Legality and community growth

Demonlord wrote:The "Donations" is exactly how they can "Legally" procure funds from this game. If they say outright Sold TG as in Listed XXXTG for $XXX THEN there would be issues.

It should not make any difference whether you call them donations or not. They are selling virtual currency which isn't connected to Diablo 2, and there's nothing illegal about that.

Jampula wrote:
HechtHeftig wrote:Also don‘t forget that Marco once Said they‘re collaborating with Blizzard and as of now we haven‘t seen anything that Blizzard could‘ve provided for Median. So maybe they pay a monthly fee to Blizzrd so they can continue their work? Who knows?

I don't remember that.

ChuckNoRis wrote:it could be that if all the money are transfered as "donations" , not as a payment for something , it's all fine .

Right, but I think that line has crossed to payment.

Celladoor wrote:This game is HARD at endgame if u have subpar gear. And respecs are limited. People want to get to endgame so they dont wanna make mistakes thus they ask for advice.

And it is not true that u have to spend real $ or even participate in the TG forum trade market to get gear. I have a 126xbow nec(LastCharacter on tsw) and I have only a few slots now to fill with BIS gear.

Also, with how oskills work synergistically with other class skills it can get very confusing to someone new to median. It certainly is for me. I personally rolled a sorc(108), a bowazon (122), a barb(122) and a wolf dru(108) before I rolled my necro. The build seemed good.

Anyway... you dont ever have to spend a rl $ to get endgame gear in this game. All u have to do is play and be nice. Have a personality too. Sometimes people will just give u stuff bc u made them laugh. These “items” are at the end of the day absolutely worthless(but most things in life are) and theyre just 1’s and 0’s. Heck, I traded a dude that good SU pally helm last night(the blackguard one) just because ill never use it, he needed it, he is a fellow human trying to have fun in a game, I want people to play and have fun bc then that increases my fun when other people are having fun.

Yeah

You didn't get the point of topic.

Bc the point was not clear. WHAT is the POINT?

Celladoor wrote:
Jampula wrote:
HechtHeftig wrote:Also don‘t forget that Marco once Said they‘re collaborating with Blizzard and as of now we haven‘t seen anything that Blizzard could‘ve provided for Median. So maybe they pay a monthly fee to Blizzrd so they can continue their work? Who knows?

I don't remember that.

ChuckNoRis wrote:it could be that if all the money are transfered as "donations" , not as a payment for something , it's all fine .

Right, but I think that line has crossed to payment.

Celladoor wrote:This game is HARD at endgame if u have subpar gear. And respecs are limited. People want to get to endgame so they dont wanna make mistakes thus they ask for advice.

And it is not true that u have to spend real $ or even participate in the TG forum trade market to get gear. I have a 126xbow nec(LastCharacter on tsw) and I have only a few slots now to fill with BIS gear.

Also, with how oskills work synergistically with other class skills it can get very confusing to someone new to median. It certainly is for me. I personally rolled a sorc(108), a bowazon (122), a barb(122) and a wolf dru(108) before I rolled my necro. The build seemed good.

Anyway... you dont ever have to spend a rl $ to get endgame gear in this game. All u have to do is play and be nice. Have a personality too. Sometimes people will just give u stuff bc u made them laugh. These “items” are at the end of the day absolutely worthless(but most things in life are) and theyre just 1’s and 0’s. Heck, I traded a dude that good SU pally helm last night(the blackguard one) just because ill never use it, he needed it, he is a fellow human trying to have fun in a game, I want people to play and have fun bc then that increases my fun when other people are having fun.

Yeah

You didn't get the point of topic.

Bc the point was not clear. WHAT is the POINT?

No, Seriously?? WHAT IS THE POINT???? Instead of

“YOU DIDNT GET THE POINT”

Why not tell me the actual point? Im sorry. Maybe I didnt. Enlighten me.

Ahh. I get it. Private modders making $ off Bliz entertainment ‘s game? That point was NOT clear in the OP and there were additional things in OP, like needing $ to get endgame gear. Which I addressed. Make your points clear. And maybe if its a legality post(How is this mod legal if the mods make $) then make that the only point.

I obviously addressed one of the “points” in the op so yeah. K. I just ignored the legal one bc idgaf ab it.

Jampula wrote:
HechtHeftig wrote:Also don‘t forget that Marco once Said they‘re collaborating with Blizzard and as of now we haven‘t seen anything that Blizzard could‘ve provided for Median. So maybe they pay a monthly fee to Blizzrd so they can continue their work? Who knows?

I don't remember that.

Well, he said it. I can't find it anymore, since it's been over a year since Marco said it, but here's another post of him clarifying his statement.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=20294&p=190878#p190878

Either way, it's just an assumption. They might as well have just gotten permission to continue MXL without being troubled by Blizz for free.

plts88 wrote:
Demonlord wrote:The "Donations" is exactly how they can "Legally" procure funds from this game. If they say outright Sold TG as in Listed XXXTG for $XXX THEN there would be issues.

It should not make any difference whether you call them donations or not. They are selling virtual currency which isn't connected to Diablo 2, and there's nothing illegal about that.

But, thats the key, they are NOT "Selling" anything. You Donate and as a bonus or perk you also get some TG.

Words matter. Especially in legal context. Just because the end result comes out the same doesn't mean the means by which you get there will be the same. And it makes all the difference they function from "Donations" instead of "Sales". Two totally different things.

Again this mod (And others like it) is one of the veins of this game after all this time. I dont think Blizzard wants the terrible press of a tidal wave of a shit storm that would come if they were to try and fuck with this Mod. Would be like Shooting your own dog for coming back with the stick when you threw it.. And as long as people play D2 in any capacity that means copies will still sell. Blizz loses nothing as it stands only gain.

HechtHeftig wrote:
Jampula wrote:
HechtHeftig wrote:Also don‘t forget that Marco once Said they‘re collaborating with Blizzard and as of now we haven‘t seen anything that Blizzard could‘ve provided for Median. So maybe they pay a monthly fee to Blizzrd so they can continue their work? Who knows?

I don't remember that.

Well, he said it. I can't find it anymore, since it's been over a year since Marco said it, but here's another post of him clarifying his statement.

probably misuse of wording. collaborating infers working together on the game. contacting and communicating isn't collaborating.

@Demonlord

Yes, the wording matters in legal context. Sometimes actions speak louder than words though:
Purchasing tradegold is not donating.

HechtHeftig wrote:Well, he said it. I can't find it anymore, since it's been over a year since Marco said it, but here's another post of him clarifying his statement.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=20294&p=190878#p190878

Either way, it's just an assumption. They might as well have just gotten permission to continue MXL without being troubled by Blizz for free.

That collaboration might be something along the lines of not stepping on their toes and s'all good, like the start of new median ladders not coinciding with bnet D2/D3 new seasons start or something along those lines, who knows.

I'm neither a coder or a lawyer, so I'm not entirely sure about legality, but it certainly seems like the MxL devs have altered a significant portion of the LoD source code. They've also added an incredible amount of new content; enough that MxL (to me anyway) feels like a completely new game.

As for the TG aspect of the MxL forums, I think it's very unlikely that Blizz would attempt to file a suit or shut anything down. Keep in mind that D2jsp has been around since the early days of D2, and Blizz has unsuccessfully attempted to take that site down several times. To be fair, the jsp site has currency for numerous different games, so maybe this forum would be categorized differently. Still, I'm not sure why they'd be more successful taking down the forum for a heavily modded version of their game which uses entirely privately-funded servers.

I don't think Blizz would lift a finger against the MxL devs until their profit margins were actually being affected, and that seems a pretty unlikely scenario until they announce something like D2 remastered in which case most MxL players would probably be playing that anyway.