Slashdot Mirror


1503AD and the Rapid Erosion of End-User Rights?

Agram asks: "I bought the Sunflowers' 1503AD game practically as soon as it came out, since my wife and I loved to play the old 1602AD together via LAN. 1503AD's expanded multiplayer feature was touted all over the internet, yet when I bought the game, for a costly $52, I was very unpleasantly surprised that it had no multiplayer mode at all. Despite the continuous claims that the company is working on the MP patch, we're now over 7 months away from the initial release, the game now sells for a measly $15, and I have yet to play a single second of it, as I have no interest in the single player experience. My attempts at communication with the company led to nothing but dead-ends and unprovoked mistreatment. Unfortunately, this is not a unique occurrence in today's software entertainment industry, where atrocious lack of support is growing rampant and is increasingly coupled with ridiculous EULA's. I have therefore decided to finally exercise my end-user rights and pursue a class-action lawsuit against the company. I am now asking you, fellow Slashdot reader, for help in seeking answers to the following questions as, well assistance in assembling signatures for the class-action lawsuit."

"Here are my questions:

  • How does one go about locating a reputable and internationally active law firm that could handle this case?
  • What is the required number of the participants for a class-action lawsuit to be instantiated?
  • Do you think that this course of action will yield any results?
If you have this game and feel the same like I do, I would like to urge you to please join the class-action lawsuit. Also, if you feel that you can and are willing to help out in any other shape or form (i.e. website maintenance etc.), please do not hesitate to contact me and/or visit the website stated below. I believe that this can be used to leverage further attempts at forcing the other entertainment software companies to support their product(s) as they ought to, as well as hopefully abolishing the obfuscated EULA's that relinquish them of any responsibility towards consumers. 1503AD is by no means an exception, but rather it is part of an unfortunate growing trend among the entertainment software companies.

For more details regarding this issue please visit this site."

1 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Re:As long as we're asking lame questions.... by green_crocadilian · · Score: 0, Troll

    ...here's mine. I have a system with USB 1.1 on the motherboard. Can I upgrade to 2.0 just by buying a PCI card?
    #ifdef SARCASM
    Theoretically, you could (that's what those cards are for). But practically, I suggest you sue your mobo manufacturer for not selling you the product you wished you had bought from them. Maybe you could even get a class action going... Suing people seems to be all the rage nowadays, doesn't it?
    #endif