Effective Date: November 14th, 2023
TERM OF SERVICE FOR “The Desolation”
- Stratosphere Games GmbH
1.1. Stratosphere Games GmbH is a company registered under the register number HRB 166363 at the court of Berlin-Charlottenburg (“Stratosphere”) and is located in Ackerstraße 3, 10115 Berlin, Germany. Stratosphere can be contacted via email at info@stratosphere.com. Stratosphere is the sole legal owner and operator of “The Desolation” for Windows PCs and cloud gaming devices as well as the website https://www.thedesolation-online.com(hereinafter: “Game”).
1.2. The use of the Game on any platform or channel is exclusively subject to the following general terms and conditions unless the terms and conditions of the respective platform or channel contain deviating regulations. Any user’s general terms and conditions will not form part of this contract.
1.3. These Terms of Service may be accessed, downloaded, stored and printed at any time by visiting the official website under https://thedesolation-online.com/en/terms-and-service/.
1.4. All copyrights, rights of use and other intellectual property rights relating to the Game, the software (launcher and Game software) and the service rest with Stratosphere or are protected in favor of third parties. - Game Service
2.1. Stratosphere offers to consumers who accept these general terms and conditions the opportunity to access and play “The Desolation” by using the official client software or any authorized cloud gaming service.
2.2. In order to play the Game the user needs to connect to the game service (“Game Service”) operated on Stratosphere’s servers. Playing the game therefore requires an ongoing internet connection which may cause additional separate costs from the costs for playing the Game.
2.3. The use of the Game Service requires a registration for different services, all of which do not require any payment of any fee for such registration:
a) Every user needs to register an account with Stratosphere subject to the terms of these Terms of Service.
b) Every user needs to register an account with Xsolla who manages our ingame purchases which are paid with official legal currencies. Such registration is subject to Xsolla’s separate terms and conditions. More information can be found here: https://xsolla.com/legal-agreements
c) If the user intends to purchase any NFTs (non-refundable tokens) or make any payment of ingame purchases with crypto currencies, the user needs to register an account with OpenLoot. Such registration is subject to OpenLoot’s separate terms and conditions. More information can be found here: https://openloot.com/terms-of-use.
2.4. Stratosphere may make access to the Game Service or to certain content preliminary or permanently dependent on the ownership of certain NFT. In such case the user requires an account with OpenLoot (see above Section 2.3 c)).
2.5. To play the game via other channels or platforms (e.g. Steam, cloud gaming platforms) the user may be required to create an account with the respective platform and accept the terms and conditions of the platform in addition to the terms of service of Stratosphere.
2.6. The Game Service is only available to individual consumers who are 18 years old or older. Companies, legal entities, entrepreneurs or other non-individuals are excluded from the Game and all other services provided by Stratosphere. Using the Game for commercial purposes is prohibited with the exception of journalistic reviews, let’s play’s or unless otherwise agreed in writing between the parties.
2.7. When registering for Stratosphere Account from the game Launcher or the website certain personal information including the e-mail address and password will be requested. The user confirms that the e-mail address belongs to him and that he is reachable via this address (the use of one-way addresses or trash mails is prohibited and may lead to the deletion of the account). Additional information, e.g. to increase the security of the Account may be requested in Stratosphere’s reasonable discretion. These terms are accepted and the contract is concluded when finishing the registration for the “The Desolation” by clicking the Button “Finish Registration”.
2.8. The user will be granted the choice of a display name which will be visible for all other users when playing the Game or using the Game Service. Such name may not be identical or similar to any living or dead person and may not be sexual, sexist, xenophobic, hateful or in Stratosphere’s reasonable discretion inappropriate. Stratosphere may change any inappropriate name in is own discretion. Such display names will also be used in any public leaderboard provided by Stratosphere.
2.9. All users are solely responsible to acquire, install and operate any software required for using the Game aside from the Game’s client software (e.g. Microsoft DirectX, OpenGL, graphics or audio drivers). Stratosphere does not provide technical support for any such installations. All additionally required software is listed on the Game website: https://www.thedesolation-online.com
2.10. The Game requires a certain minimum hardware as well as certain driver and operation system versions, which are published on the website of the Game from time to time.
2.11. The user is entitled to terminate his/her account for the Game / Game Service at any time in his/her sole discretion. In case of termination the user will not receive any refund for unused Virtual Currency, Premium Features or services with a remaining term. Provided that the storage of data is not required by law, any data stored about the user is deleted within 30 days after termination and cannot be restored. If the storage of data is required by law, the data will be blocked and deleted upon end of the legal storage period.
2.12. Stratosphere endeavours to keep the Game as constantly available as possible, however Stratosphere does not warrant any specific availability for the Game as availability is subject to many factors outside of Stratosphere control. Unannounced maintenance may be necessary, e.g. due to hacking attempts, viruses, critical errors in the software etc., so that Stratosphere can not warrant availability at certain times. Stratosphere will use best efforts to announce any unavailability of the service in advance and may announce certain regular maintenance windows during which the Game Service will be unavailable.
2.13. Stratosphere is entitled but not obligated to make changes to the Games that go beyond what is necessary to maintain conformity with the contract pursuant to Section 327e (2) and (3) German Civil Code (BGB) and Section 327f German Civil Code (BGB). Reasons for modifying the Games are adaptation of the Games to new technical environments, increased user numbers or changes required for other important operational reasons, as well as improvement of the user experience, in particular by adding new content. - Premium features and services
3.1. Aside from the payment of an initial purchase price, using the Game is free-of-charge for registered users; however certain virtual items, content, features, services and functions as well as certain virtual in-game currency (“Virtual Currency”) may be subject to payments (“Premium Features”). Such Premium Features can either be purchased from Xsolla or OpenLoot. Also some Premium Features may be available for payment with Virtual Currency.
3.2. Stratosphere may make Premium Features only available for a certain limited period of time. The necessary details on the respective Premium Features, the pricing, functions and possible additional requirements are available on the ingame shop of the Game operated by Xsolla or OpenLoot whose terms and conditions will apply for any purchase.
3.3. Virtual Currency can only be used exclusively for payment for Premium Features as a part of the Game and Stratosphere will not pay out any balance to any user.
3.4. Premium Features shall be provided to the User within 24 hours after the conclusion of the respective contract unless stated otherwise.
3.5. Stratosphere may from time to time and in its sole discretion provide users with free Virtual Currency or free Premium Features, for example as a reward for achieving certain goals as part of the Game or for promotion. Purchased Virtual Currency will take priority over free Virtual Currency when buying Premium Features. Free Virtual Currency will only be used once all purchased Virtual Currency has been used.
3.6. Whenever Stratosphere provides Premium Features or any other features free of charge, Stratosphere shall have no legal obligation to continuously provide such Premium Features or other features and may remove those at any time in its reasonable discretion.
3.7. The user is not permitted to sell, rent, assign or transfer his/her Account, Virtual Currency or Premium Features as well as any virtual items (non-premium) available in the Game to any third Party. This shall not limit any trading options that are available in the Game which do not include any real or crypto currency transaction. For the avoidance of doubt this shall not limit any sale of any NFT purchased from OpenLoot. As a result, the parties agree that no rights and claims resulting from this agreement may be assigned to any third party. This shall also include any service offered to users to acquire certain achievements, virtual items or other advantages in the Game for a real currency payment. - Duties and obligations of the user
4.1. Stratosphere may publish rules of conduct from time to time which reflect the standards of behavior for users playing the Game. The rules of play/conduct are updated periodically and the user will be notified of changes by email with reasonable advance notice, unless the provisions concerning changes to the Terms of Service specified below apply.
4.2. The user will keep all access information for the Game strictly confidential and is not allowed to grant any other person, not living in the same household, access to his Account. Similarly the user is not permitted to use the account of another user. If a user suspects or learns that a third party is in possession of access data, he/she must notify Stratosphere immediately. Stratosphere is entitled but not obliged to disable the user’s account and/or change the access data, if it learns or suspects access by any third party. An account may be disabled for as long as is necessary to protect the user from unauthorised access, to determine its source and provide for the security of Stratosphere technology and websites. Stratosphere will notify the user of any disabled account. If the user enables any third party to access the Game or other services of Stratosphere as a result of intent or negligence on the part of the user, the user shall be fully liable towards Stratosphere for any damages or purchases caused by such third party.
4.3. The user is not permitted use any software directly or indirectly affecting the Game, its operation (e.g. so called “Bots”) or the data transfer between the user or Stratosphere or to use mechanisms (physical or digital), software, scripts or other similar means which will gain advantage over other users not using such additional mechanisms. The use of equipment, software, scripts and any other mechanisms which allow automated game play and/or game control, database queries or any other manipulation of its game servers and databases is strictly prohibited. The user also agrees not to exploit programming errors for personal gain where identifiable as such.
4.4. The use of the Game Service for or in connection with commercial purposes (e.g. dissemination of advertising for third party games, sale of virtual goods) is prohibited unless such use has been expressly permitted in writing by the Provider in advance. For the avoidance of doubt, this does not include video influencers using the Game Service for the production of content, which is not prohibited but subject to separate conditions by Stratosphere.
4.5. Also prohibited are any activities in connection with the offers that violate applicable law, infringe the rights of third parties or violate the principles of the protection of minors. In particular, the following actions are prohibited:
4.5.1. the posting, distribution, offering and advertising of pornographic content, games, services and/or products that violate youth protection laws, data protection laws and/or other laws and/or are fraudulent;
4.5.2. the use of content that insults or defames other users or third parties;
4.5.3. the use, provision and distribution of content, games, services and/or products that are protected by law or encumbered with third-party rights (e.g. copyrights) without being expressly authorised to do so.
4.6. Furthermore, the following activities are also prohibited, irrespective of any possible violation of the law, when using the offers as well as when communicating with other users (e.g. by sending personal messages):
4.6.1. the distribution of viruses, Trojans and other harmful files;
4.6.2. the sending of junk or spam mails as well as chain letters;
4.6.3. disseminating lewd, offensive, sexually explicit, obscene, discriminating or defamatory content or communications, or content or communications that promote or encourage racism, bigotry, hatred, physical violence or unlawful activities (whether explicitly or implicitly);
4.6.4. harassing other participants, e.g. by making multiple personal contacts without or contrary to the reaction of the other participant, and encouraging or supporting such harassment;
4.6.5. soliciting other participants to disclose passwords;
4.6.6. soliciting other participants to disclose personal data for commercial or unlawful purposes;
4.6.7. posing as a representative of Stratosphere or its partners;
4.6.8. distributing and/or publicly reproducing content available in the Games, unless this is expressly permitted by the respective author or expressly made available as a feature of the respective Game. - User generated or uploaded content
5.1. Stratosphere may, at its sole discretion, provide users with a functionality to upload and making available to the public their own content, data or information (hereinafter collectively “User Content”) dedicated to be used by the uploading user itself and/or any other user of the Game, however, limited to the use within the Game, the Website or the Community Forums. “Community Forums” include any social media page operated by Stratosphere, online messaging boards, chats, like Discord or any other digital environment operated by Stratosphere that allows users to exchange digital content. Stratosphere reserves the right to limit the storage capacity of User Content that is uploaded by users.
5.2. Stratosphere does not claim any ownership rights in the User Content. Users continue to retain any such rights that they may have in the User Content, subject to the limited license granted to Stratosphere as described hereinafter. By uploading User Content on, through or in connection with the Game and/or the Community Forums, users hereby grant to Stratosphere a limited non-exclusive license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, making available to the public, reproduce, and distribute such User Content (including, but not limited to underlying musical works) solely on, through or in connection with the Game and/or the Community Forums and via other channels operated by Stratosphere or by third parties on behalf of Stratosphere. This entitles Stratosphere to use User Content only in connection with the Game and its mechanics and the Community Forums. By this limited license user does not grant Stratosphere the right to sell the User Content. After a user has removed User Content from the Game, Stratosphere will cease distribution as soon as technically possible, and at such time when distribution ceases, the license will terminate automatically. Notwithstanding the foregoing, users that upload or publish User Content understand and agree that once its uploaded or published User Content is used by another user in the Game or on social networks, Stratosphere shall be under no obligation to delete or request users to delete that User Content, and therefore this User Content may continue to appear and be used indefinitely.
5.3. The license you grant to Stratosphere, as described above, is non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable to the extent described above, and worldwide.
5.4. With respect to the User Content the publishing user represents and warrants that: (i) he owns the User Content or otherwise has the right to grant the license set forth above, and (ii) the posting of the User Content on, through or in connection with the Game does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contractual rights or any other rights of any third person or entity. The uploading user agrees to pay for all royalties, fees, penalties and any other monies owing any third person or entity by reason of the use of User Content published on or through the Game and/or the Community Forums.
5.5. The user will indemnify Stratosphere against all costs (including reasonable legal fees) and claims (including claims for damages) made against Stratosphere by third parties due to the violation of their rights by Stratosphere’s contractual user of User Content. Such indemnification shall not be applicable if the user did not cause the infringement of third party rights at least by negligence.
5.6. The user shall be fully responsible for User Content published on or exchanged via the Game or any other Stratosphere services, e.g. Community Forums. Stratosphere will not preapprove User Content. However, Stratosphere may refuse to post any User Content for any or no reason. Should Stratosphere becomes aware of any content that is in violation of any laws or infringing any third party’s rights, Stratosphere is entitled to disable or delete any such User Content at its own discretion. Stratosphere may at any time remove the option to publish, store or otherwise use User Content.
5.7. The user may not publish, store or transmit any User Content that is in violation of any law or agreement. This includes in particular abusive, sexist, pornographic or racist content or any other content that Stratosphere may reasonably consider immoral or inappropriate. The user may not (a) disturb other users, for example with spam messages, chain mails or unsolicited advertising, (b) infringe any third party’s (intellectual) property rights, (c) engaging in or promoting unfair competitive practices, and (d) use the Game or the Community Forums for commercial communication or advertising. Except as provided within this Agreement or by express permission of Stratosphere, users may not copy, modify, translate, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, display, sell or otherwise use any third-party User Content.
5.8. Any video content produced by users using the footage of the Game and the Game Service and made available as User Content in the Game or the Community Forums may, in addition to the rights detailed above, be used by Stratosphere in original or modified form for advertising the Game and the Game Service in all media, without limitation or any remuneration. - Liability
6.1. Stratosphere shall only be fully liable for damages resulting from injury to life, limb or health or for intentional or grossly negligent conduct and fraud.
6.2. In cases of slight negligence, Stratosphere will only be liable if an obligation has been breached, the fulfilment of which facilitates the proper performance of the contract in the first place, the violation of which compromises the achievement of the contract’s purpose, and the compliance with which the customer frequently relies on. In this instance, claims for compensation will be limited to the usual, foreseeable damages.
6.3. This limitation of liability shall also apply for Stratosphere’s directors, officers and employees weather directly employed or as contractors. - Term and Termination
7.1. Contracts between Stratosphere and the user are entered into for an indefinite period of time unless otherwise expressly stipulated at the time of conclusion.
7.2. Stratosphere may terminate the contract and/or discontinues access to existing games at any time with a four-week notice period.
7.3. The user may terminate the contract at any time without any notice period by sending an e-mail to info@stratosphere.com including details of his/her user name and e-mail address registered with Stratosphere or by using the options provided on Stratosphere’s website.
7.4. The right of both parties to terminate without notice period for cause (“Kündigung aus wichtigem Grund”) remains unaffected.
7.5. In the event of termination by the user without cause or termination for cause by Stratosphere for which the user is at fault, Stratosphere will not be required to refund Premium Features, Virtual Currency or other services paid for in advance.
7.6. In particular, Stratosphere has the right to terminate for cause in the following cases:
7.6.1. If the user is late in paying a sum of at least € 5.00 by more than 30 days or is late in paying an equivalent amount on more than one occasion over a period of six months;
7.6.2. If, despite having received prior warning, the user knowingly violates any rules of conduct within these Terms of Service or the rules of play/conduct;
7.6.3. If, without any warning in a case that is so severe, that it would be unreasonable for Stratosphere to remain bound to this Agreement. This shall always be the case for violations of the provisions in section 4, the commercial use of the game or for violations of criminal law.
7.7. Instead of a termination, Stratosphere reserves the right to temporarily disable a user’s account and access to the Game up to one month, with no payment obligations for the user while his/her account is disabled.
7.8. In the event of termination, Stratosphere will delete the user’s data which is relevant to the European Data Protection legislation. - Data protection
8.1. To provide users with the full functionality of the Games and Websites, Stratosphere collects, processes, and stores information about its users and other visitors of the Games or any Official Website on servers located in the European Union in accordance with this data protection provisions and applicable European law (GDPR).
8.2. Stratosphere describes in more detail what personal information Stratosphere may collect from its users and what Stratosphere will do with that information as well as informs users on their rights with respect to their personal data in the Privacy Policy available at https://thedesolation-online.com/en/privacy-policy/ as updated from time to time. - Miscellaneous
9.1. Stratosphere reserves the right to change these general terms and conditions without justification, provided such changes are required for legal reasons, a changed scope of the provided services, new requirements e.g. by operation system providers or technical reasons such as a changed game engine or operating system. Changes will be published on Stratosphere’s website and will be sent to users via e-mail or in-game message. If the user does not object to such changes within two weeks following their publication and receipt and continues to use the Game after this period, the new general terms and conditions will be deemed accepted.
9.2. These terms of use are exclusively subject to German law, CISG shall be excluded.
9.3. If a provision contained in these general terms and conditions is or becomes ineffective, this will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.
9.4. The EU Commission offers an online platform for online dispute resolution. The platform acts as a central information portal in regards to dispute resolution outside of formal court procedures for contractual matters resulting from online sale- or server agreements. The platform is available under http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. We will not take part in such dispute resolution between us and our clients neither under European nor German law and we are not obligated to do so.