TOS clarification

[Byrth]

The community at large has taken some liberties with the Terms of Service over the last few years. I was hoping for some clarification of policies that are either not enforced or don't mean what we think they mean. I recognize that nothing you tell us on these forums is legally binding, and would rather not wait for you to consult your lawyers before answering.

I will be pulling these from the Software License Agreement (http://support.na.square-enix.com/ru...1&tag=ff11soft), the User Agreement (http://support.na.square-enix.com/ru...1&tag=ff11user), and the POL member agreement (http://support.na.square-enix.com/ru...&tag=polmember), starting with the SLA and UA.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you may not: (a) modify, reverse engineer, decompile, "hack," or disassemble the Licensed Software; (b) rent, lease, sublicense, distribute, or transmit the Licensed Software to any third party; (c) rent, lease, sell, distribute, transmit or otherwise transfer your User or other account-related information (including, but not limited to, your PlayOnlineID or password information) to any third party, or attempt to obtain the PlayOnline ID or password of any other User; (d) make any copy of or otherwise reproduce the Licensed Software; (e) infringe any copyright, trademark rights, or any other intellectual property rights of SEI or its licensors or, (f) use the Licensed Software to provide service bureau or time-sharing services (e.g., cybercafés), or for any other commercial purpose. The Licensed Software is for your personal use only and may not be copied, leased, or made available for use by others.

You acknowledge and agree that any authorized or unauthorized derivative works of the Licensed Software, or the Documentation, including any and all data that you generate through your use of the PlayOnline Service or the Licensed Software, are the sole and exclusive property of SEI. You hereby irrevocably assign to SEI all right, title, and interest in and to any and all such authorized or unauthorized derivative works created by you or on your behalf. SEI reserves its right, in its sole discretion, to request that any such derivative works possessed or otherwise controlled by you be delivered to SEI or be destroyed.

(d) Any intellectual property infringement or trade secret violation; this includes the unauthorized use, duplication, transmission, display, performance or distribution of any intellectual property relating to the Game or PlayOnline Service, or owned by any third party, or any other commission of any act of copyright, trademark, or patent infringement, trade secret infringement or misappropriation;

(g) Use of any cheat codes or cheat devices.

(h) In addition, SEI does not consent to or authorize any recording or reproduction of any communications between SEI and you. You may not record, reproduce or publish any communication with SEI. In addition to any other rights or remedies that SEI may have, you may also be subject to criminal and civil sanctions and fines.

Questions:
1) Many people post information about game mechanics that they've obtained through careful observation. Some, like Kaeko, consider this to be in direct violation of SLA Section 2.4. Is mathematical analysis of game mechanics a violation of the Terms of Service?
2) There are third party programs that interact with the game but don't appear to do any of the things listed as illegal in SLA Section 2.4a, like the unofficial windowers, which only serve to modify the game interface. However, these programs may be covered by UA Section 3.1g or POL Member agreement 4.4i. What is the official stance on such programs?
3) There are various downloads of Final Fantasy XI, complete with patches, that are faster than downloading the game and then patches sequentially, which has been known to take days. These downloads alone do not give anyone the ability to log in, as they still need to buy registration codes. Is this in violation of the Terms of Service section 2.4 b, d, and the final paragraph? Corollary: Why the heck don't you guys sell the fully patched version of the game?
4) UA Section 3.1h basically states that we're not able to document transactions with SE, which is of questionable legal merit as it's likely our right to record transactions with service providers. Still, it is common practice for people to post scripts of their discussions with GMs and SE chat reps in order for the community to help them. Is this a violation of the Terms of Service?

(c) SEI reserves the right to terminate PlayOnline Service in whole or in part for any reason with or without prior notice.
(d) SEI MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY, OR DELETE ANY PLAYONLINE ACCOUNT AT ANY TIME, WITH ANY REASON OR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE.

5) This is less of a question, and more of a public-policy note for the future. This section seems to undermine the validity of the rest of your terms of service. This section states (in capital letters no less) that even if we're following the rules, we can be banned. The odds of banning in either case (following rules vs. not) are unclear, so this line actually decreases the perceived punishment for disobeying the rules. At a time, the odds of someone getting banned for having a lot of gardening mules was higher than the odds of someone getting banned for buying gil. If you can be banned for not violating the TOS and not banned for violating the TOS, why pay attention to the TOS?

(i) Use of any cheat codes or cheat devices; or
(j) Violating any Rule.

6) Section 4.4j is ambiguous. Rules are defined as "means any rules or other instructions applicable to the PlayOnline Service (or any aspect thereof) that may be posted on the Website and within the PlayOnline Service from time to time for Users to access and review." I'm not sure how we would find those rules or know about them. Was this an idea from a decade ago that never really got off the ground, or is it another catch-all like Section 3.4c/d?

SEI will terminate the account of any User who uses his or her account privileges to unlawfully transmit copyrighted material without a license, valid defense or fair use privilege to do so.

7) Does this section of the member's agreement mean we can be banned for posting screenshots? (not that it matters, due to section 3.1c/d)

PS. You have a spelling error in Article 3a of the user agreement. "playerfs"

[Kingofgeeks]

bump for great justice!

[Auriga]

Yes, lets have SE clear up things with the tos here. Square? hello??? time to come down and talk to the adults perhaps?

[Heady]

Yes, lets have SE clear up things with the tos here.

I agree. Though most online games these days make me feel like I need my lawyer to decipher company favoring loopholes in their EULA's

[Insaniac]

Props on reading the ToS.

[ValronXI]

Props on reading the ToS.

this..........

[ValronXI]

this..........

adding to this...

why not let everyone get banned? with current exp rates it will take maybe... 3 months non stop play to get a level 90 job? and gear and gil is soooooooooooooo easy to come by compared to what it was years ago.

if SE bans anyone they will be back on the same server in the same linkshell doing the same thing they were before they were banned.

just smarter to the matter.

abyssea killed this game.

and made exp a joke.

[Phoenyx]

adding to this...

How is that, in any way, adding to the subject of this thread? Go shit up one of the already troll-laden Abyssea threads.

On topic: I'd say most of your questions are completely valid, Byrth, save the question at the end of point 5. That clause exists in almost any legal document, TOS or EULA. It's very similar to signs in retail shops that say stuff like "We reserve the right to refuse anyone service." Only difference being that in this case, why would they bother banning anyone if they didn't at least have some basis to do so? Even if it was speculative, if they're going to bother to ban an account they think a rule was broken somewhere. Just my nickel. (Who carries pennies anymore? )

[Byrth]

On topic: I'd say most of your questions are completely valid, Byrth, save the question at the end of point 5.

Thanks, and I know. That's why I said at the beginning of point 5 that it would be more of a statement than anything else. I just turned it into a question to keep the same format as the other points. =p

Also ValronXI, a part of the TOS I didn't quote (and another seemingly unenforced part) is the part that says SE bans resubscribers to any of their services. So if you're banned from FFXI and resubscribe, it says they'll ban you again. Heck, the way they have it worded they could ban you from FFXIV for having been banned from FFXI in the past. Then again, as long as they keep the catch-all they could ban you even if you hadn't been banned before.

[Auriga]

Some people do read such things an as usual when they have questions the topic
is either ignored or pushed towards another level of support which isn't able to
actually DO anything anyways.