Scizophrenic Llama said:
Or you could, you know, buy the game new and actually support the developer? Rather than the, "Fuck you, I want to buy your game at a cheaper price, and not let any of the money go back to you, and you're a piece of shit for wanting to make a profit off of the sale of one of your games." attitude you've got going now.
I don't get why people are all up in arms about this. RAGE is going to be a massive game by the way all of the news stories seem to say about it, if it's a good game it'll be worth the money to buy it new. If you really want to save money and buy it used, then you're paying for a lesser experience. I see no issue in this.
You really want to blame somebody: Blame GameStop for not giving a portion of their 100% gain on a used game being sold back to the developers.
First off, game-wise, I've never bought anything used. That is because I like my games to be new and shiny with the game-box looking new and actually having everything inside(like the instruction booklet).
But, I can see why people buy used. They don't care about those materialistic things that I care about, they just want the game itself. Let's say people that don't normally get to buy games all the time, because they never have the free income to get them regularly like some people do, come into a store like GameStop and look around. They only have about fifty dollars available to spend. It's been awhile, so the they think back on what they wanted to play over the past few months. They remember that there were two games they wanted that came out six months before. They find out that both games' prices haven't went down all that much and they are forty dollars a piece; they also find out that both games are 20 dollars a piece used. They of course are going to buy both games used because it is more game for their money and if they just bought one game new and saved for the other, it could be another 4 or 5 month before they can afford one again.
I would say that people that use the used market the most are probably kids that only have a small amount of money they get from an allowance or chores. A kids aren't going to care where the money goes, they are going to see that they can get both games for half the price used of getting both new.
Besides, as people have pointed out, no other industry works like the publishers want it to work for them.
I've bought used books from a half-price bookstore many times. Are you saying that the store should keep a record of ever book sold and that Stephen King should get a portion of the money that was received when I bought his book "On Writing" used. No other media or retail item argues over the fact that some people buy used and they don't see money from it.
Writers maybe a little disappointed that a person didn't buy a book used an they don't get money from it, but they see it as they have gotten some recognition. The people that buy those writers' books used are still reading their books. If the writers have more than one book, then there is the possibility that when there new book comes out, these people that bought their one or so previous books used, will buy the new book new, since it will be awhile before people can buy it used. Writers look at a used buy as still getting recognition/publicity. If the used buyers love the books, they will spread the word and then other people will buy new usually because that is what most people do since there really aren't that many used bookstores around these days, at least ones that will have multiple copies of a new book, or a popular book.
So, publishers need to understand that they aren't special, sales-wise, the media is the same. If some people buy their game used, they don't get the money from it, but they do get the recognition/publicity if the game is loved and the players spread the word.
Long story short:
In the end, just think clearly about it, it really is just common sense. Movie companies don't say a word when people buy the movies from some used store, or rent it at a rental store. Authors don't complain about used book sales. Car companies don't whine when some guy buys one of their old used cars from some small private dealer.
Other people work to make those things and they don't see the money from used sales. So I ask you, why are video games different, why should they see a profit from used sales? Because if you say they should, that means all those other companies should see profits from used sales. So if I buy a used Monopoly set at a yard-sale, does that mean that Hasbro/Parker Bros. should get a portion of the three bucks I paid for it?
