Yeah, but have you seen that player’s actual account? I’m not sure it would really make much of a difference…
550 OML is a cc these days…
Oh. It makes a difference. Early 5* characters at 550 vs. latest 5* characters at 550 is a massive difference.
And the fact we’re all winking and nodding around this makes it even more ridiculous how D3 is thumbing its nose at the situation. This isn’t a secret. Yet the developers have no qualms with this clear breach of the ToS.
This is pretty funny. Shocking, I know, that the rich don’t play by the same rules as everyone else. Just like literally everywhere else in the world. Is it right? Of course not. Is it reality? Of course it is.
I understand that handing over control of an account is against the rules of the game itself.
Is this such a case? No, not really in my opinion.
Would I care if it was? No, not really either.
In another game I was playing a couple of years ago I had put some money into my character and a lot of hours too! When the inevitable burnout came and I decided that I wanted to quit altogether I just couldn’t bear the thought of completely dumping my character. I didn’t sell, I just gave it away to a friend. I was invested in that character (as silly as this sounds) and I wanted it to still be in the game.
Assuming this is literally just someone letting someone else use their account, despite the potential lettering of the ToS, I don’t see any realistic reason to take action. One player is using the account. Now if the account has been cloned or something that would be a whole different issue. But, complaining because someone is hitting anyone or suppressing points is irrelevant. The original owner of the legitimate roster could be doing the same thing and, unfortunate as it may be to some, there’s nothing in the ToS about not being hyper aggressive within the allowed system of PvP. This isn’t like when championing was first announced and people were buying other accounts and having CS merge the covers to one account to get level 550s overnight. If the account is legitimate and only one person is playing it at a time, it’s effectively legit unless they could conclusively prove within the information the app could provide that the account has been compromised in some way. If I were an app developer, I would be very very wary of taking things like Line chats and out of game screenshots as any sort of proof of this as well…
…except in this case, both parties have claimed D3 not only knows, but approved it. Which makes this more of a public service announcement than any breaking news.
haha.
Well she was already addicted to match 3 games when i met her, I just convinced her this was better than candy crush or whatever crap she played before. She has her own account but she likes to play mine just cause mine has more characters to play with. Also she is competitive and she firmly believes that she will catch up to me one day (i have a 2 year head start).
The way the game is changing she probably will too. It took me 2 and a half years to champ my first 4*. She did it in 6 months.
So it seems the real issue you have is not that the account is being shared, but that the new user has decided not to be a part of the line community and help you all game the system to your advantage. And since the account is powerful, your typically bully tactics of having a bunch of people snipe him doesn’t work.
**Removed attack - Ducky
I’m not sure how this would be considered cheating, if the current “player” of the account isn’t doing anything than the owner of the account couldn’t do.
Because it’s spelled out in the ToS that it’s against the rules, thus cheating.
Could you post that section? I’ve been looking at the legals webpage (not yet got the hang of embedding links, sorry) and not found anything that covers it.
MPQ TOS:
(Legals - 505 Go Inc. and then choose Marvel Puzzle Quest from the drop down)
Scope of License. This EULA is a non-exclusive, limited, nontransferable, non-sublicensable, terminable license to use the Game on mobile devices that you own or control and as permitted by the usage rules of the Mobile Platform Operator, or other terms and conditions applying to your mobile device. This EULA does not allow you to use the Game on any device that you do not own or control, and except as provided in the terms and conditions relating to your device, you may not distribute or make the Game available over a network where it could be used by multiple devices at the same time. You may not rent, lease, lend, sell, transfer, redistribute, or sublicense the Game and, if you sell your device to a third party, you must remove the Game before doing so.
Playing devil’s advocate (and rambling a bit) here, it mentions “the Game”, it doesn’t mention the account used to play the game, and all the things (like a roster) that go with it.
I was also wondering how someone else could use the account, assuming that the device wasn’t sold, and it’s on Android or iThing. According to the in-game help from my Android device, to unlink data from facebook you have to contact Customer Support, and so the transfer to another user must have been facilitated by them in some manner.
(I could speculate that there may be other ways that a transfer could happen, but when I did that once in the past I got a warning for “advocating cheating”.)
Cheating is bad, I just want to know whether this particular behaviour is really against the terms of service.
Again from the in-game help: "Cheating is not tolerated and is easily uncovered. Because cheating negatively impacts all players, we are diligent about removing those who break the rules.
A player caught cheating will be removed from the game. No previous purchases will be reimbursed."
All cheaters are removed from the game, aren’t they? Anyone who’s not removed from the game can’t be a cheater, by definition.
Well, I hope that last sentence is rhetorical, because it’s kind of ridiculous. If a person is not removed from the game because they simply haven’t been caught yet, your logic would say that they can’t be a cheater, which is… well, let’s just say I could drive a few trucks through the hole in that logic. And that’s before you even get to selective enforcement or varying degrees of punishment.
On that note, is all cheating equal? Does every offence merit termination of the account? Should it?
It was more a snark at how “they” say one thing and do another. Quoting “them” to show that it’s clear cut; cheat, be removed. If that’s not the case, update the documentation, for flip’s sake.
Of course, I still (seriously) contend that what is being done is not against the terms you quoted. If only because of a misunderstanding on my part, IANAL.
Can you play the game without creating an account?
A lot of people don’t link their primary, personal facebook account to the game. They create a new facebook profile exclusively to backup the game and distribute that profile around Line or in-alliance chat for friend rewards. I considered doing that myself, since my friends don’t play the game, and I’m not particularly keen on handing out my personal information to everyone in the MPQ community. In such a situation, it would be simple just to hand over the facebook account to a borrower/buyer. No CS involvement necessary, all you need do is transfer the FB backup to your own device, just like anyone would legally do when they change phones or switch to a tablet.
Also, from the TOS:
Severability. If any of the terms or conditions of this EULA shall be deemed invalid, void or for any reason unenforceable, that provision shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining port of this EULA.
Delay in Enforcement. No delay or failure to take action under this EULA shall constitute any waiver by us of any provision of this EULA.
So they might be covered there.
Yes, I think so. By buying someone else’s. Speculative mechanism in a PM if you want, I don’t want to be warned or banned.
Is selling your account cheating / against the TOS? Maybe, maybe not, I don’t think it’s clear. I suggest that there’s a difference between “the game” and the in-game name. But again, IANAL.
Maybe someone official could chime in and let us know officially whether this is cheating, and if so why the account / in-game name is still active.