Jimquisition: BOYCOTT!

[orangeapples]

Wow, people are still surprised to find themselves liking Jim's vids? This happens like every week.

I've always laughed at the idea of gamers boycotting mainly because they never follow through. If I do happen to be against a company, I'll buy a game used so I don't have to worry about the developer or publisher getting any money from it, and I'm not really big on DLC so I don't worry about that factor.

If it is a company I like and have nothing against, I'll buy their game new.

I guess that's kinda like boycotting...

 

[Alphakirby]

He is totally right about that...
I got so angry when I say all these guys playing mw2 while being in a boycott group -.-

Or the everyone who boycotted Left 4 Dead 2 then bought it anyway like the tools that they are.
I personally don't boycott,I just don't buy games I don't like. Modern Warfare 3? Fuck that game,it'll be the same as the last one and just tell Bobby Kotick that copying and pasting the same thing again and again with one extra bit is a good idea. (Though Guitar Hero already succeeded in that respect)

But that's my opinion and I'm not going to stand in front of my local Gamestop with a sign,screaming and yelling until the store opens up and I go in to buy my copy like everyone else,I'm just going to sit here in my big chair and not buy the game,Bobby Kotick doesn't get 60 bucks,and I get the satisfaction of saying fuck you to Bobby Kotick.

 

[Spongebobdickpants]

People who dont like jim for the "egocentric" persona need to lighten up. Its a joke.

Once you look beyond this the points he makes are not only valid but good.

 

[Alphakirby]

Christ, is Jim finally getting rid of that stupid "I'm an arrogant asshole, but only at the beginning and the end of the episode" thing? Because it wasn't helping the show at all.

No,he just saw this topic as important and decided to get that stuff out of the way in the beginning this time. Crazy isn't it?

 

[Faerillis]

Wow, that was a lot of sincerity and directness for Jim... I may actually this Jim more than his persona.

I'm not a boycotter though I do refuse to buy certain games or certain companies (not buying from Gearbox after they made Duke Nukem because I cannot abide by them selling out all the progress gaming has made in the last 12 years to make a quick buck)and I do actually believe there ought to be some form of mass-gamer-protest (a full-scale boycott is calling for too much) over the new DMC team modelling Dante after Edward Cullen; we can't let that festering franchise anywhere near our games when it should never have gotten near a bookshelf.

 

[bbad89]

I'd love if there were more humor. I just might boycott this if it gets boring. Too many people with a stick in their ass in my opinion.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I hear people throw the boycott term around, without much weight behind it other than as a threat. Sounds to me a lot of the time like a kid whining they didn't get what they wanted so they're going to take their football home so no one can play. Problem is, most of the time in the gaming community, there's a strong majority of other kids with footballs who are ready and willing to play and put up with whatever "problems" might be present.
Truth be told, I am not at all pro-boycotting unless there is a significant value in it. Such as human-rights violations or gross animal testing or something along those lines. Corporations exist to make money, and they tend to do whatever they can to continue to do so. I don't boycott DRM for many reasons (mostly because I was a PC gamer when the registration key first came about and have put up with it to play my games). I've never experienced any real detriment to playing a video game due to DRM, with the exception of Neverwinter Nights 2 (which had to do with a firmware problem on my disc drive), nor have I seen a detriment to actual gameplay. A solid game is a solid game.
Diablo 3's auction house, for example, is not something to get up in arms about. Its not game-breaking, its not mandatory. So whats the big deal? They're offering people a chance to make money on something they do as a hobby, which no other game developer has ever offered in my experience (EVE doesn't count since you can't actually convert it to cash through the parent company). So Blizz takes a % off the take itself. Big fucking deal, its their system. And it prevents people from selling things through other sites.
The entitlist mentality is so backward... people think they are entitled to everything a game developer makes for a certain game just because they paid for it initially. While I do agree that day 1 DLC that is actually contained on the disc is highway robbery, the companies who offer it as part of new copies don't bother me. The used game market is pretty much a way for people to make money off of the game dev's without having to pay the dev's for that copy, and dev's charging a bit on top of the used price to get something back for that copy being transferred to another owner is not a big deal. They actually lost money because you did not buy that game new. If you think otherwise you don't understand the economy. If New/Used Store A buys 20 copies of a game new to sell to the public, then sells 10 copies of that game new on the release date, they then re-order those 10 copies and the publisher makes money off of those transactions. If those 10 sold copies come back to New/Used Store A as trade-ins, and Game Store A repackages them as used and resells them, then they don't order more copies of that game and the publisher does NOT make money off those sales. New/Used Store just profited off of those games and the dev's did NOT receive payment due. So publisher of said game has DLC that is available on New copies but not used copies that costs $10 extra for said used copies. If the buyer of the used game decides he/she wants that content to become available, spends the $10 and thus the publisher recoups a little bit of the money they lost on that used sale. That is NOT a crime in any way shape or form. But they are not making extra money either. In fact, they are taking a loss and mitigating that loss by locking some content (most likely not game-breaking) for new copies. That is business. Have a problem with that? Take it up with New/Used Store A, because its their business practice that has put publishers in that position.
Or buy games new.
Boycott when its feasible and reasonable, but don't boycott because publishers want their well-earned money for something they spent their money on to get to you, the consumer, in the first place. Development and marketing are not cheap.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Coulda sworn he was going to mention the people who tried to boycott the Escapist for dropping Extra Credits.

 

[trebthegamer]

did he ripoff moviebob's intro thing or is this something the Escapist shows do now?
besides that good show.

 

[geru45gyik]

"We get people bitching because fallout 3 wasn't exactly like fallout" You mean good ?

 

[The Great JT]

That last bit was really my thought on gamer boycotts, is that for all the cries of boycott, none of those involved in them actually have any balls and they always end up abandoning it to go buy what they were boycotting.

 

[pixiejedi]

I wasn't keen on this show at first. I still don't dig the insulting the audience part honestly, but I am glad that he's dealing with things I haven't seen on other shows here now. I agree with Jim too, I just wish we could become more organized with it all. I hate the way consumer rights are trashed right now, but I don't see a way to fix it until we unite better.

On that note, I have successfully boycotted Apple products for over a decade now. Between the cult of personality and terrible treatment of its customers (my husband lost all the music he had bought for years when he swapped his I-Pod for an android I guess) I'll never give them my money. Its getting easier and easier to do it too, thank God for Amazon and Android.

 

[Ekit]

Another great episode. This show is really getting better and better. And with Extra Credits now gone, I predict that Jimquisition will eventually replace it.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

This week, we look at the community's growing tendency to boycott, the tendency of others to dismiss consumer action, and the reason why both mentalities are at fault.

Does this apply to Moviebobs Gamestop boycott? Your persona is moviebobs actual personality which I have been finding hilarious. Seems like you're trolling him with your videos.

 

[GeorgW]

I liked it, you managed to represent both sides of the argument and make some nice points. Probably my favourite episode so far.
As for the topic at hand, I can't say much more than that I agree completely. Complain all you want, just don't use that word unless you mean it.

Oh, and I'm all for a boycott for Diablo 3 because of their always on DRM, even though I love the auction house idea. This is the title where a boycott will really hurt, plus there's a perfectly legitimate option in torchlight 2. This title, as John Carmack has put it, will be the definitive make it or break it point for always on DRM, and as someone with a really schizophrenic internet connection, I'm very much against it.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I wouldn't really yell boycott if i find a problem with a game and don't like the idea or changes made to a game i'll simply just not buy said game and instead buy something else that appeals to my fancy.

 

[Ishiro32]

Hmmm... Good episode Jim, you made a big step from your first videos here. Keep up the good work.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

I didn't like your stuff at first jim, but I have to agree with you on this. Most boycotters are stupid and just want to whine while having their game. I said I refused to buy any thing using online pass codes and the like and I aim to stick to it no matter how many games I want use it. I will go without games if I have to/

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

I do think the Diablo 3 boycott is justified.

Not because of the "it's to bight complaint" people are giving it, which just doesn't make any sense to me, but the in game store that is run by the players, uses REAL money (I.E. letting anybody buy power at the start of the game if they want it, and anybody could have their items not sold because somebody else made the price of their same item one cent cheaper), the lack of modability, the always on DRM even in single player, and the complete disregard for it's potential for Esports with the game's PvP on the part of Blizzard.

I don't think a full-blown boycott is justified in this case. Whoever is annoyed by any of this can simply not buy the game. To me most of the points made aren't very important:

1 - Real money AH: With D2 and WoW, Blizzard has fought a losing battle about gold sellers. Note that most gold sellers also sell power, i.e. "power leveling". Black-market gold selling is bad because it creates an incentive for account hacking, which happens a lot in WoW. With D3 Blizzard has taken the risky, but very worthwile road of regulating the market instead of trying to ban it.

2 - Mods: I don't recall ever hearing about or using a mod in either Diablo or D2. I don't think modding was very prominent in the Diablo series as it is in other series (like Starcraft for example). It's a somewhat valid complaint for some people, but something most players won't miss and won't even notice.

3 - Permanent internet connection requirement - This I think is a very valid complaint, but I don't think that it, by itself, warrants a boycott. Don't like the idea, don't buy it. I know some people who would like to play D3 may have problems because of their connection (however, I can't believe this is the case for most people; I live in a developing country and even here almost everyone has a stable internet connection at home).

4 - Esport: I don't think Blizzard has ever considered D3 as an esport game. I remember they specifically saying that PvP won't be balanced, because it's not that kind of game. It's a design decision, it's their call, so it's a very bad reason for thinking about boycotts.

1. -The store also has a charge to putting up items on the store, and it only stays up on the store for a limited time. The undercharging by a cent I mentioned earlier can lose YOU money if it keeps happening. You also never addressed the "buying of power" complaint.

2. Mods were a pretty big bit of Diablo 2's longgesvity. Most of them were just adding new enemies, items, weapons, etc. While none reached the level of DOTA popularity, people kept coming back because they could always find new content, such as the "Diary of the Dark Wanderer" mod.

3. Still, you cannot bring the game onto a plane, on a long bus ride, when the power is out if you have a and play it on a laptop. Even EA has stepped back from DRM, it looked like DRM would just die completely, since it been proven completely ineffective at preventing piracy. Hell, it pushed a few people to piracy just to avoid the DRM. However, if somebody as big as Blizzard gets away with it, everybody will just be glad to do it again.

4. The PLAYERS thought it might be a good E-sports game, and Blizzard just shut them down.

 

[cfehunter]

Valid points.
I had no idea people were so agitated by the new sonic games physics being off. It's a sonic game, when have they ever been realistic?

I'm still not buying Diablo III though. As you said in your video, issues where publisher control comes before consumer convenience are the issues we should take a stand against.
Despite how Blizzard sugar coat it, if it were really just about giving us extra features they could easily make them optional, no this is about DRM.