Poll: Do you think Video Games Need a Lemon Law?

[GonzoGamer]

For those of you unfamiliar: Lemon Law is something that protects consumers (at least in America) when they buy a car that is defective.

I?ve been thinking lately that I would appreciate a law like that for video games as well. I?m sure that many of you have bought at least one game this gen (and in previous gens) that has been so buggy, that it probably shouldn?t have been worked on more before launch. While with this generation we do now have the ability to get patches for our games, sometimes a game is still broken after a few patches that are released over the span of several months. This week I saw in the details of a much anticipated patch for one of the most broken games of this gen (Fallout New Vegas) that it would cause a completely new glitch for one platform in particular (PS3).

Now as annoying as it is to get a broken game I recognize that a defective game isn?t as dangerous as a fast moving box of metal and glass with a tank of combustible liquid inside.

So what do you think? Is it becoming necessary or would that be overdoing it. If you think it is necessary, how do you think it should work? I would like to see consumers protected but I wouldn?t want to see it go so far that it starts putting publishers out of business.

 

[FarleShadow]

9th option missing:
Never had a broken game.
I've played some shit games before, but never one that didn't work or was unplayable. Sure, Radscorps in rocks was abit lame, but its flaws are forgiven for its large gaming area. Follow that sentiment to all other buggy but playable games.

 

[busterkeatonrules]

Personally, whenever I find that I've paid top price for a game that turned out to be crap-tacular, I blame myself for not reading enough reviews beforehand. This is where games differ from cars: Every copy of the same game has the same qualities. If the reviewer's copy of the game is bug-free, then yours will be too. The only way one copy can differ from another, is if the disc is damaged. And the consumer is, in most cases, already entitled to a refund or replacement if this happens.

 

[Smertnik]

But then where do you draw the line between a 'defective' and a not 'defective' game? It's pretty easy to determine whether a car works - either it does or it doesn't. But if you can install, launch and play a game then you can't really call it defective, can you?
Besides, there's no flawless software, every game comes with bugs, especially the ones developed for PC.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Personally, whenever I find that I've paid top price for a game that turned out to be crap-tacular, I blame myself for not reading enough reviews beforehand. This is where games differ from cars: Every copy of the same game has the same qualities. If the reviewer's copy of the game is bug-free, then yours will be too. The only way one copy can differ from another, is if the disc is damaged. And the consumer is, in most cases, already entitled to a refund or replacement if this happens.

this

i am not an entitled POS who needs every game to be the most amazing glitch free game ever, you aren't forced to buy the product

plus most of my favorite games are glitchy, those games/companies would be out of business if they were forced to make everyone 100% satisfactory with their purchase.

 

[Weaver]

I think only if it flat out doesn't work.
I've had a few PC games that just didn't start up.

 

[Pokomon]

No. Even though some bugs have gotten me angry, some of them are rather humorous.

 

[Marowit]

if you buy a bad game, it's your own fault. there are so many ways to find out whether it's worth your $60.

a car is expected to function with certain expectations.

Overdoing it. Defective cars can be very dangerous. The only danger of a defective game is you lose $60: not exactly a threat to life & limb.

exaaaaactly

 

[Kpt._Rob]

No, a Lemon Law would have a terrible influence on many of the people working in the industry, and it wouldn't even be a punishment to the people who really ought to pay for it when there's a bad game. It seems like I read it all the time, that more often than not the design team is well aware of the problems, and they want to fix it, but it's the corporate fucks running the whole deal who force products out the door before they're ready for prime time. But a Lemon Law seems like it's more likely to come back on the heads of the design staff, the poor folks who worked their asses off and then weren't even allowed to do the job as well as they wanted to.

Bad games are an unfortunate reality, but a Lemon Law would only end up hurting the people who actually make the games.

 

[DJDarque]

Because paying $60 for a game definitely warrants the same protection as spending $20,000+ for a car.

No, games should not have a lemon law. If you buy a bad game, well, now you know better for the future.

 

[Durananrananrananran]

Personally, whenever I find that I've paid top price for a game that turned out to be crap-tacular, I blame myself for not reading enough reviews beforehand. This is where games differ from cars: Every copy of the same game has the same qualities. If the reviewer's copy of the game is bug-free, then yours will be too. The only way one copy can differ from another, is if the disc is damaged. And the consumer is, in most cases, already entitled to a refund or replacement if this happens.

this

i am not an entitled POS who needs every game to be the most amazing glitch free game ever, you aren't forced to buy the product

plus most of my favorite games are glitchy, those games/companies would be out of business if they were forced to make everyone 100% satisfactory with their purchase.

Spot on.

 

[MrMoustaffa]

but if this law was put into effect, almost half of the Wii's library would be gone in one fell swoop...

Trolling aside, I dont know if it would make much difference, because the companies that are releasing games that terrible dont really care about quality. Even with the law put in place, they would only polish the game up enough to pass quality control and that would be it. Instead of having a horrible game with crippling bugs, now you would have a horrible game with only slightly crippling bugs.

 

[holy_secret]

Barney taught me the law.
I never thought it was for realsies.

Are there really enough happenings where there's been a faulty game that warrants a need for a lemon law on video games? It's never happened to me. None which I can mention have had it happen to them neither.

 

[RustyCat]

I went with the "Socialist" option if for no other reason than I read it in J.K. Simmons' voice and chuckled. Would like an option to burn down their house with combustible lemons though.

 

[pendragon177]

I went with the "Socialist" option if for no other reason than I read it in J.K. Simmons' voice and chuckled. Would like an option to burn down their house with combustible lemons though.

Damn, ninja'd.
Oh well.

 

[tkioz]

To be perfectly honest, I simply black ban developers for putting out unplayable games. I wont buy anything from Bethesda again after the mess that was Fallout:NV. Most of the time it's my own fault for pre-ordering stuff, I've since stopped doing that unless the deal is too good to resist (I got Mass Effect 2 for $25 off when I pre-ordered for example, hey it adds up, a dollar saved is a dollar earned), now I wait to see what reviews say and if it's a bug fest before I turn over my money.

 

[Avaholic03]

I think you're misunderstanding the lemon law. You don't get your money back for a bad car. It has to have the same recurring problem after several repair attempts before the lemon law takes effect. Almost every glitchy game gets patched, and then you don't have that recurring problem anymore. So that law wouldn't even apply.

 

[Zantos]

I think it's going a little far, but I do think if a company releases a game so buggy that it doesn't work they should be held accountable, and made to sink as much time and money as they need to get it fixed ASAP.

 

[Snowalker]

Personally, whenever I find that I've paid top price for a game that turned out to be crap-tacular, I blame myself for not reading enough reviews beforehand. This is where games differ from cars: Every copy of the same game has the same qualities. If the reviewer's copy of the game is bug-free, then yours will be too. The only way one copy can differ from another, is if the disc is damaged. And the consumer is, in most cases, already entitled to a refund or replacement if this happens.

On consoles.... PC is a different entity. Its entirely possible a bug can be found within your system that was not within the reviewer. And thats not to say its your fault, because to computer could be entirely capable, yet something isn't working well together.