path: root/license

S2 Games Heroes of Newerth Account Terms of Service

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THIS SOFTWARE IS LICENSED, NOT SOLD. BY INSTALLING, COPYING OR OTHERWISE USING
THE GAME (DEFINED BELOW), YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO
INSTALL, COPY OR USE THE GAME.

Heroes of Newerth (hereinafter "HoN") is composed of the software program, and
any files that are delivered to you by S2 Games, LLC (herein referred to as S2
or S2 Games), via on-line transmission or otherwise, to "patch," update, or
otherwise modify the software program, as well as any printed materials and any
on-line or electronic documentation (the "Manual"), and any and all copies and
derivative works of such software program and Manual (collectively, the "Game")
and is the copyrighted work of S2 Games, LLC and its subsidiaries, affiliates or
its licensors.  The website, http://www.heroesofnewerth.com, all related sites,
online play environments, including but not limited to S2 servers, and related
activities in and of S2 Games, are the sole and exclusive property of S2 Games,
LLC. Your use of S2 games and services is subject at all times to these Terms of
Service (TOS), or Privacy Policy (PP) and/or our Beta Policy (BP) which are
incorporated herein by reference. 

The Game is distributed solely for use by authorized end users according to the
provisions of this TOS. Any use, reproduction, modification or distribution of
the Game not expressly authorized by the terms of the TOS, or without the prior
written consent of S2, is expressly prohibited.

If you have questions about the Terms of Service, please contact us by sending
an email to TOS@s2games.com 

1. Heroes of Newerth Online Account Registration

In order to use the service and the Game, you will be required to establish a
separate account (your "Account") on S2's centralized account system. When
creating these accounts, you may be required to provide S2 with certain personal
information, financial information and an unused Authentication Key provided to
you by S2. You agree that you will supply accurate information to S2 when
requested, and that you will update that information promptly after it changes. 

A.	During the registration process, you may be required to select a unique
username and a password (collectively referred to hereunder as
"Login Information"). You may not share the Account or the Login Information
with anyone other than as expressly set forth herein. S2 will not ask you to
reveal your password or ever initiate any contact with you asking for your
reminder words. (If you forget your password, you can tell us your reminder
words and we will send you your password.)

B.	NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY HEREIN, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND
AGREE THAT YOU SHALL HAVE NO OWNERSHIP OR OTHER PROPERTY INTEREST IN THE
ACCOUNT, AND YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ALL RIGHTS IN AND TO THE
ACCOUNT ARE AND SHALL FOREVER BE OWNED BY AND INURE TO THE BENEFIT OF S2. 

C.	S2 MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY, OR DELETE ACCOUNTS AT ANY TIME FOR
ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU. For purposes of
explanation and not limitation, most account suspensions, terminations and/or
deletions are the result of violations of this Terms of Service.

D.	You are solely responsible for all activity on your Account and for the
security of your computer system. You agree to indemnify and hold S2 harmless
for any improper or illegal use of your Account.

S2 does not recognize the transfer of S2 or HoN accounts. You may not purchase,
sell, gift or trade any Account, or offer to purchase, sell, gift or trade any
Account, and any such attempt shall be null and void. S2 owns, has licensed, or
otherwise has rights to all of the content that appears in the Game. You agree
that you have no right or title in or to any such content, or any other
attributes associated with the Account or stored on the Service.

2. Content

S2, our Members, our affiliates, and our independent content providers provide
most of the Content on S2. S2 does not pre-screen all Content. You bear the
entire risk of the completeness, accuracy or usefulness of Content found on S2.

Strong vulgar language, hate speech, crude or explicit sexual references,
discussions of illegal drugs, terrorist plots, and subversive behavior are
inappropriate Some game play and chat rooms may involve use of stronger language
than others, including mild expletives. Always use your best judgment in online
conduct. If you would not say something in a room full of people you have never
met, or in the workplace, don't post it on our message boards or chat.

S2 does not endorse, approve, or prescreen any Content that you or other users
communicate on the Service. S2 does not assume any responsibility or liability
for Content that is generated by Members or other guests on S2. We reserve the
right to remove Content that is objectionable to us for any reason. This
determination is in our sole discretion, and is final. S2 does not assume any
liability for any failure to remove, or any delay in removing Content.

If we removed Content that you created, we may send you a warning. If it's a
serious offense or you've violated our rules before, we may ban you from
participating on S2 and terminate your Account.

3. Online Conduct

Online conduct should be guided by common sense and basic etiquette. The laws
that apply in the offline world must be obeyed online as well. We have zero
tolerance for illegal behavior at S2. You must also obey rules for use of third
party tools, and rules of interactive service providers, state, local, federal
laws, or foreign or international law where appropriate. Ignorance of the law is
no excuse. We terminate use of the Game and any related services and cooperate
with law enforcement for illegal behavior.

You agree that you will be personally responsible for your use of HoN and the
Service and for all of your communication and activity on the Service, including
any Content you contribute, and that you will indemnify and hold harmless S2.,
its affiliates, employees, officers, and directors from any liability or damages
arising from your conduct on S2, including any Content that you contribute.

The following rules are not meant to be exhaustive, and S2 reserves the right to
determine which conduct it considers to be outside the spirit of the Game and to
take such disciplinary measures as it sees fit up to and including termination
and deletion of the Account. S2 reserves the right to modify this Terms of
Service at any time.

You will violate the Terms of Service if you (or others using your Account) do
any of the following:

** Harass, threaten, embarrass, or do anything else to another Member or guest
that is unwanted.

** Transmit or facilitate distribution of Content that is harmful, abusive,
racially or ethnically offensive, vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory,
infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, or in a reasonable
person's view, objectionable. Hate speech is not tolerated.

** Impersonate another person (including celebrities), indicate that you are an
S2 employee or a representative of S2.

** Upload any software or Content that you do not own or have permission to
freely distribute.

** Promote or encourage any illegal activity including hacking, cracking or
distribution of counterfeit software.

** Post, transmit, promote, or distribute Content that is illegal. 

** Upload files that contain a virus or corrupted data.

** Post messages for any purpose other than personal communication, including
without limitation advertising, promotional materials, chain letters, pyramid
schemes, or make any commercial use of our Service.

** Use or distribute "auto" software programs, "macro" software programs or
other "cheat utility" software program or applications.

** You must obey all applicable laws, regulations and rules wherever you are on
the Service. This includes rules for use of third-party technology and content,
rules of interactive service providers, and federal, state, local and foreign
laws where applicable. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. The laws that apply
in the offline world must be obeyed online as well. We have zero tolerance for
illegal behavior on the Service. We will cooperate with law enforcement in such
matters.

** You will not exploit any bug in S2's product to gain unfair advantage in the
game and you will not communicate the existence of any such bug (either directly
or through the public posting) to any other user of the Service.



If you encounter another user of the Service who is violating any of the Rules
of Conduct described above, please report them using the "Help" or
"Report Abuse" functions of the Service.

4. Commercial Activity and Unsolicited E-mail.

You may not advertise any goods or services on S2. Chain letters and pyramid
schemes are not allowed. You may not use any area of S2 to collect information,
including login names, about S2 Members, and use of such information to send
unsolicited e-mail or for any other purpose is strictly prohibited. You may not
exploit S2, or any games or services offered on S2 for any commercial purpose.
Any violation of these provisions can subject your S2 Account(s) to immediate
termination (or result in revocation of Guest status, if you are a guest) and
further legal action.

5. Changes to the Terms of Service Agreement, the Game or S2 Services and
Servers.

S2 reserves the right, at its sole and absolute discretion, to change, modify,
add to, supplement or delete any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement
at any time, including without limitation access policies, the availability of
any feature of the Game or the Service (including S2 servers), hours of
availability, content, data, software or equipment needed to access the Game or
the Service, effective with or without prior notice; provided, however, that
material changes (as determined in S2's sole and absolute discretion) will be
disclosed as follows: S2 will provide you with notification of any such changes
through a patch process, or by email, forum posting, postal mail, website
posting, pop-up screen, or in-game notice. If any future changes to this
Agreement are unacceptable to you or cause you to no longer be in compliance
with this Agreement, you must terminate, and immediately stop using, the Game
and the Account. Your continued use of the Game following any revision to this
Agreement constitutes your complete and irrevocable acceptance of any and all
such changes. S2 may change, modify, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of the
Game, including but not limited to adding or subtracting S2 game servers, at any
time. S2 may also impose limits on certain features or restrict your access to
parts or all of the Game without notice or liability.

6. Alpha / Beta Policy

If you have been selected to the alpha or beta program for any of S2's products
you do so under the following express conditions:

Alpha/beta tests are strictly confidential. The games, including information
about features and functionality to be offered as part of the games, are
confidential. If you participate in a alpha/beta test, you will use your
best efforts to safeguard and to prevent unauthorized access to, copying,
disclosure, and unauthorized use of the beta games. In addition no recordings,
no screenshots, no assets grabs of any type will be permitted. You will carry
out the testing personally and not provide access to beta games to any other
person. You agree that breach of the above confidentiality obligations will
cause irreparable harm to S2, and S2 is entitled to (in addition to any other
remedies available to it) ex parte injunctive relief without bond to prevent the
breach or threatened breach of your obligations. In addition, your retail
account for Heroes of Newerth will be terminated immediately.

By starting an alpha/beta game, you agree that: Playing alpha/beta games is at
your own risk and that you know that the games may include known or unknown
bugs, Any value or status indicators that you achieve through game play may be
erased at any time, S2's TOS applies to your use of the games during the testing
phase, and, you will keep all information about the alpha/beta games
confidential as stated above and not disclose such information to any other
person. User's Computer Information. When you connect to S2 for the alpha/beta
test, we will retrieve information from the computer used to log onto the beta
test about the computer's hardware system and any data related to the computer's
operation of S2. We will not collect any personal information about you,
however, without your knowledge and consent as stated in our PP.

7. Disclaimer of Warranty

THE GAME AND THE SERVICE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND S2 DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE
GAME OR THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE
CORRECTED, OR THAT THE GAME OR THE SERVICE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL
COMPONENTS. S2 EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY
PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

8.  Limitation of Liability.

NEITHER S2 NOR ITS SUBSIDIARIES, LICENSORS OR AFFILIATES SHALL BE LIABLE IN ANY
WAY FOR DAMAGE OR LOSS OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM (A) THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO
USE THE GAME OR SERVICE INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK
STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION; (B) THE LOSS OR DAMAGE TO CHARACTERS,
ACCOUNTS, STATISTICS, INVENTORIES OR USER PROFILE INFORMATION;
OR (C)INTERRUPTIONS OF SERVICE INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ISP DISRUPTIONS,
SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE FAILURES OR ANY OTHER EVENT WHICH MAY RESULT IN A LOSS OF
DATA OR DISRUPTION OF SERVICE. IN NO EVENT WILL S2 BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE
ELSE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.

9. Indemnification

Upon request by S2, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless S2 and its
affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, contractors, officers, directors, vendors,
and content providers from all liabilities, claims and expenses, including
attorneys' fees, that arise from a breach of these Terms of Service for which
you are responsible or in connection with your transmission of any Content on
S2. S2 reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense
and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you. In that
event, you shall have no further obligation to provide indemnification to S2 in
that matter. This Section shall survive termination of this Agreement.

10. Ownership of Materials

All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Game
and all copies thereof (including without limitation any titles, computer code,
themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialog, catch phrases,
locations, concepts, artwork, character inventories, structural or landscape
designs, animations, sounds, musical compositions and recordings, audio-visual
effects, storylines, character likenesses, methods of operation, moral rights,
and any related documentation) are owned or licensed by S2. The Game is
protected by the copyright laws of the United States, international treaties and
conventions, and other laws. The Game may contain materials licensed by third
parties, and the licensors of those materials may enforce their rights in the
event of any violation of this License Agreement. In addition any and all
properties created by end users or third-parties become property of S2. Any
attempt to turn user created properties into commercial properties is expressly
forbidden and will result in ex parte injunctive relief without bond to prevent
the breach or threatened breach of intellectual property rights.

11. Termination.

This Agreement is effective until terminated. You may terminate this Agreement
by terminating the Account and deleting the Game. In the event that you
terminate or breach this Agreement, you will forfeit your right to any and all
payments you may have made for game access to HoN. You agree and acknowledge
that you are not entitled to any refund for any amounts which were paid on
behalf of the Account prior to any termination of this Agreement. S2 may
terminate this Agreement with or without notice by terminating the Account for
violations of any provision of this Terms of Service Agreement. The provisions
of this Agreement relating to ownership of the Game and all related activities,
content, choice of law, indemnification and confidentiality shall survive any
termination of this Agreement.

12. Refunds

No refunds will be provided that are requested more than 30 days after original
purchase date. During open beta and retail launch you may request a refund
within 30 days of purchase and a refund will be granted only if you DID NOT
login and access the game client.

13. Governing Law.

Except as expressly provided otherwise, this Agreement shall be governed by,
and will be construed under, the Laws of the United States of America and the
law of the State of Michigan, without regard to choice of law principles. The
application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International
Sale of Goods is expressly excluded. This Agreement shall be interpreted to give
maximum effect to the terms and conditions hereof.  Those who choose to access
the Service from locations outside of the United States, do so on their own
initiative contrary to the terms of this Agreement, and are responsible for
compliance with local laws if and to the extent local laws are applicable.

14. Miscellaneous.

If any provision of this Agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason
unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this Agreement
and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining
provisions. This Terms of Service Agreement is the complete and exclusive
statement of the agreement between you and S2 concerning the Service, and this
Agreement supersedes any prior or contemporaneous agreement, either oral or
written, and any other communications with regard thereto between you and S2.
This Agreement may only be modified as set forth herein. The section headings
used herein are for reference only and shall not be read to have any legal
effect.

I HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE FOREGOING TERMS OF
SERVICE AGREEMENT AND AGREE THAT MY USE OF THE GAME AND THE SERVICE IS AN
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MY AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS
TERMS OF SERVICE AGREEMENT.