I agree, but should it be a "chance we take"? In other words, why are we (again, "we", collectively as gamers) supporting a system that sells games in this manner? I don't understand why we put up with this for virtual games, but would never put up with it for physical games. Can you imagine what kind of uproar there would be if every time an Xbox 360 RROD'ed and you got a replacement one that none of your old games would work on it? I don't understand why people will put up with things with one delivery system, but not another.Originally Posted by Oobgarm
And you're right -- my own little personal boycott probably won't make a difference, but if I feel like it's right, then I'm going to do it. To me it's like not looting a store when everybody else is. Just like we've all heard a million times growing up, "just because everybody else is doing it doesn't make it right." There's a gas station next to my house that, minutes after the 9/11 attacks, raised their prices from $1.29/gallon to $5. No other gas station around me did that, and I swore that I would never get gas there again. It's been, what, 9 years? I haven't been back. As you might imagine, the gas station is still there and people still go there. I don't picket out front out front about it or anything, but if I'm in the car we don't go there and when people ask why I don't go there I tell them why. The place still appears to be flourishing despite my daily coffee purchase and bi-monthly fill ups. Like I said, I can't control what everybody else does, I can only make decisions based on what I think is right.
Like I said on my blog today (and as you mentioned here), this one particular thing (referring to EA) isn't in and of itself that big of a deal. It's not like every company is doing it (yet), and it's not like they're making it retroactive. But it's just one more thing they're doing. It's like they're pushing, and pushing, and pushing, and we all have our own lines as to how much we're going to put up with, but I feel like this entire generation of gaming is just a test to see what all we will put up, and it seems like gamers (in general) are willing to put up with more than I am. I am tired of Sony removing options like OtherOS from my PS3 after I've owned it for a couple of years. I am tired of Amazon removing books from my Kindle after I've already bought them. I'm tired of the possibility of buying virtual games and then losing them if my console dies. I feel like all of these things are invasive. I feel like we have agreed to too much; that we have given these companies too much power, too much control over these games and consoles after we have already bought them.
Like I said earlier, if that makes me sound like some ranting middle-aged gamer that doesn't like all this newfangled technology, then so be it. Back in the day, I mean, pre-online gaming days, when you bought a game that was it and there wasn't a goddamn thing Sony or Nintendo or Sega anyone else could do about it. If there was a recall they could ask you nicely to return your game, but they couldn't come into your house and remove it! I have games in my game room that are 30 years old. 30 years from now, no one -- NO ONE -- will be playing Virtual Console games. And I'll still have all these old games of mine and they will be 60 years old.
I don't know why but I just feel like this news story is the one that broke the camel's back for me. And it has nothing to do with EA. It's just the fact that suddenly I see the days of buying a game, taking it home, and owning it forever are ending. The days of saying "this is mine" are coming to an end. You cannot pick up a virtual anything and say, "this is mine." The reality is, it's yours as long as they want to let you have it. Earlier this year when people's PS3s stopped working because the console "thought" it was a leap year and it wasn't, that was an eye opener. Some people's games -- even games that weren't online capable -- stopped working. I think we have this entire network of connectivity that we don't even fully understand yet.
The more I type the more I realize I'm just coming off as some prehistoric barbarian frothing at the mouth. I don't expect anyone to agree with me and I don't expect anyone to change their spending habits based off a word I've said. But you know, when you add it all up ... it just kind of seems like the old ways were better than the current ways, and no matter what you think of the current ways, they will almost definitely be better than what's in store for us next generation.
I'm heading back to my mancave ... which is, of course, located uphill, in the snow.
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