Castle Story: The Trade Wagon - Glimmer Alicorn changes

[idrispad]

I'm no lawyer but I can't help thinking those T&Cs would fall foul of the Unfair Contract Terms act in the UK.

From Storm8 ToS

"J. Virtual Currency and Goods:

The Service may include virtual currency, such as cash, coins, points or similar that may be earned or obtained through the Service or otherwise purchased by you for legal tender or actual currency, subject to applicable law (such virtual currency, ?Virtual Currency?). The Service may also include virtual digital items, such as assets, commodities, abilities or other goods that may be earned or obtained through the Service or otherwise purchased by you for legal tender or actual currency, or for Virtual Currency, subject to applicable law (such virtual items, ?Virtual Goods?). Storm8 reserves the absolute right, at any time and at its sole discretion, to manage, regulate, control, modify or eliminate Virtual Currency and/or Virtual Goods as it sees fit, and Storm8 shall have no liability to you or any third party for the exercise of such rights. You shall have a limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to use solely within the Service Virtual Goods and Virtual Currency that you have earned, purchased or otherwise obtained in a manner authorized by Storm8. You have no other right, tile or interest in or to any such Virtual Goods or Virtual Currency appearing or originating in the Service. (...)

You agree that all sales of Virtual Currency and Virtual Goods are final and, except as determined by Storm8 in its sole and absolute discretion, non-refundable. You acknowledge and agree that upon termination of these Terms of Use, your Account or the Service for any reason, including upon Storm8?s discontinuation of the Service or applicable portion thereof for any reason, all Virtual Currency and Virtual Goods will be forfeited by you, and Storm8 will have no liability to you in connection therewith."

[azriX2012]

Well, I do not remember that I was ever asked to acknowledge those terms of service. Besides, isn't there a law that those ToS have to be in the native language of the customer?

But thanks for quoting this. It makes clear that it is very stupid to spend any actual money on in-app purchases. Good to know.

"B. Changes to the Terms of Use and the Service:

Storm8 reserves the right to change or modify these Terms of Use at any time in its sole discretion. Any such change or modification will be effective immediately upon posting on the Service, and your continued use of the Service after any changes or modifications to these Terms of Use are posted will constitute your acceptance of and agreement to such changes or modifications."

Yeah, we're screwed.

[anissada]

way to go! how to loose longterm players asap..
well this is another sneaky action of TL.
it's like giving a meal and then take it away after one bite..
must realy be bad for the game's economy this purple alicorn!

instead of appreciating your players and allow them to have a little bit extra energy you make a fool out of us by giving and taking back onesided, just like you did with wali. i am MAD.. and sure i am NOT the only one.

also.. the fire and ice dragon was supposed to give energy but for what i have read it does not or just a little bit.
wish i had know that before i spend 2x500 gems in my games for something worthless.

my fun in castle story reaches almost zero.. not much more of this actions needed for me to stop playing

i am now going tu use the only power i have as player.. post a review on the appstore as well as playstore, hopen more players will do this.the only way we can act

[EmilyDragonMasterTwin]

From Storm8 ToS

"J. Virtual Currency and Goods:

The Service may include virtual currency, such as cash, coins, points or similar that may be earned or obtained through the Service or otherwise purchased by you for legal tender or actual currency, subject to applicable law (such virtual currency, ?Virtual Currency?). The Service may also include virtual digital items, such as assets, commodities, abilities or other goods that may be earned or obtained through the Service or otherwise purchased by you for legal tender or actual currency, or for Virtual Currency, subject to applicable law (such virtual items, ?Virtual Goods?). Storm8 reserves the absolute right, at any time and at its sole discretion, to manage, regulate, control, modify or eliminate Virtual Currency and/or Virtual Goods as it sees fit, and Storm8 shall have no liability to you or any third party for the exercise of such rights. You shall have a limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to use solely within the Service Virtual Goods and Virtual Currency that you have earned, purchased or otherwise obtained in a manner authorized by Storm8. You have no other right, tile or interest in or to any such Virtual Goods or Virtual Currency appearing or originating in the Service. (...)

You agree that all sales of Virtual Currency and Virtual Goods are final and, except as determined by Storm8 in its sole and absolute discretion, non-refundable. You acknowledge and agree that upon termination of these Terms of Use, your Account or the Service for any reason, including upon Storm8?s discontinuation of the Service or applicable portion thereof for any reason, all Virtual Currency and Virtual Goods will be forfeited by you, and Storm8 will have no liability to you in connection therewith."

Wow. Just wow. Storm8 just told us they have the legal right to rip us off and there's nothing we can do about it.
Ah, but there is: we can refuse to trust them ever again since they are liars and thieves, self-admitted. If their revenues go to zero for a week, don't you think they might change their minds about the MRC and alicorns? Not a penny more until these items work as they originally were advertised to do!

[Radegast1]

ToS don't give sanctuary against the laws enforced by the Federal Trade Commission

[judyvines]

From my online research.
Online retailers and website owners should think twice before assuming that their website?s Terms of Use policy constitutes an enforceable agreement between themselves and their users.

Whether such terms will hold up in court may rest on whether they?re interpreted as a ?browsewrap? agreement. Unlike a ?clickwrap? agreement, in which users must expressly agree to terms by clicking an ?I Accept? button, ?browsewrap? agreements require no affirmative action on the part of the user. M\any website owners give little thought to their terms of use policies, and simply cut and paste their agreements from other websites. Website visitors are rarely (if ever) required to confirm their agreement to a terms of use policy.

This distinction was recently examined by a Nevada federal court in a case brought against online retailer Zappos. Several customers sued Zappos after hackers successfully accessed certain information they provided when purchasing goods on two Zappos-owned websites. Because its website?s terms of use policy required such disputes to be arbitrated outside of court, Zappos moved to compel arbitration. The court denied the motion, even though federal court policy overwhelmingly favors that disputes be arbitrated, rather than litigated.

The court reached this decision based on its interpretation of contract law principles; specifically the requirement of offer and acceptance. In order for a valid contract to exist, one party must offer something, and that offer must be manifestly accepted by the other party. In this case, the court viewed the website terms of use as a contract between Zappos and its website users, and determined that the acceptance requirement was not met. The websites failed to effectively notify users that the agreements existed, and they required no action on the part of the user to agree to be bound. Without a manifestation of agreement on the part of the user, in the eyes of the court there could be no acceptance of the terms of use policy, and therefore no contract. In addition to finding the agreement lacked acceptance, the court also found it was illusory, due to the fact that Zappos reserved the right to change its terms of use at any time, without notice. Another principle of contract law states that when an agreement can be changed by one party at any time without the other party agreeing to the change, a contract is unenforceable.

Clearly, this court?s decision has broad implications for online retailers and website owners, all of whom would be wise to consult with legal counsel when drafting terms of use agreements for their sites.

[vaso1908]

The way I see it the solution they offered made things even worse. Now we have to spend 95 tokens in total for an alicorn which drops minimun energy every day and be left with a useless building. At the same time we can unlock a gabbage hut for 70 tokens which gives access to theoretically unlimited alicorns in the barons tent. I know it's not a guaranteed prize in the tent but so far they've been adding new ones with every update so its a pretty good bet. Or maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that because now they'll remove them too.

I think, if that's the solution they're sticking with, they should at least remove the limit of 1 alicorn in the MRC.

[tonyjosiah]

Wow. Just wow. Storm8 just told us they have the legal right to rip us off and there's nothing we can do about it.
Ah, but there is: we can refuse to trust them ever again since they are liars and thieves, self-admitted. If their revenues go to zero for a week, don't you think they might change their minds about the MRC and alicorns? Not a penny more until these items work as they originally were advertised to do!

I totally agree!!! This is ridiculous that they don't care that they have disappointed so many long time players. They won't get another dime from me!

[jbfps116]

I'm going to attempt to get money back on a 100 $ purchase I made to buy glimmer alicorns [and get the flower horse.]

[carove]

This is the first game i have ever played that punished its players for spending money.

This has done it for me placing ban on spending money to by gems on all my TL and S8 games. Will continue to play but not to pay!😡😡😡😡😡