Amazon recently announced their powerful Lumberyard game engine yesterday. Packing a number of powerful features building on the CryEngine, it is also completely free for developers to use, with the only costs occurring should the developer wish to make use of any cloud services provided by Amazon. Of course, such a tool wouldn’t be released without any controls on its use, whether to protect Amazon’s interests or otherwise.
Checking the small print reveals that Amazon has placed restrictions on the acceptable use of the Lumberyard game engine. Contained in clause 57.10 of the AWS Service terms, it is stated that “The Lumberyard Materials are not intended for use with life-critical or safety-critical systems, such as use in operation of medical equipment, automated transportation systems, autonomous vehicles, aircraft or air traffic control, nuclear facilities, manned spacecraft, or military use in connection with live combat.”
Seems pretty sensible, after all using a game engine for many of those purposes would be foolhardy and potentially dangerous. However, should humanity be at risk of a zombie invasion with naught but a game engine to save themselves, Amazon have us covered in the second half of the clause.
“this restriction will not apply in the event of the occurrence (certified by the United States Centers for Disease Control or successor body) of a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.”
Very niche case for allowing deviation from the terms and conditions, but it’s nice to see Amazon have both humanity’s best interests (and humour) in mind when providing their service. Makes you wonder what other hidden gems are contained within the countless T&C documents that exist for services both online and in reality.
