Let me start this whole thing off by stating this is an individual argument towards both those opinionated that post on these forums and the company known as FunCom. I would like to hear constructive comments from both other players and the Community Team (Cosmik, Cz, Dai-Gaelen, Gaute) about their opinions on what I provide below. I however do no wish to see flames or harassment directed at me for expressing my opinion backed up with evidence provided from all the sources that I can find in a short amount of time. Since Cosmik has not started the official FAQ I would like to make this the Unofficial FAQ and get the balls rolling in the right direction so to speak.
The last week or two I have seen a fevered debate over whether FunCom broke some sort of business rule or moral ethic by announcing a ‘booster pack’ to which the controversial land control has been mentioned. To recap for those who have not been visiting the boards recently:
----FunCom -- Announced that the booster pack is less than an expansion pack but more than a mere patch to the game. The land control idea which is the major part of this booster is being touted as more than the originally mentioned outpost control. This is the idea that one side can attack an enemy base and upon wiping it out gain control of that outpost and having their guards spawn there to stand watch.
----The players -- Those that posts here on these forums, not all the players but a majority it seems, have expressed their discontent that this is FunCom screwing over the players by forcing them to pay ‘pay-patch’ for an added content that was promised in an envisioned/in-progress page back last year.
There has been a lot of opinions thrown around and a lot of challenges made as to provide proof that FunCom is indeed screwing its paying customer base out of promised content previously mentioned in a pass article. Since no one had provided the information and was hell bent on just crying foul I took it upon myself to scour the internet and find articles, official claims, or actual lawful interventions to lay rest all arguments made by everyone concerning this matter and so to the long tedious part of this post.
Well seeing as how we log onto Anarchy Online and click the ‘I Agree’ button it seems a majority of other business ethic issues are put out. The only thing that FunCom can violate is actual advertising practice ethics or some sort of scam thus fraudulently causing us to lose money (according to the Better Business Bureau). Seeing as how either of the afore mentioned acts have not been committed we are left with the contract we agree to every time we log into Anarchy Online.
E.U.L.A:
Short for End-User License Agreement, the type of license used for most software.
License:
1. Allowing an individual or group to use a piece of software. Nearly all applications are licensed rather than sold. There are a variety of different types of software licenses. Some are based on the number machines on which the licensed program can run whereas others are based on the number of users that can use the program. Most personal computer software licenses allow you to run the program on only one machine and to make copies of the software only for backup purposes. Some licenses also allow you to run the program on different computers as long as you don't use the copies simultaneously.
As pointed out by Zacharius to me in another thread:
EULA #2. To play the Game, you must (a) possess an ANARCHY ONLINE game CD-ROM (the "CD-ROM"), which includes software required for the Game (the "Software") (such CD-ROM may be an original or copy thereof); (b) have a fully paid account; and (c) have an Internet connection (which we do not provide) to access your Account. In addition to any fees described herein, you are responsible for paying all applicable taxes (including those we are not required to collect) and for all hardware, software, service and other costs you incur to access your Account. Neither this Agreement nor your Account entitles you to any subsequent releases of the Software, nor to any expansion packs or similar ancillary products. You understand that we may update or otherwise enhance the Software at any time and in doing so incur no obligation to furnish such updates to you pursuant to this Agreement.
Thus because we agree to the agreement and all have standing accounts with FunCom they do not have to in any good conscience listen to our pleas for a free download of this content.
This upcoming booster pack is of course most likely an enhanced version of the once mentioned Outpost control that FunCom wished to implement upon release of the game but could not fit into their timeframe. Yet, it is enhanced since FunCom did take the whole idea a step further and put the control in the player run organizations. So in essence FunCom has all rights and purposes to market this as a separate product. The EULA is the law when it comes to this game unless FunCom breaks a real world law which HAS not happened.
Now some of you might bring up the fact that other MMORPG are not doing this type of marketing. Well Everquest being the only true product to use as an example (no other games out have an expansion or booster pack out) the only two expansions to be called true expansions are “The Ruins of Kunark” and “The Shadows of Luclin.” I say this because “Scars of Velious” and “Planes of Power” are just pure item patches or zone additions designed to keep the audiences entertained. RoK and SoL had much more content and itemization compared to the latter two. Thus Velious and Planes of Power are borderline booster packs as all they offered were new zones, mobs, and quests. Isn’t this what The Anarchy Online booster pack is offering us? New gameplay mechanics, new graphics, and sounds are already disclosed yet who is to say that we won’t get new MOBs out of this or new content via patches the same day as the release.
Some might even go further as to start citing the others game’s EULA. So I am going to save everyone the time.
Verant, makers of Everquest bears striking resemblance to our own EULA which can be found here: http://eqlive.station.sony.com/suppo...ce/cs_EULA.jsp
2. To play the Game, you must (a) purchase the EverQuest game CD-ROM (the "CD-ROM"), which includes software required for the Game (the "Software"), (b) have a fully paid Account, and (c) have an Internet connection (which we do not provide) to access your Account. In addition to any fees described herein, you are responsible for paying all applicable taxes (including those we are not required to collect) and for all hardware, software, service and other costs you incur to access your Account. Neither this Agreement nor your Account entitles you to any subsequent releases of the Software, nor to any expansion packs or similar ancillary products. You understand that we may update or otherwise enhance the Software at any time and in doing so incur no obligation to furnish such updates to you pursuant to this Agreement.
Mythic makers of Dark Age of Camelot have the same EULA which can be found here: http://support.darkageofcamelot.com/...YWdlPTE*&p_li=
1. Grant of License
To play the Game, you must (a) purchase the Dark Age of Camelot(tm) game CD-ROM (the "CD-ROM"), which includes software required for the Game (the "Software"), (b) have a fully paid Account, and (c) have an Internet connection (which we do not provide) to access your Account. In addition to any fees described herein, you are responsible for paying all applicable taxes (including those we are not required to collect) and for all hardware, software, service and other costs you incur to access your Account. Neither this Agreement nor your Account entitles you to any subsequent releases of the Software, nor to any expansion packs or similar ancillary products. You understand that we may update or otherwise enhance the Software at any time and in doing so incur no obligation to furnish such updates to you pursuant to this Agreement.
Basically FunCom is doing what every other manufacturer of a MMORPG is doing just a little differently. Why is there such an outcry as to people claiming outrageous claims that FunCom is deliberately F**king us up the ass and trying to steal our hard earned money when it is clear that they had clear authority as per the EULA we all agree to exercise this course of action. Remember this is an enhanced version of an idea presented to the public playing community a long time ago. The idea has gone so many mutations that the original concept is but a shadow of what is being offered today. Now FunCom clearly must have high faith in us players to come to the conclusion that I have just offered everyone on this forum. Otherwise they would have already posted a more thorough reason given the huge amount of outcry going on about this booster pack. Again I ask everyone who is posting such things as:
A. Don’t buy this booster
B. OK that’s it FunCom
C. FunCom screws us again
D. Booster Pack with Land Control is B.S.
Why do you say these things in light of what I have just given you as the official pudding of why FunCom is going the route of a booster pack instead of a downloaded patch. They do not owe us this content as they never promised us this type of mutated beast in the first place. Perhaps if we hold our breath a bit longer the ancient outpost control will go in a later patch after the booster pack because hell the code will already be there right!
.
Re: My take on the Booster pack with Pudding
