From our new state law (California)
World of Warcraft will have to categorize itself as a “license” since we the players don’t really “own” the game.
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The law doesn’t apply to subscription-based services, free downloads like demos, or companies that offer “permanent offline download[s]”
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This should have been made a law as soon as software companies pushed these TOS on us 20 years ago.
If we don’t own it the language should reflect that everywhere the software is referenced.
Seems like common sense to make companies tell the truth about whether you are buying something forever or just licensing it until the publisher turns it off. Big difference.
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Oh you mean like starter accounts?
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if its “classifies” as a demo then yes
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Even if we take this at face value and it goes in as it’s been mentioned around here, I don’t see it changing much for WoW because it’s already labelled as a subscription. Our deal with Blizzard is pretty clear: We pay them $14.99 for 30 days of access.
I guess they might change the “buy” label on expansions, but that’s about it. This would have a bigger effect on other live service games like, say, Helldivers 2.
Though personally I’d like to see those games have an end of life plan where once the servers shut down the devs make the game playable offline(with it being understood some features will be lost in the transition).
I’m hoping that the Stop Killing Games campaign’s EU initiative will make some kind of ground on that front.
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…
and?
If anyone has ever thought they owned this game at any point in time, when you have to pay a monthly sub to have access…
their intelligence level is not very high.
I mean, it’s an mmo. That alone should tell people they don’t actually own the game.
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This just in: buying a ticket to Disneyland doesn’t mean you own Disneyland, either.
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Who cares?
What difference will it make?
Can I still play WoW? That is all anyone cares about. I don’t care who owns it
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you still have to buy the game
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i guess so? i guess they would have to label the expansions/set price box they sell as “license to play the war within content” or something.
Umm…
Your use of the Platform is licensed, not sold, to you, and you hereby acknowledge that no title or ownership with respect to the Platform or the Games is being transferred or assigned and this Agreement should not be construed as a sale of any rights.
It has always been listed as a licensed product that you do not own.
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I am confused why you think that requires a change. Blizzard has been very clear they sell a license to access the WoW game servers. That we don’t own our Bnet account, the game, characters, items, or anything else. That the game can be taken down in part or in whole at any time forever.
The End User License Agreement (EULA) is about the license we are using.
Your use of the Platform is licensed, not sold, to you, and you hereby acknowledge that no title or ownership with respect to the Platform or the Games is being transferred or assigned and this Agreement should not be construed as a sale of any rights.
EDIT You win faster points by a minute! Same thoughts almost same time posting.
Edit 2: I will also say I agree 100% with the law and that all companies should be clear what they are selling, who owns it, and what rights people have. I feel Blizzard has always done that, but there are other companies who do not. Imagine thinking you bought Office only to find out you have a yearly sub to an office program app. There has been a lot of confusion about things like that, esp among older people.
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i miss the days of owning games… maybe i need to play less blizzard games.
It was always a license according to the TOS / EULA / whatever it’s called.
You’ve always been purchasing a license to partake of the game.
All this does is require games that you technically don’t “own” despite “purchasing” them to make it clear to consumers that such is what they’re paying for. Which is nice because screw the notion of owning nothing, that’s ridiculous and dumb.
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This is one of the reasons I prefer to buy off GoG if I can, because regardless of what a EULA says the games don’t have DRM so there’s very little they can do about the games already on my PC.
Which returns me to the days of “You can tell me I don’t own it all you want, but you also can’t really do anything about my copy either”.
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You’re a decade or two late, there.
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It’s almost like we’ve known this for 20 years.
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We never did own WoW is anyone really shocked by this? You also don’t own Diablo 3/4, OW2 skins, Hearthstone cards, etc… even if you spent $10,000 on skins you do not own them.
Seriously people read the EULA and ToS completely I dare you. I’m pretty sure we’ve all agreed to binding arbitration too to resolve legal issues. Read the terms in full, or at least gaze over them all the way through it.
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Not really the same thing.
It would be more like Disney telling you they were going to sell you a roller coaster then they built it behind their own fence and charge you admission to access it.
We aren’t just buying a ticket to WoW. That would be the sub. They SELL the game as a product and then charge the admission fee.
The question is what are we actually purchasing when we buy the expansion if that isn’t the admission and we don’t own the game. ← and this is why legally the phrasing needs to be changed because the answer is NOTHING. They are charging admission twice, there is no sale.
Amusement parks don’t ever tell you they are “selling” you anything. They charge for admission. Common tongue we might call it buying a ticket but it’s very expressly stated it is charging for admission where as with games developers are putting a game on a store front as a product. Huge difference.