How to verify of legitimacy of copy? How to proof it's illegal one?

[CrimsonInTheBottle]

Hello,
1th I want to point out that i already bought Rimworld on steam.
A day before that i get screw over by some guy who was selling a code for rimworld.
Code turned out to be discount code on his store on website selz, where he uploaded copy of game files.
He claims that this is legitimate copy, but i'm pretty sure it's not. I think that he is selling just copy of files, without any license.

So my question is how do I proof this?
I may need some more official statement than my words to 3rd party - online auction house who is judging our disagreement.
Sth like, "every legal DRM free copy of game can has been linked to one email, and it's owner is always able to use unique download link from ludeon website."

Or something else, I dunno honestly.
I appreciate your help,
And sorry for my grammar.

[Calahan]

There are only two three places where a legitimate copy (ie. license) of RimWorld can be purchased. Here on the Ludeon Studios website. Or on Steam. Edit: Or on the Humble Store. Anywhere else that is selling the game is doing so without permission, and regardless of what they say or claim. If they claim they are selling legitimate copies RimWorld then they are simply lying and attempting to defraud you (and probably others).

In order for something to be done about this website / person that is illegally selling copies of RimWorld.

- If it's being sold through a website then Tynan (the guy behind RimWorld / Ludeon Studios) would need to know what website is illegally selling the game. So providing a link to the website and/or the page of that website where RimWorld is being sold should be a sufficient place to start.

- If this person is selling the game by other means such as on message boards, auction sites (EBay) or through a social media site, then again some sort of link will be needed to try and put a stop to it.

- If it's all happening through private messages or text messages etc. then it will be very hard if not impossible to stop, and the only real option then is to try and ensure nobody is tricked into thinking they are purchasing a legitimate copy of the game (which will also be difficult).


- If you are in some sort of payment dispute (which it sounds like you are) because you are trying to obtain a refund on your Credit Card / PayPal account (or likewise payment service) due to being defrauded into thinking you were buying a legitimate copy of the game (when you were not). And to do so you and/or the 3rd party online auction house (judging your dispute) needs proof that RimWorld can only be purchased legitimately through Ludeon Studios or Steam, then the best option would likely be for you to obtain an email address where this proof can be sent and then I'll email Tynan and ask him to send a message to that address confirming all of this.

I do not know of any "proof" I can direct you towards that officially confirms what I have said above. Most people know you can only purchase RimWorld from Ludeon Studios or from Steam (edit) or from the Humble Store, but I don't think that is officially stated anywhere. Or if it is, then I don't know where it is stated.


Edit/update. Since posting this I have learned that RimWorld is also available on the Humble Store (which will be a Steam key and not the DRM-free version).

[nccvoyager]

@CrimsonInTheBottle, according to the dispute information on the Selz website, you can supply emails and the like as evidence in your favour.

Sending the RimWorld EULA to Selz may also support you, since the seller you were buying from is (probably) not a distributor authorized by Ludeon.
https://ludeon.com/rimworld/EULA.txt

Providing any information you can about the seller here would make it easier to provide assistance in acquiring a statement supporting your claim.

@Calahan, much as it seems like common sense, I would suggest to you that a suggestion be made to Tynan that he puts up an official statement declaring that RimWorld can only be bought from the RimWorld website or Steam.
(Best place would probably be ludeon.com/support or ludeon/com/faq IMO.)

IIRC, an old version of the EULA mentioned that licenses can only be bought from authorized distributors, though it doesn't seem to be there now, and "authorized distributors" were never actually defined.
(My memory could be failing me. It has been over the last few weeks.)

[CrimsonInTheBottle]

Thank you for your replays,
I'll post links to auctions and description after i end my discussion(get my money refunded or go for customer safety program)
I want to ask in advance, should i put here 2 links - to selz and to allegro (my country ebay-like site), or should I pm it to mod?

[nccvoyager]

If it is links to the seller's store/page/shop then I'm post them here.
If it is contact information (like an email address) provided by you or provided by the website you are attempting to make the dispute with, then I'd PM it to Calahan.
Don't want that sort of information floating around.

[Calahan]

Thank you for your replays,
I'll post links to auctions and description after i end my discussion(get my money refunded or go for customer safety program)
I want to ask in advance, should i put here 2 links - to selz and to allegro (my country ebay-like site), or should I pm it to mod?

I've been in contact with Tynan and RimWorld being sold on auction sites (such as Ebay or Allegro) is a constant problem, but unfortunately not something that anything can really be done about.

If someone is selling RimWorld on an auction site through their store page or something similarly prominent/permanent, then Tynan can likely file a DMCA request with the auction site to shut their store page down, or at least make them remove RimWorld from it. But if RimWorld is being sold on an auction site as an individual item then there's pretty much nothing that can be done about it (as it stands auction sites don't really care about copyright infringement because they get their cut of the sale either way. And will likely continue this way until the various laws are updated and enforced).


So in regards to your fake seller. If they have a store page you can provide a link to where they are claiming to be offering legitimate copies of RimWorld for sale, then please PM me the link to this store page (and I'll pass it on to Tynan). If it's just a one-off individual auction item then you can still PM me the details, but to be honest there's probably little point because there is nothing that can be done about it.

Although if the seller has a visible and checkable history of selling illegitimate copies of RimWorld in the past (I don't know how checkable seller history is on Allegro. Or Ebay for that matter) then there might be some action that can be taken to prevent them doing it again in the future. But if it's a one-off item then once again there's nothing that can be done (in theory the auction site should be checking a user has permission to resell whatever copyrighted material they are selling before allowing it to be placed on sale. But they don't because that would come with considerable costs, plus from their perspective it would also be pointless so long as the law doesn't care enough about it to enforce any consequences).