PC gamers take a lot of abuse. Not from console fanboys, but from the game companies themselves. So now, Stardock and Gas Powered Games have collaborated on a “PC Gamers Bill Of Rights.
I an whole-heartedly in favor of all ten points, and especially of these four:
#1 Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund. Ah, that’ll be the day. I don’t know of any store that will take back an opened copy of a game. We know why: piracy. In this instance, I can’t blame the stores too much. How can they tell if you’re being honest that the game won’t run on your rig? And how would this work if you buy a a digitally-distributed game?
#5 Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will adequately play on that computer. Yeah, the evil of those “min requirements”. Too often, that term means: “You can install the game and get it to run. Just don’t expect it to run fast or well unless almost all the graphic features are turned off, and not too many monsters are on the screen at once”. We really need honesty in this area.
#6 Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their express consent. We know about those, don’t we? And let’s add poorly-implemented uninstallers to that (Pool of Radiance 2, anyone?). These days, you never know what’s going on your drive along with the game. Or what may be left behind when you take it off. End that once and for all.
#8 Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers. Personally, I feel this should have been in the #1 position. Because, let’s face it, this is our #1 complaint: that the game companies treat us like thieves instead of like customers. We, the people who buy their stuff and keep them in business. Yeah, they can talk about how much they love the “community”, but the DRM they use says otherwise.
Of course, while all the points are good, I can’t help feeling the list is more wishful thinking than anything else. Given the “corp think” behind almost every major game company, there is little chance for any of those points (especially #8) to become common features in gaming. But we can hope, can’t we?
These days the companies will give us rights, then throw in a left and a kick when we are down…
I suspect very few of these will come to pass.
Point #2 – games released in a finished state – when was the last time you seen a game that didn’t require a patch?
The hidden drivers games were the ones I always avoided. This one actually has a chance of being implemented since once word gets out people avoid the game. There were several games I did not purchase due to Starforce being used – lost sales due to the DRM.
The one that irks me the most is where you can’t return software after it has been opened. These days most games physical media can’t be duplicated 1:1 anyway due to copy protection. I remember one case years ago where I was refused a refund due to it not working on my system. In the manual’s troubleshooting notes there was an entry describing my problem which was due to a particular brand of video card. Nowhere on the outside of the box was this information conveyed, only after opening the software and reading the manual did you find out about the incompatibility.
Quickly, off topic, I’m glad I found you again. After CGW/GFW closed shop I was reduced to getting my game info. online. I always appreciated your reviews and opinions. Glad to see you are still at it.
As long as there are file sharing sites the PC gamer will continue to be viewed as the root of all evil.
Grayson, always nice to have another reader drop in.
Yeah, I suppose you’re right about that. It’s probably a mental outlook that won’t change any time soon. Unfortunately.
Xian, that was nasty. And, of course, we can’t forget that if we don’t want to abide by the “license”, we shouldn’t buy the game. And the license is always inside the box.
It’s a step in the right direction, but I get this feeling that the Bill itself is not fundamental enough.
I mean, don’t talk about download managers and stuff; say instead that gamers have the right to own what they purchase — the actual zeroes and ones that constitutes that game.
Say that they have the right to transfer ownership to another person, make backups, and generally do what they like with the product. That’s something I can get behind.
And Right #2? Please. Xian’s right — when has that happened? What’s ‘finished state’?
I get this feeling that the Bill has no guiding principles behind it, just a wish-list of things that a game company (albeit a good one) thinks gamers want.
I mean, what guiding principles, though? How about, say, “The Right to Own”, “The Right to Quality” and “The Right to Trust”?
Finally… whatever Bill of Rights you want to choose to support, it’s going to mean nothing if PC gamers can’t get behind it and apply economic pressure on gaming companies. PC gamers have yet to learn to strike, and until they learn how to do so, game companies aren’t going to stand up and pay attention.
Whew! That was a bit long. It’s been a while.
Scorpia,
Under California Law, anything I buy from a store must be useable for its intended pupose right out the box. If not, I do have the right to return the product for a full refund. So a situation like Xian’s would not happen to me. I do have the right to return such a product.
By the way that is what I did for Legend: Hand of Satan that many people had a problem just to get started.
Also, everyone, SpaceSiege and Legend are getting one bad review after another.
However, Fate: Undiscovered Realms seems to be one solid game. It’s Fate on steriods.
But, we do have some good games still to look forward to:
(late Sept to early Nov. time frame)
Rise of the Argonaunts
Fallout III
King’s Bounty
I would also add an 11th point, which was recently drove home – games are not tied to a single user or account. My oldest son recently left the house and one of the things we had to do was split up the games that we both had shared. For example, both of us played Steam games, where I would play HL 2 or Portal or several others I have bought through Steam and he favored Counterstrike and Team Fortress. I can’t just transfer those two games to a new account for him, only the entire account can be transferred. They have to be bought again even though I have no interest in those two. It’s not like they can’t do it, for example when we bought the Orange Box, Steam recognized that we had HL2 already installed and allowed us to transfer that 2nd copy of HL2 to a different account.
My 12th point would be to address the recent trend to a limited number of installs over the lifetime of a product. I have not bought Mass Effect for this very reason since you are only allowed to install it on three PCs ever with no way to revoke a previous installaion. Sometimes hardware changes makes the DRM think it’s a new PC. The kids are clamoring for Spore when it comes out next week and it has that type of DRM. I am still undecided if I will get it for them or not. I do know that I will never buy a second copy due to the allowed installation limit being reached. I just hate to buy it since by that action I am saying that I am willing to accept that type of DRM, which I am not. If it was for me I would just say no, as I did with Mass Effect.
You’re forgetting the most important one, the ninth commandment- also known as “The Pool Of Radiance Trump”: “No game shall UNINSTALL THE OPERATING SYSTEM when uninstalled from the computer.”
I thought someone should mention that :)
Well, I did kinda mention that as an addition under #6 in the post, Maus. Just in case you missed that ;)