, as all they can do is buff Empower and then stand there waiting to die (SEs are the perfect 2boxed class).

    That said different classes are better in different pvp scenarios. Nukers tend to dominate small-scale pvp such as solo pvp, archers without a doubt dominate large scale pvp like sieges. And all the melee characters are somewhere in between. Support clasess are useful in all pvp.

    The same can be said of Elven Elders, Temple Knights, Sword Singers, well pretty much any non mage non rogue class.  The exception to this is Bishops.  Every pvp party needs one.

  • Posted: 3/28/08 1:37 PM
    Lineage II