While this blog is mostly about 3rd party application developers being allowed to charge users money for using their apps once they purchase a license from CCP for $99 per year, the shit storm stems from the following statements in the blog:
Wait, what? Non-commercial websites? What the hell are they?
Highlights
- Simple process - Sign up on a webpage, get started straight away
- Inexpensive - $99 per year, no other fees
- Developer-friendly - Very few restrictions
- Open-ended - You can charge subscription fees, receive donations, sell your app in an app-store and more
- Non-commercial websites and apps will now require a (free) license
Grueling legal detailsOk, fansites. Like this one. Seems odd but I get it. Protect the IP and all that. Hopefully it is not used to shut down blogs and websites that say things they don't like but it feels more like having to show they are making an effort to protect their IP in order to fight real threats to their IP.
[...]
- CCP also allows non-commercial apps and services, subject to simple clickwrap agreement substantially similar to the one that is provided to registered fansites.
Will services for in-game currency require a commercial license?
Yes, if you require any sort of payment for your services you will need a commercial license.
*stunned silence*
I am assuming in this case "services" refers to out of game services or this statement is ludicrous, but even in that case this means that people like Rixx Javix who make banners for ISK, or Somer's lottery service, or even podcasters that charge ISK for advertises would require a $99 dollar per year commercial license.
THIS MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL.
This smells of some idiot lawyer trying to cover some obscure legal base and screwing every awesome non-real-dollar service out there. This will have a massive dampening effect and is the most stupid thing I can imagine. I kind of wonder if this is a result of PLEX and Aurum in game and tying, however tangentially, real money to ISK. Regardless, its insane.
CCP, fix this. Claim it was a draft, a typo, anything, but fix this shit now.
Posts
They can't do this. Basically you would be allowed to do the ship lottery ingame, but you would be charged if you announce it on this website which is... bull. :)
ReplyDeleteI was watching this come over Twitter yesterday and my heart sank a little lower in my chest. My first thought was, ok, I can pay the $99 a year no problem. But then I started thinking about it more and realized I really didn't want to, nor feel the need to. Again, if real world money is exchanging hands then I could totally understand CCP's need to regulate and control those streams. Makes sense.
ReplyDeleteBut in-game currency, even if it originally stems from real world money (which is impossible for anyone on the receiving end to know), is another matter.
I pay for FOUR accounts and ALL my in-game activities from isk generated from FREE services I provide to the Eve community. (Just to be clear, I pay the subscription costs myself with real world credit cards) I've been doing this for, gosh almost two years now.
If CCP forces me to buy a commercial thingie for $99 a year I'll do it, but I don't think it is fair to ask me to pay for something I'm doing for free because I enjoy it and it helps support the Eve fanbase community. Didn't we just win them some big award recently?
Yeah, I can't believe that CCP would be this foolish. Without Evemon or Evekill and Battleclinic, Eve Online wouldn't be around. Dotlan is such a critical component of daily Eve Online life that without it... (shivers) the game would probably die.
ReplyDeleteWhoever their "BizDev" is needs to be removed swiftly as he has 0 understanding of how these free apps keep them all employed.
Whoever is running the marketing department should take the short walk over to the desk of the person who decided this and strangle that person slowly and with feeling.
ReplyDeleteWhatever modicum of income CCP would get from this change would severely impact all of the essentially free advertising that the various blogs, commentators, and apps provide.
The love of the game shows through all of the blogs out there, and I can think of no better way for CCP to show it. And they get it for free.
We (the community) provide the tools to make the game easier. We provide multiple sources of information for use by new players and old. We provide avenues of gameplay and possibilities that people may not have tried before that could very well keep them in game and playing/paying.
Yes, CCP has that information available at a basic this is how level. But for the subtilties and possibilities within that, you need to see the community.
Not good. Not good at all.