I can understand Dovetail needing to remind its employees that railways are dangerous places and not to try to replicate Train Sim World 3 activities on railways in real life, but is there a way to turn off that warning for players every time TSW3 starts? Dovetail could place a sign on the wall of their studios with that warning for its employees
It's not a warning for employees. It's a legal warning to be sure they cannot be sued whenever one of the players does something stupid in real life.
Same as the "Fasten your seatbelt and don't drive like a nob in real life" warning at the start of every racing game. Never underestimate how stupid (or how willing to pursue legal claims) some idiots can be.
I suspect it might also be a stipulation of the railway companies and organisations who have agreed licensing. In the UK in particular unauthorised access on to the railway is taken very seriously. All lines have to be securely fenced off even to the point of ruining the view from the train in many areas with 10ft high steel palisade fencing!
Look at every car ad with the "Filmed on a closed course with professional drivers, do not attempt" disclaimer. Disclaimers are everywhere, for obvious reasons (because people are idiots).
A few years back in the good old USA a man was cruising the highway in he's newly purchased RV. He switched on the cruise control, left the drivers seat and went into the back to make a drink! With no one at the wheel, the rv veered off the highway and crashed! The said idiot was awarded a couple of million dollars in damages because the company they sold him the rv never warned him that the cruise control wasn't like autopilot. Woman takes a fall in Walmart, she goes to court, its quite clear from cctv that she actually tripped over her own child. Because the floor was infact wet and there was no warning signs in place, she was still awarded compensation for her stupidity! Moral of these stories.... if your gonna sell a product in America, make sure you cover your ass.
Do you know why they put do not consume or eat on Washing machine liquid pods? Because the dumbasses try to eat them. They put the warning on their so to cover themselves in the eventuality that said dumbass who ate a washing machine liquid pod doesn't sue them (if they survive that is). Exactly the same is applied here. Of course we all know how rail enthusiasts and the general public have the utmost commonsense when around the railway...... AHEM FLYING SCOTSMAN!! Hentis
Massive difference between that and a company depicting an RV's cruise control in an unrealistic manner. DTG would be the latter.
Not really a big difference. You don't have to warn people that cruise control isn't autopilot, because anyone with half a brain knows how cruise control works. Same goes for walking down railway tracks. But there's always the small percentage that really shouldn't be allowed out by themselves. And there's laws protecting them, laws that state they should be warned not to drink bleach, or stick thier head in a microwave oven, or play on a high speed railway line etc... Then there's the scammers that will exploit these laws when possible.
That warning is there for a reason, to stop morons trespassing on the tracks, just like everything else has disclaimers it’s there for a reason, but let’s be honest it doesn’t stop people from Florida does it
In the UK if you break into someone else's house and trip on a sharp object, impaling yourself you can sue them if you can prove they should have known that item was dangerous, or even better that they knowingly put it there to catch people breaking in There's also the story of the farmer who had been broken into three times by the same person, when that person tried it again the farmer shot him in the leg. Because the intruder could show that the farmer had premeditated the attack he sued the guy and won... Never underestimate the stupidity of people in the wild, or the ability to twist the law to get money for being an idiot (or criminal)
Another important factor in the above stories is that juries (and, for that matter, judges) are also members of the public, and are often just as, shall we say, challenged as the people appearing before them. I read a newspaper column once in which the writer lamented that a Superman costume he'd bought came with a warning that it does not give the wearer the ability to fly. He suggested that everyone should be mailed a Superman costume and nature be allowed to take its course.
This screen with its warning should have its justification! I just interpret it differently for myself. Whenever he appears, I know that I can smoke one more cigarette before it finally goes on... An additional indication that smoking is harmful is missing. Even if you play TSW.
They are so keen to promote railway safety that every one of their trains starts with all safety systems isolated by default. They are just covering their backs legally, that is all.
Don't forget we live in a world where a food company feels it necessary to put a label on its product saying, "Warning: Contents will be hot after heating".
It's there in the same capacity as the Photosensitive Epilepsy warning at the start of EVERY game ever produced and the don't drive like a complete tool warning at the start of EVERY racing game. It's legally required and is there because we have a generation of people who are daft enough to eat Tide Pods!
The photosensitivity one is a little different, as not every game may have it and the triggers can be different for certain people (sometimes even without their knowledge)
Not strictly true, but a very good example. Also, legally you are not allowed to stop someone leaving your premises or use excessive force. This is where he fell fowl, as he shot the lad in the back as he was running away. Personally, I don't really understand why this thread has been made when a simple button push clears the message. It's no different from when you get in your car and the inbuilt satnav warns you not to adjust it while driving, its simply a liability clause. We as a species are idiots. Remember, 50 years ago the owners manual of your car told you how to carry out minor servicing items yourself, like valve clearances. Nowadays it tells you not to drink the battery acid....
Then at least companies should show total contempt for having to make such a statement and end them with "And don't run with scissors, you idiots!"
Politicians like to roll out the old "Video games make people violent" routine, so if some plonker decided after playing TSW to go out and run on a railway line because they could do it on the game and were then hit by a train, the family could possibly sue DTG for not putting a warning up. Network Rail have been sued a few times in the past when trespassers have been killed/injured.
Yes, because Network Rail are the ones who own the railway. There is not a shred of evidence that DTG could be sued.
Well are you an expert? And I think you will find he probably does! It is a sad indictment on society that we need these warnings, personal responsibility has all but disappeared, but sadly we do need them due to peoples idiocy and this litigious society we now inhabit.
If you buy a lawnmower today, beside the exhaust chute you will find a big label in seven languages plus an ideogram saying "don't stick your hand in here." I recently bought a set of headphones: the "manual" was 3/4 safety warnings (how does one hurt oneself with headphones?) For decades now, "Failure to Warn" has been grounds for liability under US tort law, and plaintiffs' attorneys are always on the lookout for the deep pockets to name as defendants. I am afraid that our old friend from law school the Reasonable Man has retired, and his post filled by the Utter Moron.
There is a massive difference between warnings on a product about danger caused by the product and warnings on a piece of media about not imitating behaviour found in said piece of media. The latter are not required and do not open oneself to legal liabiliity by their absence. Why do you think most games don't have them?
It’s probably not legally required, but in this day where lawsuits are launched for the most frivolous reason, it’s probably just good CYA practice.
Manhunt 2 was banned in the UK for years because someone who played the game killed someone in a style similar to the first game. There's a reason games, films, adverts, TV shows have to put out a "Don't try this at home" sort of warning.
“It seemed to me,' said Wonko the Sane, 'that any civilization that had so far lost its head as to need to include a set of detailed instructions for use in a package of toothpicks, was no longer a civilization in which I could live and stay sane.”
Played any motorsport games? They all have a "Don't drive like this in real life" disclaimer. Every episode of Mythbusters begins with a "These are trained professionals in controlled conditions, don't try this yourself" warning. All put in at the insistence of the lawyers, for fear of potential liability.
Moral panic from the BBFC, not legal liability. Do you see gun safety messages when you start a Call of Duty game?
It's there, It's staying there. We live in the age of "Where there's a blame there's a claim". That you don't like it isn't our issue it's yours. And as others have said, It may be part of the licensing rules as well.
It is a dis-CLAIM-er to avoid claims against DTG in civil proceedings, not criminal proceedings. It is quite likely that if young Timmy becomes obsessed with trains because of playing TSW and one day decides to go and get all up close to them in real life because he has walked to a specific spot in London Commuter that is great for seeing many trains, and he breaches a fence to get to the same spot on the real route and gets squished by a train in the process, that Timmy’s parents would at least look into the possibility of putting in a claim against DTG for giving him the idea and the impression he would be safe. They will try to blame anyone and everyone (except themselves) and get compensation. DTG point to their disclaimer that comes up for every play session and the case doesn’t even get to court. The disclaimer has done its job, even if Timmy never read it.
Wasn't there a NFS game which had an unskippable 30 second wear a seatbelt and drive safely video when you launched the game?
That would be the NFS Most Wanted intro. Was even a whole fourth-wall type break from the actress who played one of the characters in the game. "Make sure you do all your racing in the game. On the streets, drive safely and responsibly, and wear your seatbelt" Although from memory pretty much all the NFS:Underground era games had a similar thing, Most Wanted is just the one that sticks in my head the most (because I played it the most).
