I know legally NC$oft had the right to close the game and all that jazz. BUT has anyone ever thought of getting a bunch of the community together and suing NC$OFT for the rights to play the game independently?? I don't see why we couldn't do this. I mean we would lose most likely but it could help us at the same time?? Pain is gain right or something like that. Just an idea don't kill me for suggesting it!
Well from the looks of it, since NCSoft "stole", it should be shut and closed case of automatic win. :p There should be lawyers jumping through hoops to get a piece of this easy case.
First though, to do this seriously we probably have to figure what rights we actually have. I mean ACTUAL RIGHTS. Not rights think deserving because we paid a monthly subscription.
Then we have to figure out in the suit of why should they be force to relinquish use of their property. Just because you rent a car even for months and the rental company decides they no longer want to rent that particular model and decides to not renew the rental contract doesnt mean the person that rented the vehicle have automatic life time use rights to it even if they rented for 3-6 months and put gas in it.
Lastly, to pull it off, have to look at it from a legal standpoint and not "I played a game for years and they took it, and I want it back so I'm suing them because I want to play the game." I think like from some angle like, what about the useless disks they sold that is now useless, but they could counter that the consumer was warned and agreed to that they could shut down the game any time and only owned the rights to the stuff that is on that disk and not life time access. But then, how would player made access to a disk, which the player own, making it useful again, be harmful to NCSoft in damages since the player made access is not ncsoft thus player made server is nothing but making use of player owned property, as long as the ncsoft code IP or Trademarks and copyright stuff is used. And given that players own that disk and stuff that is on that hard copy and files, shouldnt they have the right to find a use for it, a property that they bought and now own? And that means, unless there is trademark, IP, or code use violation, then ncsoft should nto be allowed to shut down private servers given that since the game is now defunct, there is no money loss for NCSoft, and it's not using anything on their end or using up their resources but merely using what the player actually bought and making use of that investment and since the player owns that disk, should a corporation have a right to limit that use anymore than player have a right to limit ncsoft the use of their servers? If ncsoft can shut down their servers for the product a server they own rightfully, that should keyword should mean players should be able to use the product they own for as long as they wish as long as it doesnt violate ncsoft copyright, IP, trademark or rights to the code.
But yet since they didnt seem to have tried to shut down a private server yet for COX, how can we sue them for those rights since they havent made a move? Unless we set up a dummy one and provoke them into action and then use that as a springboard to sue for the right to operate the private server.
Bonus tip-And definately in the court of law dont want to come off as a bunch of gamers that is merely pissed because they took the game. Remember, many people cant relate and already have stigma that gamers will rally to play a game, rally when they lose a game, but ignore real world problems around them because their entire life revolve around games instead of something "productive". And probably best to get a jurisdiction that is already irked at corporations. And of course dont want to appear to be friv. lawsuit and definately dont want to lose and get counter sued.
Remember they lost the Garrot thing but remember Garrot wasnt exactly a run of them ill average income or average asset kind of guy so he could afford the best and not to mention it was clear and even that took a hot minute. If we are going to pursue this have to go in proper and leave the emotion blur at the door. Lawsuits is one of those times where ya have to be on the A-game as I dont think many judges or juries will be or can sypasize with a person shedding tears over a game. As much as they sypasize wit ha drug addict suing their dealer because the dealer wont supply them anymore with drugs. They might take it as "Geesh, I think I'm sentencing you to see a psychologist." Rememer make it appear it's more than about the game and something larger that most people can relate to. If going community route, then best believe we have to come off as a community here and out there because if go that route I'm sure NCSoft lawyers will try to poke holes i nthat theory and wouldnt be surprised if they showed up with old forum posts, posts on Massively, to paint it as a witch hunt because the community is angry because of the shut down of their game and didnt give a crap about the other games they shut down and only cared abotu the game and was content even as other games were shutting down around them to play and not say a word but angry when it was their game. And of course have to explain away logically LOGICALLY, why was the EULA agreed to, where it states they can shut down game any moment and when they did, why problem now and not the lawsuit earlier? Maybe no indication of COX was in financial/(whatever the case was) in trouble, the language was not stated in a clear concise manner, it didnt pop up with each log in, something to poke holes into that EULA.
Then if we are the ones that bring it we have to have good case to why should we get the right to play the game independently. I thin kthere are many reasons for that and maybe if anything, there sould be a settlement reached where they allow it without interference from them. But one thing could be a wild card is that Marvel lawsuit. It might be irrelevant or it might be the bane and the true reason why all of this is happening. If say some numb nut decides that since NCSoft isnt runnig the show and decides to build wolverine and marvel hears about it especialy since their own game is coming, who is responsible for that lawsuit from marvel? The private server owner that is runnign the game or NCsoft who created the game? If it's the private server then they better have either good enforcement or stack of money somewhere. If it's NCSoft, then well, there is no reason for them to be forced to give up the right to any of that game if they still will be legally responsible for that type of lawsuit.