I have a confession to make. I, too, only pretend to care about consumer rights when that lets me be a Concerned Citizen who can subtly bash rival consoles.
In all honesty, I enjoy paying annually to play online and unlock other features of my multi-media console: it keeps out the riff-raff (can you imagine how bad voice chat would be without it?!), and it ensures that the company has enough money to bring me useful, exclusive content not available on other (non-paying) consoles, such as Netflix and Hulu. Which is great, because lately I rarely feel the need to play videogames on my videogame console, y'know?
I'm also okay with used games being heavily restricted, if not de facto barred. I mean, yeah, it'd be way better if that wasn't the case and all, sure, but once you stop to think about it, the trade off is more than worth it. Used games deprive the publisher out of its hard earned money, and without that money how can developers afford to hire all those artists, writers, actors, and animators to deliver those great cinematic experiences? Publicly I'll continue to say stupid things like "other entertainment industries have never restricted used goods," but I know the flaws in those arguments; the book, music, and movie businesses all bring in more annual revenue than videogames, by like a lot, and moreover you can find new ways to make money off of each of those as time goes on. Games, on the other hand? You have all of a month to make all your money, and you can not make a dime on them after that. The comparison is like saying that you can compare tangible qualities between a Granny Smith apple to a Red Delicious apple; I know it's stupid, and I ask now for forgiveness, but I have an irresistible impulse to keep doing it. As it is, used gaming and piracy are largely indistinguishable: if we can deride one, why would we cheer the other?
It's the same moral dishonesty that causes me to lie and say consumer rights are a good thing when I know that effectively banning used games is increasingly a necessity. I was never able to feel an emotional reaction to any game prior to this generation. I confess it's only a tepid reaction right now, but like Molyneaux said that's because the tech has been keeping the artists in gaming back. But I know that when I've finished the next Metal Gear, and the half-hour scene of Solid Snake's final redemption ends, I know tears will be streaming down our faces from the sheer beauty of it, and I know even the greatest of skeptics will know it'll have been worth it. Sure, some of us will keep trolling, because we're pig-headed and envious that our own company didn't get there first, but everyone, especially us, will understand that we don't mean it, that it's just the tantrum of a manchildren who can't admit they were wrong. And that's alright, isn't it?
Look, I'm a Console Warrior. I may or may not get paid to espouse the things I say, but at the end of the day brand loyalty is everything to me. If my console does it, it's awesome, almost by definition, and you're stupid for saying otherwise. If your console does something mine doesn't, that thing sucks, and I'll find a reason why later. The One has simply fallen into the latter category: I'm just running with what others have thrown at the wall. And while I always suspected, I'm glad to have it confirmed that I am not, in fact, the only one. So thank you, and see you around the forums.
And don't ever refer to this post outside this thread. As the Industry has been demonstrating recently, honesty is not always the best policy.
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