How come both of these options are considered equally bad for the industry?

Original used game copies are bought by console players who have to put the disc inside the console(done similarly by a minority of pc players in the past) to play it. This is a form of DRM by itself no?

It ensures that even though you installed the game you still need the CD to play it thus making sure the original buyer of the game distributes the game to one person only or one at a time as the second buyer sells or distributes it to another person and so on.

Hence I won't consider it as a lesser evil.

The only exception is when your console game is a download-only game of course .

However any games(PC/handheld/mobile/console) that are distributed through illegal torrents and downloads have the potential to reach millions and millions with just one copy of the game whether it's the original or the illegal copy.

What do you think?

I belive that used games still stimulate some sort of business transaction. Money is still being made by some form of legitimate business and people are still getting paid for their retail work. Used games also still have the potential to make money, with the amount of quality DLC that has been coming out for the last few years, one of those used game buyers could potentially buy that $15 COD map pack or that new Mass Effect 2 story mission. I'm sure companies like Bethesda and Bioware are extremely happy that they have an extra potential avenue to make money.

Illegaly downloaded games don't offer that same sort of business and the industry doesn't benefit at all.

Buying used games isn't as bad as illegaly downloading games. 

It's not evil. Just publishers wanted to double dip and will use any excuse for it.

Unfortunately, some people ate up their excuse.

I can sort of see the similarities, the 'original' retailer buys from a distributer and makes a profit selling to the 'original' consumer.

the consumer then sells his game as 2nd hand (developers don't get a cut here), and the 2nd hand retailer sells it on again (again no cut for the devs) to another buyer and so on.

so for all these sales backwards and forwards, the devs and or publishers only get one cut.

I suppose it's almost the same for rental games, although  I think rental copies of games are more expensive to get hold of (more of a cut for devs)?

other than some sort of a licensing agreement between used game sellers and large games publishers/companies (MS, Nintendo, Sony, EA or similar) where the 2nd hand retailer (like Gamestop or similar) pays a fee to be allowed to resell games, DLC would probably be the best way to get a slice of the pie from the process.

I don't think 2nd hand sales/rental and piracy are morally the same, but I can see how games publishers could think they're getting a bum deal.

lol even priated games probably came from a legit (purchased) source devs get the same cut from that and the torrents as they do from 2nd hand games

I agree, they're nowhere near the same thing.  If you pirate a game, that means it's available for millions to download at no charge.

If you resell your legitimately purchased copy, that's none of the companies' fucking business.  I have the right to resell my TV, my bookshelf, or my damn house if I want to.  What makes my video games so special?

This! A hundred times!

It is your right as a customer to sell your legally purchased game to whoever you want. The same goes for your old computer, TV, car and everything else.

This discussion is absurd. It's like half of all forum visiters were slaves of the videogaming industry. What's next? Will people stop reselling their cars because of the poor car manufacturers?

Reselling items is part of every market. It's part of a free market economy.

small point but maybe vaguely valid; while you can digitally redistribute software (legally or not) you can't torrent your car to millions of people

We're talking about selling your used copy of the game... as in going to a store, buying a copy, playing it, then selling that copy (the same disc you bought from the store) to someone else or to a used game store.  So it's exactly the same as the car example.

/WTS a house. Free shipping.

The only people that consider them equally bad are the people that are trying to justify their piracy and shift the focus of the argument.  That's all that really needs to be said.