Galaxies Players Headed Towards Dark Side With Lawsuit

[Canadamus Prime]

Why am I not surprised? We live in the age of self-entitled dipshits.

The age of "I bought a game and they are taking it back"

Providing the servers for an MMO is a service, a service that Sony no longer wishes to provide, that is their right. Why you bought is the client that lets you enjoy that service. Considering the costs of maintaining those servers and the apparent declining interest in SWG, I'm surprised Sony hasn't done this sooner.
And it is the age of the self-entitled dipshit. Everyone seems to think the Universe revolves around them. Any fans of any given franchise or series seem to be under the very mistaken impression that the creators of the franchise or series or their devoted affection owe it to them to customize it to their particular (and often severely warped) whims. This is WRONG!
No one ever stops to tell a company when they've done a good job. I bet no one over the last 8+ years ever called up Sony to thank them for keeping the SWG servers running so well or got on the forums and said "Hey Sony, just wanted to let you know you're doing a great job!" But the moment something goes wrong, you can bet that they'll hear about esp. nowadays what with Twitter and Facebook and all that bullshit!

...

Ok I'm done ranting now.

 

[duchaked]

LOL oh man these Star Wars puns never end

but um...both sides seem pretty crazy here. just a little

 

[Azrael the Cat]

I'm surprised by how much emphasis folks here are putting on the EULA, given that in most countries there's a pretty broad legal consensus that attempted 'contracts' of that nature aren't enforceable - contract law has some long-standing requirements for the kind of effort you have to go to in order to bring potentially punitive terms to customer attention, and a one-size-fits all 'sign here' document doesn't come close. And a EULA doesn't even come close to being that - it's something (a) most gamers click past, and (b) something that the gamer can only access AFTER he/she has purchased the product, making it utterly irrelevant.

I'm not saying that these guys have a case, mind you, but that's got nothing to do with the EULA. Just like if I was to put small writing above my property that I can kill who I like, and that you have to agree to that term before you step onto my property, I'll still get charged with murder if I then go and kill my mother-in-law when she visits

The biggest issue I can see here is trying to work out what kind of claimable loss these guys could possibly have. Ok, I was a lawyer in Australia and the US is different in that it allows punitive damages quite readily, but seriously - what is the legal loss? It can't be for the fees they've paid, each payment was for a given period of time and they were able to access the game for the time-units that they paid for. It can't be for their emotional investment in the property - even if they had some legal right to it, and that is a huge jump, you don't cause a legal loss to someone just because they are really attached to the thing you just sold them. So what is it?

 

[Baresark]

Sony are dicks, it's true, but any private company has the right to deny service to anyone and stop supporting a product they no longer wish to support.

There is plenty of room for multiple Star Wars MMO's, but let's face facts, Sony isn't making any money off of this. I don't think for a second that they would release the source code for private use, even if they were allowed to do that. They are the type of company that would see something destroyed rather than give it away, IMO.

 

[MikailCaboose]

Not really anything to do about, except go play another game... How about the new StarWars MMO?

Also, I'll bet that somewhere in that mile long Terms of agreement thing, there's a part that says "we can shut down the servers any time we want when we ain't making more money of it"

Captcha: Was Rollyin

Pretty sure that in every multiplayer game that has a Terms of Agreement, that they always reserve the right to ban you if they feel they have a reason, shut down the servers (duh), and control forum content. This entire situation just seems really stupid to me.

 

[BabyRaptor]

Don't most forums have a rule against forum petitions? I know WoW will smack you with the banhammer for them.

 

[DracoSuave]

Why are they assuming it's Sony who wants to terminate service, and not LucasArts, who indicated their intent years ago when they contracted BioWare and not Sony?

Not that Sony isn't evil, but how is this in any way, shape, or form, Sony's fault?

 

[Nenad]

Honestly, who didn't see this coming?

I didn't... :/

 

[Keith K]

Sue Sony? How original.

I would get the irony if it was Sony sueing them but seeing as how its the other way around it is quite original

Google "Lawsuit against Sony" and bask in the 3,440,000 results.

 

[danintexas]

So they're mad because a bad buggy game is going away despite the amount of hours they put in even though SOE is well within its' rights to do so...?

Why can't they just let it go and go play SWTOR?

You and others really need to realize that TOR will be NOTHING like SWG. *insert yeah it won't suck joke here*

Fact is SWG was one of maybe 3 MMOs that was a sandbox. It was the only Sci-Fi sandbox MMO and now it is gone. TOR will not be a sandbox. It will be an MMO on rails like WoW and all its other clones.

I am quite shocked the hate supposed gamers are giving fans of SWG over this. I really am. The fact is this screws over fans of sandbox style mmos and other gamers on these and other forums are celebrating this? I really will not understand it.

 

[Brandon237]

I'm a little surprised everyone's on Sony's side here. Granted I don't know if the lawsuit is the right way to go, but banning people just for making petitions asking to keep the game running makes it sound like Sony's being a grade-A dick to paying customers, and some form of compensation should be made.

At the very least allow an officially sanctioned emulator.

I agree with this, I mean damn, just shut the game down, which the customers frekkerdaddergoodling paid for, most likely because their EULA has a clause about that on top of the "we own your soul naow" clause. They should at least give the players the tools to set up their own servers, if they are willing to get legal, then Sony should give them that and leave it be. Sony are being asses, legally or not is despite the point.

If you want to appease the populace, make the source code available online and have a license on server space. The problem would more than likely fix itself.

And that idea is now seconded.

 

[danintexas]

You and others really need to realize that TOR will be NOTHING like SWG. *insert yeah it won't suck joke here*

Fact is SWG was one of maybe 3 MMOs that was a sandbox. It was the only Sci-Fi sandbox MMO and now it is gone. TOR will not be a sandbox. It will be an MMO on rails like WoW and all its other clones.

I am quite shocked the hate supposed gamers are giving fans of SWG over this. I really am. The fact is this screws over fans of sandbox style mmos and other gamers on these and other forums are celebrating this? I really will not understand it.

This isn't about Sandbox Vs Themepark. SWG was a shit game, regardless of what type of MMO it was/is. There are much better sandbox MMOs out there to enjoy, that are actually doing pretty well.

Please list them out for me. I am interested to see what MMOs I have missed.

 

[BrotherRool]

Well this is a way to make people want to develop a game for you. Plus we all know that, despite what they say, these people will jump ship to The Old Republic as long as TOR doesn't screw up hugely

You and others really need to realize that TOR will be NOTHING like SWG. *insert yeah it won't suck joke here*

Fact is SWG was one of maybe 3 MMOs that was a sandbox. It was the only Sci-Fi sandbox MMO and now it is gone. TOR will not be a sandbox. It will be an MMO on rails like WoW and all its other clones.

I am quite shocked the hate supposed gamers are giving fans of SWG over this. I really am. The fact is this screws over fans of sandbox style mmos and other gamers on these and other forums are celebrating this? I really will not understand it.

The truth is that SWG has been steadily losing members for more than 2 years now (in fact more like 6 years), with only a brief spike caused by server mergers. It's a game that no-one wants to play and SOE obviously feel they won't make money from and the fans are responding with trying to frickin' sue the people who made and supported the game in the first place. SOE had made it hoping for a million subscribers. They no longer have that

And I still stand by the fact, gameplay difference or no, the Star Wars fans, which probably include several KotoR fans, will be drawn away with the promise of fresh stories and worlds.


Although, I'd be interested in you going into more with this Sandbox thing, do you mean EVE style? Because most MMORPGs are sandbox by most normal definitions

EDIT: Actually I'm going to call you out on that. You said there were now no sci-fi sandbox MMOs. I dare you to describe EVE as anything other than a sandbox that blows the frickin' socks off SWG, both in terms of sandboxiness and fun

 

[beniki]

Poor bastards.

They hung in there after all the new rule crap. They kept playing amongst the ghost towns and abandoned waste lands. They love the game enough to stick with it.

But there really isn't any way to fight this. It costs money to run the servers, and people pay them to keep the servers going. If they don't want to keep the servers going any more, then the people paying the money might be upset by it, but it's not their decision.

Kind of like yelling at a guy who just quit being a garbage man because he won't empty your bin any more.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

So they're mad because a bad buggy game is going away despite the amount of hours they put in even though SOE is well within its' rights to do so...?

Why can't they just let it go and go play SWTOR?

You and others really need to realize that TOR will be NOTHING like SWG. *insert yeah it won't suck joke here*

Fact is SWG was one of maybe 3 MMOs that was a sandbox. It was the only Sci-Fi sandbox MMO and now it is gone. TOR will not be a sandbox. It will be an MMO on rails like WoW and all its other clones.

I am quite shocked the hate supposed gamers are giving fans of SWG over this. I really am. The fact is this screws over fans of sandbox style mmos and other gamers on these and other forums are celebrating this? I really will not understand it.

Whoa...

Look, I understand that it really does screw over the fans on this deal, I really do. But there's nothing they can do about, lawsuit or not, and to be honest it kinda makes sense since SWTOR is coming out eventually, and the last thing whoever was really behind this wants is two Star War MMos competing against each other. Financially everyone looses.

Now, I don't HATE the game, I've played it and I wasn't a fan of it, and after a few months I've stopped playing it because I lost interest in it because I didn't think it was that great, and to me the combat sucked.

I can't speak for SWTOR since I've obvious haven't played it and I have my doubts about that game since it's taking forever for it to be done. And I can't speak for everyone else here, I will say the amount of hate for that game is unjustified, but my only issue is the reaction of the fans. I don't see what a lawsuit will accomplish and SOE is not gonna back down just because a few people are pissed.

Yeah it's a dick move, and I'm not condoning what they are doing either, but with MMOs you almost have to expect it if the game you are playing isn't doing that well as expected.

 

[TitanAtlas]

Not really anything to do about, except go play another game... How about the new StarWars MMO?

Im going to be honest and say that the new star wars mmo, looks like a slow-paced, world of warcraft with dialogue choices.... and im not the first one to state this...

 

[BrotherRool]

Sony are dicks, it's true, but any private company has the right to deny service to anyone and stop supporting a product they no longer wish to support.

There is plenty of room for multiple Star Wars MMO's, but let's face facts, Sony isn't making any money off of this. I don't think for a second that they would release the source code for private use, even if they were allowed to do that. They are the type of company that would see something destroyed rather than give it away, IMO.

There are probably issues involved with releasing it too. In a big company like Sony, ownership is probably problematic, programmers who worked on it may not like having all their tips and tricks shared etc... They may even be bits and pieces which Sony uses for all it's MMOs or certain standard patterns and considering there are already well-known cases of pirate servers and the like with SWG and presumably their other MMOs, they may wish to restrict that sort of knowledge. Finally it might not be very simple and maybe no-one is in the mood of spending a lot of time and employing people without profit, counter profit even because it steals potential consumer base for all their other MMOs

 

[night_chrono]

No arguments that Sony can shut down the game, "file criminal charges against him for trying to cause "unlawful harm to the company."" is pretty freaking extreme.

Are all Sony legal departments made up of retards? Seriously I want to see how that would go over with sec-anon-lulz-whatevertheycallthemselves. Sony thinks they got butt hurt before....