"Why do you want to not own the games you buy?": My stance on the DRM of Xbox One
So what started off as being a simple answer to a simple question on reddit lead me to write out a rather large wall of text. I'd rather not let my time and effort go to waste in one corner of the Internet, so I'm posting my response here for the bored and/or curious. Feel free to leave your response on the state of DRM, possibilities for change, etc. Just no flaming!
Alright, I'll try to make it make more sense. Perhaps a small(apparently not) history-like lesson will help you at least understand why trends are going this way, even if you can't agree with it. (Hopefully anyone even makes it through this wall of text).
1) Let's go to the era of cartridges. When you bought or were going to buy a SNES game, there was no talk about whether you could resell, trade, buy used, or anything. There was no talk of DRM. For publishers and developers to protect their game, they knew that 1 game = 1 owner, so DRM wasn't a concern.
2) Now let's move to the start of the digital era. Take the PS1/PS2 for example. Being put on a simple CD, and with home computers becoming more and more common, it was no longer safe to say that 1 game = 1 owner. With many people having optical drives in their computers, and the Internet as a distribution network, piracy was a real threat for the first time in the game industry. Publishers and developers started to get nervous about protecting their work/investments, so they implemented barriers to simply stop people from copying/burning game CDs. Of course pirates found ways around this.
3) Okay, now let's take the current era. Digital downloads are common, people have become used to the idea of having digital merch tied to their accounts (due to Steam/iTunes/etc). Up until now, people have treated video games just like any other physical media, allowing you to resell, trade, buy used, etc. But with the world moving digital, what's the next step?
4) Complete the transition from Video Games = Physical Media to Video Games = Digital Media. What are the benefits of this? Well, the consumer no longer needs the disc. They don't need to worry that disc will get scratched, or that they'll forget it when they go over a friend's house. They don't even need to worry about getting up to swap out games from the disc tray. Consumer is very happy. But wait! Publisher steps in, worrying that everyone will be able to install games and play it as much as they want. Rental services would essentially become "free" game hotspots. How can this be stopped?
5) Periodic authentication. AKA 24-hour DRM.
Now, I realize that your question has yet to be answered, but hopefully you can agree that the succession of events is at least logical. Now back to your question:
Quote:
Why do you want to not own the games you buy?
Short answer:
I don't.
Longer answer:
I don't, but I understand the necessity.
Full answer:
Everything in this world revolves around perceptions, and this situation is no different. From a consumer perspective, if I buy something I want it to be mine. If I buy a book, I should be able to do what I wish with it, right? Yes. Does the same thing go for games? It used to, but now... not quite.
Up until the current generation of game consoles games could effectively be treated as physical media, whether stored on CD's or not. Publishers funded it, developers made it, and consumers bought it. End cycle. With the Xbox 360 and PS3, everything changed. Devs were no longer done with a game once it was released. Instead, games had to be maintained, bugs fixed, and updates crafted long after the game had been burned onto CDs and distributed across the globe. With the advent of online multiplayer, servers had to be bought and similarly maintained over time. DLC has become more and more common, so not only are Devs fixing code, but they're adding loads of new material onto a "finished" game. All of this costs the Publishers money. And lots of it.
With this generation, the "Sell one and done" approach was no longer viable. Publishers had to be spending money on games long after they received the income from the initial sales: something had to be done. Now everyone starts experimenting with free-to-play systems, online passes, and the like, to find something that works in this new ecosystem. They are met with limited success, so they see used games as potentially lost profits and they try to get in on the action. Negotiations with companies like Gamestop fail. To eliminate the used game market, the easiest and most reliable way is to remove the "Physical Media" aspect of video games, which is actually possible in these days. What's the best/only way to reliably enforce Digital Media? The Internet.
TL;DR / Conclusion:
I want to truly own any book or movie I buy. But then again, once the makers of those books and movies are done making their product, they are off the hook. After the initial investment of their time and money, all they get are the profits from the direct sales and the profits from the various ways of getting royalties. Back in the day of cartridges, this was true of video games as well. But with bug fixes, updates, DLC's, server upkeep, and probably more things I'm forgetting, that's just not the case in the current generation. And it will be even less so in the next generation. The reason I embrace this system is because Video Games have all but made the transition from goods to full-fledged services. And if the only way to police these services is for the Publishers and Devs to restrict my "freedoms", then so be it.
In fact a throttling of the used game market may result in multiplayer servers staying active longer, support lasting longer, and game-breaking bugs fixed quicker. Not for all games of course, but definitely for some. It will also make consoles (at least the X1) more likely to have Steam-level game sales. Not immediately, but as the economics of the situation plays out it will gradually trend in that direction IMO.
That's why I can deal with not "owning" what I buy.
/rant
Re: "Why do you want to not own the games you buy?": My stance on the DRM of Xbox One
Re: "Why do you want to not own the games you buy?": My stance on the DRM of Xbox One
...someone give this guy a medal lol
Re: "Why do you want to not own the games you buy?": My stance on the DRM of Xbox One
Alright, in response. I don't fully mind DRM. I don't resell my games EVER. I do buy used games though cause they're usually cheaper. I'd rather walk in and get 5 fairly old games used than get 1 new game. I walked in with 10 bucks and got Homefront and Lost Planet Colonies, if that's not a deal, I don't know what is. Most big games I get new: Tomb Raider, Halo 4, Mass Effect 3, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Gears 3, I even preordered most of them. I wouldn't have any problem with the DRM at all if the prices of New games went down faster. Borderlands II is still $50 dollars, CoD BO II is still 60. Hopefully, we'll either see new game prices go down faster or big sales like on Steam. I'm more or less cool with DRM on physical games.
My problem with digital games: Licensing. We've already established that physical goods are "yours", however, licensed material effectively isn't. My problem with it is that digital content doesn't belong to you meaning they could take it away at any time, without warning. The example I think of is some guy was accused of something by iTunes and had all 300+ songs he bought taken away without warning and without being told what he did wrong. What's more is in those little "I agree" contracts are stipulations that make one unable to sue or even appeal to the company. So he basically signed away his rights to fight it. It's not a really big deal, but it just has always sort of scared me. Otherwise, I'd totally start getting Digital content, especially since with the next-gen there's will be same day physical and digital release.
Does anyone dominantly get digital content whether on Xbox or PC and if so, could you let me know what it's like?
Re: "Why do you want to not own the games you buy?": My stance on the DRM of Xbox One
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Revan
My problem with digital games: Licensing. We've already established that physical goods are "yours", however, licensed material effectively isn't.
Yeah that's definitely the scariest part of digital material in general. I remember a while back it was a big scandal that Bruce Willis(?) wanted to leave his iTunes music collection to his kids and ran into some legal trouble trying to do so. It was mostly due to Apple's douchebaggery, but yeah it's definitely a scary possibility. I think as media continues going digital licensing will give you more ownership over the material, but who knows? Considering the 360 already has a way of transferring licenses I don't really think we'll run into any problems on the Xbox One.
Re: "Why do you want to not own the games you buy?": My stance on the DRM of Xbox One
I really like the way steam does things. I like how I can have my games installed on my computer at home and at my grandmothers so I can play them at either location with no trouble.
Re: "Why do you want to not own the games you buy?": My stance on the DRM of Xbox One
KaZ, you should try and get this posted on a gaming news website. It'd be awesome. Like this comment on this thread.
Re: "Why do you want to not own the games you buy?": My stance on the DRM of Xbox One
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Revan
Alright, in response. I don't fully mind DRM. I don't resell my games EVER. I do buy used games though cause they're usually cheaper. I'd rather walk in and get 5 fairly old games used than get 1 new game. I walked in with 10 bucks and got Homefront and Lost Planet Colonies, if that's not a deal, I don't know what is. Most big games I get new: Tomb Raider, Halo 4, Mass Effect 3, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Gears 3, I even preordered most of them. I wouldn't have any problem with the DRM at all if the prices of New games went down faster. Borderlands II is still $50 dollars, CoD BO II is still 60. Hopefully, we'll either see new game prices go down faster or big sales like on Steam. I'm more or less cool with DRM on physical games.
It will happen, but it will take time... a big thing is actually buying digital, disk will probably still be more expensive (as the higher cost of making, shipping and all that) BL2 is 50$ for a physical new copy it was available on a steam sale for 20$ a few weeks ago (and with the summer sale coming up it will probably be even cheaper). Just a couple days ago I got Alan wake and all its DLC for 7$... 7.... Right now you can get the whole witcher franchise for 7$
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Revan
My problem with digital games: Licensing. We've already established that physical goods are "yours", however, licensed material effectively isn't. My problem with it is that digital content doesn't belong to you meaning they could take it away at any time, without warning. The example I think of is some guy was accused of something by iTunes and had all 300+ songs he bought taken away without warning and without being told what he did wrong. What's more is in those little "I agree" contracts are stipulations that make one unable to sue or even appeal to the company. So he basically signed away his rights to fight it. It's not a really big deal, but it just has always sort of scared me. Otherwise, I'd totally start getting Digital content, especially since with the next-gen there's will be same day physical and digital release.
Does anyone dominantly get digital content whether on Xbox or PC and if so, could you let me know what it's like?
Since steam has no way of transfer or reselling your games its easier for them to remove an online connection and just be like "just sign into your account" but the xbox1 has those problems and did one of the only solutions to solve the problem.
Using Steam is great... though you buy games you never play because they are too good of a deal or buy games twice if you have them on a console (I have bought skyrim twice now and a few others)
Another great thing is that I put steam on my portable hardrive (i have a 2TB i use for school and stuff) and now i have my steam library wherever I go its pretty great... though its hard to find computers to run some of the games sometimes.
The sales will come eventually. it wont be immediate though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Specact
I really like the way steam does things. I like how I can have my games installed on my computer at home and at my grandmothers so I can play them at either location with no trouble.
As I said above steam can do that because they have no ability to re sell or lend games so even offline you can still play the games because as long as you log in your games aren't going anywhere. But Xbox has the resell problem so in order to do the same thing you just need to connect to the internet for a minute to check your licences.
