I have seen this mentioned in a couple places, and I thought it would be a good idea to actually get a master document going on it.
Feel free to reply and add, or argue for subtraction from this. I think that a Bill of Rights is needed for MMOs as a counter that gaming companies have to acknowledge they are expected to live up to.
1. We, as consumers of your product, have a right to expect that product to be there so long as it is profitable.
- This means that it shouldn't be cancelled because it doesn't fit your vision, or you don't like it. It HAS to be non-profitable BEFORE a cancellation can be made, and you should communicate with the community when this sort of thing is becoming a likelihood.
2. We are entitled to frank, and honest communication with the businesses we deal with.
- Don't Lie to Your Customer Base. I think that's pretty self explanatory.
3. We are entitled to good customer service, cause our patronage should be important to you.
- Response times from a GM should be less, and frankly while they shouldn't play the game for you, bugs and such are game killers in some cases.
4. We are entitled to good content for our money. If it is a subscription based game we are entitled to regular updates of content.
5. Our money is valued as money. Should a game be cancelled MONEY shall be returned to the player. Not E-Transaction credit to another game.
- This is to bring ALL MMO publishers into compliance with the laws protecting citizens in the United States (which are the only ones I know).
6. Listen To Us. We are your target audience no matter what your investors or demographic data says.
- If we say there is a bug, it's likely there if you look.
7. We have a right to try before we buy. MMOs are a huge investment of time and money, and we should be able to have a tour, so to speak.
-Most games do this already, but I think it's important to make this nod.
8. Gamers are a family, and should be treated as such. We are inviting you into our homes, as a part of our lives and have the right to expect good behavior from a house guest.
9. No one demographic is more important then the other, please treat everyone equally.
(Proposed and Edited for spelling)
10. Paying customers should have the right to play the game they own, even if the publisher doesn't want to continue developing the game.
- Video games are culture, an MMO publisher closing down an MMORPG effectively prevents past, present and future gamers to play this game in its functioning state, destroying culture. That doesn't oblige the publisher to have developers or community manager maintaining the game or making it compatible with new generations of software, emulation on the client part shall do that. The publisher does the only thing he can do.
(Edit): I would add that Video Games have the protection of an Art Form, and if an artist sold a painting, and then later decided to ruin it, he would still be arrested for damaging someone's property...
Criteria: I'd like to keep it to 10 Simplistic points, with simple explanation behind it.
I think this is something that should be added to EULAs, or sent in to companies as the counter offer inherent to our accepting they're EULA. If EVERYONE is insistent on stating these are our rights and expectations, Game companies will have to realize that the quality of they're games, especially when called Art by society, comes with it certain inherent responsibilities that not every company has been meeting. I also think a "Gamers Bill of Rights" should be written up to more broadly attack this issue for games and content.
Anyone who wants to help with this it would be more then welcome.
Elvnsword
