European Union court: Consumers have the right to re-sell their Digitally Distributed games

[NJ5]

nanarchy said:

NJ5 said:

mantlepiecek said:

The difference between a used digital copy and a used physical copy is that the physical copy gets damaged with time, the digital copy remains the same, therefore there would be a true competition to the manufacturer himself. For someone like steam which has so many deals I can see it being unfair.

There are other things in this world that don't really get damaged with time, and the makers of those things still manage to stay in business even if those things are sold and resold. To give one example, most artistic paintings don't get damaged with time (quite the contrary, they tend to increase in value over time, even when they need restoration).

The games industry thinks they're special in this regard, but hopefully this idea starts going down with court decisions like this one...

As for unfairness, I think the REALLY unfair thing is that gamers own stuff that they don't need anymore and they're not allowed to sell it.

That's a horrible example, paintings constantly deteriate and require maintenance to increase their lifespan, even well maintained they will eventually be destroyed unless they are presserved in extremely expensive environmentally sealed rooms.

But the painters could pull a "game publisher" and cry that people maintaining their paintings are unfairly stealing their money :D

"If he wasn't maintaining my painting I would be able to sell another one!!"

Game publishers trying to restrict your lawful right to sell something you own because it may harm them is as ridiculous as that...