Not sure if I'm going to get SC2 anymore

[Joker(Div)]

@WE ALSO RESERVE THE RIGHT, AT ALL TIMES AND IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION, TO DISCLOSE ANY USER CONTENT AND OTHER INFORMATION (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION CHAT TEXT, VOICE COMMUNICATIONS, IP ADDRESSES, AND YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION) FOR ANY REASON
So what are you going to be doing on bnet that is making you people so sensitive about this? Oh ok, they have your birthday, they know you're Jewish and they know your gonna go smoke a joint on sunday night. Or maybe they find out that you found some awesome porno site. Why the fuck do you care that they know this? What, are you going to be sharing passwords through chatting? Even then, Blizzard isn't going to go hack your gmail account or something. What could they possibly take advantage of?

Oh I remember some article of a WoW player criminal. He got away after stealing or vandalizing something and got caught later because Blizzard released his credit card number that he used for the monthly payment. I'm sorry, you won't be getting away with crime if you play sc2 if they somehow get your credit card number through bnet.

@Facebook integration
It's OPTIONAL.

@Friend's System
There are 2 types of friends in the system: The casual and real-life. The only difference is that you see their real name and you are able to broadcast some message to all of them. They've disabled a lot of support for the casual friend because they want people to test their real-life/facebook integration.

@Pay for Maps
If the creator enables payment for their map it better be damn good if they want to keep its players. I'm sure there will be multiple maps of the same genre and it won't take much to move from one to the other.

@60$
Yeah, everything costs more now than it did back then. Yeah, big companies like money. Cool, you don't have that kind of money. Tough luck, don't bitch about it. They're not going to change it. If you're really that desperate, wait a year for the price to drop or look for some special sales. Wasn't both ROC and TFT $50 at release?

@Identifiers
No, they were horrible. You could be playing some guy named xx1337Hax0r 20 times in a row and you wouldn't know that they were different people. If you could actually see their identifier ingame, it would've been much better. It really hurt the top players more because some posers would copy their name and act like complete douches.

@Chat Channels
I heard they were adding them in retail and now I hear they're not. It'll be one of my few disappointments of the game if they don't (no LAN being the other).

 

[Jaujarahje]

@WE ALSO RESERVE THE RIGHT, AT ALL TIMES AND IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION, TO DISCLOSE ANY USER CONTENT AND OTHER INFORMATION (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION CHAT TEXT, VOICE COMMUNICATIONS, IP ADDRESSES, AND YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION) FOR ANY REASON
So what are you going to be doing on bnet that is making you people so sensitive about this? Oh ok, they have your birthday, they know you're Jewish and they know your gonna go smoke a joint on sunday night. Or maybe they find out that you found some awesome porno site. Why the fuck do you care that they know this? What, are you going to be sharing passwords through chatting? Even then, Blizzard isn't going to go hack your gmail account or something. What could they possibly take advantage of?

Oh I remember some article of a WoW player criminal. He got away after stealing or vandalizing something and got caught later because Blizzard released his credit card number that he used for the monthly payment. I'm sorry, you won't be getting away with crime if you play sc2 if they somehow get your credit card number through bnet.

@Facebook integration
It's OPTIONAL.

@Friend's System
There are 2 types of friends in the system: The casual and real-life. The only difference is that you see their real name and you are able to broadcast some message to all of them. They've disabled a lot of support for the casual friend because they want people to test their real-life/facebook integration.

@Pay for Maps
If the creator enables payment for their map it better be damn good if they want to keep its players. I'm sure there will be multiple maps of the same genre and it won't take much to move from one to the other.

@60$
Yeah, everything costs more now than it did back then. Yeah, big companies like money. Cool, you don't have that kind of money. Tough luck, don't bitch about it. They're not going to change it. If you're really that desperate, wait a year for the price to drop or look for some special sales. Wasn't both ROC and TFT $50 at release?

@Identifiers
No, they were horrible. You could be playing some guy named xx1337Hax0r 20 times in a row and you wouldn't know that they were different people. If you could actually see their identifier ingame, it would've been much better. It really hurt the top players more because some posers would copy their name and act like complete douches.

@Chat Channels
I heard they were adding them in retail and now I hear they're not. It'll be one of my few disappointments of the game if they don't (no LAN being the other).

This. And for the paying for maps, it has been said numerous times (I think) That in order for it to go premium, the maker must submit it, it must have lots/great content, and Blizzard will verify that it's good enough to be payed for. So we won't hav eto pay for every map, probably more like 2 or 3 that you really like

 

[Daskunk]

Now, as for the Facebook Integration, I think it's a little overrated. Unless we get some sort of benefit on Battle.net for having a facebook account linked, then, well, there isn't any reason to have one. Unless, of course, you want to post on your wall that you just "pwnd sum n00bs". I would bet money that Facebook will be spammed with messages exactly like this.

You can't post messages from B.net, not does it automatically. It does not bring users from facebook to b.net, nor b.net people to facebook. You *may* chose to import friends, and that is all. I hardly even notice the feature.

Blizzard has a reputation of making pretty good games.
The community has a repuation of making these good games a lot better.

Yeah, after a couple of sequels and patchs. Their games never come out that good.

That's where I draw the line.
Screw you, Blizzard. I think I'll keep my $60.

Have you actually read their Privacy Policy? The "Link" The guy provided for the quote didn't actually redirect me to any sort of page that said such things. Do you even read most companies policies? I think you would be surprised how many have these things in small text. What matters is what they actually do, not what they reserve the rights to do. (Not that I particularly like that either, if its even true)

I don't think B.net 2.0 is that good right now, but blizzard has explicitly stated some things won't be added until the expansions. I reserve my judgment until the game and/or expansions come out. They have added a LOT of things I liked and not added anything I really dislike, although it is lacking some features.

While I can entirely understand your view, I think it is an over-reaction. Yes, I think blizzard has made some bad choices. But Yes, I am still going to buy it.

I could go on about B.net 2 for awhile, stating what I do or do not like, but what it comes down to: No, I think the services (Like b.net) will improve enough over time and the game itself (Single player included, no doubt) is fun enough for me to still buy it. While I think blizzard is going downhill, I still think sc2 is a great game, and that some of the downsides have been over-hyped.

It is understandable why some people would no longer wish to buy the game, though.

EDIT: BTW, One thing I really do hate about B.net 2.0 is map hosting. You can only ever publish a limited amount of maps that are a limited size, to begin with. . .

 

[Joker(Div)]

TOS and EULA, you actually have to opt out to not have your personal details shared with the company and other partners of yours. What was the thought behind this? If you have your names on your Battle.net accounts, you need to email Blizzard to opt out of sharing that information with your partners and third-parties.

That might just be a legal clause that we were required to put in the EULA. I can't tell you for sure without talking to the lawyers, but we're not interested in taking the Battle.net data that we've got and sharing it with anyone. We want to maintain our connections and relationships with our customers ourselves and not give it to anyone else.

Source: http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/270/blizzards-frank-pearce-interview

The guy is a co-founder of Blizzard for those who don't know and I can't say I'm a fan of this guy. "Do you really want chat channels?" WTF?? They still refuse to provide LAN or Cross-Continent support (You need multiple copies of sc2).

 

[D.V.D]

TOS and EULA, you actually have to opt out to not have your personal details shared with the company and other partners of yours. What was the thought behind this? If you have your names on your Battle.net accounts, you need to email Blizzard to opt out of sharing that information with your partners and third-parties.

That might just be a legal clause that we were required to put in the EULA. I can't tell you for sure without talking to the lawyers, but we're not interested in taking the Battle.net data that we've got and sharing it with anyone. We want to maintain our connections and relationships with our customers ourselves and not give it to anyone else.

-----------

Me may not share it but facebook can if they get this data and they already do. Blizzard wants to keep track of everything everyone will say. WTF!? Really this will not help them in any way since most of the people on battle.net will be saying YEAH I SMOKE AND DRINK AND PARTY AL NIGHT. YEA MAN I WILL PWN YOU, I KNOW WERE YOU LIVE! This will help blizzard soo much in catching a criminal knowing that 80 percent of b.net will be saying useless crap all the time. Now, what the hell is the point of adding facebook into this? Its not like more people will join facebook because they played starcraft 2. And as for the credit card thing that people were posting, they might actually get your credit card number when you buy games but that will be a minority.

 

[BANANAMAN]

There's also this...

Blizzard why are you doing this? You already have WOW and the legions of players there without a life.Milk them not us!

 

[Sevion]

Wow.

They're just trying to drop a nuke on SC2, aren't they?

 

[krainert]

Frankly... About the personal information... If they don't change their statement, I'm not sure I'll be playing SCII.
I mean, In Denmark we have laws rather protective of the customer's interests, and laws in Europe in general are pretty decent. US law, however, is completely and utterly insane; companies can do pretty much anything they want. Thus, Blizzard being an American company actually means that this kind of EULA may in all seriousness be considered legally valid in case they decide to make use of it - which, obviously, puts every consumer ever accepting the EULA at serious risk... Having IP addresses, email addresses, personal information, profile content, friends lists, specific connections to a major social network, and full conversation logs connectible and retrievable indefinitely is pretty much owning the customers.

EDIT: Just FYI, I wasn't able to find the personal information disclosure paragraph in the Danish ToS/EULA.

 

[celerisk]

Don't really get what the big fuss about is here...
How is this any different than what your ISP knows about you? Google? Microsoft? Facebook? Huge internet ads network?
All the same and nothing new.

 

[krainert]

Don't really get what the big fuss about is here...
How is this any different than what your ISP knows about you? Google? Microsoft? Facebook? Huge internet ads network?
All the same and nothing new.

The problem is that Blizzard reserves the right to openly publish their entire costumer database if they please.

 

[2-P]

If you're worried about it then why don't you just use a fake name/address/we?

 

[krainert]

If you're worried about it then why don't you just use a fake name/address/we?

Because it's illegal? When you pay using your credit card you agree to provide you correct personal information. If that is considered to be part of what Blizzard reserves the right to disclose there's no way whatsoever one can legally prevent them from doing so.
Besides, just giving them the right to publish pairs of email addresses and IP addresses is insanity. I don't want everybody who knows my email address to know where I live, and I sure as hell don't want anyone I don't know to know my email address at all nor where I live at all.

EDIT: See next post.

 

[Ancanus]

[email protected] was available last time I checked.
I'm not kidding though, it's a good practice to keep a separate email for your internet public profile and your real life private profile.

Also, I think IP addresses are attached to every forum post...

Spoiler

...and you live in Århus, Denmark.

 

[2-P]

When you pay using your credit card

You used your credit to pay what? Are you sure we're talking about the same battle net? Maybe you got scammed or something?

 

[krainert]

You used your credit to pay what? Are you sure we're talking about the same battle net? Maybe you got scammed or something?

I always purchase games online since prices in Danish physical shops are ridiculous. So are the prices online, by the way, but not to the same degree
Also, please note that information entered as part of a transaction may not be covered by the EULA since it is technically part of a system separate from both SCII and Battle.net which means that this information in particular may not be a problem...

 

[Renendaru]

For everyone whining about personal info taken by Blizzard, here's the response to that in his interview...

Interviewer: TOS and EULA, you actually have to opt out to not have your personal details shared with the company and other partners of yours. What was the thought behind this? If you have your names on your Battle.net accounts, you need to email Blizzard to opt out of sharing that information with your partners and third-parties.

Frank: That might just be a legal clause that we were required to put in the EULA. I can't tell you for sure without talking to the lawyers, but we're not interested in taking the Battle.net data that we've got and sharing it with anyone. We want to maintain our connections and relationships with our customers ourselves and not give it to anyone else.

 

[D.V.D]

The problem is that Blizzard reserves the right to openly publish their entire costumer database if they please.

Oh please, facebook gives your personal info accessible to companies. They have archives of everything you have ever posted and deleted.

 

[krainert]

For everyone whining about personal info taken by Blizzard, here's the response to that in his interview...

Yes, as I stated earlier, it's probably just something they need in case of blah-blah legal stuff - but it still means that they have the right to do anything they want with your personal information which is under any circumstances very, very bad.

Oh please, facebook gives your personal info accessible to companies. They have archives of everything you have ever posted and deleted.

Which is why you shouldn't post sensitive information on Facebook. I'm fairly sure their policy does not allow them to share any information without any reason, though, so it's really a poor example.

I'm not going to write any more about privacy here... As far as I can see, these rather extreme terms do not apply to Danish customers so, frankly, I don't really have to give a shit I'd still say the terms are most unfortunate for the consumer, though.

 

[Slapshot136]

there are per-paid debit cards for those who are truly paranoid

so what personal information does blizzard truly hold over you, your real name if you give them that? your IP address which everyone already has anyways?

 

[SerraAvenger]

For everyone whining about personal info taken by Blizzard, here's the response to that in his interview...

I don't want to pull a godwin here, so I'm gonna use a Bush.

"There are weapons of mass destruction!"
"There is privacy!"

@slapshot:
"your IP address which everyone already has anyways"
luckily enough, that's not true = )

I don't think they'll share any data though.

What I fear a lot more is that they reserved the right to take any user content and republish/sell it to any third party.

That basically means, if you're making an aweseme, free map, everyone plays it, and blizz says: "No we need to make money off of that map..." and SWOOSH it's theirs and not yours anymore.