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I have a realitive that is a judge in the state appellate court system here in North Carolina. I was able to talk with him earlier yesterday (it is almost 4am now) and asked him how companies were able to do what BioWare was doing and addressing the substance of the complaint filed by that one fan to the FTC.
Here is what I told him (summerized):
From what I have gathered and from what it seems, BioWare advertised a game to the community as the "Epic conclusion to the Mass Effect trillogy" (ref). It was also advertised as "retake Earth" (ref). Instead, we are presented with a dream-state ending that does not appeal to the advertisements in which the ending is left without resolution or conclusion and without retaking earth. It was announced that they were going to be adding DLC to the "post ending" sequences (ref) presumably to be after Shep wakes up from the indoc attempt (see the indoctrination theories in this forum or this if you need help understanding).
Here is what he said (as exact as possible from audible conversation):
"The act of 'bait-and-switch' is the advertisment of a product and selling that product or a diffrent product for a product that is of lesser value or forcing you to buy a product at a higher value [this is why many packages state 'batteries not included' should the product require them]. To advertise a book as 'the end' of a seriese and only selling the entire book except for the last chapter is not the product advertised and therefor a text-book example of bait-and-switch for digital or printed media. You should look at the Black's Law Dictionary refrence for bait-and-switch."
Now I don't think that I need much proof except to show that this is what wikipedia has to say about the ILLICIT ACT of "Bait-and-Switch":
"Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud, most commonly used in retail sales but also applicable to other contexts. First, customers are "baited" by advertising for a product or service at a low price; second, the customers discover
that the advertised good is not available and are "switched" to a costlier product."
I would say that if BioWare ever intends on releasing post-ending DLC to be PAID for, they will be giving every purchasor of Mass Effect 3 an opritunity to sue for Bait-and-Switch.
As to avoid making any threats, there has been arguements in this thread already that states that the EULA or TOS restricts your rights to encounter BioWare in court, more specifically, it idemnifies BioWare or EA from being held responsible for their own neglagence -- and this is completely innaccurate and would be a grave mistake for BioWare or EA to assume such is true. As a business admin graduate with limited education in business law, here is what my text-book had to say about it:
Concerning Oppressive Provisions (Contract "blocks")
It states that voided provisions or oppresive provisions are defined as ... "or a provision declaring that a party shall not be liable for the consequences of his negligence".
"A provision which gives what the court believes is too much advantage over a buyer is likely to be held void as unconscionable,"
"Business Law, Anderson and Kumf, Tenth Edition" [right page close to the top.]
(Book very greatly details court cases for precendent and uniform code statues defined by the FTC at the bottom of the page)
For those of you whom don't quite understand the rage of bait-and-switch, remember that the game is art and protected. Now imagine that you just invested in the entire set of Encyclopedia Britanica, and only need to now buy book Z. When you get it in the mail, you notice that the book has 100 blank pages, with "call our sales team for these pages" on them. That is EXACTLY what has happened here if BioWare decides to release post-ending DLC that is a "non-dream" ending which is why it "fits" into a "bait-and-switch" scheme.
"But its just a game": No, it is a PRODUCT, else you would have been using play-money to buy it.
Now keep in mind that in the eyes of the blind lady justice, price does not matter, it does not matter that the entire ME series costs only a total of $200 with all the addon's and EB costs $4,000, what matters is principal and investment into these products.
PLEASE READ VERY, VERY CAREFULLY: I did not, nor have I ever stated any intention to personally sue BioWare. I did state that the consumer will have a prema facie case should they release the hypothetical DLC.
Edit: cleaned up quotes from copy & paste -- added wikipedia link to "Bait and Switch".
Edit 2: Added text-book PDF on Oppresive Contracts for those whom think BioWare/EA is immune to law suits via the TOS or EULA.
Modifié par leewells, 03 avril 2012 - 06:46 .
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