Mod parent up. This article is nothing more than a pre-sale speech.
1) Create the need 2) Show products that fulfill the needs 3) Profit$$$
However I think the marketing guy should change its title. It's only provoking bloggers, but do not immediately lead potential purchasers in thinking "Hey, I can make $$$ with RSS and those guy's tools".
6. TERMINATION. Without prejudice to any other rights, Microsoft may cancel this EULA if you do not abide by the terms and conditions of this EULA
Stea(l|m) SSA states:
Either you or Valve has the right to terminate or cancel your Account or a particular Subscription at any time.
followed by
Valve may, but is not obligated to, provide access (for a limited period of time) to the download of a stand-alone version of the software and content associated with such one-time purchase.
Maybe I've got really poor English skills, but I see a HUGE difference in Evil-Level between the two...
Now, about what the law allow... I would prefered not have to know for a mere game *purchase* (or renting)...
Steam is one of the worst DRM scheme ever because its hidding its true nature. Everybody think that they have "buy" a game. The whole advertising and the pricing structure leads you to believe that.
But in reality, Steam and HL2 came with the same terms and conditions than any subscription-based service: you've got to be online from time to time and we can just cancelled your subscriptions/account at any time for any reason without refund or excuse or anything (see the Steam Subscriber Agreement section 13), which is too opened to be honest IMO, and very differently written than any other non-MMO game EULA.
Don't believe Valve will do anything nasty? I don't know, but I want to remind you about the former $10 tax Valve was collecting when you wanted to re-sell your HL2 boxed copy. It has needed the intervention of a german consumer association to get rid of this unaceptable hidden feature.
Now if you are happy with your one-time paid, not-lifetime subscription on some buggy online service.
And please stop with Valve as being the savior of originality and creativity in the game industry. Come on, have a look at their catalog: sequels, add-ons, free fan made mods gone retail... Even EA come from time to time with more original titles...
I have to admit that most of the spam I receive come from Hotmail.
But let's see the positive side: Those poor Viagra and low-priced softwares sellers from fnreo_123@hotmail.com or ubguigb_7533@hotmail.com will be much less annoyed by unsolicited mail for Viagra and low-priced software (at least from other domains).
The EULA in the box says: "blabla... you can transfer your licence blabla..." The TOS (or SSA for Steam) says: "blabla... you can't transfer your account or subscription...blabla". Then from Support: - for WoW: "Go to hell" - for HL2: "You have to pay $10".
3 different messages for the same things.
If now even the big companies begin to think that EULAs are not binding when it comes to THEIR obligations...
I just wanted to make sure that everyone understand there are TWO agreements in the case of a retail purchase: a good nice EULA between You and Valve/Sierra, and a *surprising* TOS (the Steam Subscriber Agreement) between You and Valve.
Those 2 agreements simply don't describe the same product/service. And the "Steam activation" basically takes your nice licence away and give you only a Steam Subscritpion in return. And by comparing the EULA and the too-opened-to-be-honest SSA, the subscription is in my opionion a product of much less value (can be terminated any time, cost more and is not transferrable).
The problem is not the EULA. It's the SSA, which is supposed to supercede the EULA.
IANAL, but if you look at the EULA, having to accept additionnal terms of use is only required for "Internet multiplayer". Thus even the *activation* should not force you to accept its SSA if you don't want to. So there are 2 possibilities now: - If Vivendi has the rights, by its publishing contract, to sell User Licences of Half Life 2 the way they want, the forced SSA *activation* is a violation of the EULA (except if Valve can prove that HL2 is an "Internet multiplayer"-only game). And it's wholly Valve's fault. - If Vivendi has a more restrictive publishing contract, then they should have put more clearly on the box that HL2 IS NOT a game, but a subscription to some dummy online service (a bit like MMOs do).
For a Steam *purchase*, only the SSA apply. You've always had only a subscription.
Definitely more interesting than the game itself...
It's simple: by buying HL2, you just haven't bought a game. Not even a user license. What you have paid are "subscription fees". And what you have is just a subscription to some content on an online (?buggy?) service. And don't believe it is a lifetime subscription. Just read the damn SSA, it is definitely not a no-brainer.
And it's getting really fun when you start comparing with the retail HL2 EULA. There are contradicting themselves on such little details like change of terms and billing, termination and transferability. But bad luck, the evil SSA is suposed to superseed the nicer retail EULA.
I know I'm paranoid and that Valve may not do something of terrible taste, like for instance adding recurring charges to Steam in order "to defray" bandwith costs (a bit like they are charging $10 if you want to re-sell the game, to "defray the costs" of this operation). But they claim in the SSA to have that kind of rights. And I find this legal trick with the SSA/EULA to be already of VERY bad taste, especially for a company whose marketing line is to be THE company who really cares about its fan base....
And is there any official clarification on theses issues from Valve? Well, on the Steam forums, apart the "We are tired of these legalese chats" from the mods and the "We are experiencing a troll infestation" by a Valve representative... nothing really meaningfull. (Apart maybe the funny "our $10 re-sell fee is *consistent* with VU after-90-days warranty" which was very rapidly deleted...)
Slashdot Mirror
Mod parent up.
This article is nothing more than a pre-sale speech.
1) Create the need
2) Show products that fulfill the needs
3) Profit$$$
However I think the marketing guy should change its title. It's only provoking bloggers, but do not immediately lead potential purchasers in thinking "Hey, I can make $$$ with RSS and those guy's tools".
I've just check my XP Pro EULA. It says:
6. TERMINATION. Without prejudice to any other rights, Microsoft may cancel this EULA if you do not abide by the terms and conditions of this EULA
Stea(l|m) SSA states:
Either you or Valve has the right to terminate or cancel your Account or a particular Subscription at any time.
followed by
Valve may, but is not obligated to, provide access (for a limited period of time) to the download of a stand-alone version of the software and content associated with such one-time purchase.
Maybe I've got really poor English skills, but I see a HUGE difference in Evil-Level between the two...
Now, about what the law allow... I would prefered not have to know for a mere game *purchase* (or renting)...
I completly agree with you.
Steam is one of the worst DRM scheme ever because its hidding its true nature. Everybody think that they have "buy" a game. The whole advertising and the pricing structure leads you to believe that.
But in reality, Steam and HL2 came with the same terms and conditions than any subscription-based service: you've got to be online from time to time and we can just cancelled your subscriptions/account at any time for any reason without refund or excuse or anything (see the Steam Subscriber Agreement section 13), which is too opened to be honest IMO, and very differently written than any other non-MMO game EULA.
Don't believe Valve will do anything nasty? I don't know, but I want to remind you about the former $10 tax Valve was collecting when you wanted to re-sell your HL2 boxed copy. It has needed the intervention of a german consumer association to get rid of this unaceptable hidden feature.
Now if you are happy with your one-time paid, not-lifetime subscription on some buggy online service.
And please stop with Valve as being the savior of originality and creativity in the game industry. Come on, have a look at their catalog: sequels, add-ons, free fan made mods gone retail... Even EA come from time to time with more original titles...
I have to admit that most of the spam I receive come from Hotmail.
But let's see the positive side:
Those poor Viagra and low-priced softwares sellers from fnreo_123@hotmail.com or ubguigb_7533@hotmail.com will be much less annoyed by unsolicited mail for Viagra and low-priced software (at least from other domains).
Pretty much the same problem with HL2 and WoW
...blabla".
The EULA in the box says:
"blabla... you can transfer your licence blabla..."
The TOS (or SSA for Steam) says:
"blabla... you can't transfer your account or subscription
Then from Support:
- for WoW: "Go to hell"
- for HL2: "You have to pay $10".
3 different messages for the same things.
If now even the big companies begin to think that EULAs are not binding when it comes to THEIR obligations...
Don't get me wrong, I'm on your side.
I just wanted to make sure that everyone understand there are TWO agreements in the case of a retail purchase: a good nice EULA between You and Valve/Sierra, and a *surprising* TOS (the Steam Subscriber Agreement) between You and Valve.
Those 2 agreements simply don't describe the same product/service. And the "Steam activation" basically takes your nice licence away and give you only a Steam Subscritpion in return. And by comparing the EULA and the too-opened-to-be-honest SSA, the subscription is in my opionion a product of much less value (can be terminated any time, cost more and is not transferrable).
The problem is not the EULA. It's the SSA, which is supposed to supercede the EULA.
IANAL, but if you look at the EULA, having to accept additionnal terms of use is only required for "Internet multiplayer". Thus even the *activation* should not force you to accept its SSA if you don't want to.
So there are 2 possibilities now:
- If Vivendi has the rights, by its publishing contract, to sell User Licences of Half Life 2 the way they want, the forced SSA *activation* is a violation of the EULA (except if Valve can prove that HL2 is an "Internet multiplayer"-only game). And it's wholly Valve's fault.
- If Vivendi has a more restrictive publishing contract, then they should have put more clearly on the box that HL2 IS NOT a game, but a subscription to some dummy online service (a bit like MMOs do).
For a Steam *purchase*, only the SSA apply. You've always had only a subscription.
Definitely more interesting than the game itself...
It's simple: by buying HL2, you just haven't bought a game. Not even a user license. What you have paid are "subscription fees". And what you have is just a subscription to some content on an online (?buggy?) service. And don't believe it is a lifetime subscription. Just read the damn SSA, it is definitely not a no-brainer.
And it's getting really fun when you start comparing with the retail HL2 EULA. There are contradicting themselves on such little details like change of terms and billing, termination and transferability. But bad luck, the evil SSA is suposed to superseed the nicer retail EULA.
I know I'm paranoid and that Valve may not do something of terrible taste, like for instance adding recurring charges to Steam in order "to defray" bandwith costs (a bit like they are charging $10 if you want to re-sell the game, to "defray the costs" of this operation). But they claim in the SSA to have that kind of rights. And I find this legal trick with the SSA/EULA to be already of VERY bad taste, especially for a company whose marketing line is to be THE company who really cares about its fan base....
And is there any official clarification on theses issues from Valve? Well, on the Steam forums, apart the "We are tired of these legalese chats" from the mods and the "We are experiencing a troll infestation" by a Valve representative... nothing really meaningfull. (Apart maybe the funny "our $10 re-sell fee is *consistent* with VU after-90-days warranty" which was very rapidly deleted...)