D&D Beyond emailed users today to announce that the site’s Terms & Conditions and Privacy rules are being updated.
I’m not a lawyer, can’t give legal advice, but in capital letters at the very top of the page it says;
Arbitration notice: Section 20 includes a binding arbitration provision and class action waiver. Please read it carefully. If you live in the province of Quebec (Canada) or the European Union, section 20 does not apply to you.”
I live in Brexit Britain, so who knows what that means for me, but if you’re in the USA, I think Wizards of the Coast is now saying you can’t join a class action against them.
Some kudos to Wizards of the Coast for putting the capital letters at the top, although the email notification of the change might be accused of lowballing the news ever so slightly. It says;
Updated dispute resolution provision to provide greater clarity as to how disputes are handled, the arbitration process and your options.
The new T&Cs are on a new URL here, but the important charity, Archive.org, has the old T&Cs saved for us.
Again, I’m not a lawyer, but the other changes I notice are:
- Disputes moved from the State of Washington to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (No doubt some clever reader will tell me it’s more expensive or harder to file a claim in the latter state).
- You now have to agree to resolve all disputes through individual binding arbitration handled by JAMS.
- Users no longer have the right to equitable relief, and instead, WotC’s liability is capped at $100.
Importantly, it does look like you can opt out of some of these terms, but you must email [email protected] with a specific “Opt-Out Notice” within 30 days of first agreeing to the new terms. Again, no legal advice here.
I do see a change that favours users. The old section 7.2 said;
You granted Wizards a very broad, perpetual, worldwide licence to “transmit, use, display, share, publish, and otherwise reproduce” your User Content for any reason.
Now, though, the phrase “…for the purpose and to the extent necessary for Wizards to provide the Software and Services.” has been added and seems fairer.
Lastly, I think the old T&Cs were specifically related to D&D Beyond. I think the new T&Cs are a broader version of the Wizards of the Coast ruleset.
Does someone want to tackle the differences in the privacy document?
Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash.
