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Selling Your (MMORPG) Soul
Gnpatton writes: "Here is an article about the recent ruling in the Blacksnow/Mythic case. It talks about the EULA (End User Licence Agreement, that thing that you never read) and about how this case might affect the rest of the software industry, not just with game companies. From now on, you might just want to read the EULA before you click 'accept'."
what if i don't agree and want my money back? do you think i could go up to best buy and say "hey man bought this game becasue it looked cool, but I don't agree to the EULA so can i have money back?" i'd be laughed out of the store. i say if a software co. want us to abid by their EULAS then they must print their EULAs in easy to read (for those that have poor eyesight) printing on the outside of the box, and we must agree to the EULA before we purchase software. OR they need to force stores that do not accept open software returns to start taking returns. Either way the software co. loses, either giveup precious advertising space on their software package, or try and do battle with the stores that pimp their software out.
Image if you were buying a bed and you were asked to sign an agreement first.
Or rather, imagine if a tag on the underside of the bed read "You agree to the agreement on our website just by laying on this bed." And courts upheld it because of some obscure twist of logic (the way they say making a copy of the software you bought in RAM is a copyright violation).
As for this ruling, well, is it for the SERVICE or for the SOFTWARE. If it's for the service, the position isn't as clear, because you didn't buy anything, you agreed that if you do such-and-such, the service will be provided to you, and if you don't do such-and-such, it won't.
But if the EULA on the purchased SOFTWARE was found to be binding, we're in DEEP SHIT TROUBLE, you better believe it.
Software End-User: Ha ha! I found a way to use the software in a way that Microsoft doesn't want, but still meets the terms of the EULA!
Microsoft HQ: Ieee! They found a loophole in our EULA! Quick! Mutate the EULA terms every 15 seconds! On my mark... go!!
End-User: Ahhhhhhrg!! They're mutating EULA frequencies! I can't keep up with the changes! I might be violating them and I won't know! *KNOCK KNOCK* Uh oh, it's THE KNOCK! The cops are here! *dragged away at gunpoint*
Microsoft HQ: Whew, that was close! Reduce EULA rotation frequency to the usual once per day.
EULA's that have the text inside the box where you can't see it until you've agreed to it aren't enforceable, that has been decided in the past (IIRC, likely someone here who remembers the exact case). That's why most boxed software has some sort of seal on the software media itself stating that by breaking that seal you are agreeing to the terms - by then you have the box open, and can read the terms enclosed. That arrangement is likely to be enforceable. As long as that seal is intact, and all of the other contents are as they were when you got it, most retailers will take it back - they may have to, as those licensing terms almost always state that if you don't agree, you need to return the software unopened to the point of purchase for a refund. (They've all got shrink wrap machines, they'll usually just put it right back on the shelf before you've even made it out of the store. Doesn't mean that it will be easy, just possible.) If you broke the cd seal (or opened the little bag the floppies were in, if you remember that far back), the retailer will usually assume that you made a copy and are trying to rip them off, and refuse to take it back. Besides, then it's much harder to sell it to the next guy as new. Moral: don't open that seal if you don't want to be stuck with the software or the EULA.
The click-thru EULAs have the text right there on the screen, so there's no excuse that a judge will accept for not reading it. Particularly those that make you hit some odd key or a non-default button to continue, so that you can't argue that you'd accidentally hit enter too many times and never even saw the EULA screen. Even getting a kid to do it won't work, since they would be considered to be acting as your agent. A minor who bought the software with his own money and clicked thru *might* get out from under, since he can't be bound by a contract and his parents were not involved (which would bind them, if not him), but don't bet real money on it.
Really, by arguing under what circumstances the EULA is or isn't binding, we're already conceding the biggest point: that a licensing model should even apply at all to software. I'd much rather see it treated under the law as a book or CD, my property to dispose of as I please subject to the doctrine of first sale. I can tear out pages, draw on it, loan it to friends, whatever I want. That's the fight we need to focus on, not minor little bits regarding the fine details of consent without a paper signature.
You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
>Mythic maintained that (as per their EULA) they owned their virtual world and all property in that world.
Without details of the actual court ruling I can't be sure, but this doesn't sound so unreasonable. The virtual world is being hosted by Mythic's servers, right? Claiming ownership of data residing on their own servers is not so far-fetched. If they want to rent out time and virtual 'property' as part of the Terms of Service for connecting to their servers, that's their prerogative. After all, running those servers does cost Mythic resources. If you want to use their servers, you agree to their terms; otherwise, you play offline, on competing servers, or not at all. It sounds like a Terms of Service issue, not a EULA one.
All this is *very* different from sanctioning EULAs in general. In most situations, you're not connecting to or storing data on the vendor's server. I could not imagine Microsoft laying a successful legal claim to all the Word documents ever generated by Microsoft Office.
Likewise, I can't see this decision being extended to cover every EULA term ever devised. It seems like a very circumscribed case dealing with a very specific issue: who owns the data on Mythic's servers? I suspect even if Mythic's EULA never mentioned ownership of virtual property, the court would still have ruled in Mythic's favor.
Of course this is all just guesswork on my part. IANAL.
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch.