"Used games are a point of contention between gamers who want to save a little money and game developers who worry about losing new sales to used games. But it may all be moot, if an obscure case that's about to go before the Supreme Court goes copyright holders' way. Here's what's going on, and why you should care."
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cars, chairs, couches, tvs.
where does it end?
If I want to sell something that I purchased legally to someone else, I should be allowed to do that. They should be allowed to buy what I'm selling, too - provided I'm not selling something illegal.
Used games are not a bane on capitalism - it's a facet of your buying power. If publishers want you to buy a new game, then they should offer you incentive to buy a new game, not punish you for buying a used game.
If this passes, you might as well shut down every pawn shop in america since they would be commiting the same actions, just with different products.
Edit: well said jeeves, the ability to sell what you buy is a part of capitalism.
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Gamestop doesnt follow this rule. They STEAL money from hardworking people by not giving a share to the company when they resell used games. That MUST be stopped.
If developers started making better games maybe i wouldnt buy them used
Its the publishers/government that drain the money from the developers not us gamers
Sometimes i feel like i can save the planet from disaster, what good would it do me with people like yourself habitating it, deluded do gooders
Buying used means you usually cant play online without a pass, thats just the start, just make other decisions like this and stop complaining about used games sales. Encourage us to buy new by giving us MORE...
Who wants to buy games brand new when you also have to buy a bunch of DLCs after the game comes out???? Developers are getting too greedy.
The laws of THIS country are the laws.
The laws of an outside country don't apply here.
The minute you tell me this isn't true, then that's the minute this isn't the United States Of America anymore.
This isn't that great of an analogy, but honestly, if you buy a candy bar you eat it, the company made it's money, you buy a game you play it, the company made it's money.
That game you played though? That's a different story.
And that's the problem content creators face. Basically, uh, how should I put this... games don't have the luxury of being turned into poo once the credits roll.
As a matter of fact... we should hope this happens. Private sales will net you a more fair amount of cash, and straight trades are crazy convenient.
But if you buy that used 2001 model, you're damn sure going to know it. It will have problems. It might smell like the previous owner's dog. It might have rust. It might have cigarette burns on the seat.
Vehicle condition deteriorates. That in itself is really all the vehicle market needs remain healthy. Condition is a major factor for car buyers.
With games, there really is no deterioration of the appeal a game has. A person who pops GTA4 into his console will get an identical experience to the one I had when I played it on release day back in 2008.
With the way retailers guarantee the functionality of a game, unless you are a collector who likes to get a copy in pristine condition, there really is no incentive to buy new. Price difference is a clear reason why you should by used though.
That's the real issue here... how do you persuade a customer to buy content from the creators, when the content is basically identical no matter who you buy it from?
High demand games a high trade-in and resell value, which means more new copies are sold.
Finally, a good analogy is software and music. I would even argue that music is far worse off, because the price took a drastic dive from $10+ albums to $1 songs, it's easy and fast to share/pirate, and ripping a music CD is trivial.
So yeah, game makers aren't some vodoo business that deserve special treatment that other industries don't. Suck it up and make a good game!!!
Software and games are a much better analogy, but far from perfect. I don't buy a lot of software, but doesn't most of it come with DRM nowadays? I can't say I've ever seen a used copy of Microsoft Office at Staples.
And music? Piracy is probably a much bigger problem for them than games, but at the same time, they have far more control over their financial viability than game makers do. Anybody can record music in front of their computer nowadays. It's dirt cheap. But I'm sure there's a whole lot of people involved in the process that drive cars that cost more than my house. I'm kind of guessing here, but I'm assuming the NECESSARY costs associated with producing a successful album are much less than that of producing a successful game.
I'm not saying games deserve special treatment, but it would be naive to act as if games don't face a very different set of challenges from other products.
"I'm not saying games deserve special treatment, but it would be naive to act as if games don't face a very different set of challenges from other products."
That is my point, every other industry face issues some far worse than this yet they don't get protection.
The idea that you aren't allowed to resell a used product is ridiculous. There are plenty of products that suffer effects from used market, yet we don't ban the sale of a legally used item, do we?
If the industry can't sustain itself, it will morph to do so. We already see that shift with indie type games. We shouldn't violate consumer rights,because they can't make money. That's after the fact that large companies like EA and Activision very healthy.
If there is anything I would like to see, is reduced taxes for small businesses. Not consumer rights violation to protect mega corporations. They do that fine on their own!
For software, the one thing most comparable to games, it's DRM. DRM is the road games are headed down. Just look at online passes.
If laws don't eliminate used games, publishers will. Either way, we will end up at the same point with us getting screwed by restrictions. Personally, I'd take restrictions that keep me from selling something over restrictions that keep me from using something.
Given the two evils, of course I would prefer to be able to play my games. The question is, why are the pirates getting a working game while I get the short end of the stick?
So if used games were illegal, I will turn to pirating. It's easier than owning, far cheaper and I even get the better experience! F developers/publishers!
Fact of the matter is, publisher/developers already got their cut of second hand sales via online passes. What more do they want?
That doesn't make much sense. You have to deal with DRM now. If you can get a better experience for less by pirating, why aren't you doing it already?
I'm not sure why you would care about getting the better experience in just that one scenario. With publishers being the ones that have to protect their work because laws won't, we're already getting screwed by things like online passes. We're not benefiting much as things are.
Like I said, I'd much rather have games I can't sell, but can at least be used as I wish with fewer DRM restrictions, than be stuck with online passes and all these different forms of DRM in games I bought new, and as a result, are devalued to both myself and a potential buyer anyway.
Sure it's not a guarantee that things like online passes would decline if laws killed off the used market and these massive resellers like GameStop, but I can't say I would mind taking the chance in hopes that it would.
Either way, one day, we won't be able to sell our games, whether it's due to law, DRM, or digital downloads. I'd rather take my chances with the law and hope that it provides equal protection for consumer rights, or at least some encouragement for publishers to offer customers a better experience with less restrictive DRM, and physical copies.
I wonder what corporations are behind this.
http://www.gameranx.com/img...
This infringes on our rights, which is why it would never pass, we have a constitution for a reason.
The answer is deep discounts on games after they are out for a few months, who needs used games when you can buy slightly outdated kick ass games for 5-10 dollars?
Regardless...as a fellow fortune 500 company they maintain this and offer jobs across the entire world...be it entry level positions are 8 hours a week sometimes.
If this was to pass I wouldn't have any problems with piracy bringing the entire gaming world down to its knees.
Why should used games be special to give money back to the devs? It is no diff.
Remember when they tried that garbage in Japan by banning the used game market? Gamers there erupted. So much so that their Government had to wind up lifting the ban there.
If it happened there, the same thing will happen here. The used gaming market is a lot more popular to people than they think. Don't screw with us legitimate consumers.
I want to buy games at the cheapest possible price from the cheapest seller, who are they to tell me I can't buy used games from Ebay or my friend ?
First they increase the price of games by 10 dollars, then they try to make you pay for online (Microsoft) and now this. Shameful. Gamers shouldn't put up with this.
A lot of games are not worth buying brand new when they are the exact same game slightly revised once every 6 to 12 months.
Black market pawn brokers will emerge and break these silly new laws. The 1920s failed alcohol prohibition clearly proved that with Al Capone and the other gangsters profiteering from sly grog sales.