izigame.me

New publisher established a third party EULA. It's mostly not bad but some terms are intolerable:
*******Disclaimer because I keep getting "ima lawwwyer and yer stewwwwpid" comments*****
1. The publisher has the right to put whatever they want in their EULA. Legally, all of these are probably FINE. Legally. Actually enforceable? Remains to be seen. Reasonable? Nope.
2. As the consumer we have the right to decide if we are willing to ACCEPT those terms. Or not, as the case may be. If we are expected to enter an agreement that requires a lawyer to parse then the agreement isn't doing its job- at that rate it's dealing in bad faith.
3. Boilerplate standard legalese copypasta does NOT automatically make a term acceptable, and if that's your standard you really need to consider the CONTEXT of how hyperoptimized these kinds of agreements are in the favor of the IP holder vs the userbase. If you can clear that hurdle and still say "yup that's just fine!" take a moment to consider just how far into corruption you've fallen.
4. Finally: CONTEXT MATTERS. Any of these terms has a time and a place. A predominantly single player peer to peer co-op game is NOT the time nor place. I re-iterate here, just because it's normal doesn't make it ok. I might well accept all of these terms in a different setting. They don't have a place HERE (at least, not as written).
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"without written permission from Company, use, advertise or exploit in any manner the Game, the Documentation or the Services (in each case in whole or in part) for non-personal, commercial purposes;"
-Bye bye YouTube vids. Chrissy pointed out in the comments that this may not be so big of a deal as an earlier segment of the TOS permits gameplay videos- but there's a question of paywalled content such as patreon or youtube members.
"use the Game, or permit use of the Game, in a network, multi-user arrangement or remote access arrangement, including any online use, except as otherwise allowed through normal operation of the Game (as it is intended to be played) or explicitly permitted by Company in writing;"
- So, no family sharing. Is this even enforceable?
"harm the reputation of Company, our affiliates, our service providers or licensors, or the reputation of the Game, the Documentation or the Services;"
- You've already done it yourself. But seriously? Is this a joke? "Harm the reputation?" WTF.
"exploit errors and bugs found while playing the Game, the Documentation or using the Services;"
- Again, is this realistically enforceable? Also, why is this a TOS thing? It's our right to do what we want with a game we bought. It literally can't hurt anyone.
"use, develop, advertise, trade, or distribute unauthorized programs, including but not limited to any programs that intercept communications in the Game between a game and a game server or between a Service and its server, or any unauthorized third-party programs or Devices that may affect the Game or normal game play or access to the Services (including but not limited to hacks, cheats, helpers, bots, scripts, trainers, automatic programs, automatic mouse, mouse with macro function, programs that collect or modify game data by reading the game memory, etc.)."
- No modding. This line explicitly bans modding the game. This level of stupidity is just... embarrassing.
"manipulate the Game or Services in an unfair way or otherwise access or use the Game or Services in a manner that confers an unfair advantage or disadvantage to any player including yourself;"
- What unfair advantage? What inter-player competition is in this chill island builder game? Also, how the friction do you intend to enforce this?
"use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the location of your use or Device, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on the use of the Game, the Documentation or Services or for any other purpose or in a way that violates these Terms"
- bans using any sort of VPN.
A lot of terms are protective at the users, but these highlighted terms are expressly anti-consumer. Unenforceable and frankly unacceptable.
I'll consider changing this to the deserved review when this EULA is revised.
EDIT: I just noticed that I posted this on April 1st. NO this is not a joke or prank post. Read the EULA when prompted on launching the game.