Consumer Rights Bill: It's an absolute game-changer

Times, they just got interesting.

In an age where some developers and publishers insist on always-on connections for games and systems, a draft Consumer Rights Bill has been published and features proposals that will force concerned parties to change their tardy practices.

[zeal0us]

If pass sadly I don't this will effect the US, just the UK :(

[The_KELRaTH]

Yeah it took me awhile to find out who it was aimed at! Although UK it will likely be linked to European consumer laws.

[cleft5]

Still, it is a start.

[Ashlen]

There is basically zero chance this or pretty much any consumer protection bill would ever be able to pass in the US, Republicans would block it so hard.

[hellvaguy]

There are already some consumer protections out there. For example, over the past few years retailers been pretty serious about i.d. checks on mature age 17+ games.

[Ashlen]

Those aren't laws.

The companies chose to do that, if GameStop decided to stop doing age verification there is nothing legally you could do about it.

Even the rating system itself isn't mandatory.

And really none of that is what I would consider "consumer protection".

I'd like to also add that California lost it's case in the supreme court to try to add legal repercussions to stores which didn't check age on games.

[hellvaguy]

I didn't see anywhere where it specified the UK, until I seen something about a minister and then realized either I was reading about a Harry Porter movie or it was in fact, a UK based proposal.

[rainslacker]

These kinds of things don't get a lot of mention in the US. You see some stuff about consumer rights on the news from time to time when bad consumer things happen, but rarely are there laws that target a direct industry such as games.

I've been very impressed with the EU's pro-active approach on these issues. Trying to get out ahead of them before they become a huge consumer issue is the right way to go.

I hope they do things right, and can serve as a model for both corporations, and other governments to model their laws off of.

At the very least I would like to see the industry itself get a hold on this. The ESRB was established to help curtail government involvement in policing game sales. It became a special interest group for the game industry itself. If the players within the industry can abide by their own set of rules that hopefully have a impartial group, such as the ESRB, to act as a mediator between the industry and the consumer, I think that would be a good thing.

It's pretty sad that rules such as these have to be spelled out though. I'm a firm believer that people should just try to do the right thing, and since corporations are now people in the US, that should extend to them as well.

[The_KELRaTH]

The biggest issue is enforcement and a fast cost effective way of getting things dealt with.

[Ares84HU]

I sure hope that this bill will pass. If it does, MS will have a huge problem in it's hand.

I wonder though, have they considered that sometimes internet services are down because of some sort of failure that needs to be fixed by the provider? When I had Time Warner Cable on multiple occasions I had my internet down for a week or two because some hardware they had has failed and it took a few days to fix. Now MS will punish me for something like that???

I really hope that this bill will pass!

[MoveTheGlow]

Er, Time Warner Cable won't be affected by a UK bill. Playstation's a way bigger brand in the UK already anyway, Microsoft would just have a tougher time bringing their thing over there without making a new version.

Par for the course for Microsoft. They've had to revamp their European versions of Windows for years while they get to do whatever they please over here most of the time.

[Ares84HU]

I was just giving it as an example.

[MoveTheGlow]

Cool, but as I said above, the tech goings-on in Europe often don't affect the US in the slightest, especially when Microsoft is concerned. For all our antitrust laws, it seems that they beat us to the punch across the pond. I would hope that having this bill passed in Parliament would mean something for us over here, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Ilovetheps5]

I have Time Warner right now because it's the best in the area. And yes, that kind of stuff still happens. A couple months back, I think we were down for 5 or 6 days.

[cleft5]

I hope this Bill passes. Gamers we all need to back this like crazy. Vote with your dollars and your voter's registration cards. We elect these people so lets make sure they do what we want.

[Excited2play]

That's excellent! I hope this bill passes. Consumers deserve those rights considering huge corporations wouldn't have money without us buying their products to begin with.

[Sharius]

funny that, after all of these backlash MS still trying to defense that DRM BS, even EA trying so hard to jump ship

[hellvaguy]

Fanboys will do that. Just like how they defend the required paid online on the ps4 and paid passes for used games to go online with Sony.

Makes me think of just going to the pc for gaming, but even then, I'd miss out on some sweet console exclusives. Dang I'm so torn now.

[Mikelarry]

but if you read xbox 1 terms and condition it states you agree not to to file a class action suit if anything goes wrong with the xbox 1. again still fanboys will still defend and go out and purchase this system.

[LeRise]

Half on Xbox 360 owners already decided to move on PS4 and the other half is still thinking.

[rainslacker]

All TOS have that clause in it. The actual clause isn't entirely enforceable though. You can't legally prevent someone from suing you. The courts themselves may decide that they prefer you to go through arbitration depending on the case and the stakes involved.

For the most part, courts have been pretty reluctant to make judgements for precedence in regards to the software industry. Most verdicts are passed down with statements which keep things a grey area, and it's really annoying.

[Ogygian]

Maybe I'm alone here, but I actually prefer getting unfinished games earlier, like happened with minecraft or other purchaseable betas, as long as game companies genuinely do patch them properly. Perhaps patches annoy console users, but on steam, they're like Christmas presents, especially when they're for games which promise new content.
Agree with the always online thing though. Companies simply can't be allowed to do what EA did with Simcity.

[mydyingparadiselost]

The US needs something like this, consumer protections have severely dwindled in this country over the last 3 decades or so. I would prefer legislation on bigger problems but I would take what I can get and these kinds of protections seem reasonable enough.