Given recent rumors, the lack of outright denials, and sheer fucking silence. It is beginning to look increasingly likely that either Sony, Microsoft, or both are going to be hardware locking, or account locking games. To block players from selling their used games, borrowing games from friends, or even renting games to play on the new hardware. Which can be viewed as a all together hostile move on their part to strip gamers of their rights of ownership. It is one thing to deny the online component of a game to those who bought the game used, because they aren't putting forward any money into server maintainance, but another thing entirely to block user rights of ownership outright.
I have seen a lot of commentary on these forums over the past few days. From users who are disgusted by the idea either as a matter of practical self interest, or as a matter of principal. What I haven't really seen is a lot of commentary that suggests any level of support for such a thing coming to pass. Many dismiss the very notion as being far fetched, and while some may genuinely think that. There are also those who say it, because they don't even want to contemplate that possibility coming to pass. So casting aside platform loyalties for the time being. Let us not quibble over who is going to do what, and just assume that with the very obvious exception of Nintendo that both of the other players are going to do the same.
Would you personally boycott any hardware manufacturers new console if it incorporated the feature as standard, or capable of being implemented at the discretion of a developer/publisher. I am not asking if you will switch to an alternate brand, move to a different medium, or whether you are even prepared to give up gaming completely. I am just asking are you willing to withhold purchasing a console, and obviously the games for that console as a act of retaliation for the implementation of such a feature?
Personally I would probably boycott any such console brand that included such a feature, and I would probably be willing to sign a petition to that effect, but I understand that not everyone has my kind of resolve. I would like to think it would work since such a move would hit hardcore gamers the hardest, and as a group we are also the ones that disproportionately buy more games, and are among the earlies adopters of hardware, but that may be wishful thinking on my part. It is definitely food for thought that some of us in the near future may be at odds with manufacturers, and instead of supporting them we might find that we are going to have to do our utmost to cause them genuine harm, and do serious harm to developers in the process.
