TAP to be officially illegal!

~ Sebastianul

UPDATE: No idea if these changes will arrive to the other servers. I presume that I’d be fine since I live in the EU.

Check out these amazing future additions to the WGNA EULA. Only 13 days left and they are getting applied.

http://legal.na.wargaming.net/en/end-user-license-agreement-new/

Selecting a few:

„5.4 Ownership of Your Account. NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY HEREIN, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU SHALL HAVE NO OWNERSHIP OR OTHER PROPERTY INTEREST IN YOUR ACCOUNT, AND THAT ALL RIGHTS IN AND TO YOUR ACCOUNT ARE AND SHALL FOREVER BE OWNED BY AND INURE TO THE BENEFIT OF WARGAMING. YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO CLAIM, RIGHT, TITLE, OWNERSHIP, OR OTHER PROPRIETARY INTEREST IN THE ADDITIONAL FEATURES (AS DEFINED BELOW) THAT YOU UNLOCK OR ACCUMULATE, REGARDLESS OF ANY CONSIDERATION OFFERED OR PAID IN EXCHANGE FOR SUCH ADDITIONAL FEATURES. FURTHERMORE, WARGAMING SHALL NOT BE LIABLE IN ANY MANNER FOR THE DESTRUCTION, DELETION, MODIFICATION, IMPAIRMENT, HACKING, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGE OR LOSS OF ANY KIND CAUSED TO THE GAME CONTENT OR ADDITIONAL FEATURES, INCLUDING THE DELETION OF GAME CONTENT OR ADDITIONAL FEATURES UPON THE TERMINATION OR EXPIRATION OF YOUR ACCOUNT.

9.3.1 you acknowledge and agree that Wargaming retains ownership of the Fansite Content, and any and all derivative works thereof, and has the right to amend, delete, add to or otherwise modify, or to revoke the foregoing license with respect to, any items of Fansite Content at any time;

9.3.6 the Fansite will not post material that is disparaging, illegal or infringes on the rights of any third party or that damages (or that might damage) the reputation of Wargaming or of any of the Games;

9.3.7 except as expressly permitted in this EULA, you shall not rent, lease, reproduce, modify, translate the Fansite Content, or make an adaptation of (including without limitation fiction or visual art), or in any way exploit, any of the Content without our express written permission; and

9.3.8 you must not make, or seek to make, any commercial use or profit out of the Fansite Content (including for example by selling subscriptions to your Fansite) without our prior written consent.

9.4 If you fail to comply with any of the terms set out in this section, we reserve the right to terminate your license over the Fansite Content and also to close your Account.

9.5 All goodwill arising from your use of Fansite Content, including from use of any trademarks owned by Wargaming, shall inure solely to the benefit of Wargaming.”

Some other changes (compiled by uisinart_Killa):

  1. No class action lawsuits, and a change to your legal representation to arbitration.
  2. Anything you submit or post to wargaming or the WG forums belongs to them, along with all rights for use and reproduction.
  3. You’re not allowed to make money on any content without written permission, this means web sites with ads, or youtube videos.

Wargaming has decided you don’t own anything you buy from them. From now on, we are spending money on things we have no rights to anymore. The KV-5 nerf is just the start. With this EULA, all our premiums are at risk.

Now… do they really want to control the playerbase that hard?!

I am emotionally attached to this site, it’s like my child. No parent wants to see their child die in front of their eyes. Or in this case, be deliberately murdered. I’m not going to bend to their will; if I would do that, I’d betray you. It’s not only us, but the whole WoT & WoWS community at stake. The information must flow freely no matter what, especially on the internet.

PS: I know I have been late with news lately, I’m just starting a month-long exam period. Will post whatever is important though. Starting with mid-July I hope to deliver also both giveaways and historical articles (since leaks are not as often as they were 2 years ago). I always envisioned TAP as better than it is now, and I really want to achieve that dream. Please bear with me.

114 thoughts on “TAP to be officially illegal!”

  2. I strongly believe there’s many employees in WG who wants to kill WoT by destroy the support from player base

    1. Probably the reason why PPMM article was badly translated as well.

    1. Show it everywhere. In forums, Facebook, Youtube. Every place which is public. Just throw shit at them until they realise without playerbase and their support, they are nothing.

      1. I said this like thousands of fucken times so get jimsterling on this now!!!!

  4. Taking over premium tanks should have been done long ago, but I’m absolutely against closing down this cite.

  6. Then I guess we should no longer log in on websites where our WoT login will be needed, such as mod sites, and others.
    Like, that’s the only way I’m thinking we can still “support” wot sites: to not disclose our in-game accounts.

  7. 9.3.6 the Fansite will not post material that is disparaging, illegal or infringes on the rights of any third party or that damages (or that might damage) the reputation of Wargaming or of any of the Games;

    disparaging….we can’t complain….at all? …..wtf

    1. Looks like the Foch/Chrysler + PPMM incident really did a number on them.

    2. not really.
      What it really said is, if you want to use that imagesForFanSite.rar downloaded from WG website on your fansite, you must not post material that is disparaging.

      If you build your fansite without using this official resource rar, please, complain away, we don’t care.

      This article is missing the vital section, the definition of Fansite Content.

      9.2 At some of our Sites we expressly designate certain Content, such as Wargaming game-related images, graphics or artwork and trademarks, as being “for fansite use” (for example see: https://worldoftanks.com/en/news/announcements/world-tanks-fansite-kit/). In this EULA we refer to this specifically designated Content as “Fansite Content”.

      and the parent section
      9.3 Subject to the terms and conditions herein, Wargaming grants you a non-exclusive, revocable, personal, non-transferable and limited license to reproduce and display Fansite Content on Fansites owned and operated by you and solely for non-commercial purposes. This license is further conditional upon you complying with the following provisions:

      you can find the full change here:
      http://legal.na.wargaming.net/en/end-user-license-agreement-new/

    1. Trump is salivating. He wishes he would have thought of this lol…

  9. Wargaming is only giving reasons to quit playing their games, ZERO reasons to stay.

    1. and here I thought they redeemed themselves a bit with Frontline. Isn’t there another competent video game creator who could give me a good tank game so I could permanently say fuck you WG!

      1. if you dont have the need, to play a team based, strategy tank game, try “Tank Mechanic Simulator” on Steam at Q3 18.
        Its all about finding, restoration and so on for Tanks, and the Dev Team wants to act with the Player Base atm

          2. Well, if they give me the same content i’ve got in my WOT account for free, i sign up and leave WOT. I promise that

    2. already have quit playing any games related to wargaming til this gets fixed to the players base satisfaction ( which will be a cold day in hell before that happens)

          1. But no edit to your article? Not going to change the headline to “TAP to remain illegal”?

              1. OK, so not “TAP to be just as legal as always despite overhyped rumour”/

  11. So they are creating the ability to remove a players account, that potentially has thousands of dollars spent on it, because the player writes something on the internet giving their personal opinion, and if it’s in a negative or potentially damaging light to WG’s reputation (sales), bye bye house deposit that was spent on their game?. Hmmm, are the politics of one nation now bleeding into the rest of the world?.

    I mean, we saw it on SEA server at Christmas with the HUGE xmas decoration boxes scandal.
    For those that aren’t aware, every player from every country in the SEA server region wasn’t allowed to buy xmas decorations in their boxes because it was deemed a form of gambling, and apparently Japan has the MOST OBSCURE law I’ve ever heard of, where gambling for christmas decorations is illegal.

    So all christmas decoration rewards were removed from the boxes that were sold in the premium store, for everyone, NZ, Australia, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, EVERYONE.
    Most obscure because we weren’t gambling for ACTUAL xmas decos, by WG’s own admission above, they are all property of WG. How can you gamble for something you can never own?

    2. it’s not so much gambling, gambling’s legal. What’s illegal is the collection bonus from said gambling. If they had sold complete decoration sets i.e. all Modern or all soviet christmas decorations, it would have been legal. But because it was random what you would get it fell within illegal territory in Japan

  12. Ok, but this is WGNA and they have a bit of a history of doing one thing while WG as a whole holds a different stance on the matter

  13. And people will still spend money on game like nothing really happen. You can riot by stop spending money on game.

  14. >EULA

    EU law will trump over anything that is written in the EULA. You can’t sign away your consumer rights. NA is a different thing entirely, but as I understand TAP is EU based so this thing is worth as much as the toilet paper you wipe your ass with.

    1. Yes, this sort of EULA will be illegal in many countries.

      That said, if WG decides to ban accounts anyway, how easy will it be for EU players affected in this way to actually get refunds or compensation?

      2. I almost want to reverse bait-and-switch WG and get them to ban a few people, then give them a taste of their own medicine.

  15. As always, the big question will be “How are the Russians taking it?”

    I know the Pref MM changes have already generated a 500 page rage thread (!!!) on the Russian forums. But EULA? Russians are probably used to getting screwed over there, but this is so draconian it might even make them angrier.

    And STILL not a single word of reply from WG senior management, when this ongoing fiasco is making even Rubicon look like a minor hiccup.

  16. I will be more than happy to help them to focus on their business in Russia and Russia only.

  17. Sebastianul, your Community Contributor Agreement ( if you have one ) should be read in conjunction firstly.

      1. “I’d have to follow their orders” Thinfoilhat intensifies. But seriously as pointet out this is the WGNA Eula and something similar would be topped by EU law. As long as your site isn´t hosted in the US you shouldn´t have a problem. But calling it “TAP to be officially illegal!” sounds better than “Changes to WGNA EULA does it harm fan sites?”

  18. This will never happen in EU server, unless WG wants to get fined for treating customers unequally.

    Though it is hard to say whether they will impose the EULA on SEA server.

    But one thing is pretty clear: WG is being more and more moneygrabbing, and decides to shut their players off the door, not allowing them to say anything bad about their actions(or you get punished for doing so, or even lawsuits). This is like the worst reaction to criticisms, rather than changing their balancing policies, they say “get fucked if you criticize it”.

    If this EULA ever go on SEA server, I swear I will never put my money to WoT again. “Supporting” has become the past.

    1. Actually I’ve already fined complaints with my local consumer protection agency in the EU. Them making you sign away your ability to refund the purchase of you change your mind is illegal. I expect WG to be promptly taken to court soon(tm).

  19. Whatever you do you have our support. TAP is and will always be great because you do it with passion..

  20. Hello Seb. I think TAP is the best damn WoT news site out there, but i would like to voice some criticism now.
    Since year or so, ads on this website have become more and more annoying, sometimes even malicious. When i visit it with my phone, i’m often stuck in one of those Iphone ads that forces you to close the browser and delete cache.
    Now we have these “WoT account booster” ads all over this place which are very bad in my opinion. It’s even a great risk to give your account data to such people, so in my opinion such ads have no place on TAP. It also makes you look greedy because i’m sure these ads pay more money than reputable providers would pay.
    It’s your choice after all and i wish you all the best for the future and hope TAP will stay the awesome source of information that it is.

      1. I saw them as well. They started to become less apparent recently, but they occasionally do show up.

    2. WordAds is supposed to be a reputable ad provider. Use the RSS feed whenever possible. And also, report that damn ad as much as you can. I talked to WordPress employees about the stupid ads on mobile and they know the issue. I don’t mind if you use adblock if you are really affected by ads.

  21. Never mind that this bullshit will be mostly illegal in the EU (and afaik Seb is an EU citizen and TAP is EU-based), but I don’t really understand what led WG to lose their minds and come up with this crap. Threatening one community contributor with false charges is one thing, however serious, threatening the whole playerbase to scare them into silence and compliance is what banana republic juntas do. I hope that whatever answer the playerbase will give to this latest development, it will be a strong one.

  22. I already got perma banned on their forums for posting that artillery is overpowered.

    You can’t post anything bad about their game.

    1. “You can’t post anything bad about their game.” While half of the forum contains only crybabys who complain about everything. If you think arty is OP just use the thread “The Big SPG Discussion Thread” instead of opening new ones with the same topic.

      1. That topic and the MM topic is only there to bury complaints about the game. The only way to show the magnitude of dissatisfied and angry customers is to create new threads about the same topic which Wargaming knows all to clearly which is why they want them buried in threads no one reads and where it is impossible to get an overview on the actual number of dissataisfieds players and customers Wargaming creates by their hostile business model.
        Wargaming’s fora needs to be spammed to the brim with angry threads, they wont listen obviously being who they are but they will reap the consequences of their actions.

        1. Exactly, they create these monster threads to hide issues because idiots will only post in those specific threads.

  23. In the EU it is considered from the start that all EULA are basically illegal as the end user has no power and no way to negotiate the agreement with the service provider.

    So a shit move like this on the EU servers should be followed by complaints to different customer care organizations functioning at EU level. It is not that hard to find where and how to file a complaint against a merchant using shady and even illegal practices.

    1. That’s why they won’t put the EULA in use in EU server. Europe players are protected under EU laws.

  25. This is the best news site for WoT and if it is forced to be removed I go War Thunder.

  26. Seb my man, just get a better secured host and send a middle finger to WG.
    Those assholes have ZERO respect for the community.
    The game is dieing and they are “fixing” the issue by chasing after people who are making the game better.

    As for monetization, they can block your adsense, but there are alternatives.

    #FUWG

    1. True. Thanks for being here. I remember you from the FTR days, you always gave us the cold hard truth: WG does not care about cheats.

  28. “9.4 If you fail to comply with any of the terms set out in this section, we reserve the right to terminate your license over the Fansite Content and also to close your Account.”

    Haha sure thing buddy.

    First things first, EULA isn’t law.
    Anything in the EULA can be contested in an actual court of law.
    They are allowed to say that you waive your right to sue if you sign the EULA, but that’s horseshit.
    Know your rights. No matter what’s written in the EULA, you can contest it. You can sue.

    Secondly, I don’t recall having to sign a game EULA to start a fansite, that’s insane.

    Thirdly, and most importantly, since your content is journalistic in nature, it is absolutely not subject to copywrite infringment.
    If they strike to copywrite strike your website, you threaten hit them back with a lawsuit and you start a media shitstorm that an originally Belarussian company (for added shit to the storm) is trying to strong arm you into journalistic censorship.

    Not only would that reflect very poorly on them, with some companies / TV channels refusing to air their ads on principle, but since they’re now an EU company, with their heaquarters in an EU country (taxhaven no less), they probably would get a little meeting with an EU business ethics commitee.
    IE: hefty fines.

    In short, know your rights.
    If someone tries to enforce an insane EULA, you can contest.
    If someone tries to censor journalistic content in a game’s EULA (seriousy, what?), lawyer up and contact the press.

  29. Dat fansite thing is total bullcrap.
    It’s Foch / Chrysler all over again.

  30. So it’s a NA thing as of now. Let’s not let it get further away from there.

    1. Nope, it’s there on EU too. Check the EU terms of service 9.3 f) paragraph.

      1. Good thing we ave EU regulations and standards. WG’s ass will be whooped if they pull bullshit like this.

  31. speculations and own opinions should be never a part of a newssite. if you have an opinion… DO NOT PUBLICITY IT. Posting disparaging vids and articles of a company…… fuck that! in my opinion your dumb blog should be banned, your game account closed and your mom get fucked hard…

    2. I disagree, opinion is interesting and I prefer a blog where the author has something to say beyond a copy/paste of a press release. But it should not be presented as fact.

  32. Who cares, it is not like WG knows our in game name anyways. Well WG fuck you and your women, now bunn me I don’t care, you will never know my in game name.

  33. Yo Seb,
    providing there’s no link between this ‘scurrilous’ blog and your account how they ban your wg account? Personally, it just underlines why I keep WoT F2P, I’ve never given them a cent and they’d need the change big time before I do

  34. Stay strong Seb, this is the only site I read about WoT and I really enjoy it. I don’t even know what they are thinking over there in WG HQ. Can’t wait to see what they do to my premiums. I guess paying 43 euros for a tank means nothing to them. Haven’t bought anything for a year from WG, but still, powercreep is one thing, but this?. Ugh.

  36. (a) Courts will and do strike down contractual terms in the EU when they are deeemed “unfair”.
    (b) freedom of the press in the EU is protected by Article 10 of the ECHR subject to
    1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.

    2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

  37. Something very important to note:

    9.2 At some of our Sites we expressly designate certain Content, such as Wargaming game-related images, graphics or artwork and trademarks, as being “for fansite use” (for example see: https://worldoftanks.com/en/news/announcements/world-tanks-fansite-kit/). In this EULA we refer to this specifically designated Content as “Fansite Content”.

    Doesn’t make it much better, but the “Fansite Content” they’re referring to in 9.3 is the fansite kit mentioned here, not them suddenly claiming ownership to all fan-created sites. Their wording could’ve definitely been better here, but still.

    1. They also say:

      10.4.1 any part of the User Generated Content which comprises or incorporates any of our intellectual property rights remains our property and, as between us and you, we own the UGC which you create that is a derivative work of our intellectual property rights;

      but still probably doesn’t hold up against EU laws.

  38. Legitimate fansites will be fine, it’s the ones that steal articles, and are toxic just for the sake of trying to appear relevant that will in trouble….so yeah you’d be as well closing this POS down now.

    1. You can go first since th only thing you post is utter shit anyways.

      But im sure your better at making unbiased websites arent you?

      Considering you come from a species that is infamous for its retardation (something you demonstrate every time you post) and its biased views on everything.

  39. Here’s a question: Where I live in NA, consumer protection law applies if A) The customer lives in my jurisdiction, or B) The business is located in my jurisdiction.

    Now, would the reverse apply in Europe? Since WG is registered in Cyprus, and Cyprus is a full member of the EU, does EU legislation have a similar clause that states EU consumer protection applies against a company located in the EU?

    Because, if so, their EULA carries no weight not just in the EU, but anywhere in the world.

    1. WG is subject to EU Consumer Protection laws. Cyprus is one of the 28 EU members, and WG has it’s corporate headquarters in Cyprus.

      However, there is a “margin of appreciation”. Thus the EU issues a directive, and then member states incorporate it into domestic legislation. Thus although the directive binds all 28 member countries to enact domestic legislation, some countries will make a really rigorous version (even more protection than the directive), and some will maybe pass a watered down version. Thus the UK version is even stronger in consumer protection than was required by the directive. As to the Cypriot version I have not looked.

      Think of it as the difference between Washington federal law, and the laws of each of the federal states of the USA. All 51 states will cover Consumer Protection, but there will be inter-state differences.

      Also I believe the NA servers are run by an NA subsidiary company, that is a separate (but wholly owned) legal entity of WG in Cyprus.

      Terms of the EULA will always be subject to legislation. Courts (whether in the USA or EU) retain the ability to strike down unfair contract terms, or terms which attempt to limit consumer protection which has been granted by legislation.

  40. They are probably preparing to close NA servers. That way WG keeps the money. 🙂

  44. 5.4.ownership of your account…….does that talk about site account or each players account?

  45. Wasn’t it in EULA for a few years by now? Looks like TAP is trying to create drama out of nothing, damn, it certainly never happened before.

  46. Maybe it’s time you start writing about other games. Gaygaming has been going downwards since a couple of years ago. The end is closer than people think. Out of all the players in my clan (we used to be the best romanian clan 4-5 years ago), only 3 or 4 have their accounts still active, and we were a 80+ active members clan. Now, I imagine that’s the situation with multiple other clans and I don’t think the influx of new players have been that strong.

    1. I remember, you used to have even unique forums. Also ODV, one great clan at the WoT beginnings. Will do this and historical articles when WoT news cease.

  47. I guess they’re taking extreme actions to remove negative opinions of WoT so it attracts more players since its player base number has become so stagnant even with update 1.0 which was supposed to bring more.

    Of course I don’t agree with this at all. At first I was a bit frustrated when they remove All Chat and then enforced more bullshit into their Forums but with this it’s clear they’re just going to keep going until they have 100% control over the customers, who keep their shit company alive.

    They’re biting the hand that feeds them.

  48. ToS says………. Changes to the Terms of Service and/or the Forum Rules shall not affect your accrued rights, shall not substantially disrupt the contractual balance between you and us under these Terms of Service and shall not have retroactive effect…………. not have retroactive effect…….. hmmmmmm.

  49. WG playing the “who’s the biggest wanker” card like a pro…

  50. Who cares anyways hehe? If they are affraid they will lose business because people have negative feedback, then maybe they will have to create a better product. If they get more negative feedback than positive it is an indication that their product sucks.

  51. Fuck me. Time to ebay my fucking account while it’s still worth something.

    1. Can’t people just play the game they enjoy? And don’t play if they don’t enjoy it. What’s with all this crying?

  52. The usual buffs of the WG.
    TAP is very useful and well managed. You have all my support.
    Those of the WG have not yet understood that their success depends on the players and the fans, and it takes little to make them angry.

  53. EULA = End User License Agreement

    Where have you agreed or signed to this agreement? I don’t know about US but in EU you just can’t claim you have control over 3rd party websites or to have any saying what they are publishing as long as you don’t violate any laws. Only thing they can affect is the usage of their copyrighted material.

  54. Pingback: Wargaming cracks down on fansites with EULA changes | EPIC Loot Drop
  55. Pingback: Wargaming cracks down on fansites with EULA changes | | Gaming Charity

  56. WG can put whatever they want in the EULA, but good luck defending it in a court of law. Even in the US which has some of the strictest copyright laws in the world, we still have protections in place for fan sites.

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