The “Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state” petition just got a response.
The “Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state” petition just got a response.
The recent stopkillinggames campaign has been my first exposure to UK petitions.
Link to petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/659071
Link to campaign: stopkillinggames.com
Link to the campaigner’s video
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Instead of "if sold on the understanding that they will remain playable indefinitely" should be switched to say unless they are sold with an understanding that they will not be playable indefinitely.
Game companies should be explicitly stating whether a game will have a limited lifespan based on things like server availability. Especially for single player games with online verification.
Don't worry. You're not buying them anymore. Just getting a license to play it.
That's pretty much always been the case. The difference now is that the licenses aren't transferable.
Or perhaps more importantly; aren’t irrevocable.
It needs to be more extreme.
If the use the word buy or own. "Buy now" "buy here" "buy XXX" That is purchased indefinitely.
If they are being rented for a limited time I needs to be explicitly stated as "rent" any mention of buy or discrepancy has the above mentioned purchased indefinitely.
Fully agree.
I'd much prefer companies to be forced to release the source code for multiplayer servers once they decide to shut them down. There will always be fans who'd keep it running.
I would prefer any game that is no longer sold to fall into the public domain, including releasing the source code. Reward them for their limited copyright and pnly keep those protections as long as they maintain the game'a availability.
only keep those protections as long as they maintain the game's availability
Didn't you just repeat what I said
Putting it in the public domain is an additional thing.
He's saying the whole game, not just the server.
You would immediately see most devs state that they are at least playable until 1 day after release. Which would make that meaningless.
Nobody would buy a game that says it is only guaranteed playable for one day.
What they need to clearly state are expectations on planned lifetime of authentication servers, any specific technology that is required, and so on. Like people know multiplayer requires servers, but something that says they will have those servers for X number of years would help set expectations and encourage companies to plan long term support for games that might not be massive hits.
For single player games this would discourage terrible DRM that keeps games from being played just because authentication was retired.
I disagree.
The devs that don’t do that would stand out a ton.
Plenty of meaning to me.Non-permanent games would be easier to identify, so plenty of devs would add an end of life plan just to stand out.