A New Bill In Congress Could Let Players Own Their Digital Games
Image Source: PCmag
In 2016, Danish politician Ida Auken published an article titled Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better. The Bond-esque organization known as the World Economic Forum latched onto the phrase “You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy.” The internet ran wild with it, accusing the WEF of trying to eliminate personal property. As Orwellian as the phrase is, it’s something that gamers have had to endure for quite some time. We’re in the age of online gaming, and if you purchase a game for, say, $60 with whatever add-ons, DLC and anything else like that, you’d think you own it. That’s the way it’s always worked. But video game companies can and do shut down the online servers for their games once they’re no longer profitable, and once they do, you find out all of the money you spent on the game was really just a hidden rental, not a purchase.
However, Congress could be looking to fix that.
Representative Ritchie Torres of New York’s 15th Congressional District has introduced the ‘Power to the Players Act’, which would make it so that players actually, you know, own the games they buy. From Torres, “consumers must have the right to own, the right to play, and the right to transfer the games they buy. A game that can be taken away the moment a company pulls the plug is not a purchase. It is a rental disguised as a sale.” Not only that, but the bill would also mandate that companies that take any games offline make a playable offline version of the game, so people could keep playing after the servers are down.
Will this pass? Who knows. The lobbyists will go after this one hard. However, the mere fact that this bill is being introduced means that people high up are taking notice of the issue. Ida Auken and the WEF might claim that I’ll own nothing and be happy, but I’d be much happier if I paid for and got to keep my copy of Animal Crossing forever.
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Source: Hothardware
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