Stance on competitors?
- Thread starter Drake5
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I honestly dont see how this can be handled fairly. If we cant mention somewhere selling a game for instance because its a competitor are we then not allowed to mention something like steam as its a direct competitor then aswell? a lot of grey area to be sorted out i think.
Soldato
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I'd imagine that might be an issue with companies like Game and Play, considering those words get used rather a lot in general conversation!
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Aye I read the sticky but it's dissappeared.
We had those months where we could mentiont them then OCUK appear to have started stocking more games/consoles.
I thought OcUK had stopped selling consoles and stuff a while back as they weren't profitable or not giving the return that was expected.
It's a shame because there are often deals that I post that would benefit evryone here.
But if x site ahs it at £17.99 and OcUK have it at £34.99 and I post that then I can see their point, they may see it as a lost sale. However how many people that go onto buying it at £17.99 would have forked out the £34.99?
After mentioning that we then go onto mentioning prices, Im sure at some point we weren't allowed to post prices or anythign if it was cheaper than OcUK.
I can hoenstly say I've never purchased any console gear from OcUK, I use this place for my PC gear. If however OcUK started doing cashback or the odd discount code/voucher and had competitve prices on the console stuff I was looking for then yes I maybe purchase here instead.
Valid point raised above Re:Steam, suppose the other digital distribution solutions could be pidgeon holed with steam. Now because these are slightly different are we allowed to mention these? And if so say X game is £29.99 on steam £29.99 on OcUK and £29.99 at "insert competitor" can we mention steam (which could be construed as a comptitor) if we cant mention the other competitor?
Grey area's all over the place, can-o-worms,
Healthy competition I feel but at the end of the day these forums are paid for by OcUK their forums their rules.
We had those months where we could mentiont them then OCUK appear to have started stocking more games/consoles.
I thought OcUK had stopped selling consoles and stuff a while back as they weren't profitable or not giving the return that was expected.
It's a shame because there are often deals that I post that would benefit evryone here.
But if x site ahs it at £17.99 and OcUK have it at £34.99 and I post that then I can see their point, they may see it as a lost sale. However how many people that go onto buying it at £17.99 would have forked out the £34.99?
After mentioning that we then go onto mentioning prices, Im sure at some point we weren't allowed to post prices or anythign if it was cheaper than OcUK.
I can hoenstly say I've never purchased any console gear from OcUK, I use this place for my PC gear. If however OcUK started doing cashback or the odd discount code/voucher and had competitve prices on the console stuff I was looking for then yes I maybe purchase here instead.
Valid point raised above Re:Steam, suppose the other digital distribution solutions could be pidgeon holed with steam. Now because these are slightly different are we allowed to mention these? And if so say X game is £29.99 on steam £29.99 on OcUK and £29.99 at "insert competitor" can we mention steam (which could be construed as a comptitor) if we cant mention the other competitor?
Grey area's all over the place, can-o-worms,
Healthy competition I feel but at the end of the day these forums are paid for by OcUK their forums their rules.
Soldato
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In,
Before the rule was deleted this was basically the argument,
Every thread so far has been locked and none of the competitor threads over on the PC games forum have even been touched.
On another note Xbox Live and the PSN network Sell games so therefore can also be a competitor to OCUK as the new rule before it was deleted states that all games sellers are deemed a competitor. so in theorey no more talking about Xbox Live and the PSN network.
Steam and all other digital distro sites sell MW2 as does OCUK and most have it advertised still quite heavily therfore they are competitors.
Before the rule was deleted this was basically the argument,
Every thread so far has been locked and none of the competitor threads over on the PC games forum have even been touched.
On another note Xbox Live and the PSN network Sell games so therefore can also be a competitor to OCUK as the new rule before it was deleted states that all games sellers are deemed a competitor. so in theorey no more talking about Xbox Live and the PSN network.
Steam and all other digital distro sites sell MW2 as does OCUK and most have it advertised still quite heavily therfore they are competitors.
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Wodner what would happen if a frog licked one of them "special" frogs 
Soldato
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It's funny how we can't mention the purple shop in Console Section, but in the PC Section we can mention it all we like 
Exactly. No one has yet explained why OcUK should let you discuss competitors on their forums? I don't care if OcUK sell something for £20 more than XX, I and most people on these forums are more than capable of using a search engine to find other deals.
Their price relative to others has no effect on them choosing to not let people discuss their competitors. If you pay the bills, you choose the rules.
At least with no competitor mentioning allowed at all we all know where we stand, as do the moderators. It's the only way it can work, cut out the grey areas.
Soldato
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I don't think anyone is complaining about the rule itself, just the complete lack of clarity as to what they define as a 'competitor'.
They are though, people seem irked that can't tell others about cheap deals etc. The lack of clarity is gone now, everybody else that sells games or consoles is a competitor. Couldn't be any simpler.
So steam, xbox live, psn and others cant be mentioned now then?
Soldato
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Fine but the problem is that the rules were pushed hard upon us the other night whilst on the PC game forum you can talk basically about whatever you want in relation to buying software.
As i said previously, I am not being overeactive in this because supermarkets are now deemed as competiton, so from my understanding of the rules that were posted the other night XBL and The PSN network are now competiton as they sell games allbeit not what OCUK sell but the Rules Stated that no Game competitors should be spoken about.
This ofcourse falls back in to that grey area, yes I understand that these forums are provided by a buisness that without anyone purchasing anything would not exist, but where is the line drawn.
I for one would not buy HDD, Monitors, Cpu's or any pc hardware from a supermarket which I'm sure is 98% of OCUK's business, infact a couple of days ago I purchased a HDD from OCUK without even considering a competitor as "I am a loyal forum member", BUT on the other hand I go to my nearest HS Store, Supermarket to purchase games as they are readily available and generally offer a good deal also the fact I have it in my hand there and then.
The Rules can be easily adjusted to - OCUK sells a limited number of console games any talk about competitors for these games will be edited....etc
Also as a sugestion maccy a sticky single open thread can be made for any deals ocuk'ers members can find with the rules at the top - easy to police anything over reactive can then be edited/deleted by yourselves - as I said just an idea.
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