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

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Big problem is: How do you tell if a game is defective? And would they agree with you?

For instance: Colonization, when first released, had a plethora of bugs/AI issues that made it insanely hard to win; but not impossible.

How long would you have to return it? Because...as has been said...Portal 2 can be finished in 4/5/6 hours...

While it's a nice idea, it's completely unworkable from all three sides.

Horribly buggy games are anything but a recent occurrence.

QFT

 

[GonzoGamer]

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.

And what if (as is the case with many games this generation) they don't fix it.

I think the easiest to enforce would be to simply fine the company for every extra day the game has faults that make it unplayable as determined by independent committee. With a certain company that won't be named but sounds quite a lot like Dethesda Coftworks you could probably pay off a good chunk of the US deficit with the quality they release at. If them messing up is going to cut into the profit margin for the release I'd imagine they'll put in that little bit extra attention when they test it.

That's cool but I would just create a new wing of the ESRB or something like that to regulate it. I don't want the mummies in government to have anything to do with our games.
Those guys are pants on head retarded.

 

[FarleShadow]

7 months post release, barely any issues solved, still plenty of things buggy, further bugs introduced via patches, game crashes still not even close to being eliminated. And even x years from now if they're still doing patches, they'll never sort out their code, making the game laggy and slow even on computers well past their required specs.

The word you were looking for was "check", without the mate part, for it belongs to me

Steam store: Civilisation V
Price: £29.99

Still full price! So I still checkmate you.

 

[Zantos]

I think the easiest to enforce would be to simply fine the company for every extra day the game has faults that make it unplayable as determined by independent committee. With a certain company that won't be named but sounds quite a lot like Dethesda Coftworks you could probably pay off a good chunk of the US deficit with the quality they release at. If them messing up is going to cut into the profit margin for the release I'd imagine they'll put in that little bit extra attention when they test it.

That's cool but I would just create a new wing of the ESRB or something like that to regulate it. I don't want the mummies in government to have anything to do with our games.
Those guys are pants on head retarded.

They are a bit stupid. Although I always imagined they'd just, whenever the issue came up, put together a crack team of designers and critics and be like "Sort this out." Maybe give them uniforms. And a snappy title like Gamebusters!

If there's something strange, in the gaming world
Who you gonna call? Gamebusters!
If there's something wierd, and it don't look good
Who you gonna call? Gamebusters!

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

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.

Goddammit, double ninja'd.
I think that if a game is buggy, wait 'till it gets patched, or don't buy it at all. If it was introduced people could finish the game, and get it refunded straight away, claiming that there was one bug.
Also,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJCzEJmiOeM&feature=related

 

[valleyshrew]

Wish you cretins would stop encouraigng developers to dumb down games. A simple game like portal 2 is easy to release bug free. Do you want a future where video games are all linear with only 2-3 characters per game and silent protagonists and simple gameplay gimmicks? There's a reason FFXIII had no glitches and New Vegas had tons, and it wasn't that FFXIII was a better game.

 

[l00kmumn0hands]

the "Over doing it" response was the closest you had to "This is a really stupid thing to complain about, just watch reviews before you buy games or maybe even rent the game first" option which you should have had. The world has bigger problems than this.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

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.

Something like CoD:BO around its launch. That is something that was clearly defective. Something along those lines that has a component that clearly doesn't work and genuinely game breaking bugs that require effort to bypass(like the bit near the last mission if you have played it you know the one I mean).

OT: In cases where the game is genuinely defective or broken like the above case well then there should be laws in place to stop devs from releasing clearly unfinished games. So I think only things that need emergency patching or something along those lines should be included.

Wish you cretins would stop encouraigng developers to dumb down games. A simple game like portal 2 is easy to release bug free. Do you want a future where video games are all linear with only 2-3 characters per game and silent protagonists and simple gameplay gimmicks? There's a reason FFXIII had no glitches and New Vegas had tons, and it wasn't that FFXIII was a better game.

Then how do you explain things like BO? Lets be honest it is a simple game in that 80%-90% of the mechanics are core aspects are there and it is still buggy as shit. It is just either devs being overly lazy not testing enough or being forced to release early. Some bugs in big games are forgivable but I don't see how they could of missed the bug in the Clavicus Vile Quest in Oblivion.

 

[Vrach]

7 months post release, barely any issues solved, still plenty of things buggy, further bugs introduced via patches, game crashes still not even close to being eliminated. And even x years from now if they're still doing patches, they'll never sort out their code, making the game laggy and slow even on computers well past their required specs.

The word you were looking for was "check", without the mate part, for it belongs to me

Steam store: Civilisation V
Price: £29.99

Still full price! So I still checkmate you.

See the bolded & underlined part

 

[FarleShadow]

snip.

See the bolded & underlined part [/quote]

Ah, but that's the future! So I'm still winning. Until the waveform collapses in the future.

 

[Kingsnake661]

a limon law could only possible be aimed at "buggy" games, because that's about the only thing one can diffintively say is broken about a game. Just because *I* didn't LIKE a game doesn't mean it's broken, but if it won't load or run properally, yeah, we all can agree that THAT's a problem.

Course, I don't think a LAW is needed, one would hope the market would correct itself, but i rarely does. People are far to easily accepting of crap now a days. The patch it later mentality isn't going anywhere so long as people keep buying the buggy games and waiting for the patch to fix it.

 

[Sutter Cane]

Just research a bit before you purchase. Then you have no problem.

A lemon law for video games is ridiculous.

This. Also it would put WAY too much pressue on developers. I mean can you imagine having to wonder "is my game good enough to not be breaking the law?" Also this thread reeks of "BLARG OBSIDIAN SUCKS FALLOUT NEW VEGAS IS BUGGY RAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEE" just sayin'

 

[Resetti's_Replicas]

You pretty much answered yourself with the poll option
"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."

Lemon laws apply to used car transactions, when I read the title I thought you were going to talk about used games because you can't really hold the vendor liable for anything other than a scratched disc. Even in the case of cars, if there's a problem at the factory level the dealer isn't the person you should be talking to.

 

[Jodah]

Never had a game that I couldn't get working. I've had them not work when I first tried but with a little searching and general know how I've always been able to make them work. Also there would be so many complaints it would make your head spin. Any game that had a bug making it not work on any computer configuration would be a complaint. Companies would be forced to make their game work for every conceivable computer, which is highly impractical.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

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.

True, but there HAVE been instances where a product was shipped faulty (there was a Tiger Woods game by EA a few years ago whose online function just didn't work, period), and because there are no laws in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening with videogames, consumers have no real recourse, other than the rather passive-aggressive act of returning the game. Instances where the law could actually take precedence would be rare, but it IS something that I think is worth addressing.

The first 2K Sports Baseball game on the 360 wouldn't let you play past the second inning until they released a patch almost a week after release. But, to their credit they did instruct retailers to take the games back and offer a refund for them and just ate the cost of doing it. That's the only time I've heard of a company doing that.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I think the easiest to enforce would be to simply fine the company for every extra day the game has faults that make it unplayable as determined by independent committee. With a certain company that won't be named but sounds quite a lot like Dethesda Coftworks you could probably pay off a good chunk of the US deficit with the quality they release at. If them messing up is going to cut into the profit margin for the release I'd imagine they'll put in that little bit extra attention when they test it.

That's cool but I would just create a new wing of the ESRB or something like that to regulate it. I don't want the mummies in government to have anything to do with our games.
Those guys are pants on head retarded.

They are a bit stupid. Although I always imagined they'd just, whenever the issue came up, put together a crack team of designers and critics and be like "Sort this out." Maybe give them uniforms. And a snappy title like Gamebusters!

If there's something strange, in the gaming world
Who you gonna call? Gamebusters!
If there's something wierd, and it don't look good
Who you gonna call? Gamebusters!

Seeing things stuck in your head.
Who you gonna call? Gamebusters!
An invisible wall, blocking you from bed.
Who you gonna call?

 

[emeraldrafael]

Its a nice concept, but I dont think the minor investment of a game is worth neough to the industry to start up something that works like the Lemon laws do and run as an organization.

 

[Therumancer]

I'm a believer in capitalism, but I don't believe in unfettered capitalism. Consumer protection is an important thing, as is protecting industries to prevent them from being raped and destroyed by the people within them for short term gain that winds up costing everyone else in the long run.

Socialism is by it's very nature a system where the goverment pretty much controls all property and commerce. I don't care for that. I prefer the goverment stay out of things as much as possible, which creates a very fine line you need to walk.

Right now the problem with gaming is a complete lack of consumer advocacy. Paranoia over piracy and crazy demands over IP rights have created a very negative climate for the consumer, as have things like the proliferation of digital downloads. With games a big part of the business is to keep customers as blind as possible to the product, control information released by the media, and perhaps most importantly maintain an enviroment where someone can't viably return the product they purchused should it turn out to be defective, not as advertised, or of low quality.

Someone who takes a "your only out $60" mentality has the wrong attitude, and is probably in possession of enough money compared to the rest of us where they are jaded about the value of the dollar. That's not an insignifigant chunk of change, no matter how you try and justify it.

I'm not sure if a duplication of the "Lemon Laws" is a good idea, but I do think that rather than legislating all this protection (or more accuratly the abillity to engage in exploitation) for companies around IP laws, serious action needs to be taken to protect customers in a developing industry.

Whether a product is sold digitally or not, there should always be a viable return policy, and I also think we need to see more information being required when it comes to IP based products like games. Similar to how you can get vehicle reports on a car your going to buy, even if it hurts the company producing the vehicles. I think a lot of solid information about games needs to be revealed before they are allowed to put it on the market, including frank analysis of bugs, the amount of content, and even the play style. Even with things like Demos out there, we have a serious problem when the game you get and the promotional material don't wind up matching.

 

[StBishop]

The poll needs simpler options. None of them apply to me, they're all too specific.

I like the idea but I don't think it could ever work in practice and it would make game production even more prohibitive for people who want to branch out than it already is.

How many truly innovative games are highly polished? How many boring "same"y games are polished?

Exactly.