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This game is still under NDA
DrWookie
Member UncommonPosts: 263
For all you people making posts/threads about what you do or don't like after your experience this beta weekend - This game is still under NDA.
Just because you see videos/comments from press doesn't mean you can come in here and comment on whether or not you like animations, or starting areas, or combat. You technically can't even say you are in the NDA. Every single one of you clicked accept to the NDA.
While I doubt at this point you are going to be punished/penalized in any way. It is very disrespectful to continue to ignore the developer's wishes.
Also, this is directly to MMORPG.com moderators --> Really? You guys don't care at all that practically every single post here is a violation of the NDA? As a respectful member of the gaming press you should at least try to remind me to follow the rules.
Comments
Loosest NDA ever, literally "reviews" and screenshots and Videos are everywhere.
Zenimax might as well just release the flood gate at this point imo.
Comments on what the reviewers have said is allowable.
Really though - still having an NDA up for a product that is now being sold .... for many who have seen this before that is a big red flag.
Not sure why people feel the need to rush in on day 1. Sure the game may be perfect and finished - but historically an NDA this late in the day .....
Thank you...
If this site would like to stay respectful of game developers they would delete every single post made since Friday and lock the whole forum until lift. It's almost like they just gave up.
They have opened the NDA up to gaming press, with limitations on what they can talk about. Gaming websites, for the most part, are doing nothing wrong.
Every other lay person, however, is still under the same NDA. Whether people think it should be up or not (I completely agree it is a red flag at this late stage in the game, and I think it should come down) is irrelevant. Disagreeing with the fact that the NDA is there doesn't change the fact that you clicked accept on it.
Read the NDA. You cannot even say you are in the beta. You can not say "in your experience ...". Yes you can comment on previews published by the press but lets be honest. Read through the vast majority of comments on these forums. They are NOT talking about their opinions based on videos. They are talking about their PERSONAL opinions, and being quite clear about that. Threads are even made with titles such as "After this beta weekend, will you buy it?". That is directly asking for first hand experience. That is all against the NDA.
I agree it does seem like MMORPG has just given up. Somewhat shameful if you ask me and disappoints me as a respectful consumer. If I were a publisher/game developer I would be even more disappointed. It doesn't reflect well on MMORPG as a respectful, legitimate member of the press.
Well TBH having a partial NDA is pretty lame. Especially in this day and age, where everyone with a website and an opinion is considered a member of the press.
If you are going to lift it for the press, lift it for everyone.
I think it's more ridiculous that you are supporting gagging individuals in favor of a corporate entity, so that they can attempt to control the message that reaches the public. If you're an artist (and video games are supposedly a form of art), you show off your work and let it speak for itself. The NDA only helps the marketing department ramp up presales.
That being said, after "reading the reviews" on Friday, I ended up playing Skyrim all weekend. Now that's a great game.
Irrelevant to the topic at hand. Your opinions of the NDA don't matter if you agreed to abide by it. By playing the game, you accepted it. If you didn't agree with it, you shouldn't have accepted it. (I'm not saying this directly as you necessarily, but at everyone who has participated in the beta weekend or past beta weekends).
To be honest with you I agree. I really love what Everquest Next Landmark has done. However, I recognize that me not liking the NDA changes nothing. If I wanted (and if I did) participate in the closed beta, I had to agree to it. Everyone did.
It's fairly ambiguous what you can and can't do now.
As many of the previewers have talked about lots of things that beta testers would've also talked about.
They should just drop it, it's impossible to maintain with perhaps a million people in the beta test.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Once again, your personal opinions on the NDA do not matter. You still clicked accept. There was no way to click "I accept, but only on these conditions yada yada yada". Complaining is an entirely different matter. You can petition them to change the NDA, you can try to get the system to change. But if you were really against the NDA, you SHOULD NOT have hit accept. If you didn't hit accept, guess what? You didn't play.
People excusing themselves by saying "Well the NDA is just silly" are just coming up with excuses why they still felt they had the right to play the game, without respecting the rules set out by the developer. If you want to "stick it to the man" (Zenimax or whoever), you should have done so by NOT PLAYING.
It is entirely possible to maintain as long as individuals are respectful, adult, mature and responsible.
It isn't their fault the NDA isn't maintained, it's entirely ours (the community as a whole).
Also it is fairly clear what you can't do. Look up the NDA (It's online). You can't even say you are in the beta. Commenting on personal experiences are not allowed. Discussing how there was or wasn't lag is not allowed. Talking about whether it kept your attention or you were bored is not allowed. Talking about how you are or are not excited for the game after playing this weekend is not allowed.
Arguably, if they drop it for all the (tame) media, it is no longer binding.
Although if you wanted argue in court, you'd have to know, exactly, what those sites signed.
At any rate, I wouldn't feel right breaking it.
But let me tell you about these chocolate chip cookies I tried...
My philosophical/political beliefs are strongly built on the idea that society functions as a pact between it's members. That pact is built on respect for the rules we have all agreed to live under. You can disagree with the rules publicly, and work to change them. But just ignoring them because you think they are "dumb" or "can't be enforced" is detrimental to our society as a whole.
That's off topic though.
Comments like the one you provided only further strengthen my argument, since it shows you have no honest legitimate response in defense of the actions I am calling out. Similar to excuses such as "Ya but they can't enforce the NDA" or "Ya but there shouldn't even be an NDA".
Lol! Perfect description of the OP.
It doesn't make sense to me that they still have this NDA up while at the same time letting all these ass-clown youtube critics talk about and show footage from the game.
If you must know; I was not a hall monitor in school (I don't think my school had hall monitors). However, I did not drink until I was 21. I have never used any illegal substance (marijuana or otherwise). I abide by society's rules (of course there are exceptions, this isn't the place to talk about civil rights etc...), and the more our society deviates from the rules or just ignores them because they think they are "dumb", the more our society will flush down the drain.
EDIT:
To comment on the part you edited. I completely agree with you. The NDA doesn't make sense to me either at this point. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to ignore it. It's still there, whether it makes sense or not. I still (hypothetically, if I was in the beta this weekend) clicked yes to the NDA. If the NDA "doesn't make sense" to you, I sincerely hope you didn't accept it and hit yes if you were offered this weekend. Why would you sign/agree to something that makes "no sense" to you?
And who appointed you to police it ?
Mmorpg.com decide what it wants to police.
The law and the enforcement of the law are two different things.
NDAs and the enforecement of NDAs are two different things.
Just because people have agreed to an NDA doesnt mean they have to abide by it. They can break it if they want and then it is up to the company that issued it what they do about that.
People are not criminals because they break NDAs or TOS, EULAs etc.
Call me a fanboi, hall monitor w/e, atleast I live by my word.
That goes for Zenimax aswell.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
Yes they can If they have watched press videos and other people streaming they can come on here and say what ever they like because they didn't sign no NDA.
You have never gone over the speed limit? Perhaps ran a yellow because you were in a hurry? Performed a rolling stop?
You are targeting people and accusing them of signing the NDA when all they are doing is voicing an opinion and may not even be in the beta. It sounds like you have a screw loose.
Way to serious.
It's a forum dedicated to video games. Have a little fun, stress is actually really bad for your health.
I'm not policing anything. I'm not arresting you or punishing you. I'm merely pointing out that you are all (I'm including you only because you a responding, if you haven't than this doesn't apply to you of course) breaking the NDA. I am also pointing out that, at least personally, I find that incredibly disrespectful to the developers and publishers. I also find it, to a certain extent, morally wrong. Or at least immature (to choose to just ignore the NDA because you don't like it).
To your point 5. While you don't "have" to abide by the NDA when you agree to it, you SHOULD abide by it. Whether you get in trouble for breaking it or not is irrelevant (you SHOULD get in trouble, but of course that doesn't mean you will). You knowingly agreed to something and then knowingly ignored it. That does NOT reflect highly on you, in my opinion (again if you personally didn't do it, then I'm referring more general to people who did). Just choosing to ignore things you signed/agreed to willy nilly is not how society is set up to function.
I was, you are right, also asking MMORPG.com to enforce it. Obviously I can't demand them to, but again I said that I was just disappointed that as a reputable member of the gaming press, they don't seem to care that their forums (which they have moderation control over) run rampant with violations of a publisher's NDA that they have respected in their own proceedings (They don't post new articles that aren't allowed by the publisher, yet they don't care if their members ignore it? Doesn't make much sense to me).
I was referring more specifically to people who clearly are phrasing their opinions on the animations/starting areas/combat based on their personal experiences, and referencing this prior beta weekend event.
Of course linking a video and saying "Wow those animations look clunky" is a different thing.