Interesting... but is it a game? Seems like more of a communication tool, no matter what they call it.

Actually, www.lovepong.com looks more like an attempt to usurp very personal and private information, and use it later however they see fit. Read the ToS, by submitting your content, you are donating it to the website owner, who gains complete rights over how to use it and even says they cannot guarantee your privacy will be maintained!

The indemnity clause is especially interesting. A lot of people don't seem to realize that "indemnify" means that you will defend--in court, if necessary, possibly even paying for their lawyers fees--the person you indemnify. And the way the clause is written, if you contribute some content (maybe some secret about your partner), and then the website owners decide to use that content in a way that causes them to get sued by your partner... well, you agreed to indemnify them, so I guess we'll see you in court.

They also disclaim any liability to you for whatever happens to you as a result of using their website. So if your partner decides to sue you and the website for something you told the website that they then disclosed to the public, then YOU have to defend the WEBSITE and the website has no responsibility to you.

If all this doesn't seem like a problem to you, consider this: in a couple of years, the website owner could publish a book of all of the most interesting communications they "mediated", including the identities of the parties involved, without recourse.

Imagine Jerry Springer's office calling to tell you that they received a data dump from www.lovepong.com, and would like you and your partner to star in their next episode about dysfunctional relationships and the internet.

[FWIW, William S. Weil (the name of the website owner) is also the name of the chief operating officer of National Geographic Ventures, one of the largest sociology journals in the world. National Geographic also sent a cease and desist order to Burning Man a few years ago, claiming trademark infringement by the Irrational Geographic Society theme camp, over which Burning Man doesn't even have any control.]

[Although, the William Weil who owns the website lives at 915 McKinley Ave in Pittsburgh, and might not be the same William S. Weil. Any chance that you know him?]

I'm not an attorney, and I'm not giving anyone legal advice, but my layman's opinion is that a person would have to be a fool to use the www.lovepong.com website.

-- Noise

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