There's been a recent surge in popularity for an initiative called
"Stop Killing Games." Simply put, it's against allowing game
publishers from revoking your games and rendering them unplayable
whenever they feel like it.
In theory, I support this. I've always been amazed at people who buy
games that turn into (usually lousy) paperweights once a necessary
server is shut down. I believe the only game I have that fits that
category is THQ's Homefront, and even that still has a singleplayer
game still available, so basically my collection is devoid of plastic
coasters.
In reality, I'm not sure. I've always been of the opinion that if you
want companies to pay, short of suing them, stop buying from them. I
guess I'm technically a "retro gamer" now. I play games from the Xbox
360 era and earlier, save a very select few that are free like Unciv.
I don't buy fucking game "licenses." I don't tolerate it. Where were
these assholes the past 10-15 years when the gaming industry went to
shit? The last time I contemplating buying a console was the Xbox Oni
generation simply for the Master Chief Collection. Even then, I
thought it's quite a chunk of change to spend on a game that came out
around a dozen years ago and didn't really have workable super jumps.
I mean I could technically put the Halo 2 disc in my console right now
and play it if I wanted.
It's just funny to me that they keep making at best minor improvements
in gameplay with different skins and charge you another $60-70 for it.
I basically laughed when I heard Overwatch 2 nuked Overwatch 1's
multiplayer. Is there even a singleplayer mode in that game?
Regardless, serves the fuckers right for buying Blizzard products and
not expecting end-stage capitalism horseshit. Don't buy from
anti-consumer companies. It's the very reason I absolutely loathe
Apple and generally sneer at assholes who overtly support them.
Consumers ruined the market by enabling this shit, and now they want
what I've been enjoying for 20+ years?
Yeah, some games don't age well, but even games from the SNES era are
fun and good enough visually (Donkey Kong Country). Don't just trash
or trade in your old games and systems. Considering how little you
usually get for them, I don't know why anyone does anything other than
sell them to other consumers. IMO, an N64 gathering dust is still
worth more than the $20 you'd get for one (subject to market
changes).
I love college football. As such, I have a few college football video
games. EA's NCAA Football series took a hiatus after litigation
regarding using real college players to "inspire" the roster and they
weren't compensated. That hiatus lasted about 11 years. I remember
these fucktards whining about "When are they going to make a new
game?" I just laughed because there was NOTHING stopping these
assclowns from playing the latest version, or even earlier versions.
Especially with sport games, not much changes usually. IF you can
"stomach" the good 3D graphics from 2004, NFL 2K5 is STILL the best
pro football video game I've ever played. I've played it 20 years
later. Still fun, still great, still has features that EA's newest
games don't have.
I guess the moral of this long post is yes, companies should respect
consumer rights, but consumers shouldn't allow companies to disrespect
those rights. A vast majority of smarter consumers would have stopped
this from becoming an issue in the first place.
