EULA – TOR Re-Sellable? Also Micro-Transactions?
I found this interesting tidbit in the current EULA for Star Wars: The Old Republic – (verified identical in both the one from last Beta and the one currently downloadable at www.swtor.com/download ). In this Article, I will be speculating on the meaning of a specific section of the EULA:
Section 2, Part C reads as follows:
C. Transfer.
You may make a one time permanent transfer of all your rights to install and use packaged Software on physical recording media to another individual or legal entity provided that: (a) you transfer or delete all copies of the Software ; and (b) you retain no copies of the Software. You may not transfer your Account and/or any associated subscriptions to a third party, and EA may require that any subsequent end user of the Software register the Software online as a condition of use, and will not be responsible should you not be able to transfer the right to access game play, receive updates, upgrades, dynamically served content, any achievements and/or items already purchased or otherwise acquired by you through micro-transactions whether or not paid for, or the right to use any online service(s) of EA. It is your responsibility to ascertain the ability of any person to whom you intend to transfer the Software to receive the Software and/or open and utilise an Account, including by consulting any applicable Terms of Service to determine the conditions that may be applicable for the use of an Account, if applicable.
Now what exactly does this mean? Let’s take it one tidbit at a time.
“You may make a one time permanent transfer of all your rights to install and use packaged Software on physical recording media to another individual or legal entity provided that: (a) you transfer or delete all copies of the Software ; and (b) you retain no copies of the Software.”
Okay – you may transfer your rights to the physical (DVD) copy of SW:TOR to another person (or legal entity – like a corporation), provided that you delete the game from your computer and don’t keep any copies of the game for yourself.
“You may not transfer your Account and/or any associated subscriptions to a third party, and EA may require that any subsequent end user of the Software register the Software online as a condition of use,”
You can’t transfer your Account or subscription – so no Account selling, or giving the Account to your neighbor. Also, EA may require that the person that you transfer the software to registers the software online as a condition of use.
“and will not be responsible should you not be able to transfer the right to access game play, receive updates, upgrades, dynamically served content, any achievements”
EA isn’t responsible if the person you transfer the game to can’t access the game, get updates, or has basically a ‘fubared’ installation/gaming experience.
“any achievements and/or items already purchased or otherwise acquired by you through micro-transactions whether or not paid for, or the right to use any online service(s) of EA.”
EA here mentions possible Micro-Transactions for items and/or achievements . This, of course is NOT a confirmation that Micro-transactions are in the game, but that if they ever are, EA isn’t responsible if accessing them gets messed up because of 2nd hand Discs.
“It is your responsibility to ascertain the ability of any person to whom you intend to transfer the Software to receive the Software and/or open and utilise an Account, including by consulting any applicable Terms of Service to determine the conditions that may be applicable for the use of an Account, if applicable.”
This part basically lays any responsibility, blame, etc at the feet of the person who originally owned the Discs.
SPECULATION:
Now, in order for someone to transfer the Discs (i.e. give, or sell them), but not to be able to transfer the Account currently associated with those Discs…it means that the person actually has to have created an Account. Thus…you can buy the game, play for a while, decide you don’t like it, uninstall it, sell/give away the Discs and be done with it (as long as you don’t retain any copy of the software).
Granted, I am no lawyer, so I could be completely wrong here, but that’s how it looks to me.
One Response to “EULA – TOR Re-Sellable? Also Micro-Transactions?”
This will all just be ass-covering by EA, likely due to EU law meaning the purchaser has the right to sell the physical copy. So EA explicitly say you can do that, but then the rest of it is just EA saying “but don’t come crying to us if you bought off someone 2nd-hand and then can’t play the game at all”.