[MUD-Dev] Blacksnow revisted

[Stefan Ripperger]

From: Dan <Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com>

> With regard to Lee Caldwell's statement above, it sounde like his
> response is pure hot air as all the factual inaccuracies lie in
> passing comments made about the Mythic case. Then again these guys
> really are jokers imho.

In case of BSI and the lawsuit against Mythic Entertainment im not
sure about certain EULA conditions of Dark Age of Camelot.  But if
BSI is sueing Verant (like probably stated in those icq comments),
BSI will drive into some difficulties. If you play Everquest you
dont just agree to the "ingame"-EULA but you also agree to the
product conditions, which are strenghtening the "ingame"-EULA and
are making it legitime in the surrounding official rights or laws of
a country or state. Those product conditions are stated on the lower
side of the everquest box and they are saying the following:

-----------------------------------
From: Everquest Product Box

"Internet connectivity required to set your Everquest Account. A
monthly service charge is applicable after your trial periode
ends. The use of Everquest is a su(b)ject to acceptance of certain
terms and conditions inside this box, and the use of Everquest
indicates acceptance to such terms and conditions. Everquest can
only be played when connected to certain online environments, which
may required the acceptance of addition terms and the payment of
additional fees of charges!"
-----------------------------------

By the way someone of the Everquest team made a mistake and wrote
"suject" instead of "subject" on the EQ box. So if someone goes to
sue Verant, the plaintiff can question the everquest product
conditions and therefore the "ingame"-EULA because in case every
common buyer or user of Everquest maybe wasnt able to properly
understand the product and user conditions. A small mistake could
have big results in a worst case situation.

Back to the product conditions. So if you buy Everquest, you as a
buyer are agreeing to the common product conditions that are stated
on the product box.  This fact is essential since common laws are
saying (i think so) "if you buy a full use product like software you
should be able to use it immediately on a system that has all
necessary requirements which are stated on the product box". In the
case of commercial MMOGs the use of the product is splitted into the
"basic software part", that you install on your PC and the
"effective using part" (service) which to use you have to agree to
the EULA that you can only read if you have already bought the
product. But Verant wasnt stupid and stated "The use of Everquest is
a subject to acceptance of certain terms and conditions inside this
box".


Just to remember: in the recent discussions about this BSI scandal
different persons spoke about the legitimation of the EULA that
seemed to be the only problem. But with the additional product
conditions the point will move into the positive direction towards
developers imho.

Now my question is: Do Mythic and Funcom have those product
conditions on their product boxes?


with best greetings
Stefan Ripperger


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