TURBINE, INC.
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ONLINE®
PREVIEW AND NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
Last updated: June 9, 2009
Thank you your interest in the Preview Program (the “Preview Program” or “Preview”) for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game currently entitled Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Stormreach™, inclusive of any content updates and/or expansion packs, including the free digital upgrade Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Eberron Unlimited™(the “Game”) which is currently under development by Turbine, Inc. (“Turbine”).
Through the Preview Program, we hope to provide you with an opportunity to experience and react to the pre-release versions of the Game before it is generally made available to the public. Please be aware that during the Preview Program, you may see only a portion of the Game or an incomplete version of the Game which may or may not resemble the finally released commercial version of the Game. We hope that you are as excited about this as we are, but we need to talk about the legal terms and conditions of your participation in the Preview Program first.
This document serves as an agreement (the “Agreement”) between you and Turbine with regard to your participation in the Preview Program for the Game. Once you affirmatively accept this Agreement (as indicated below), you are specifically agreeing to all of the terms and conditions set forth herein, and this Agreement becomes legally binding and enforceable against you. Please read it carefully. Make sure you know what you are agreeing to or seek legal advice if you need it.
In consideration of the mutual covenants contained in this Agreement, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, you and Turbine agree as follows:
1. Preview; Eligibility. You will have the opportunity to access and play the Game on a promotional trial basis on our Preview server prior to its general commercial release and take advantage of the ability to provide feedback, suggestions and comments to Turbine, on a voluntary basis and only if you so choose, regarding your game-play experience, including your thoughts as to usability, bugs, overall impressions, improvements to the Game and any other information relating to the Game (the “Feedback”). As a condition of your participation in Preview, you agree to abide by the terms of this Agreement and the Game, Turbine’s Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and the Game Code of Conduct. Your participation in the Preview Program is purely voluntary, and you understand and agree that you will receive no compensation for your participation. You understand and acknowledge that Turbine may use built-in tracking features to obtain information regarding your use of the Game, and agree that this information is the property of Turbine and may be used by Turbine (and/or its affiliates, publishing partners, licensors and licensees) for any purpose, subject to our Privacy Policy. In order for you to be eligible for participation in the Preview Program, you hereby represent that: (i) you are not a principal, agent or an employee of a company that is a publisher, distributor, manufacturer, or a developer of computer or video games (other than Turbine or its affiliates, publishing partners, licensors and licensees); (ii) you are not a member of the press; and (iii) you are a natural person who is at least 18 years of age.
2. Limited License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, Turbine hereby grants to you a limited, non-exclusive license and right to access, download/install, and operate one copy of the Game made available to you from time to time by Turbine solely for your personal use and enjoyment and for purposes of providing Feedback to Turbine at your election. You may not provide access to (including by use of the Game in cyber cafés and the like), share with, or sell, license, or transfer to, any other person in any way the Game, or reproductions of the Game. You may download/install, and operate only one copy of the Game on a single, standalone personal computer. Furthermore, you may not post information or screen shots of any kind of the Game to any website or otherwise publicly display game-play elements of the Game. You may not network the Game or otherwise use the Game on more than one computer or computer terminal at the same time, except that you may, for the purposes of participating in Preview, connect online via the Internet to the Preview server on which the persistent world of the Game is hosted. You acknowledge that the Game is a work-in-progress and may contain certain bugs which may cause loss of data, damage or malfunction of your computer and that Turbine (and its directors, officers, affiliates, publishing partners, licensors, licensees, employees or agents) shall not be liable in any way for any such matters. You understand that Turbine will make available to you for Preview only those portions of the Game which it elects to share in its sole and absolute discretion; therefore, you may not have access to all aspects of the Game.
3. Term. This Agreement shall commence on the date you accept these terms and shall continue in effect until the initial commercial release of the Game, unless earlier terminated by you or Turbine. Turbine may terminate the Preview Program, your Preview rights and/or this Agreement at any time for any reason (including your breach of this Agreement or violation of Turbine’s Terms of Service or the Game Code of Conduct that may be in effect from time to time) or no reason with or without notice to you. You may also terminate your participation in the Preview Program at any time by opting-out of the Preview. Upon termination of your Preview rights and/or this Agreement by you or Turbine, you must destroy all copies of the Game and related documentation and remove any and all elements of the Game from any hard drives on which it has been installed. Your obligations under Paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 and the rights of Turbine (and its affiliates, publishing partners, licensors and licensees) under this Agreement will continue and survive any termination of this Agreement.
4. Facilities. All necessary facilities and supplies, including appropriate computer equipment and Internet connections, shall be supplied by you at your expense and are your sole responsibility. Turbine only agrees to try and provide you with the appropriate software and access codes to the Preview server as may be reasonably necessary in order for you to access the Game solely for the purpose of participating in the Preview Program.
5. Protection of Confidential Information. During the course of the Preview Program, you will have access to non-public information concerning the Game, including, but not limited to, the game design, look and feel, computer software, game concepts, storylines, features, screen shots, characters, graphics, audio, visual images, Turbine points, the “DDO Store,” virtual items, any information, discussions or postings of Turbine or other participants in Preview, any and all Feedback, business methods or other technical or business information which is not generally known and which is proprietary to Turbine (and/or its affiliates, publishing partners, licensors or licensees) (“Confidential Information”). All of the foregoing is confidential and proprietary to Turbine (or its affiliates, publishing partners, licensors or licensees). You agree to treat as confidential all Confidential Information (including your password) of which you become or are made aware in connection with your participation in Preview, regardless of whether it is specifically designated as confidential and regardless of whether it is in written, oral, electronic, or other form. The Confidential Information may include, without limitation, trade secrets, know-how, inventions, game interfaces, technical data or specifications, testing methods, business or financial information, research and development activities, product and marketing plans, and customer and supplier information. You agree that you shall maintain all Confidential Information in strict confidence; you will not disclose or permit access to Confidential Information to anyone other than Turbine (or its affiliates, publishing partners, licensors and/or licensees), or discuss Confidential Information with anyone except within the Game itself or on the Preview boards accessible by logging in with a username and password on http://forums.ddo.com; and will use all Confidential Information only for the purposes of your participation in Preview or playing the Game after commercial release. Your obligations and Turbine’s rights under this Paragraph 5 will continue and survive any termination of this Agreement.
6. Ownership. You agree that all right, title, and interest in and to the Feedback, and any inventions relating to an improvement of or other change or addition to the Game conceived or made as a result of your Preview participation, shall be owned solely and exclusively by Turbine (and/or its licensors, licensees or assigns) and may be used, disclosed, copied, modified, distributed or commercially exploited by Turbine for any purpose. To the extent that any portion of your Feedback is protectable by copyright, patent, trade secret, trademark or other intellectual property rights, you hereby assign irrevocably all right, title and interest in and to the Feedback and such related rights to Turbine. All right, title, and interest in and to the Game remains the property of Turbine (and/or its licensors, licensees or assigns), and is protected by copyright, patent, trade secret, trademark and/or other intellectual property laws.
7. No Alterations/Return of Material. You shall not alter or remove any proprietary legend or notice from any Confidential Information, the Game, or any other material supplied to you by Turbine, or attempt to copy, modify, transfer, decompile or reverse engineer any Confidential Information, the Game, or other such material. Upon Turbine’s request during the term of this Agreement, and upon termination of this Agreement, you agree to turn over to Turbine all copies of the Feedback and all copies of documents or other media in any form, written or electronic, which contain Confidential Information, whether created by you or furnished to you by Turbine.
8. Remedies. You acknowledge that if you breach any of the provisions of Paragraphs 5, 6 or 7, Turbine (and/or its affiliates, publishing partners, licensors and licensees) would suffer irreparable damage. You therefore agree that if you do breach any of these provisions, in addition to provable damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees, Turbine (and/or its affiliates, publishing partners, licensors and licensees) shall be entitled to enjoin such breach and to obtain specific performance of such provisions in any court of competent jurisdiction.
9. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. THE GAME SHALL BE PROVIDED TO YOU ON AN “AS IS” BASIS ONLY. TURBINE (AND ITS AFFILIATES, PUBLISHING PARTNERS, VENDORS, LICENSORS OR LICENSEES) DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, REGARDING THE GAME. ALL WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTY THAT THE GAME IS FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, ARE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED.
10. LIMITATION OF LIABILITIES. TURBINE (AND ITS AFFILIATES, PUBLISHING PARTNERS, VENDORS, LICENSORS OR LICENSEES AND ANY OTHER PARTY WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION, PROMOTION AND MARKETING OF THE GAME) SHALL NOT BE LIABLE, FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER, FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, TORT, CONTRACT, OR ANY DIRECT OR GENERAL DAMAGES, THAT YOU MIGHT INCUR AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF THE GAME. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
11. Miscellaneous. You agree that you are not considered, and shall not represent yourself as, an agent, employee, joint venturer, or partner of Turbine (or any of its respective affiliates, publishing partners, vendors, licensors or licensees). This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of Turbine (and its successors and assigns); however, you may not assign this Agreement, in whole or in part, without Turbine’s prior written consent. You hereby acknowledge that Turbine’s licensors are third-party beneficiaries of this Agreement and have the right to bring an action directly against you for a breach of this Agreement to the extent required to enforce its rights. No waiver of any default, condition or breach of this Agreement shall constitute a waiver of any other default, condition or breach of this Agreement, whether of a similar nature or otherwise. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and you and Turbine both agree to submit to the jurisdiction of, and waive any objections to the venue of, the state and federal courts located in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. This Agreement represents the entire agreement between you and Turbine with respect to Dungeons and Dragons Online:™ Stormreach™ Preview Program.
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ONLINE™ CODE OF CONDUCT
Last updated: February 2, 2009
The Code of Conduct governs player behavior while playing Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Stormreach™ or Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Eberron Unlimited™ inclusive of any content updates and/or expansion packs, (the “Game”) and participating on the Game website at http://www.ddo.com, including the official forums. The Code of Conduct is designed to make everyone’s game experience as enjoyable as possible. Failure to follow the Code of Conduct may result in the suspension or termination of your Preview account without refund of any kind, if applicable,, including, but not limited to, Game client or server software purchases, subscriptions, Turbine points or virtual items purchased at the DDO Store.
1. While participating in the Game or on the official Game website you must respect the rights of others to play and enjoy the Game world as intended by Turbine, Inc. (“Turbine”).
2. You may not communicate any player’s real-world information through the use of the official Game website, Game client or server software or any other means.
3. You may not use or distribute sexually explicit, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive language (including, by way of example, but not limited to, ethnic slurs and religious epithets), content, character names, titles, descriptions, or in-game labels (including, by way of example, but not limited to, offensive or inappropriate guild names, pet names and inscriptions).
4. While playing the Game or participating in related services, you may not exhibit or partake in behavior that is disruptive to the Game’s normal playability, causes grief or alarm to other players, or degrades the service performance or other players’ client software (for example, deliberately using game bugs or loopholes to disrupt the game or dropping excessive items or summoning excessive portals).
5. You may not spam or flood with multiple posts the Game chat or the official website features.
6. You may not impersonate any Game Support Staff member or other Turbine employee, past or present.
7. You may not violate any local, state, national, or international laws or regulations.
8. You may not market, promote, advertise, or solicit products or services within the Game or related website.
9. You may not modify any part of the Game client, server, Game Website, or the DDO Store.
10. You may not advertise the intent to, commit the act of, or facilitate the ability of others to commit the act of, unauthorized selling, buying, transferring or sharing access to any Game account.
11. You may only purchase Turbine points from the DDO Store for your personal use within the Game via your Game account. You may not advertise the intent to, commit the act of, or facilitate the ability of others to commit the act of, unauthorized selling or buying of Turbine points for real-world monetary values or other consideration or the unauthorized transfer of Turbine points to or receipt of Turbine points from another player.
12. You may only purchase virtual items from the DDO Store for your personal use within the Game via your Game account, except as specifically authorized at the point of purchase (e.g., a guest pass). You may not advertise the intent to, commit the act of, or facilitate the ability of others to commit the act of, unauthorized selling or buying of virtual items for real-world monetary values or other consideration or the unauthorized transfer of virtual items to or receipt of virtual items from another player, except as specifically authorized at the point of purchase (e.g., a guest pass).
13. While participating in the Game, both in-Game and through the official Website, you will follow the instructions and guidelines of authorized Turbine staff at all times.
14. You may not form or participate in groups whose ideology is based upon or resembles anti-religious, anti-ethnic, anti-sexual orientation, nationalistic, racist or sexist philosophies.
15. You may not intentionally hide or falsify personal information that is deemed necessary for Game account or website account creation.
16. You may not upload or transmit copyrighted material to any aspect of the Game or related services without the express consent of the copyright holder.
17. You will not attempt to interfere with, hack into, or decipher any transmissions to or from the Game or related services.
18. You will not exploit, distribute or publicly communicate any Game error, miscue or bug which gives an unintended advantage within the Game world. You may report bugs at http://forums.ddo.com/new_bug.php.
19. You may not create, post, use or distribute any utilities, emulators or other third party software tools without the express written permission of Turbine (including, without limitation, macroing programs, botting programs, UI modifications, server emulators, client hacks, map hacks, and data gathering utilities).
20. You may not harass other players or Turbine staff, including by way of example, but not limited to, threats, stalking or abuse of others.
21. You may not post website links or URLs in the game that point to content deemed by Turbine to be inappropriate, including, without limitation, any website links or URLs directed to other commercial products or services other than the DDO Store. You may not post website links or URLs to any materials (including software and other information) that could harm (or is designed to harm) other players’ computers or would allow others to inappropriately access software or websites.
22. You may not use the Game and/or related services for illegal activities. Turbine is not responsible for anything you say (text or voice) in-game or on our chat rooms or forums, or for any consequences that arise from what you say. If you break the law, you alone will be responsible for the consequences.
23. Although the Game is a role-playing game, you may not claim “role-playing” in defense of any violation of the Code of Conduct.
24. You may not conduct surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, chain letters, junk email, spamming or any duplicative or unsolicited messages (commercial or otherwise).
25. You may not defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others.
26. You may not post or upload files that contain viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, corrupted files or data, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of the Game or other users’ computer.
27. Except as expressly authorized by Turbine and for authorized transactions via the DDO Store, you may not advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services for any purpose, unless the Game specifically allows such messages.
28. You may not falsify, delete or disable any copyright management information, such as author attributions, legal or other proper notices or proprietary designations or labels of the origin or source of software or other Content.
29. You may not restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Game or related services. For example, disrupting the flow of chat in chat rooms with vulgar language, abusiveness, hitting the return key repeatedly, inputting excessively large images so the screen goes by too fast to read, use of excessive SHOUTING (all caps) in an attempt to disturb other users, “spamming,” or “scrolling” (continuous posting repetitive text), are prohibited.
30. You may not harvest (in an automated manner) or otherwise collect personal information about others, including e-mail addresses, or use such information to send unsolicited emails.
31. You may not use, download or otherwise copy, or provide (whether or not for a fee) to a person or entity any directory of users of the Game and related services or other user or usage information or any portion thereof.
32. You may not attempt to get a password, other account information, or other private information from a member or any other user of Game and/or related services.
33. You may not improperly use in-Game support or complaint buttons or make false reports to Turbine administrators.
34. You may not use a bulletin board or other Game-related service in any manner other than for personal communication as an individual user (i.e. not as a corporation or other entity).
35. You may not use the Game websites, services or software to resell or make any commercial use of the Game websites, services or software, Turbine points, virtual items or the DDO Store, or otherwise commercially exploit the same, without the prior express written consent of Turbine.
36. You may not use the Game and/or related services for fraudulent transactions including, without limitation, fraudulent in-Game virtual transactions.
Note: Turbine has final say over what constitutes a violation of this Code of Conduct. Turbine reserves the right to change the Code of Conduct at any time. Check the DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ONLINE™ website (http://www.ddo.com) periodically for updates to the Code of Conduct.
Remedies to inappropriate behavior:
A player who violates the Code of Conduct may be warned by Turbine staff, but some particularly serious violations or repeated violations can result in other sanctions, such as a lockout or permanent ban, without warning.
In addition, Turbine reserves the right to delete characters or entire accounts as we see fit, without warning, for certain violations.
All chat in the Game or Game website may be logged and may be reviewed at any time to assist in making decisions regarding violations of the Code of Conduct. This includes, but is not limited to, private chat, fellowship chat and allegiance chat.
If you understand the terms of the Preview and Non-Disclosure Agreement and the Code of Conduct and these terms are acceptable, please indicate your agreement and your intent to be legally bound by them by affirmatively accepting the terms where indicated. We hope you enjoy your Preview experience.
