Beginning of the End for Game Ownership?

[starseeker]

What if Internet providers start charging for bandwidth. Just a thought.

Anyway, I think no one is dismissing DD will more common, but at the moment, there isn't clear benefit ($ wise) of DD on consoles.

Its not cheaper, you can't sell/lent/trade/return. It doesn't benefit much other that you can download at the comfort of your home, or if you are those that have no more shelf space.

Until the benefits outweigh the cons, I am sticking to Physical copies. Its not old fashion, just economy.

 

[Viktor]

Nope, the majority of the money gained by the customer trading in their games is used to buy new games.

But what I'm saying is people buying used games. That money goes to the store, not the developer. No different than PC piracy where the developer sees nothing.

 

[DriedMangoes]

What if Internet providers start charging for bandwidth. Just a thought.

Anyway, I think no one is dismissing DD will more common, but at the moment, there isn't clear benefit ($ wise) of DD on consoles.

Its not cheaper, you can't sell/lent/trade/return. It doesn't benefit much other that you can download at the comfort of your home, or if you are those that have no more shelf space.

Until the benefits outweigh the cons, I am sticking to Physical copies. Its not old fashion, just economy.

Over here in NA, we have internet bandwith caps so they do charge if we go over.

Yes, I tend to be more frugal so used games re-sell is important to me.

 

[Mcmasters]

I'm going to laugh 20 years from now when kids don't even know what a game disc is. I completely embrace the future unlike a lot of people it seems.

Well your smart enough to know you can't stop the flow of the river. You can only adapt and move with it if you want to survive.

 

[DriedMangoes]

I guess I'll take it in the ass once digital goes mainstream but until then, I'm going to keep fighting the good fight.

 

[Ketto]

You've never truly "owned" the game. You simply owned the physical media the game came on and that supersedes the licensing agreement. Going digital is obvious just removing the physical media the game comes on, but that same licensing agreement is still there. It's not like you're being played or something; it has ALWAYS been like this. That physical media (CD, cart) were the only reasons you could ever resell your games. It always amazes me, people act shocked that they don't "own" the digital download of the game they got.

 

[TDbank24]

You've never truly "owned" the game. You simply owned the physical media the game came on and that supersedes the licensing agreement. Going digital is obvious just removing the physical media the game comes on, but that same licensing agreement is still there. It's not like you're being played or something; it has ALWAYS been like this. That physical media (CD, cart) were the only reasons you could ever resell your games. It always amazes me, people act shocked that they don't "own" the digital download of the game they got.

You never owned it but at least you had some control over what you bought. That's the issue here. When you buy something, you should be free to do what you want with it so long as it's legal. I wouldn't read a book without a cover and pages. I wouldn't go to a strip club without strippers and i won't be gaming without physical media. I just won't. Call me stuck in my ways but it just seems stupid to me. Unless every game is going to be $30 brand new it makes no sense. Take half the purchase away, take half the price away. Fair is fair.

 

[Ketto]

You never owned it but at least you had some control over what you bought. That's the issue here. When you buy something, you should be free to do what you want with it so long as it's legal. I wouldn't read a book without a cover and pages. I wouldn't go to a strip club without strippers and i won't be gaming without physical media. I just won't. Call me stuck in my ways but it just seems stupid to me. Unless every game is going to be $30 brand new it makes no sense. Take half the purchase away, take half the price away. Fair is fair.

You are free to do what you want...with a physical purchase like a book. You can rip the pages, set it on fire, stuff an animal with the pages, etc. Not much you can do with digital products other than use them or not use them. People demanding to be able to resell digital products aren't very bright.

 

[Kerosene31]

We would have been able to share our digital games, until the internet threw a hissy fit.

 

[eVo7]

You know when you buy a game whether it be digital or physical media based technically you're only buying a license to play the game, right?

 

[starseeker]

I am for DD, but the arguement about ownership need to be clarifed.

The difference between Physical game & DD isn't just the Disc it came with, to use as coaster or balance a table, which you can, but that's another discussion.

When I buy a book, I do not own the content of the book,same as if I buy a game, or a DVD, CD, I do not buy the rights of the contents, I can only listen, play, read).

I cannot quote something inside & claim it to be mine, or make money off it (without royalty). I cannot edit the song of a CD & claim it to be mine, with the argument that I bought the song, because in reality I did not actually bought the song, I actually bought the medium that play the song! This is the key point.

When I buy a physical copy of a console game (period), I buy the medium that carries the contents. This medium, the paper of the book, the Disc of a Bluray movies,that allow me to play/read/listen. While I have no ownership to the content, I have ownership to the medium. This means I can sell/trade/(in some case also rent)/lent like any other products like your shaver, or toothpaste.


(However there are exception to this. Many PC game that come in disc form, like Diablo 3, or Borderland 2, in which you can pass the CD, but required unlocking via internet, so its essentially DD, except you copy the content from a disc)

When I buy a DD content, I only have to right to play/listen/read the content. I cannot sell/trade/(in some case also rent)/lent. There may be some workaround to this, but the general rule is you can't.

In a nutshell
When people referring to owning a game, (knowingly or not), they are not actually referring to owning the content of the game, because you can't, unless the content owner allows it! They are referring to owning the medium that carries the content. Which means as owner, you can sell/trade/(in some case also rent)/lent (& use a Frisbee), & someone else then then use this medium ro access the content of the medium ie the game inside.


That's all for my clarification, just so we are clear about the definition of ownership.

 

[Dr D Wayne Love]

But what I'm saying is people buying used games. That money goes to the store, not the developer. No different than PC piracy where the developer sees nothing.

The games they trade in they use to buy new games.The money goes round and round.

 

[Kassen]

The book-to-game anaolgy isn't sound just to point out. When you buy a book, you do own the book, just not the right to copy, publish, and redistribute said copies.

 

[starseeker]

The book-to-game anaolgy isn't sound just to point out. When you buy a book, you do own the book, just not the right to copy, publish, and redistribute said copies.

Yes, you do own the book, just not the contents of the book, if its a novel, then the content is the story, which you do not own.

The confusion came from the words.
When we say we buy a book, The book refer to the physical book; ie the paper, ink etc.

But when we say, we buy a game (a physical console game), what we are actually saying is, we buy a game CD, or a game DVD etc.
But few people say, I buy a Game CD. People just say, I buy a game. Its a convenience short form to essentially saying, buying a game CD (omitting the CD or DVD/bluray).
So we actually own the CD (like we own the book), but we do not own the content it contains (the game itself, or the story in the book).

This rules apply to most IPs, even your car. You own the parts, & you can do whatever you wanted with the cars & parts (that legally allowed), but you do not own the technology/design etc behind it.

I hope that clears up a bit of confusion.

On a side note, talking about books,
Stories, like paintings, & many Ips, have a limited Copyright periods, which differs from palces to places.
Quoted from IP UK link:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/c-duration-faq-lasts.htm

But in general, the terms of protection in the UK are as follows:

• Copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work lasts for the life of the author and 70 years from the end of the year in which he/she died.
• Copyright in a film expires 70 years after the end of the year in which the death occurs of the last to survive of the principal director, the authors of the screenplay and dialogue, and the composer of any music specially created for the film.

So everybody owns classic like Snow white (but not Disney version, or movie adaption of snow white), Alice in Wonderland, A nightmare before Christmas etc. If you want, you can make books, CD, movies out of these classic without paying a single cents to anyone. Of course, as courtesy, you should indicated in your book, who is the original author.

 

[Lnin0]

I think a Netflix like game would be welcome by gamers but I see a lot of hurdles to overcome

-pricing for DD same if not higher due to lack of sales.
-ISP download caps
-latency not conducive for streaming
-"Netflix" like service would require a large player that can provide titles from many publishers, not each individual publisher offering sub service.
-no well established licensing/pricing model between content providers and rental services.
-consumer unrealistic expectation to receive day one releases from a rental/streaming service even though movies are rarely offered same day as theater
-consumers are afraid of change
-content provides are not fans of "Netflix" so it is unlikely game publisher would ever offer a consumer friendly price model, just look how far they have pushed dlc and freemium pricing