Have You Read The Terms Of Service?

DragonSamurai360

No I haven't read any of it.

I'm sorry, but I am not going to read 50 some odd pages or 50 some odd paragraphs of about how to be a good person online and how to manage your software properly, and blah blah blah. It's called staying away from bad influences online, being a good person online, don't pirate or any of that illegal stuff, plus a bunch of other stuff, but come on you shouldn't need to be told all this, this is rated 17+ rating M in the USA because ZOS expects us to know all this already. Maybe they should just put one page and one paragraph and voila you would get a lot more people reading that stuff, but I mean come on all these documents are frigging huge, you came to play a game, not rip out your hair for reading halfway through a frigging document 5 hours later after you installed the game.

Danikat

I've read some of it.

I skimmed through it.

I have the dubious advantage that understanding legalese is part of my job (including periodically reading, and quoting http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ which is probably the most boring website ever made) so reading TOS for a game isn't a big deal.

But how carefully I read it depends on how much I trust the company behind it. Some things I will read all the agreements in full, sometimes I skim through it decide it's all standard stuff. Very occasionally (usually when I've used a bunch of stuff by the same company before) I'll skip them completely.

Tandor wrote: »

A more interesting question in my view would be to ask whether anyone has ever intended to play a game but then read the terms of service and decided not to play it as a result.

Not a game, but it's definitely happened with software and sometimes websites. Usually because it says something that amounts to 'we are recording everything you do, we will sell this information, you cannot opt out of this'.

BlackguardBob

Yes I've read it all.

lol I thought it was compulsory to read it all and agree to it all to be able to play ESO.

Since 50% of you say you haven't read it I am not surprised at the amount of whinging and crying that goes on these forums.

All those demands, petitions and threats that so many players post and none of them know that it is in breach of ToS?

ADarklore

No I haven't read any of it.

Considering you cannot play the game without accepting the TOS it's pretty pointless to even bother reading it since even if you did disagree... no accept, no play. As long as a person isn't doing anything dubious, MMO "rules" are pretty straightforward and standard.

Lucius_Aelius

No I haven't read any of it.

Didn't read it, why bother when I knew it wouldn't ask for my organs (and if it did it wouldn't be legally binding, it's a video game for crying out loud) and I knew I had to accept it anyway in order to play. I have skimmed them before and even read one completely through once, such a massive waste of my time. It takes a book in legalese just for them to say "don't cheat or generally be an ass to others or you don't get to play anymore," both of which I do my best to avoid doing so it doesn't really effect me at all.

Dradhok

No I haven't read any of it.

What are these "Terms of Service" you speak of?

Lysette

Yes I've read it all.

Abeille wrote: »

RogueShade wrote: »

I never sign anything without reading it first. Alas in the electronic age you can't alter the bits you don't agree with, which I've done for employment agreements. I have also not played games when I disagreed with the ToS.

Never happened to me with games, but it did happen with a website when I was much, much younger. It was an online community that allowed us to post stuff we made (drawings, stories and such) but on the TOS they reserved themselves the right to claim ownership of anything we posted.

Just like it is on facebook - and why I do not have an account there.

mildlylucid

No I haven't read any of it.

I read as much of the ToS as I did this poll.
As such I missed the option "I've read some of it".

Ah well.

Silverado

Yes I've read it all.

I've read it 4x all the way through, no joke.

The_SpAwN

No I haven't read any of it.

Korozenn

Yes I've read it all.

Sometimes, you just gotta make sure that you're not agreeing to Molag Bal owning the rights to our own very souls, you know what I'm sayin'?

Elohmrow

No I haven't read any of it.

Who is terms of service?

Mwnci

Yes I've read it all.

People not reading and understanding the TOS/EULA is exactly why we have regular whine threads when the servers are down for maintenance.

Tryxus

Terms of Service is a fancy term for that scrollbar down to "I agree" and the Accept button

Preyfar

No I haven't read any of it.

Nope. I fess up that I haven't read them specifically for ESO. I generally carry out being a good person to other players and treating the game with respect. I also know that ignorance of the rules doesn't protect one from them. And, given I've had experience on the support staff side of another game before (Ultima Online) I also know what basics to expect (e.g. abusing a broken game mechanic does not mean it's "as intended").

ShirleyShine

I've read some of it.

I read some of it and then figured that as long as I behave and play courteously and honestly it shouldn't be a problem

rootimus

raidentenshu_ESO wrote: »

ZOS_DaryaK wrote: »

We've removed a couple of posts that contained inappropriate images. Please refrain from using images that are not rated PG-13 or lower...and relevant to the topic of this discussion.

The most important question is....


Did you see our posts? I hope you guys at ZoS take note of this because not many people actually read your terms of service because it's too damn long. Not all of us are lawyers. We are regular citizens. Write a page explaining the rules. You don't need to get all lawyer up.

In fairness, that's not Zenimax. It's lawyers keeping themselves in work by not writing everything in plain English.

CokeVoAYCE

Yes I've read it all.

i've almost finished. i'm on page 2173. hoping to finish by the end of the summer.

Vyshan

No I haven't read any of it.

I never read that nonsense. I don't consider it a contract, either, without a physical signature. I don't really care what lawyer says otherwise.

A TOS can claim whatever rights it wants to, and many/most say you agree not to sue. In the end, I reserve the right to sue a company/service if I deem it necessary, regardless of what a TOS/EULA states.

In America, no contract can take away your legal rights. It doesn't matter if you signed it or not - a company may not take your rights away.

imredneckson

No I haven't read any of it.

Barely have read any of it and most of what I did read just made me not want to read anymore of it.

Dubhliam

No I haven't read any of it.

I've not read the terms.

That does not in any way indicate that those terms do not apply to me.

I agreed to them.

ZOS_DaryaK

We've removed a few posts that were discussing previous moderator actions.

Please understand that while the game is rated M, these forums are not. This is part of why our forum rules prohibit profanity and inappropriate content. While some of the images we'd removed were relevant to the topic, they were not appropriate.

While the Terms of Service document is rather long at 34 pages, everyone should at the very least read the Code of Conduct which is only 4 pages long and is phrased in more common language.

Davor

So what happens if someone doesn't agree to the terms and services? It's not like you get your money back so I believe most people just agree. It's not like Microsoft, or Sony or Zenimax will refund the game you just bought. I have never seen one case of someone getting their money back because they don't agree to the Terms of Services.

Fallen_Ray

No I haven't read any of it.

Why would I? Plain and simple: Accept and you get to play as long as you behave well. Understand that sales are final and you are most likely not to get refunded anything. And Zenimax are the gods and can do whatever the F&*@% they want to the game without notifying. These are the standard for most games and logical. Besides the pirating, distributing copies blah blah blah.

Don't accept you don't get to play. If you bought the game at a store you can change it for another one with a receipt provided the store's return period hasn't expired. Digital purchases and don't agree to the terms means you're screwed so accept them and play anyway to get your money's worth.

Elsonso

Yes I've read it all.

Roehamad_Ali wrote: »

Yes I read it all . I wanted to make sure I wasn't agreeing to give away an organ or something .

This is a big concern, seeing how some gaming companies monetize the games they make.

KhajitFurTrader

Yes I've read it all.

Davor wrote: »

So what happens if someone doesn't agree to the terms and services? It's not like you get your money back so I believe most people just agree. It's not like Microsoft, or Sony or Zenimax will refund the game you just bought.

I think the trick is to read the ToS/EULA before a transaction of money takes place. Which is entirely possible, especially with digital copies of the game. Or any other software, for that matter.

Serkazong

No I haven't read any of it.

No, I've never read the TOS for any game I've played. I assume it says don't cheat or be a jerk. I don't do those things so I just don't worry about it.

Elsonso

Yes I've read it all.

Serkazong wrote: »

No, I've never read the TOS for any game I've played. I assume it says don't cheat or be a jerk. I don't do those things so I just don't worry about it.

It also says you have to pay 10% of all your gold to @lordrichter. It does. Honest. Go look.

AtAfternoon

I've read some of it.

Nah. They're not legally binding in any way where I live, and that's also the case in a lot of European countries. I *think* that in Germany, any EULA or the like that would hinder you from using a product unless agree on and are shown to you after you've bought the products aren't valid. So something popping up during an installation or when opening the game for the first time doesn't really mean much.

I'm sure the legal team at Zenimax is competent enough to realize this since they recognized the taxing differences leading to not every country being able to be allowed into the "1 million reasons to play" competition.

Danikat

I've read some of it.

BlackguardBob wrote: »

lol I thought it was compulsory to read it all and agree to it all to be able to play ESO.

Since 50% of you say you haven't read it I am not surprised at the amount of whinging and crying that goes on these forums.

All those demands, petitions and threats that so many players post and none of them know that it is in breach of ToS?

It's compulsory to agree to it, and for that agreement to be legally valid ZOS has to have shown you what you're agreeing to.

It's not actually compulsory to read it (meaning you can scroll straight down to the accept button) but equally not reading it is not a defence if you get banned for breaking the terms. So if, for example, you get banned for pretending to be a member of ZOS staff in-game you can't say you didn't know it was against the rules and expect to get your account back (and more importantly can't sue them) because they have proof that you accepted that is not allowed.

ADarklore wrote: »

Considering you cannot play the game without accepting the TOS it's pretty pointless to even bother reading it since even if you did disagree... no accept, no play. As long as a person isn't doing anything dubious, MMO "rules" are pretty straightforward and standard.

I've never come across an issue with an MMO (admittedly I've not played most of them) but I've definitely come across software and websites where I read through the terms of service and decided I'd rather not use it than agree to that.