EULA Confusion

[Kess]

There's 2 things I'm a bit confused about that I'm not sure of. I'm have a really hard time understanding reading words for some reason, and I don't just mess with legal stuff. I have to know what I'm saying yes to.
-It mentions the Acceptable Use Policy and "certain out-of-game conduct", but I'm having a really hard time finding the AU Policy. Is it saying that they can delete someone's account (or worse, sue?) if they don't like something they said? What "out-of-game" behavior are they talking about?? Is it the Guidelines for Derivative Work/Gameplay and Streaming pages? (This is brought up at the bottom of the first page)
-5.4 says they can monitor use of services and reference the Privacy Policy in terms of how they're watching activity. But the Privacy Policy link just takes me to the Palworld page on their site with no indication of where I can find it, so I can't look into what they mean by that. I know it's probably a stereotypical unnecessary worry, but are they collecting info I don't know about?
(I page searched and looked around for both Policies, so I didn't just give up without trying.)
---On the side, they mention anti-hacking... are they disallowing mods by extension? Or is there some way people will be able to mod more crazy stuff without setting off alarms? Unless I'm being smart-deficient and hacking only means threatening another's pc safety.

I have over 400 hours and it's one of my favorite games. I'd be so sad if some legal stuff happened that made it risky or dangerous. Really hoping I'm just mis-reading the legal talk, it's a very intimidating subject for me.
And, sorry for the novel. Any clarification is very much appreciated

[Kess]

Ah, I see - thank you I figured it was another case of overthinking and paranoia! Very nice to know they didn't turn around and take a page from the book of... Nintendo

Back to farming for inefficient and unhelpful goals at less than a percent chance for step 3!

[[Myuu] 9 Neneko]

Day 1 player here, is 5.4 on the monitoring part mainly for multiplayer or does it also include singleplayer? That is what I am most curious off tbh

[Kess]

Oh, someone had answered and now it's gone... unless there's a glitch not showing the answer?
The EULA doesn't actually mention single player, but it does say "both on our servers and your device" to prevent "hacking and toxic behavior"
The original answer said it was to check for things like impossible kills
Unfortunately I don't recall what they said about the out-of-game behavior one

[[Myuu] 9 Neneko]

I see, I still hope that the game wont get removed from our libraries if something happens.. I love my pals and shame for everyone of us if we completely lose access to the game completely...

[drakeloreroar]

Originally posted by Myuu 9 Neneko:

I see, I still hope that the game wont get removed from our libraries if something happens.. I love my pals and shame for everyone of us if we completely lose access to the game completely... :ALdrinkemoji:

Pretty sure it will be fine. Even in the event of the worst-case scenario all they can do is prevent the future sales or maintenance of the game and it can only really apply to Japan. N would have to do it again in each region in turn and they don't have nearly as much sway in the US and EU/GB.

[Kess]

Originally posted by drakeloreroar:

Pretty sure it will be fine. Even in the event of the worst-case scenario all they can do is prevent the future sales or maintenance of the game and it can only really apply to Japan. N would have to do it again in each region in turn and they don't have nearly as much sway in the US and EU/GB.

That's nice to hear. Trying to patent things that aren't even their ideas is ridiculous. I wonder how mad they are that the US patent person denied an "interview", according to what I'd heard.
By trying to deny mounts in games, doesn't that nullify every horse game in existence? And probably a lot of farming games that let you ride a horse to travel faster? Sounds like a great idea that won't trigger any backlash whatsoever...

[[Myuu] 9 Neneko]

Originally posted by drakeloreroar:

Originally posted by Myuu 9 Neneko:

I see, I still hope that the game wont get removed from our libraries if something happens.. I love my pals and shame for everyone of us if we completely lose access to the game completely...

Pretty sure it will be fine. Even in the event of the worst-case scenario all they can do is prevent the future sales or maintenance of the game and it can only really apply to Japan. N would have to do it again in each region in turn and they don't have nearly as much sway in the US and EU/GB.

I see, that is reassuring to know~ I actually been making backups of the game every major and slightly major update. Even with my saves I have a backup before loading it post an update. I tried checking the wayback machine on the EULA and the steam page and found only a EULA relating to the Unreal Engine code. We actually indeed owned the game til they (or possibly influenced by Sony(?) to) change things.. It too back then did not contain any "we will track your activity" kind of thing til now

Well, for as long as we dont have to make an account to play or for as long as we can play the game offline and can be singleplayer (unlike the CN Palworld clone). All things are smooth sailing I suppose

Edit* changed "rip off" to "clone". rip Miraibo Go, never even had a chance to get a wiki.

[drakeloreroar]

On the topic of EULA concerns i suspect the changes are likely due to the addition of Pal Transfer and would probably only apply to online play and specifically official servers.

I expect the data collected would just be checking your transfer box before logging into a server to make sure you aren't trying to download hacked, modded, or genned pals. Or trying to do something more nefarious with the system. All of this is already covered by the Steam ToS anyway but since the game is cross-platform now the redundancy is probably for the other versions.

[Thornwood]

Although I do not currently use mods, I was also wondering if mods are no longer allowed or what is the process for Pocketpair to authorise use of a mod?

For single player, a blanket ban of mods seems overly restrictive, particularly when you replay the game and want to vary the experience.

Extract from EULA listing breaches of the Code of Conduct:
"5.2.3. use cheats, automation software (bots), hacks, or any other unauthorized third-party
software designed to modify the Services;"

[Astasia]

Originally posted by Thornwood:

modify the Services;

Offline isn't a service. Services means their servers. They can't ban anything for offline play, they have no control over it, they can't remove the game from your library or prevent you from playing it. Like they physically do not have the ability to remove games from your library, Steam doesn't have that feature and never well, and blocking individual users from running the application is against the Steam developer rules, they are only allowed to block from connecting to their servers if any.

You can do literally anything you want to the application on your device if you only play offline (and in some cases don't share your changes, generally common sense on that one). Mostly all the above rules are about preventing people from cheating on official servers, or making and uploading server cheats for other people to use, or potentially explaining to people how to do specific server exploits (as an example of "out of game conduct").

[[Myuu] 9 Neneko]

Makes sense, so dedicated server plays or private server plays can be hosted the way the players of their servers I guess. I have a separate world where I have the pal spawn/randomizer mod that I turned into a "Flambelle and friends uprising".

I don't play on official servers or any server tbh, I play the game as a relaxing pass time game

[Caradog]

Originally posted by Kess:

take a page from the book of... Nintendo

!

But they have taken so many pages from them....

Waiting for the monster hunter wild update, after they took that inspirational day off.

[[Myuu] 9 Neneko]

Originally posted by Caradog:

Originally posted by Kess:

take a page from the book of... Nintendo

!

But they have taken so many pages from them....

Waiting for the monster hunter wild update, after they took that inspirational day off.:dip:

What makes me concerned the most is the "transactions" part of the EULA. I am still betting on Sony on these EULA changes. Let's all enjoy the game while it is still the way as it is for now I guess before it goes all "corpo" on us. If the hackers on official public servers are going to be dealt with better it would be nice since a cousin of mine and his friends stopped playing after a hacker deleted all their pals and deleted their base too.

[Thornwood]

Originally posted by Astasia:

Originally posted by Thornwood:

modify the Services;

Offline isn't a service. Services means their servers. They can't ban anything for offline play, they have no control over it, they can't remove the game from your library or prevent you from playing it. Like they physically do not have the ability to remove games from your library, Steam doesn't have that feature and never well, and blocking individual users from running the application is against the Steam developer rules, they are only allowed to block from connecting to their servers if any.

You can do literally anything you want to the application on your device if you only play offline (and in some cases don't share your changes, generally common sense on that one). Mostly all the above rules are about preventing people from cheating on official servers, or making and uploading server cheats for other people to use, or potentially explaining to people how to do specific server exploits (as an example of "out of game conduct").

It does not say on Palword's own servers.

Mods are 3rd party software.

I was under the impression that most (if not all servers) were owned or rented by players.

I use mods on Valheim. While mods are allowed, when Valheim detects a mod, it displays a message disclaiming any responsibility for mods. If the game knows, then it can be reported. Common sense is that Palworld can detect and report mods.

Since single player has the option to enable multiplayer and invite people to play, is the single player also running a process/service to create a server on your pc to run the world?

In Windows Task Manager, Microsoft lists many processes running on your computer as services.

[WillowFae]

Originally posted by Myuu 9 Neneko:

Originally posted by Caradog:

But they have taken so many pages from them....

Waiting for the monster hunter wild update, after they took that inspirational day off.:dip:

What makes me concerned the most is the "transactions" part of the EULA. I am still betting on Sony on these EULA changes. Let's all enjoy the game while it is still the way as it is for now I guess before it goes all "corpo" on us. If the hackers on official public servers are going to be dealt with better it would be nice since a cousin of mine and his friends stopped playing after a hacker deleted all their pals and deleted their base too.

It's 100% Sony implementing most of the EULA. I even quirked an eyebrow at the "Payment" section where it said we would be consenting to authorized and unauthorized transactions.