Oh. Another person who results to insulting just because we hold different view points. How could I not have read what others have said, if I responded to the very things they said? Get out of here if you have no intent of discussing this politely or constructively.

"The same could be said for Spiral Knights. Once you pay, you get a P2P status account. Like Steam, would you not also be subscribing to OOO in this way? I realize the ToS is different but the situations are very similar."

Thanks for actually posting this, though. The situations are indeed very similar - but also, as you say, the ToS are different. If it all comes down to terminology again (which is what this entire debate is about), we'd have to know whether or not OOO considers a P2P account a "subscriber". If so, then yes, their original statement is faulty.

If you have a single ounce of common sense and know even the slightest thing about MMORPGs then you should understand that a subscription would mean, well, exactly what the definition of subscription is.

3 : an arrangement for providing, receiving, or making use of something of a continuing or periodic nature on a prepayment plan: as
a : a purchase by prepayment for a certain number of issues (as of a periodical)
b : application to purchase securities of a new issue
c : a method of offering or presenting a series of public performances

There is no requirement of a subscription needed to enjoy the entirety of the Spiral Knights experience. Now if it said no PAYMENT is required, it would be another ball game entirely, but it does not.

I don't care if this has been said a thousand times, it's no less wrong.

That's the whole point of advertising the game as a free to play, and having content that is unlocked through purchase does not depart from the conventional free to play definition.

Plus, now I actually realised it says subscription, not payment, the page is technically accurate, and therefore doesn't actually need to be changed.

The slip of words is negligible at best. They're not really doing anything illegal, just annoying. Nobody is suffering from it, and if you consider being slightly disappointed because you clicked on a page and had to wait for it to load before seeing a fee you're not forced to pay to be "suffering," re-evaluate yourself.

Concerning the legality of it, here's the deal: false advertising is only an issue if you're forced into some kind of payment or any other legal red zone (such as leaking user information after promising not to.) Spiral Knights touts itself as free and isn't, yeah, but OOO is not scamming you. You're not required to give any sort of credit card info or anything before signing up and they have no means of withdrawing money from your account without your consent. There's no foul play going on here. The players shouldn't be angry about such a thing at all, none of us are really being "screwed" in any way and there's been no dancing around fine print that I can see. We could look for loop holes all day, but it isn't going to solve anything. At worst, OOO is just hurting themselves with this by gaining a reputation as "slightly annoying." Players aren't being hurt, so it's really OOO's discretion to fix it.

There's no reason to challenge it because nobody is getting hurt. This isn't "evil." I've already explained why. Nobody is suffering from it and there's not a single legal red zone being breached here.

It's fine to point out a grammatical flaw, an overlooked logic loop, or something else that could damage the company's reputation, but there's really no basis for argument here. Not a hint of foul play in sight.

(Before you point it out, I realize your post wasn't directed at me. I'm simply supplying a reasoning in general.)

But that doesn't need to change. You don't need to pay a subscription to play everything, even the DLC. It's a one-time purchase. How is this so hard to understand?

Actually, you don't need to make a single payment to become a Steam subscriber.

You become a subscriber of Steam ("Subscriber") by installing the Steam client software and completing the Steam registration.

You just need to install Steam. I understand that my definition is not the only one, but it is the one that applies to this situation. On another note, we are talking about Three Ring's definition of a subscription, which I think would be defined by the gaming industry as a recurring payment required to access content (as in my definition). I'm not going to sit here and argue terms of service and semantics with you. The statement leaves no room for interpretation and doesn't need to be changed. The only reason this thread exists is to gripe about something that needs to just get dropped and would have been infinitely more effective if it had been sent in as a support request.

I agree that it's misleading. But that's marketing for you. Just hold out until Nick finds a way for non-Steam users to trade it for CE.

That's a good point Nodocchi.

Just because something can possibly be misinterpreted does not mean it is misleading in nature. If you want to argue that angle than any word ever spoken or typed is misleading and false advertising. If this were to somehow go to court, does anybody honestly think OOO would be found guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, of false advertising and forced to change that wording?