Digital Goods - Welcome to the MilkyWay

[Malus.Grey]

Digital Goods - Welcome to the MilkyWay

Hello community and Staff members.

Recently i was looking for User Agreement and Legal Information about Digital Goods, but i could not find anything.
Maybe i am looking wrong, could anyone Quote me the passage?

Well, there is a giant Problem with all TCGs.
The Rights on Digital Goods.
If you Buy Trading Cards in a regular Shop the rights are very clear. You pay for it: You own it.
In online TCGs, things are different.
You dont buy Kegs, Cards or whatever, but the "right to use them". This right ends when the Publisher say so.
Wich means: Ones the community is "milked dry" or Developers has lost their interest in this project, the Game-Servers went offline and thats it.
You cant play anyome, you cannot use "your" Cards anymore, because they where never yours and you wont get Cash back.

"But this is nothing new, it is the same on ALL Games Ingame Shop Items!"

True.
But in most cases developer-Teams act not so fast and consequent when it comes to shut a Server down.
Maybe this ist just my own Experience, but all TCGs ive played went offline after 4-6 Years.
The shortest was a Month of playing.
"Wasted" 400€ on this way ill never get back.
Sure: Ive payed for the time i was "allowed to use" these Games, but i will say it straight away: Online TCGs are Milking Games to get as much money and then disappear.
Last time this happened to me was on Duel of Champions. Sience then, ubisoft is deader then dead to me.

Compared to other online Games like MMORPGs: My oldest Acount (not WoW) is from 2006 and i can still play it will al my Items and Stuff.
TCG is the only plattform i know where it seems very common to take the Servers offline, as soon the profits are not high enouth or (maybe) not even existing.

My Suggestion: Make sure you have a working Standalone Server wich you can publish to Free Download, as soon as you wont run this Game any longer, so Fans will be able to come up with Free to use private Servers. No Ingame Shops, all Cards from beginning, all Rights to CD Project RED (No changes of codes, artworks and monitizing allowed).​

I know: "This is Gwent, it is totally different, this wont happen any time soon and IF we will XYZ".
This is not my first TCG and its not the first time i start this Thread and it is not the first time i read thinks like "this one is different and IF xyz would happen in 100 Years or so, we would blahblah," but the last time i believed that was Duel of Champions (well ... not really ...) and this wont happen to me ever again, doesnt matter wich Team is behind it.

BTW: I dont know why Publishers take Servers offline. Is running a TCG-Server that expensive?
I mean, if Ubisoft and Lucasarts couldnt furnish the Task to keep a Server running, so paying Users are able to play the Game ... i like CD Project RED and its products, but i dont trust u either and atm i warn evryone from spending too much Money into this Game. You will regret it, sooner or later.

Greetings
Faustus

 

[IAxiiYourMother]

CDPR has a great track record so far, and they are my favorite developer by a long shot. They are the developers that will delay a release to do it right the first time, which is really commendable with big names like Bethesda constantly releasing unfinished and buggy products to meet deadlines. They are also getting a lot of support from the Polish government to continue pumping out top tier games.

Your fears are not unfounded, but I would bet big money on this being a top game for quite some time to come.

As with anything the value is dependent on the person spending the money. I don't regret sinking money into hobbies that I enjoy, and I would feel adequately compensated if I get to enjoy my purchase for even a few years. It's like spending money on a nice dinner, enjoyable, but it's not something that you can have indefinitely.

 

[Bl00dGeist]

While it probably won't ever happen I think it would be cool if they did something similar to what Magic did years ago.

When mtg first came online if i remember correctly, once you obtained every single card from a set you could trade it in and they would mail you the physical copies. You would lose your cards online but in return you had the physical cards. I could be completely wrong as i never had the chance to collect all of them but im pretty sure you could.

Whenever that unfortunate time comes for Gwent (hopefully never) , once all the bugs and cards are set in stone they could offer the same thing or an option to order factions or the complete set? I know personally I would drop money in a heartbeat to get them.

 

[RickMelethron]

But in most cases developer-Teams act not so fast and consequent when it comes to shut a Server down. Maybe this ist just my own Experience, but all TCGs ive played went offline after 4-6 Years.

as long as people are playing the game on a large basis, the developers will be making money; and they won't shut down a game that is making them money.
if the playerbase gets drastically reduced and the devs stop making money, they'll eventually pull the plugs. the same thing applies to MMOs, or any other online service.

PS: you can always print the cards IRL and play with your friends... my friends and i played yugioh for years without spending more than a couple of bucks on paper and ink

 

[Shonendo]

I like the thread and think the OP made a really good point. As the homeboy with the parent name said, CDPR is also my favorite developer and I have faith of them, but hopefully one of them peeps can understand threads like these and take these things into consideration.