So the EU just ruled that it's legal to re-sell digital versions of games.

[veloper]

How does the buyer know I'm sending him the original and not just making a copy for him?

Is there even an original? I'm thinking no.

This is even dumber than regular used sales, where you may atleast sometimes get the manual and the case with the game.

Who here will pay for a "used" digital copy, that they can also torrent for free?

A good person who doesn't pirate games and would rather not spend a full $60 on a AAA game that isn't likely to go on sale would.

What's so GOOD about giving me some money for something that took me no effort for me to recreate?
The digital copy itself is worthless.

Developers may deserve support for their efforts but giving random X free money is nowhere on the good and honest scale.

 

[Aeshi]

How does the buyer know I'm sending him the original and not just making a copy for him?

Is there even an original? I'm thinking no.

This is even dumber than regular used sales, where you may atleast sometimes get the manual and the case with the game.

Who here will pay for a "used" digital copy, that they can also torrent for free?

You forfeit your license and give it to someone. Alas, you cannot use the game after you sell it.

Yes, it's easy to say that that's what will happen, but I doubt there would be any real way to check whether the seller actually went through with getting rid of their copy (short of adding some sort of tracker DRM to each copy of the game, which opens up a whole other can of worms.) and I can't help but feel that the act of doing so would fall into the 'technically illegal, but so difficult to enforce/punish it may as well not be' category.

 

[veloper]

How does the buyer know I'm sending him the original and not just making a copy for him?

Is there even an original? I'm thinking no.

This is even dumber than regular used sales, where you may atleast sometimes get the manual and the case with the game.

Who here will pay for a "used" digital copy, that they can also torrent for free?

You forfeit your license and give it to someone. Alas, you cannot use the game after you sell it.

Heh, I can't hold onto the real kicker not any longer: I have DRM-free digital games.

And before you refuse my DRM free games and buy used somewhere else...wouldn't that mean you actualy value and pay MORE for having the DRM, the hassle and inconvenince tacked onto your software?

 

[Mekado]

Hehe, the publishers are already up in arms about physical used games reselling, i'm sure they'll be ecstatic about digital resell...

Although this way, if they set up their own system, they could take a cut of the money.I don't think they should, but they surely will.So the cut gamestop/whatever store takes could be taken by the publisher instead, i guess it wouldn't be so bad for everyone involved...

 

[chimeracreator]

Heh, I can't hold onto the real kicker not any longer: I have DRM-free digital games.

And before you refuse my DRM free games and buy used somewhere else...wouldn't that mean you actualy value and pay MORE for having the DRM, the hassle and inconvenince tacked onto your software?

Yep, and unless you delete your copy if you resell it you are guilty of copyright infringement. In this case always online account based DRM is going to end up causing publishers that oppose used games sames, like EA, a HUGE headache. As this ruling now opens the gate for a second ruling if they fail to offer license transfers between accounts for anti-competitive behavior because within the EU at least the first sale doctrine has won the day.

 

[Moontouched-Moogle]

So in other words you can have ditgital used games? PFT HA! Oh this is gonna be fun to watch.

Gamestop's CEO just creamed his pants and cried out in joy.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I admit I don't get this.

I mean, physical used games make sense. Knock a couple bucks off the price tag since the game's already been opened, and maybe the person who opened it was rather rough with the box, manual, or disc so that it's no longer in 'new' condition.

But with a completely digital copy... how would a used digital game be any different at all from a new digital game?

 

[BENZOOKA]

This is exactly how it should be.

I just hope Steam will implement this, and sooner than couple of court cases, complaints and 5 years from now.

 

[Paladin Anderson]

So in other words you can have ditgital used games? PFT HA! Oh this is gonna be fun to watch.

Gamestop's CEO just creamed his pants and cried out in joy.

Yes because I needed that mental image in my head!

lol

 

[veloper]

Heh, I can't hold onto the real kicker not any longer: I have DRM-free digital games.

And before you refuse my DRM free games and buy used somewhere else...wouldn't that mean you actualy value and pay MORE for having the DRM, the hassle and inconvenince tacked onto your software?

Yep, and unless you delete your copy if you resell it you are guilty of copyright infringement.

That would be my hypothetical problem that is not so much a problem at all, wouldn't it?

At this point wouldn't simply be better if you could send the amount you're willing to part with directly to the company and just get the game?

You can give your money to me or Bob or Whatsherface, but what goal does that accomplish?

 

[redisforever]

This law seems like it'd be way too hard to enforce, what's to stop people from just selling their games and then 'forgetting' to delete/lock their copies?

Steam, Origin, and others could just revoke your access to the games when you re-sell them. Though this relies on them embracing this and setting up systems that allow it.

Yeah, but honestly, it'd be super easy to circumvent. I don't know how this would work without a ton of DRM...

 

[White-Death]

Well, half of my steam library will find themselves in a better place soon.
And I wil have my moniez.

 

[chimeracreator]

I admit I don't get this.

I mean, physical used games make sense. Knock a couple bucks off the price tag since the game's already been opened, and maybe the person who opened it was rather rough with the box, manual, or disc so that it's no longer in 'new' condition.

But with a completely digital copy... how would a used digital game be any different at all from a new digital game?

The game itself wouldn't be different, but the method of obtaining it would be. Lets say that we are dealing with an always online game that is tied to an account, like Starcraft 2. To implement this the developer would need to allow a game key to be transferred to another account. Once the transfer takes place any attempt to log into that game using the old account would fail as they key is no longer present. The new account however could then use this key to log on, and any concern about copyright infringement is made moot by the proper use of DRM, which isn't always evil.

Now a company like Game Stop would love this sort of system because they could create master accounts for each store (or the entire company) and use these to accept account keys from people who want to sell them games, and then sell these keys to future customers. This also means that if major publisher like Blizzard-Activision or EA tries to lock the system down and prevent other companies from using it they can be sued for anti-competitive practices.

That said it will take some time for this to work its way down and if US courts decide otherwise it might cause some very odd regional weirdness, so let's hope that doesn't happen.

 

[Nurb]

Woo! Consumer wins!

Not sure this is good news at all.

For one, it might increase game prices in affected regions. Furthermore, it could encourage publishers to introduce time limits in their EULA's with paid subscriptions for their services.

No, I wouldn't break out the party hats just yet.

Why must everything good for consumers and be seen as bad? Shows how effective publisher BS is at molding the minds of gamers that grew up over the past decade.

Consumers have right to first sale, and right to resale as it is. It's always been like that. The used record, cassette, CD, game and book businesses have existed for decades and it has not done a thing to affect the market, same for ebay.

Consumers have property rights, and those rights include selling what you own, and if you pay full price for a digital item, that is your property. It doesn't matter what EULAs say, judges throw them out of court because they are too far reaching (as the judge did here).

So you sell your license, and you lose access to the game, just as if you sold a physical copy. Don't let those greedy publisher bastards scare you about price hikes, it's dirty business practices that have been going on for years and years. We own what we buy, pysical or digital. If they get to dictate how we use our own property then we shouldn't have to pay the prices we do for entertainment.

I hope this makes it to the US.

 

[KiKiweaky]

I dont really see what difference its going to make I dont think any of those services allows you to transfer a game to another persons account.

 

[klaynexas3]

I admit I don't get this.

I mean, physical used games make sense. Knock a couple bucks off the price tag since the game's already been opened, and maybe the person who opened it was rather rough with the box, manual, or disc so that it's no longer in 'new' condition.

But with a completely digital copy... how would a used digital game be any different at all from a new digital game?

If someone bought a digital game, beat it, but doesn't want to play it anymore beyond that, then they are able to sell it at a cheaper price to someone else. That means someone can buy the game at a cheaper price, while the original buyer can get some money back for a game he wouldn't have played anymore after the first time he beat it, whether he still owned it or not. The used copy is no different from a new one, just cheaper. There isn't much more to get in this situation.

 

[ElPatron]

How does the buyer know I'm sending him the original and not just making a copy for him?

Is there even an original? I'm thinking no.

This is even dumber than regular used sales, where you may atleast sometimes get the manual and the case with the game.

Who here will pay for a "used" digital copy, that they can also torrent for free?

A lot of games don't even come with a "manual" (more like a flier, warnings and promos for other games) and I don't think that people who trade in used games for credit to be able to play games while low on cash care about collecting cases.

If I follow your post's logic, why the hell am I paying for games at all?

And used sales are not dumb.

Gaming is a luxury, not a right

How does that change anything? I can't think of any luxury item that can't be sold used, be it at a lower or higher price.

 

[Vegosiux]

Frankly I don't like this. Gaming is a luxury, not a right and I do feel that the developers have earned the money. Used game sales, especially digital versions, mean one less sale the developers get paid for.

The developers got paid for developing Game X before Game X was released.

NEXT?

Naw, while I do understand all the bollocks about consumer rights, rights to sell what is now your property and so on and so forth... I just can't approve of this. Publishers and devs are already implementing all kinds of asshole moves to make their games profitable, including but not limited to cutting out half the game and selling it as DLC and so on. This will just make it even worse as their costs to develop games keep going up and gamers keep giving money to each other and those brick and mortar moneytraps instead.

And the best way to make them quit doing that is to bend over and think of England, amirite.