thekitchensink said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
thekitchensink said:
zarx said:
You don't own any game, if you "buy" it you own the physical media and a license to use it. The game it's self is covered by copyright law, which is a complex quagmire and your rights vary wildly depending on where you live.
|
Sure, you own a license to play that game. Keyword being that you OWN that license, and it is your right to do with it as you please provided you don't make illegal copies. It is your license, and you can sell it, lend it, give it away, whatever you want, and it's none of EA or Activision's business.
|
License does NOT mean you own a game. It means you're allowed to use said product...you and you alone. It is an agreement between you and the product manufacturer.
You own a DVD but it gives you a free digital version licensed to your PC. Its an allowance, not ownership, nothing you buy digital is owned.
If you have a drivers license in the US you are conditionally allowed to drive your car. You must pay your insurance and update your license to make sure you're ahering to state rules in the US.
Ownership....implies that you have no conditions over what you just bought. You gave your money you have your product and you hold it in your hand, with the power of resale or even to lend it to a friend.
Americans are protected by the first-sale doctrine, which is why stores like Gamestop are untouchable unless games go full digital. Its called the exhaustion rule, when a product has existed past its time in your ownership and you as the legal owner decide to sell it off or even give it away.
|
I understand what you're saying, in that publishers try to control the game aftermarket with an EULA, but as you said, the first sale doctrine basically makes EULAs completely null and void for physical copies of games. Therefore, by circumventing it with these anti-consumer DRM schemes, the companies are arbitrarily deciding that the law doesn't apply to them. They'll get away with it somehow, like they have been with PC games, but not before getting hit with a great deal or legal conflict.
For the record, in case some big publisher is magically reading this, these same practices are why I can count the number of PC games I've purchased in the last decade on one hand.
|
