EULA Confusion w/ Used Copies of WoW?

egburr asks: "I just purchased a used retail box of World of Warcraft. After reading the EULA in the manual and the Terms of Use, I expected to be up and playing quickly. I soon ran into a problem. I haven't even installed the software yet, since the first thing I have to do is go online and create a user account and then subscribe to play. Simple enough? I thought so too, until I tried entering the Authentication Key found on the CD case. This produced an error that my key had already been used. Note that it says 'already been used,' not 'currently in use.'" Note that section 3B in the EULA explicitly grants its users the ability to transfer the physical property and "all of your rights and obligations under the License Agreement", presumably including the Authentication Key which is needed when creating a new account. What Blizzard expressly disallows is the transfer of accounts, according to Section 1E of their Terms of Use, which is not at issue here. Apparently, Blizzard is allowing each Authentication Key to be used only once, preventing anyone with a used copy of the game from creating a new account. Is Blizzard violating the terms of their own EULA? "I have contacted Blizzard about this and have had a very interesting conversation with the Billing department, first by phone and then by email.

They keep telling me they will not transfer an account. I keep telling them I do not want an account transferred, but want to create my own account. What appears to be the final answer is that 'an authentication key can only be used once, regardless of the number of owners.'

This is not stated anywhere in the EULA or Terms of Use. If it is, I have been unable to find it, and *Blizzard has repeatedly ignored my request that they identify where in the EULA or Terms of Use this is stated.*

I have the complete retail package, including the CD case with the Authentication Key. So what if it is has been used in the past? Whatever happened to the first-sale doctrine?

At one point, the Blizzard representative likened my request to buying an empty milk jug and returning to the store to demand more milk for free so I can use the jug. This is an incredibly inept analogy. What Blizzard is doing is allowing only the original purchaser of the jug to buy a refill; anyone else who happens to buy or be given the jug is prohibited from buying more milk to put in it.

Another item of interest is that the representative told me that they can not, for any reason, delete an account, not even at the account owner's request. The most they can do is to suspend the account. Unfortunately, that keeps a record of the Authentication Key in their system, preventing that key from ever being used again.

While the EULA expressly permits permanent transfer of ownership of the game to another person, nowhere does either the EULA or the Terms of Use mention that such a transfer makes the game completely useless because Blizzard will not allow the new owner to use the game; the game cannot be played without an online account and a subscription to the service, and Blizzard will not even allow the account to be created.

You might say the "easy" answer is to get the seller to give me the account info for the account he created. However, according to Blizzard's representative, not all of the original account information can be modified. In fact, enough would be unchangable that the original owner of the account would be able to regain control of the account at any time, should he desire to do so.

I had no expectation that a used copy of the game would be such a problem. After all, even all of Blizzard's previous games (Warcraft 2, Starcraft, BroodWar) had keys that could be used and passed on while maintaining the reasonable restriction that only one instance of the key could be used at any one time. (I have never bought or played Warcraft 3, so I do not know about it.) In fact, I bought my copy of Starcraft used and never had any trouble with it.

I am not trying to cheat Blizzard out of anything. I *want* to pay them for a monthly subscription so I can play the game, but they will not allow it solely because at some point in the past someone else has used what is now my copy of the game.

So here's a warning to everyone out there; be very careful if you are thinking about buying a used copy of World of Warcraft. You may have a complete and legitimate set of all the game materials, but you will not be able to play it.

For all the lawyers, and the many IANALs, out there, what do you think of the chances of a lawsuit succeeding to change Blizzard's stance on this? Would anyone else be interested in taking this on with me?"

A question that comes to mind is whether the seller fulfilled all three parts of the Termination clause, section 5 of the EULA. If the seller failed to notify Blizzard of intention to terminate, it could be argued that the seller's licenses remain in effect and thus new license could not be given to the buyer of the used game. But one would hope Blizzard's customer service would at least make this clear to the buyer.

Comments

One more...

[Anonymous Coward]

reason why not to play mmorpgs or pay-to-play games.

When I see that kind of resistance by the company that produced it, it really sets me off. How can you justify buying software that you can't even use out of the box? Why did I just spend x dollars on this if I can't use it? And now I have to shovel x/month to 'enable' it? Get real.

How do pay-to-play games get so popular? I don't understand it. I guess I never will.

Re:Get your money back.

[kaustik]

Or maybe he could contact Blizzard directly, instead of whining about it on slashdot. Seriously.

Another option . . .

[weighn]

go into a store, box cutter concealed in hand, open WoW box, write down Auth-Key, go home, sign up.

Cheap Bastard

[netglen]

Wah-wah-wah-waaaaaaaa. That's what you get for being a cheap assed bastard. Go out and buy a new copy of the program and I don't really care if they're all that hard to get. You could have pre-ordered.

Re:Why not just buy a new copy instead of old?

[Anonymous Coward]

Man, all the cheap Slashdotters with mod points jumped all over your post, didn't they?

I swear, there's nothing like a "why should I have to pay for it?" post to get some free karma here.

The "free as in beer" crowd has pretty much overwhelmed this place, and the sad part about that is, they mostly don't have ANY idea about the implied responsibility to offer back whatever they can: They're all cheap, clueless, ignorant and unskilled.

They download a Linux distro onto the 'puter that their Mom and Dad bought them, using the broadband connection that their parents pay for, manage to figure out how to install it, and think that they're "leet" in some way because they figured out how to install it and then post on Slashdot.

They pirate music and movies, and bitch about the RIAA and MPAA infringing on their rights, as though they had the right to free entertainment.

Most of them cannot create anything worthwhile on their own... yet they want the benefit of others' creations for free, in part or whole. The ones that CAN create, somehow think that in doing so, and offering their creations for free by choice, somehow obligates the rest of the world to do so as well.

And, the vast majority of them are young US citizens... no wonder why the rest of the world looks upon the US in disdain. We've a government that is morally corrupt, and the generations that are growing up now, ostensibly to take their place in it eventually in some form, are unfit to do so, being uniformly selfish, ignorant and greedy.

Or, maybe that makes them ideally suited for such a role?

I don't know anymore.

Did you find this comment with a time machine?

[talaphid]

One month of play is included in the fee. Anyone who has ever purchased a game and never played it a month afterwards and complains about the "high cost" of WoW deserves a stab in the face. While I make no implication that you are such a person, it is shocking how many persons I have as friends complained similarly despite having purchased things like DooM3 and Half-Life 2 which, while fine games, they got perhaps two weeks of play out of, and they will never dust those games off again.

Also, a child (peer of this comment) makes the other anemic lament about "oh, give me the game free, I'm paying a subscription fee." Hello. The game was in development for four? five? years. Maybe they'd like to, I don't know, turn a profit (and judging from units moved, that's very likely a possibility). As heart breaking as that notion may be, I think most of us have gone on to realize that Blizzard is a corporation, one of those weird beasts associated with profits and margins and things.

The subscription fee is, presumably, to cover continuing costs of development. When I was a City of Heroes player, I had no use for other video games. Weirdly, the cost for a three month subscription is about on part with a new video game. Hmm... going with a known quantity for three months which will have new! fun! exciting patches! (sorry, I'm a patchaholic) over those three months... or picking some random thing off the shelves.

Now, if you (collective) are the sort of person who has purchased fewer than 4 video games in the course of a year, I tip my hat to you. You're absolutely right. A MMO is a waste of your money. But you (hopefully) can see how it is not a ridiculous fiscal notion on its face for many.