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Acenoid
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 798

Old July 11th, 2014, 07:28 AM
Hello there!

There were a few threads I was participating in, regaring the cloud usage and market place terms & conditions. Though nothing specific was known a the time, I thought to bring up this request, as there are maybe others, who share the interest to buy / sell / download / upload content, but do not require the synchronisation functionality that the cloud offers - for example because their players would never connect to the GM's realm.

So in short I would like to be able to download and buy & upload and offer contents on the market place when the functionality becomes available without having the cloud prerequisites.
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Silveras
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Old July 11th, 2014, 05:15 PM
I don't speak for LoneWolf, but I think this is unlikely to happen.

Why?

1) The enabling of the Marketplace and Repository is part of the reason for the cloud to exist. It is not incidental.. it is the core of the design. As I understand the process, the content will exist on the cloud server.. purchasing it will "unlock" if for your use (add it to your account), and the cloud mechanism allows you to update your PC just now you can have 2 or more PCs with the same content by syncing them.

2) I am sure that some of the concerns that LoneWolf is addressing with their potential partners include preventing piracy. The Marketplace and Repository are designed to address that, and the use of the cloud for delivery allows LoneWolf to respond to reports of piracy there. Other means of transferring content opens additional possibilities for piracy, and might prevent some publishers from participating.

Having said that, enough demand may change the circumstances, but it would have to be an overwhelming demand to justify a change to something so central to the protection of delivered content.
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Acenoid
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Old July 12th, 2014, 04:44 AM
Hi!

Thank you for the response.

But I don't think that this can be the reason. Contents that you have bought earlier will surely not dissappear just because you stop using and paying for the cloud? Also what happens if you start editing this new content integrate / modify it to your liking. I think if you buy it you will get the whole "content tree" placed into your realm and then you can do whatever you like with it (no need to meantion that you need to follow terms & conditions & fair use).

I would have no problem to use an "online cloud" for piracy reasons activation wise etc w/o the synchronisation. I can still make backups and restore in case I would need that functionality.

I have (at the moment) difficulties to understand why I should pay a monthly fee just to be able to walk through a virtual warehouse - even if I don't want to buy anything yet or if I just want to buy one particular thing.

Furthermore for me it is probably very complicated to use the cloud at all, the initial payment of the product was already a bit "complicated" :P ( But this would be no unbeatable challenge though)

I hope my posts do not sound too unfriendly or greedy, I like the product as it is now just having some concerns about this.
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Silveras
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Old July 12th, 2014, 02:34 PM
As I understand it, when you sync your new purchase, you will get everything pulled to your local system. Rob has indicated that a purchased copy will have "pointers" referring to the master in the cloud. Unless you change something, there will be no space taken up in your cloud-based copy of the purchased (or shared) Realm.. but it will take up local space on your PC when you sync that down.

At issue here is that any other means of adding data to the local database offers opportunity for piracy. For the same reason, I don't think there will be file-based import/export functionality for transferring Realms (there are other challenges that make file-based import of data difficult, but that's a different topic).

As soon as there is a way to export a Realm to a file, pirates will be looking for ways to remove identifiers from the files, and they will be available on the net.

The cloud serves several purposes.. off-machine backup, means of transferring content to players with Player Edition, means of allowing web-based access for Players, and means of transferring purchased/shared content. I think LoneWolf is hoping that the collective benefits of these purposes are attractive enough for people to accept the cost of the Cloud Service, but they are realistic enough to know that it will not be equally attractive to everyone. Some people, for various reasons, will not find it attractive enough. The monthly fee is meant to cover the multiple uses.. one reason that people will not find the deal attractive enough is that they don't have continuing needs.

I would not characterize it as needing the cloud to browse a virtual warehouse. A closer metaphor is to say that in order to purchase your "appliance" you must also accept the vendor's delivery and installation as part of the package.. it is not offered as a do-it-yourself kit.

I think Rob mentioned something about needing to allow people to stop and re-start their Cloud Service subscriptions in the future; perhaps a small surcharge at the time of purchase to allow a one-time sync without subscription would be a workable alternative? Or they may already have alternative plans "to be announced". The key, I think, is that delivery outside the cloud sync is unlikely, so some means to enable that for people who do not want recurring subscriptions may need to be worked out.

As for the tone.. no problem there. And no hostility intended in my responses.
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