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There Was a Secret Reward Hiding in Divinity: Original Sin's New EULA

Apparently some people do read them.

36 Comments

It seems like a safe assumption to say that most people blindly agree to the End User License Agreement (or EULA for short) when installing new games without reading it. Divinity: Original Sin developer Larian Studios used the launch of the game's new Enhanced Edition to test this theory out and found that there are at least some people who do give the legalese-laden text a look.

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In a post on its Facebook page (via Quarter to Three), Larian revealed that it hid a secret in the EULA for Original Sin's Enhanced Edition to see who would find it. Under a section labeled Special Consideration read the following: "A special consideration in material or immaterial form may be awarded to the first 100 authorized licensees to actually read this section of the EULA and contact LARIAN STUDIOS at info@larian.com. This offer can be withdrawn by LARIAN STUDIOS at any time."

And indeed it has been withdrawn, as enough people discovered this to satisfy Larian's curiosity.

"We're telling you now because the results are in and it turns out that you in fact do read these things," the studio said. "Our lawyer feels good about this."

We don't yet know what the special consideration is that those who discovered the notice will receive. We also don't know what would drive these people to read a EULA in the first place and if they also read all of the fine print when buying simple household appliances. It's possible they cheated and used a tool to compare the text without examining it themselves, but whatever the case, we'll report back if we hear what they end up receiving.

Original Sin's Enhanced Edition debuted on Tuesday on Xbox One and PS4, as well as on PC, where it's a free update for those who already own the game. It introduces a staggeringly high number of changes, adding controller support, a new crafting interface, voiceover for all dialogue in the game, and much more. Meanwhile, a full-on sequel is currently in the works thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign.

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Avatar image for deactivated-5ffeb39311bd2
deactivated-5ffeb39311bd2

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"It's possible they cheated and used a tool to compare the text without examining it themselves"

If they cheated that would suggest they knew there was something to cheat about, which would mean they had to have read the new EULA in the first place to know there is a difference between it and the first one which would prompt them to start cheating which would be useless, because they had already read the new one anyway. So in conclusion i doubt anyone used a "tool". Someone actually DID read the whole thing and kudos to them.

Conspiracy theorists... pfft...

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dementedlullaby

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Edited By dementedlullaby

A sample size of 100 isn't anywhere close to the numbers you'd need for concluding that "people read them". Especially when people can post or e-mail their friends "hey look what I found in the EULA! Go, go e-mail for l00tz!". Sorry Larian.

This is from someone who does indeed read EULA agreements. But has not gotten around to deleting the old one and installing Enhanced yet on Steam.

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Deathproofx

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I clicked I accept and all I got was a welcoming party for my face to someones butthole.

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UrbanMessiah

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I hate lawyers who write out EULAs and TOS...they deliberately pile on as much convoluted legal jargon and take 5 paragraphs to say what would take a non lawyer 5 sentences at most to convey. That drives me crazy, makes me want to show them how most people not in the legal field feel.

Once, a few attorneys came into my ER with one of them complaining about shooting pain in their foot. One examination and X-ray later and I concluded it was a hairline fracture in their ankle, but once I found out they were lawyers, I was soooo tempted to tell them with the most drawn out, longest explanation filled with technical terms no one outside of the medical profession is likely to understand without the web to help them, and then write out a 10 page damn near small novella of hyper detailed instructions for treatment for them to suffer thru. But I didn't...realllllly wanted to, but didn't.

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Tr4newreck

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@UrbanMessiah: because the law has to define everything to the tiniest wild tangent... it has to take into account every possible outcome and explicitly guard themselves against it...

the law should be accessible, but its not...and its like that on purpose, your access to justice is only as good as the lawyer you can afford

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UltimateBastard

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@UrbanMessiah: why do you think everyone hates lawyers?

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dementedlullaby

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@UltimateBastard: *Until they need one

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Leria

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The fact is that EULA's are only not read because they are too damned L O N G. They need to be cut down to at most a page or two in 14 point font.

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yoda101280

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well generally you've already paid the money so reading the EULA is more of an afterthought. Like every time apple release an update you have to agree to their ToS or EULA...what like I'm going to say no all of sudden and not be able to access my device like I need to.

Same thing with online games, whenver they release expansions or something they'll usually have you reagree to the EULA, what are you going to say no? Not like they're going to refund you any money if you do.

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Leria

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@yoda101280:

Good point. We really need a law that says if the EULA changes substantially for a game, that we have the right to get at least some of our money back unless the EULA change is coming a few years (2-3) after the game is released.

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berserker66666

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If South Park's HUMANCENTiPAD episode taught us anything, EVERYONE should read EULA's.

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Winterstar

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As an attorney, I always read the Licensing Agreements.

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hystavito

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@Winterstar: Have you ever found something in the agreement of a game you paid money for that made you decide to say no and just not play it?

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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I read the EULA's. I have a trick though: I only read the first line of the paragraph. That's usually enough to give you an idea of what the paragraph is about. I then skim through the rest.

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Salt_AU

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Only one read it and posted it on (no pun intended) Reddit.

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

Neat!

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Renunciation

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I wasn't one of the EULA readers, but I'm happy enough that the Steam version recognizes my DualShock4 controller without the need for any additional software (such as InputMapper or DS4Windows).

The button & trigger icons in the game match up, too.

And it was FREE ('cause I'd already bought the original edition) <3

Very happy.

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lostn

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Edited By lostn

@Renunciation: Do you know of any other games that recognize it? Does it show up as Xbox button prompts, or PS prompts? Does DS4Windows trick Windows into thinking your DS4 is an Xbox 360 controller?

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Renunciation

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@lostn: I don't know of any other games that recognize it, no --- but I should say that I don't play a lot of different games. I usually stick with a dozen or less games per year, as I'm usually fond of games I can sink a lot of hours into.

With the DualShock4 controller plugged in, D:OSEE shows PS prompts. (YAY!) To reiterate, there's no need for additional software while using DS4 to play the game.

DS4Windows does trick Windows into thinking your DS4 is an Xbox 360 controller, but it doesn't work with some more-recent AAA games when using Windows 10. Same with InputMapper, which I was using to play Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 in Windows 8 -- but it quit working properly after "upgrading" to Windows 10.

DS4Windows and InputMapper still do work with other games on Windows 10, though. Tested with Abyss Odyssey, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Skyrim.... no problems at all. Xbox 360 controller prompts show.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@Renunciation: And I'll bet Xbox controllers work just fine with Windows. Still anti-competitive, MS?

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Renunciation

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Edited By Renunciation

@Barighm: I could be wrong, but I think it falls on Sony's shoulders to develop drivers for their DS4 to make it fully functional on PC... and they haven't done so.

Likewise, it also falls on MS's shoulders to create a controller I'd actually want to use. I'd consider using one if they simply switched the positions of the D-pad and the left analog stick. Until they do that, I'm not buying or using one.

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grove12345

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I know that the original version was already reviewed by these sites. But please put out a new review. I think this game deserves more awareness for the console

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sladakrobot

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Where is the review?
IGN gave it a 9.
I am bit shocked about the price here in Germany...its 55€ :-(
Wasteland 2 DC costs around 40€

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Akabuu

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Edited By Akabuu

@sladakrobot: you buying it on console?

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sladakrobot

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Edited By sladakrobot

@Akabuu: When the price is right,yes.

I am console gamer afterall :-)

I played Sim City on the SNES,Loom and Dungeon Master on the PC Engine,Discworld 1+2 and X-Com EU on the PS1,Sacred 2,Torchlight and Witcher 2 on the X360...there many other games i dont remember right now i played on consoles which was originally released for PCs

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Akabuu

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@sladakrobot: Id say price has always been better on PC, especially nowadays.

I'm from europe as well and haven't seen the console price here in Portugal yet but damn, sucks that consoles get the game only now and for that price when I, on pc, bought the original version for less than 30€ and now received the enhanced edition free.

I always recommend buying games for pc, especially if it's turn based games like this one.

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sladakrobot

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Edited By sladakrobot

@Akabuu: I never saw a pc as a gaming device so when i got my pc(built it) gaming,graphics or specific benchmarks wasnt a focus.
All i do on my pc is watching vids,listening music playlists or surfing trough the net...well i played WoT 2 years ago on it and it did its job pretty ok.
For me gaming was always tied with consoles.

I think the price of 40€(like Wasteland 2) would be reasonable but 55€ is very surprising to me.
Ill wait till its reduced on price or when its on a special sale.
Wasteland 2 will be my way to go soon.

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Thanatos2k

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Edited By Thanatos2k

@sladakrobot: Original version got a 9 and Game of the Year from Gamespot, so just assume it's even better than that.

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UltimateBastard

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@Thanatos2k: Still kinda boggles the mind how they gave it PC GOTY but gave a multi platform game overall GOTY

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Thanatos2k

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@UltimateBastard: Gamespot has never exactly been competent.

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UltimateBastard

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@Thanatos2k: Yeah, but unless they where stringing it together in the space of 10mins, how they overlooked that never made sense to me.

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Pyrosa

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...yet you guys haven't reviewed this nor Wasteland 2 DC yet.

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chuckles471

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@Pyrosa: Wasteland 2 is broken as hell. You can't even switch companions without losing them. Probably for the better that it's delayed.

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Stebsis

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@chuckles471: ...Why? If there's a major problem isn't it all the better to review it and inform people about it?

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PatsFan

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@Pyrosa: Probably come out 4 weeks later.

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deactivated-5962a4d2614f8

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More like one person read it and posted it on the internet

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