Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

mmos.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 543 posts

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

#301

Post by tjoff »

lc5G wrote: post #291
tjoff wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, just like the olden days. But you still need a license key or equivalent - for an offline check. And in the case of an app store that is handled by the app store, you never get or see the key. So if you are banned that doesn't help. And even if you had a key you still don't have access to the install media. You could try to extract it from your drive but there is no guarantee that will work on another computer…

This at most technically right and definitely wrong in practice. I am unsure if there is an existing exact definition of DRM (free) or you're using an uncommon definition of "license" but in practice services like GoG advertising DRM free and people buying DRM free all mean that there is no licensing check whatsoever. A GoG game comes with a single installer executable (single as in it is the same for everyone, no bu…

I will concede that the meaning might has changed with time. But at a point DRM was synonymous with online-checks and/or invasive spying and infecting the operating system. And that holds in spirit in today given all the criticism about DRM. It has never been about the inconvenience of entering a serial number (even though that indeed is a bit inconvenient it is most certainly not the source of the (justified) DRM hate we have today).

The license key you entered and the following offline check when installing from CD/disk was/is considered something entirely different.

I'd argue that the only reason that games today skip the license-check has absolutely nothing to do with DRM but with it being out of fashion and not considered to fulfilling its purpose anymore.

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

#302

Post by tdrdt »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #282
tdrdt wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one simple legislation could help a lot: forbid to use the word 'buy' in this context. Instead it should be 'hire' or 'lease' or something. Once I 'bought' an e-book that was copy protected by Adobe (my fault I didn't read the specs before buying). But because you can only read it when Adobe's servers are online no ownership is transferred to you as buyer. You buy rights to read the book on their terms. 'Hire…

>I think one simple legislation could help a lot: forbid to use the word 'buy' in this context. Instead it should be 'hire' or 'lease' or something. right, if I signed a contract to lease a game for 6 months and then my account was suspended for 5 months so I only got one months usage for my lease I would totally be like "that's so fair! Because word usage!"

That's a different problem. Right now the problem is that people think they buy something but they don't.

Nobody is going to read the terms and conditions before buying. But when you are going to rent something you know the ownership is not transferred to you.

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

#303

Post by udp »

Unsurprising. I have found Ubisoft customer support pretty abysmal.

I pre-ordered the latest Assassin’s Creed directly from Ubisoft thinking it was better than buying it from Amazon. It got delivered to the wrong address, so I opened a ticket. They ignored the ticket for weeks despite me sending follow ups every few days, so I eventually raised a dispute with PayPal to get a refund, which I received.

Ubisoft finally responded to the ticket at that point, saying that I “may have issues making purchases from the store in the future” due to the reversed payment. So basically, they no longer want me as a customer because I tried to get a refund for a game they failed to deliver.

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

#304

Post by rocqua »

ehnto wrote: post #243
hanniabu wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a shame that we are going to fight for our digital rights because currently we have almost none because justice does not understand technology. Reminds me of NFTs and people here arguing against what they don't understand.

NFTs wouldn't help here. I can have NFTs for the games on my steam account but if steam bans me who is honoring my NFT to provide me access to the game? No one. It's about as good as a paper receipt for a company you didn't purchase the item from.

If steam gave you the NFT it would be prove that you actually bought the game.

Steam could ofcourse still refuse to honor the purchase.

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

#306

Post by rocqua »

tjoff wrote: post #256
amarshall wrote: post #109

When possible, try to prefer DRM-free versions of games. If there's DRM, then one doesn't really own it. PCGamingWiki [1] is a great resource that will list the DRM status of a given game for different distributors (yes, some stores may have DRM while others do not). In general, GOG [2] is all DRM-free games. [1]: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com [2]: https://www.gog.com

Lack of DRM wouldn't help if you don't have any way of getting the copy or getting past the license check.

If you get the game legally DRM free. You get an installer you can just backup. If license keys are needed you get that too.

From that point on, even if you get banned you can still use your local installer copy.

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

#307

Post by Havoc »

Something here is very fishy

>“Please be reassured that Ubisoft does not automatically close inactive accounts,”

but

>inactivity warning from Ubisoft in his spam folder dated January 20th. The email stated that his account had been temporarily shut down and will be permanently closed if he didn’t click the provided link within 30 days.

So not automatic closures...but there is a live system to automate it?

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

#308

Post by inkblotuniverse »

nurettin wrote: post #279
matheusmoreira wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't really know. Patronage seems to be working well these days. Lots of creators seem to be finding success on services like Patreon. Also, crowdfunding. There needs to be a way to get paid before you create it for the labor of creating it. The creators and their labor are what's valuable, not the end result. Data is infinitely abundant and trying to limit access to data is just insane. It's the 21st century and we…

Okay I pour hours into content and go begging. What is my compensation if it doesn't succeed?

You write a book and nobody buys it or reads it. What's your compensation then?

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

#309

Post by _3u10 »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #265
_3u10 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes you do. I had a ToS with an anti competitive clause in it, no reselling, was told they needed to transfer all our customers, etc, or they and us could get fined for illegal reselling. Phoned their regulator, was told to register as a reseller, and call back if we still had issues. After the registration had been finalized we contacted our new wholesaler, all that came of it was being unable to add new accounts fo…

Did you change the TOS or just get switched to a proper account type? These aren't the same. Few to no companies are going to even consider changing the TOS for a small purchase like a game, a book, music, and the like. You, as a consumer, do not have this power. I'd bet that any customer service rep you talk to (if that is an option) does not have the power nor access to the right documents to allow you to change it…

Ignore any provision of the TOS you dislike and lodge complaints with the various regulatory bodies and see what happens, you’ll get your $70 back or the game back or $70 and the game long before they enforce the TOS.

You have lots of options, start by throwing a brick through one of their windows, figuratively speaking. See what happens, most people aren’t dumb. They realize that games cost a lot less than windows.

They can not give you your money back and deal with regulators or they can make the problem go away.

A friend of mine got citizenship just by filing a FOIA against the govt that wouldn’t issue it, they were up against the deadline and would have had to deal with the EU, so they just issued him citizenship in exchange for withdrawing his request.

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

#310

Post by Mordisquitos »

trinovantes wrote: post #269
paxys wrote: post #28

I paid extra for a disc version of the PS5 for exactly this reason. If I buy a game today I want to be able to play it 20 years from now. I can bet money that none of the mainstream digital stores of today will be operational by then.

Can you be sure your plastic disk will still be readable in 20 years? Without redundancy, you're just shifting the point of failure elsewhere

That is of course true, but nothing lasts forever. The disc may deteriorate, or be stolen, or their house might burn down, but that's life. At least by owning the physical disc, GP commenter can take full responsibility of its condition and accept the risks of "shit happens", rather than being at the mercy of arbitrary decisions or failures of a remote faceless organisation or of its future owners/creditors.
Post reply on HN