Hi All, I am working on a title 'Global' which I is nearing commercial release. I am starting to think about the legal aspect, and in particular End User Licencing Agreements (EULA). Is there an 'Industry Standard' EULA out there that can be used or do I have to pay a lawyer to roll my own? Thanks Dave

There are probably websites that have predrafted ones available, maybe for a price. You should probably consult an attorney though.

Here you go:
http://www.weblawresources.com/Software_package.htm

I cannot comment on that, because I know nothing about it.

On a sidenote, however, from looking at your screenshots I see you are using the batallion as the basic military grouping. If you want to keep it historically accurate in that respect you should probably use the term 'division'. A division is a significantly larger group, but during WWII and subsequent wars it has become the basic benchmark of troop strength. (IE: a large number of divisions in an area denoted high troop density)

Thanks smitty for the link. I did consult my Lawyer who quoted $3000.

On the point of Division v Battalion. Each Army may have 100's of component units. The thinking was that these more closely reflect Battalions in size than Divisions.

My understaning is that an Army - is comprised of a number of Divisions (usually less than 10), which in turn are comprised of Battalions. Can you think of a better term to describe this 'Strength'.

The term Battalion also breaks down when applied to naval strength so I am happy to do away with it if I can come up with a better alternative.

Sorry to further the stray from the legal aspects of game developement, but on the battlion issue, read these entries in wikipedia and then think of which you'd rather use. Personally, I like the 'Company' name.

Battalion
Division
Company
Platoon

It really depends on how many individual soldiers you imagine having. The problem with the batallion is that historically it has meant a number of things. During the time around the American Revolution until just before the Spanish-American war (using these as examples for easy comparison) the batallion represented basically any grouping of troops smaller than or equal to a regiment (which itself typically consisted of -- upon formation -- 10 companies each of approximately 100 man strength) assembled for easy micromanagement in battle. After that time, it became basically synonomous with a regiment. During and after WWI the batallion became the functional battlefield equivilent of what a regiment used to be, with the regiment becoming functionally and numerically equivilent to a brigade.

The term devision, however, has always represented the next functional unit smaller than an army (a corps of the time mentioned above roughly equals an army today). While the number of component soldiers has varied, the actualy unit definition really hasn't.

I'm afraid that the term division typically isn't applied to navies either. Sorry about that.


Sorry for the nitpicking, but it is 1AM and I have nothing better to do besides bring up obsure matters of historical significance and attempt to apply them to a computer game. [grin]


[[EDIT]] A Company is and always has been a very small unit. What's more, its funtional role has dramatically changed over the years. A company used to represent a chunk of a regiment with virtually no functional independance of its own, but now it represents a largely independant unit which largely micromanages itself.

You may want to try Briffa in London. They're handling our contracts, and they're very professional, and very reasonable. It's actually a pleasure to deal with them (unlike some of the snotty local firms here in Notts :-p).

When arranging an EULA (or indeed any contract) for international use, typically they'll either use California or UK law. The contracts themselves specify an agreement to be bound by the terms of the contract under a particular set of legislature.