In terms of a legal commitment I mean

Recently I feel their support has been horrible enough to think it's intentional, that they want people to leave so they can shut it down.

It's how they did server mergers. offer incentives to move, then at the end just move you anyway.

I want to know how long the are legally obliged to keep the game up and running.

There has to be some kind of obligation when providing a paid service like this.

Originally posted by evgen88

In terms of a legal commitment I mean

Recently I feel their support has been horrible enough to think it's intentional, that they want people to leave so they can shut it down.

It's how they did server mergers. offer incentives to move, then at the end just move you anyway.

 

I want to know how long the are legally obliged to keep the game up and running.

There has to be some kind of obligation when providing a paid service like this.

 

Nope, no obligation to keep a product running.  As far as I know they don't even have to refund money for unused sub time if they close it down.  Say you buy a year sub tomorrow, then a month later they announce they are shutting it down in 2 months (there's usually some fairly lengthy warning given).  They have no obligation to refund your money that I'm aware of.

They only owe us the right to play the game, And its not gonna cost a thing come november, Its going free 2 play, So u dont have to pay a cent then if u dont want to . 

They aren't trying to shut it down, This thread means nothing as the game is going free 2 play in 2 months, And when a company does server merges eventually they force move everyone, U had to see that coming. 

I wouldn't have thought this except for the amount of new bugs (breaks) and long time for resolution of current problems.

I was thinking there was some kinf of obligation, so they couldn't be too obvious about it. And had to keep up the appearance of supporting the game. Announing F2P makes it seems liek you are moving forward, but does make peopel think the game is going to die, and you lose subs before you gain players with F2P.

Also, there must be some kind of obligation, even with an offline game, companies are obliged to support it for a ceratin period.

I'm not looking for the "I am not a lawer but . . ." opinion, is anyone actually knowledgable about these kind of things?

There must be some lawyers playing MMOs ;)

i understand that, And the bugs are annoying when u get them,  Im sure the downsizing of there team didn't make fixing bugs faster, 

I dont usually have any problems with bugs although i do gett them every so often, Unfortunatly legally u got your 30 days free game play and u got to play the game so thats all they owed us, 

If they take your money any month that month a game usually has to stay open or give u some money back, Other then that legally i don't think owe u anything else. 

Customer service should be better in a pay title then say a buy to play or free 2 play title, As that in my opinion is one of the perks of a sub or should be. 

Legally, probably not.

Morally, a nice sincere apology.

I owe them... a swift kick to the nards.   I won't be fooled again.  They will not get the benefit of the doubt.  I won't take anything they say as truth without outside facts to back it up.  That bridge has burned.

Quite simply, nothing.

For Lucas Arts, who knows.

For us? Not one damn thing chicken wing.

That is a simple answer.

What does EA/Bioware owe us? 

Gamers answer is "A Star Wars game, not a generic game with Star Wars skins.

In Reality they owe us nothing at all, they are a business after all, they released a product, customers did not like said product overall, said product goes the way beta max.

The agreement with LucasArts probably means they have to keep the game running for 2 or 3 years; if they close it they will have to pay LA $$$$$ for damage to the SW IP. Keeping it running though probably doesn't extend beyond 1 server with zero support.

For the sub: nominally nothing - although if they charged a sub and then the server was "down for maintenance" for 30 days out of 30 would almost certainly enable a breach of contract - but you might only get $15 back! How many days they would need to keep the servers online to satisfy the obligation ... tough call .... less than 20 and it would become interesting.

The EULA isn't the be all and end all either - certainly not after the European Court of Justice ruled that EU consumers could re-sell digital games (and other software) that they had paid for - even though the EULA said they couldn't. (Same issue as the Bruce Willis itunes story the other day except that is in the US; in the EU the ruling probably applies).

Once its F2P: even less ... maybe.

F2P have to deliver. DLC content - if people are expected to pay for it - will have to be compelling. The servers are more likely to be 24/7. Why? Simple. If the servers are down players can't play and if they can't play they can't pay!  They may even go down at different times in different time zones! Subs can make developers lazy - or they can make the developers put in place ways of working with the playerbase that make a difference.

Can EA step up to the challenge that is F2P though? I think it will be very tough.

Legally they owe us nothing. The EULA takes care of all that but I never understood EULA's when they infringe on constitutional rights. That's a whole other debate though.

If you bought the game you also bought the consequences of your own actions. Sorry, nobody to blame but yourself if the game sucks cause you bought it. YEP!

Being angry and holding a grudge and never being so stupidly naive again is something I truely hope everyone owes themselves. Next time the companies might take the hint if we wait to buy a game AFTER we know what it's like.

I have rouble believing that is true.

There are laws to protect consumers in Canada and the US, I am pretty sure EU has similar laws.

If I were to buy an electric shaver I think the company is obliged to provide parts for that model for a certain period of time.

Microsoft was forced to support it's OSes longer than it wanted to because of such laws.

I'm sure a deliberate attempt to sabotage the game and make users want to quit would then also be a problem.

Just one of my conspiracy theories.

But as my favorite expression goes:

Just because I'm paranoid it doesn't mean everyone isn't out to get me. :)

Originally posted by evgen88

In terms of a legal commitment I mean

Recently I feel their support has been horrible enough to think it's intentional, that they want people to leave so they can shut it down.

It's how they did server mergers. offer incentives to move, then at the end just move you anyway.

I want to know how long the are legally obliged to keep the game up and running.

There has to be some kind of obligation when providing a paid service like this.

 

At best they have to refund monthly fees paid if they close down.

But totally screwing of the players would be stupid since most of them are Bioware fans and screwing over your fans is not a smart thing to do if you want to continue making games.

Originally posted by travamars
Where did all of those people that LOVED bioware go?? I call them biobore....

Sacrrificing chickens to get into the Ultima Forever beta...?

Originally posted by travamars
Where did all of those people that LOVED bioware go?? I call them biobore....

I loved Bioware, up to NVN and KOTOR, but they have been going downhill ever since and once EA bought up them and splitted the studio into 4 parts they lost their soul.

It is kinda sad, because they have turned into a parody of what they used to be.