Gamersfirst, a subsidiary company to K2 Network, a company specializing in the “freemium” or free-to-play business model. Gamersfirst however is a very ironic name to choose for a company of this stature. Such name would imply that this company puts its customers, the gamers, at the highest priority. This name is very misleading based on the business tactics of this company. My first impression of GamersFirst or G1 for short was an outstanding one. I was immediately impressed on their dedication to resurrect and provide us with APB Reloaded when Realtime Worlds Ltd. went under. I first downloaded APB Reloaded on December 9th of 2011. It was in the free-to-play category on Steam. I made one account that night and have been playing on it ever since December 15, 2012 when my account was banned. My impression of GamersFirst has changed drastically over the last year. Upon getting more into APB Reloaded I became aware of users who cheat. These users are known as “hackers” in the gaming community. After reading the EULA (End User License Agreement) for this game from top to bottom I have come across several instances in which I have witnessed this agreement being broken. These users were and have been reported numerous times only to have no consequences placed upon them. I have personally witnessed several conditions of the EULA for APB Reloaded which have been broken or disregarded by multiple users only for them to be given no consequences and continue to play the game at their discretion.
I have noticed hundreds of users who would spam in the built-in game chat. This is very common is the social districts of APB Reloaded where users will advertise a website used for making trading real, physical currency for in-game currency.
The various conditions in which I have seen the EULA broken are listed below. It is unjust that such acts are gone unpunished leaving the users who abide by the EULA to have to deal with these imbeciles. Condition 3.1.2 (b) states that users agree to not: “performing in-game services in exchange for payment outside of the Game (such as power leveling);” If GamersFirst and/or Reloaded employed more game moderators or users to enforce the EULA they would notice the significant amount of players using the in-game chat to advertise or promote a website which is used to process transactions which exchanges in-game money for payment outside of the game in the form of physical currency.
One of the conditions that I have witnessed being broken the most is Condition 3, section 1.4. This states that users may not: “use cheats, automation software (bots), hacks, modifications or any other unauthorized third-party software designed to modify the Game;”
In Condition 9, section 3.4 (a) it states that user may not generate or use any “User Generated Content” that is considered:
“is defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, harmful, abusive, harassing, hateful, invasive of another's privacy, sexually explicit, or offensive (whether in relation to race, sex, religion or otherwise) or denigrating to anyone's reputation or general standing (whether or not actionable);”
On several occasions I have witnessed several violators of this condition. Upon this happening I have taken screenshots these users and/or their user generated content that violates Condition 9 so that GamersFirst and/or Reloaded may punish them at their discretion. On the personal side of my argument, my account was wrongfully banned under GamersFirst and/or Reloaded’s discretion. I have reason to believe that GamersFirst and/or Reloaded has suspected my account to be in violation of Condition 3 of the EULA. I have been playing APB Reloaded on
