islam ruling on selling game account against terms

[ahmad123]

Assalamu Alaikum
I have an account in an online game, and the company that owns this game says, that the account belongs to them, and you pay subsription each month to play on this account, and that it is not allowed to sell the account. So I asked an Imam, and he said that I can sell it because this term is not acceptable in Islam, he said that everything you buy you can sell, he said the company has no right to tell you that you purchase from them, and then cannot sell it. I am still a bit confused, as the terms says that you do not purchase the game, but you like make an account, they own it, and you pay like a rent each month to be able to play it, so is it haram or halal to sell it, when their terms says no?

[ardianto]

Wa'alaikumsalam.

The imam only look at the rule of buying and selling in general, but forgot that the subject you were asked is special subject which contain special agreement. If you buy a CD game from a store, indeed you can sell it to anyone because there is no agreement that forbid it. But if you register a membership, and there is an agreement that you cannot transfer membership to another party, then you must obey this agreement.

Is it haram to break the agreement?. Yes.

[Simple_Person]

Companies, try to twist things so much that it is in THEIR benefit.

To give you an example. Hollywood says it is STEALING, when you download a movie from the internet but do not buy it from them or pay to see it in a cinema. However what they OFF COURSE do not tell you is that in those movies they have put A LOT of propaganda and hidden messages. In other words it becomes just utterly evil. Should one pay so evil can continue to exist? The answer is off course not. The second thing to it is, why do you watch it then? The have made people in such a way to make you addicted to their movies. So it is hard to stop watching for many people. Companies put A LOT of money in to psychological analysis of humans to see and know what they like and how to make them want to want more. These things off course AGAIN they will not mention it.

This is also with many software companies especially for example Microsoft. They will make you get use to certain kind of software, but if you decide to want to use alternative software, they try to make it so difficult, so you do not take that step. This is called "vendor lock-in".

Islam is very clear in things. What you buy or even "rent" it is yours to do with it, as long as you do not damage the good. So for example, if you rent a car. You have paid for it, they company will say nobody else can drive. However you have paid for it, who are they to tell you nobody else can drive it. Off course according to the law of one having a driving license but still if you want your dad to drive it..so be it. If your dad hits another car, yes you are responsible as it is on your name for the damage, but still who are they to tell you want to do with it as long as you do not damage their product.

With an game account, NO IT IS NOT RENTING. Because when you rent something and stop renting it, they can even give it to somebody else. Just like a house, however, your account they will NOT give to anybody else if you stop using it. Rather it will be deleted after some time. So it is all lies and deceit. Do not follow their so called laws, as it goes against Islam, but also against basic human understanding. They just want to make more money from it.

This is what you also often see with games. You buy lets say Fifa 2017 for the Playstation 4, you can play offline, but to play online a certain code needs to be used. That code cannot be used again. This again is just deceit and illegal.

So that imam was indeed right. Although like the brother above said, you do have to keep to the agreement.

On the other side, this makes me think about the treaty of hudaibiya. It was a SUCH unfair treaty, yet Rasullah(saws) for the sake of certain goal, agreed to it and stayed with it. So looking from such perspective one could say..better stay with the agreement but do not agree to such game agreements in the future.

[Serinity]

:salam:

Some companies, when you buy their software, game or whatever. you do not buy it. Say Sony vegas Pro Movie maker / Video maker software (costs like 600-700 euros).. you pay for it, right, it is yours, right? Nope, you "License" it. So did not buy the SOFTWARE but a license to it.. which they can REVOKE if they want to.

If you bought it - it is yours. Rules that go against logic should be ignored.
Allahu alam.

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[azc]

Wa'alaikumsalam.

The imam only look at the rule of buying and selling in general, but forgot that the subject you were asked is special subject which contain special agreement. If you buy a CD game from a store, indeed you can sell it to anyone because there is no agreement that forbid it. But if you register a membership, and there is an agreement that you cannot transfer membership to another party, then you must obey this agreement.

Is it haram to break the agreement?. Yes.

Have you seen any hadith concerning similar situation,?

[ardianto]

Have you seen any hadith concerning similar situation,?

I have never found hadith concerning account in a company or membership. Maybe because this thing did not exist in the era of Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi Wasalam. But there are ayah and hadiths that say Muslims must maintain trust and keep the agreement.

Yes, in the case of account in a site, we cannot use the general rule of buying and selling, because the 'ownership' of an account actually is not based on buying-selling transaction. The account holder only get the right to use this account, not different than if you rent a room which you only get the right to use that room. So, in this case we must use rule about lease.

Is the lessee/tenant alowed to transfer his right to use to someone else?. It's depend on the agreement between the tenant and the owner. If the agreement allow it, then it's allowed. If the agreement disallow it, then it's not allowed. The agreement that disallow the tenant to transfer the right to use to someone else is not forbidden in Islam.

Back to the OP case. The game site disallow the account holder to transfering the right of use the account to someone else. Is this violate the right of account holder?.

Let we see this case in wider perspective. The OP was not being forced to register in that site. He joined in that site by his own willing. And if he decided to join, he must obey the agreement. Not different than if you wanted to rent a house, and the house owner told you that if you wanted to rent his house you must follow an agreement. If you disagree with the agreement, you were allowed to not rent his house. But if you decide to rent his house, it's mean you agree to follow the agreement.

[azc]

I have never found hadith concerning account in a company or membership. Maybe because this thing did not exist in the era of Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi Wasalam. But there are ayah and hadiths that say Muslims must maintain trust and keep the agreement.

Yes, in the case of account in a site, we cannot use the general rule of buying and selling, because the 'ownership' of an account actually is not based on buying-selling transaction. The account holder only get the right to use this account, not different than if you rent a room which you only get the right to use that room. So, in this case we must use rule about lease.

Is the lessee/tenant alowed to transfer his right to use to someone else?. It's depend on the agreement between the tenant and the owner. If the agreement allow it, then it's allowed. If the agreement disallow it, then it's not allowed. The agreement that disallow the tenant to transfer the right to use to someone else is not forbidden in Islam.

Back to the OP case. The game site disallow the account holder to transfering the right of use the account to someone else. Is this violate the right of account holder?.

Let we see this case in wider perspective. The OP was not being forced to register in that site. He joined in that site by his own willing. And if he decided to join, he must obey the agreement. Not different than if you wanted to rent a house, and the house owner told you that if you wanted to rent his house you must follow an agreement. If you disagree with the agreement, you were allowed to not rent his house. But if you decide to rent his house, it's mean you agree to follow the agreement.

I agree with your logical argument.

[ardianto]

Game account actually is not commodity that for sale because we can create an account in game site for free. Then we start the game from lowest level. If we can pass the challenge, we can go up to next levels. However, there are gamers who want to play the game in higher level without passing the lower level. It open business opportunity for the expert gamers, which they sell the account that has reached higher level to the gamers who don't want to play from the beginning.

This what the game account trading is.