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Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

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Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#31
post #25

This article is a great example of why we need legislation around ownership of digital items. I generally hate getting the government involved in things, but if you're paying money for goods, there needs to be a way to be credited or receive your digital goods in a way that still works without your "account". Personally I always get kind of nervous around buying things on PSN, Xbox, Stadia, Steam, Oculus, etc. If the…

If you can't be confident of your ownership of and access to what you buy, why do you buy it?

to participate in the cultural works of today's digital world.

Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#32

This article is a great example of why we need legislation around ownership of digital items. I generally hate getting the government involved in things, but if you're paying money for goods, there needs to be a way to be credited or receive your digital goods in a way that still works without your "account". Personally I always get kind of nervous around buying things on PSN, Xbox, Stadia, Steam, Oculus, etc. If the…

or just let Web3 and onchain NFT's happen, accepting one of the reasons why the incremental improvement is being seen as valuable.

Even if a company offered a convenience service, the ideal implementation allows people to restore their account from the current function state onchain, which is what most web3 services do in an increasingly standardized and predictable way right now.

regarding the NFT's and where they store the images, many NFT classes have getter methods that tell enough about what the implementation of the digital item should look like, usually when I'm talking to people I get the impression that they haven't looked.

there are so many ways to do this right, even if they aren't passing muster right now.

Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#33

This article is a great example of why we need legislation around ownership of digital items. I generally hate getting the government involved in things, but if you're paying money for goods, there needs to be a way to be credited or receive your digital goods in a way that still works without your "account". Personally I always get kind of nervous around buying things on PSN, Xbox, Stadia, Steam, Oculus, etc. If the…

> I don't really care too much about what the Terms and Services say

It does not matter even if you care. You do not have negotiating power to change them. It is a 'my way or highway' situation.

And the government should be involved, you alone cannot change the Terms of Service, but your country can create laws to protect you from thieves, whenever they steal physical or digital goods. If you don't like your government fight to improve it but do not renounce to the power that it gives you as a citizen.

Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#34
Some more great information in this same space: https://www.accursedfarms.com/videos/dead-game-news

A less legally sound argument for why games as a service shouldn't be allowed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUAX0gnZ3Nw

Ross is very odd but his opinions on this topic align greatly with my personal sentiment.

Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#35
post #25

This article is a great example of why we need legislation around ownership of digital items. I generally hate getting the government involved in things, but if you're paying money for goods, there needs to be a way to be credited or receive your digital goods in a way that still works without your "account". Personally I always get kind of nervous around buying things on PSN, Xbox, Stadia, Steam, Oculus, etc. If the…

If you can't be confident of your ownership of and access to what you buy, why do you buy it?

I consider it a fair game to torrent those games that the publisher screws me over. Like San Andreas, the Steam version of which was FUBAR a few years ago and then removed altogether (for new buyers). I've paid for maybe five copies in my entire life, sorry, I'm not paying for the sixth.

Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#36
post #29

This article is a great example of why we need legislation around ownership of digital items. I generally hate getting the government involved in things, but if you're paying money for goods, there needs to be a way to be credited or receive your digital goods in a way that still works without your "account". Personally I always get kind of nervous around buying things on PSN, Xbox, Stadia, Steam, Oculus, etc. If the…

I wouldn’t feel any guilt about pirating the content I bought on any of those services if my account was taken from me for inactivity. I’d be interested to hear the argument about why that would be wrong though.

I would be interested in knowing if that would be legal. As might you technically have purchased your license?

Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#37

This article is a great example of why we need legislation around ownership of digital items. I generally hate getting the government involved in things, but if you're paying money for goods, there needs to be a way to be credited or receive your digital goods in a way that still works without your "account". Personally I always get kind of nervous around buying things on PSN, Xbox, Stadia, Steam, Oculus, etc. If the…

or just let Web3 and onchain NFT's happen, accepting one of the reasons why the incremental improvement is being seen as valuable. Even if a company offered a convenience service, the ideal implementation allows people to restore their account from the current function state onchain, which is what most web3 services do in an increasingly standardized and predictable way right now. regarding the NFT's and where they s…

I don't understand how NFTs would solve the problem I described. Even if all of my Oculus games are NFTs - if I'm banned and can't access my account to download the games then I'm out of luck.

Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#38
post #29

This article is a great example of why we need legislation around ownership of digital items. I generally hate getting the government involved in things, but if you're paying money for goods, there needs to be a way to be credited or receive your digital goods in a way that still works without your "account". Personally I always get kind of nervous around buying things on PSN, Xbox, Stadia, Steam, Oculus, etc. If the…

I wouldn’t feel any guilt about pirating the content I bought on any of those services if my account was taken from me for inactivity. I’d be interested to hear the argument about why that would be wrong though.

Because laws are not about justice. If you get something stolen you need to go to a judge to get a sentence that gives it back to you. You cannot take justice on your hands and expect to not be punished.

Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#39
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't be confident of your ownership of and access to what you buy, why do you buy it?

I apologize but I find this to be a silly question. I buy because I want to play. I do not have an expectation of indefinite ownership (even though I should have indefinite ownership), hence my comment.

> I do not have an expectation of indefinite ownership

But you said you were nervous about buying these things. What are you nervous about? And why do you pay money anyway if you're nervous about what you're getting?

> even though I should have indefinite ownership

On what grounds? These are companies operating in a free market. They're offering a product whose terms are right out there in the open. If you don't like the terms, don't buy.

Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity

#40

People won't like this, but we at Ultra.io are trying to tackle this exact problem by deploying certificates of ownership to a decentralized ledger as proof of your owning a game. AKA, we want to mint NFTs for each game sold, which allows a user to prove they own it. People hate those words, but we think that the tech has real value and a use-case in the market for solving inequity between publishers and users. This…

The user can already prove they own the game. Ubisoft accepted the proof. The problem is they've chosen to configure their servers to reject sending the game client messages consistent with this proof.

They could, if they wanted, configure their servers to send network messages approving his login. But they choose not to.

If a company opts-in to using your NFT as the authority, they can at any time opt-out(just like Ubisoft did here) so it provides no extra guarantee. And companies that don't accept your NFT as proof will ignore it when it's presented as evidence.

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