The "Stop Killing Games" Australian Petition is Live
Just like the UK variant, this is an official government petition to look into the issue. Unlike the UK variant, the only signature threshold is 50 signatures - that said, more is better in this case.
Deadline: 20 May 2024
Here’s the Stop Killing Games campaign site for those unaware or not from Australia.
Ah yes, Australia, a land famous for its sensible video game related legislation
On the other hand they do have a history of protecting customers (weren't they the main reason behind Steams refund policy?) and that's what this is about.
At first I thought this was about stopping "killing games", e.g. Call of Doody.
We need this petition in EU so bad
It's still being processed apparently. I'll be sure to post it when that changes.
For clarity I'd also like to add this post by Ross who mentioned petition being "hijacked" to increase the scope to all software instead of just games. He still asks to sign it if you're Australian.
Additionally, few Aussie users replied that this broadening might actually be a good thing due to the Australia law. Can't say anything about that myself but seems reasonable.
Signed, somewhere in the high 600s.
I'm sure like most petitions it will achieve fuck all, but I'll play my part in the pantomime!
Yeah I truly hope petitions work but everything I’ve ever signed hasn’t done shit. I think petitions are just a way of letting us think we have a voice.
That's why the campaign is aimed at multiple jurisdictions - there's a chance at least one of them works out.
Signed! We need reform on how aging games are handled to protect ownership of paid products and the only way publishers will do that is if they’re forced to.
Done and done
Lets goooo! :)
This is an instant sign for me.
I just wish they would release the server source when done with a game. At least then someone could hack it to work.
This petition is worded in such a way that it almost feels like lying.
Most games that shut down aren't doing so because they had an arbitrary ping home that breaks them, it's because hosting servers is fundamentally part of the game's multiplayer-oriented experience.
You're trying to use the former to backdoor in a way to force the latter to give you all of its server code.
Assuming this law were to go forward with even the most rigorous knowledge of the problem-space, and an intentional push to require multiplayer or server-based games to give you their server code after the game is shut down, all that will do is increase the risk involved in creating any multiplayer games.
Most likely this will reduce the quality and variety of games that get created going forward, which would ironically make preservation much easier.
This specific petition was broadened to involve all software rather than just games which is why it mentions pinging home instead of focusing on multiplayer servers.
The general idea of the campaign as a whole is to force publishers to create software with a specific end-of-life plan that would include one of the few possible options:
Any of those options would come into effect only when the official support for the game were to end.
How exactly would that increase the risk of creating multiplayer games? Private server hosting was a thing for years and the only reason we're here now is because publishers decided they should be the only ones allowed to do it.
- relase the server software to allow players host them themselves
- patch the game to not require company's server (even if not all features would be functional)
- allow people to create their own servers after official ones are dead (think private MMO servers)
Your petition doesn't allow for the second option (exactly how much functionality is allowed to be missing?), fyi, but let's ignore it for the moment.
Let's take a not uncommon case that causes games to shutdown: a company that ran out of money.
How do you do any of these things legally without paying your now jobless employees?
You need to either release the servers at the same time as the game, which has cost associated with it, or you need to hold funds up front to handle paying for the costs on the backend (i.e you need to pay an insurance premium).
Not really, it would simply push safer practice and encourage use of open source materials. It would also encourage a push for code standard development and higher quality legislation. If you're going to reveal it, why even use proprietary code? The copywrite still applies in the cases of unauthorized use. Proprietary net code is just to obfuscate data mining and the extent to which security is breached. There's too much profit in multiplayer games for companies to simply give up because they have to work data mining in from another vector.
I thought this was about hunting as a pastime
