Crono1973 said:
ikillu87 said:
CrossLOPER said:
This "permanent rental" stuff is some stupid shit.
Its also the sad truth.
It is also the world we're moving into with downloadable content. Really, the only way to prevent a lot of it is by going to a brick and mortar store and buying a physical copy of the game, vs using convenient methods such as Steam/uhh... whatever EA calls their store/etc.
However, it can be useful for things outside software. As a photographer, owning my photo (even though one may purchase a copy) is one of my forms of income, I also choose to make sure they are never used in a political way. So... yeah, its a mixed bag.
Wait, is it the current truth or is it the direction we are moving in? It can't be both because if we are already there then we can't be moving towards it.
Anyway, it isn't the truth and the only way it will be the truth is if consumers accept it and consumers should not accept it. How is it good for consumers to pay more for games and have less ownership of them?
Games going digital is irrelevant to ownership too, you can BUY something from Steam and still own it if consumers demand that. In other words, DD doesn't make ownership impossible. It just means that you own a product key which gives you access to the data. No different than owning a disc that gives you access to the data (ie, console games).
What I am really trying to say here is that the future is up to consumers. Smart consumers will say NO to this "you don't own your games" bullshit.
Gah, so many inaccuracies.
The phrase 'Intellectual property' refers to a property which has no physical presence. A piece of software counts as an Intellectual Property. If you purchased the software, you are purchasing the IP, which would give you the right to copy and resell it. Games would sell for hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars. If steam were to scrap the licensing concept, then you would have complete watertight legal protection to make and sell copies of everything you downloaded. This would overwrite international copyright law.
If you buy, say, a TV, you are buying a physical property. That is a discrete entity, and is therefore governed by a completely different set of laws. You can dick around with the TV (or the hardware of the PS3) to whatever extent you please. Microsoft and Sony can exclude you from things like online services, but that's as much as they can do (as they can do theoretically with ANY customer). However, once you start to dick around with the intellectual property, and violate the TOS, you have also lost the right to have any access to the software you have 'rented'.
This Intellectual Property law goes for EVERY form of data purchase. CDs, VHS, 8-track, Digital Downloads etc. Unless you are a corporation, you have almost certainly NEVER bought a piece of software for anything. You have only purchased a permanent license to use it assuming you abide by the TOS.