Warhammer Online EULA/ Splash screen annoyances

[Jaysun]

Anyone know how to get around the 4 splash screens and multiple EULAs that pop up every damn time I want to play the game?

[None]

Or how about the having to agree with the EULA everytime one logs in? Minor annoyances, to be sure, but there it is.

[Mysterio]

Agreed. WoW only requires EULA and TOU agreement when a new patch hits. Having to do it every time (and not being able to bypass the splash screens) is annoying. But then again, we're dealing with EA, and they want to make damn sure you know you're playing one of their games. Must be an ego thing.

[Kunikos]

I don't get why they don't make you agree to these things when you make your account on their web page, and then don't bother with making these pop-ups in the game.

[Telefrog]

You have to agree to the EULA every time you play?

[MSUSteve]

Originally Posted by Telefrog

You have to agree to the EULA every time you play?

Yeah, at least so far. Maybe that'll go away when the official retail launch goes live.

[Fugitive]

DAOC was the same way, I think, so I guess it's just company policy. Sony did and continues to do the same thing with EQ (not sure about EQ2).

[Marcin]

Here's hoping MBJ still reads these boards ;)

[Adam B]

Can you replace the .bik or whatever movie files in the app folder with null files? I've done that with several games in the past.

[shang]

Originally Posted by Adam Biessener

Can you replace the .bik or whatever movie files in the app folder with null files? I've done that with several games in the past.

The patcher would probably redownload them. :P

[malkav11]

I was going to say. It's really annoying. At least I don't *also* have to agree to the beta testers' agreement every time.

[The Bitter Cynic]

It's all EA's fault.

[Anti-Bunny]

What, you mean you guys don't read through that for changes every time you start up WAR?

[Kunikos]

People read EULAs?

[Gendal]

Not only do you have to click accept each time, but you have to drag that stupid scroll bar all the way to the bottom to pantomime the action of actually reading it.

Nerd rage activate!

[Kunikos]

By our powers combined, we are -- CAPTAIN INTERNET!

[Aeon221]

Originally Posted by Kunikos

People read EULAs?

... I do. And I disagree with them all! So far, no one has come to my house and tried to take mah gamez.

Sometimes they have jokes inside the EULA because they know almost nobody reads them. Like funny ways of referring to the user. It isn't funny.

[Kunikos]

I'm still under the impression that EULAs are unenforceable (or should be). You buy the software and have no way to refuse the agreement and receive a refund from either the retailer or the publisher. How the fuck is that fair or legal?

[Harkonis]

I know everyone has argued this to death forever, but you aren't actually buying the software and that's where the point is. You buy a license to use the software, you don't actually own anything but the physical media.

[Kunikos]

So riddle me this then, how do I refuse and return my license?

I'd say it's bait and switch but it's more like bait and kick in the ballsack sometimes. Google Chrome's EULA originally said they have the copyrights to anything you create using their browser. Awesome.

[Alex Hopkinson]

The official response from here:

This is intentional for legal reasons. Each time you play WAR, you're actively using a service and must therefore agree to the terms of that service. Adhering to the EULA and COC is not a once-off flare; it is a continuous commitment. So why not make the procedure of accepting these terms more user-friendly, such as having the 'agree' box checked by default? One answer to this is that the less effort required to agree to something, the less is its juridical weight.

Whereas being annoyed about this feature is understandable, it may be useful to put things into perspective. It takes me some two seconds to scroll down, check the box and press the button. Repeating this for both the EULA and COC is a five second procedure. Repeating this a couple of times a day and even crashing a few times still only adds up to half a minute of your day. A small price for hours and hours of glorious WAR I'd say.

[Walter Yarbrough]

Originally Posted by Alex Hopkinson

The official response from here:

Originally Posted by Marcin

Here's hoping MBJ still reads these boards ;)

This form of EULA interaction was actually always a MBJ mandate - he had the legal background, and of course, was the CEO - so that's why it was like that in DAoC.

[MSUSteve]

If accepting the EULA and COC at each login is of such legal importance, why is WAR the only game that requires it? Moreover, I find this logic to be pretty whacked out:

Whereas being annoyed about this feature is understandable, it may be useful to put things into perspective. It takes me some two seconds to scroll down, check the box and press the button. Repeating this for both the EULA and COC is a five second procedure. Repeating this a couple of times a day and even crashing a few times still only adds up to half a minute of your day. A small price for hours and hours of glorious WAR I'd say.

That's on top of the $15 per month, right? I always hate when an annoyance like this is dismissed by someone saying, "Well it's maybe 5 seconds per login, so it's no big deal." That's true of course, but it's still annoying and without any compelling reason that I can see. I mean, even if it makes their legal position regarding the EULA/COC more solid, so what? Do they anticipate bringing a massive lawsuit against pirates, modders, crackers, or free server owners? And even if they do, I just can't imagine that forcing a person to click through boilerplate a hundred times is going to make any real difference as opposed to accepting it anytime it's updated.

[intruder]

Maybe they should get the legal counceling Blizzard enjoys since they don't ask you to accept the goddamn EULA every start of the game.

[Lee Johnson]

If we're going to be forced to eat those five seconds on every invocation of the client, for Heaven's sake, at least let us ditch the splash screens at the beginning and get some of that time back. :P

[Spect]

While we're on the subject of annoyances with WAR, I hate the long pause I get when alt-tabbing out of the game. In WoW, you can do so with no pause at all. I use a 2 monitor set up and constantly browse web sites while playing WoW. To do this in WAR, I have a 10 second 'freeze' each time I switch to a different program or back. So annoying. This is even is windowed mode! In full screen, WAR would auto minimize when switching programs. Man I hate that.

[MSUSteve]

I'm going to pile on and say that it's really annoying that you can't simply quit WAR, but have to wait for the 20 second logout timer to count down. And while it's doing so don't touch ANYTHING or it will be canceled.

[Skipper]

Originally Posted by MSUSteve

I'm going to pile on and say that it's really annoying that you can't simply quit WAR, but have to wait for the 20 second logout timer to count down. And while it's doing so don't touch ANYTHING or it will be canceled.

Agreed. And agreed on the alt-tab and EULA wait.

I also notice that the game doesn't seem to be as Vista friendly as WoW without forcing itself to have Admin.

[Adam Altmann]

This is intentional for legal reasons. Each time you play WAR, you're actively using a service and must therefore agree to the terms of that service. Adhering to the EULA and COC is not a once-off flare; it is a continuous commitment. So why not make the procedure of accepting these terms more user-friendly, such as having the 'agree' box checked by default? One answer to this is that the less effort required to agree to something, the less is its juridical weight.

Whereas being annoyed about this feature is understandable, it may be useful to put things into perspective. It takes me some two seconds to scroll down, check the box and press the button. Repeating this for both the EULA and COC is a five second procedure. Repeating this a couple of times a day and even crashing a few times still only adds up to half a minute of your day. A small price for hours and hours of glorious WAR I'd say.

This is one of the dumbest fucking things I've ever read.

Am I misunderstanding? Because the first paragraph seems to be saying, "But we have to make it onerous, so everyone knows you mean it when you agree! This is serious business!" While the second paragraph seems to be saying, "But we made it pathetically trivial just to click through it! It takes two seconds! You don't even have to think about it!"

[MSUSteve]

Originally Posted by Adam Altmann

This is one of the dumbest fucking things I've ever read.

Am I misunderstanding? Because the first paragraph seems to be saying, "But we have to make it onerous, so everyone knows you mean it when you agree! This is serious business!" While the second paragraph seems to be saying, "But we made it pathetically trivial just to click through it! It takes two seconds! You don't even have to think about it!"

Damn, I wish I'd said that! You nailed it!