Banning of used game sales?!

[Cello16]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-gamestop_12bus.ART0.State.Edition1.2702a76.html

If it gets through... viva la boycott!

(I think this is the right place to put it...)

 

[Life]

This will probably get moved to Current Events.

Anyway, pile of crap. It's my disk, I already paid the company fifty bucks for it.

 

[F8AL]

Moved from the Light House to the Current Events room.

 

[Colonel Cuddles]

If this passes...

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!

 

[Lythium]

It'll never happen.

 

[Budget Player Cadet_]

Wait. WHAT???

This is, logistically, the biggest piece of bull**** I have ever heard. If you want to treat the physical object (disk) like a data file with DRM, then we should be able to follow the reasonable course when dealing with an object with infinite supply (data file). Yes, I get that game resale can hurt a company. OH WELL. Used books hurt the book sale industry; used CDs being resold (or, more commonly, given away) hurts the RIAA; the secondary market for trading cards hurts WotC and Konami. But acting on it is simply bull****!

 

[Pluvia]

Regardless of whether or not it gets through gaming companies are just going to do everything they can to stop you buying second hand. They're already doing it by handing out exclusive download codes in games. Didn't buy Gears of War 2 new? Tough luck if you want to play on some of their maps, you need the code in the box or you need to pay for it on Xbox.

Loads of games do this now and more will in the future.

 

[Gah777]

That's dumb. How will we buy our old favorites like Golden Sun, the original Pokemon Silver, etc? Unless the companies start adding every single one of their past games to their Virtual Consoles (idk what Microsoft and Sony call theirs).

 

[UberMario]

I use eBay anyway, Gamestop is dumb for not accepting anything before the last generation, the whole reason I used to go there before was to check for SNES, N64, and classic GB games, now the OLDEST stuff they sell in the three nearby are GBA, PS2, XBox, and Gamecube games, and usually at prices that are absurd. (Pokemon FireRed for $30 USED? WTF?)

*actually read it*

Wait, why the heck would it make garage sales possbly illegal? (Not to mention eBay) That makes no sense. I could see a ban on selling used current titles in stores , but to ban the sales of older games is preposterous.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

That's dumb. How will we buy our old favorites like Golden Sun, the original Pokemon Silver, etc? Unless the companies start adding every single one of their past games to their Virtual Consoles (idk what Microsoft and Sony call theirs).

The games you listed won't be affected by the revised legislation. The Ninth Circuit drew a distinction between "sales" and "licensed" products. The three considerations to determine whether software is licensed is (a) copyright owner specifies that a user is granted a license, (b) copyright owner restricts user's ability to transfer software, and (c) copyright owner imposes notable use restrictions.

If I recall correctly, Nintendo doesn't stipulate that Pokemon Silver is licensed, restricts the ability to allow other GameBoy Color/Nintendo DS owners to play the game, and doesn't impose any restrictions on gameplay duration. Therefore, Pokemon Silver should be regarded under the "first sale" doctrine therefore allowing gamers to buy and sell the product to their hearts content.

Case: Vernor v. AutoDesk - Below is the primary source that I used to base the previous opinion.

Judge Consuelo Callahan, writing for the Ninth Circuit, agreed with the district court that the crucial issue was whether the arrangement was a sale or a license. Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc., No. 09-35969, slip op. at 13871-72. The Ninth Circuit's holding is that the transaction is a license. Its analysis covers the same four cases analyzed by the district court, but derives different principles from them:

"We read Wise and the MAI trio to prescribe three considerations that we may use to determine whether a software user is a licensee, rather than an owner of a copy. First, we consider whether the copyright owner specifies that a user is granted a license. Second, we consider whether the copyright owner significantly restricts the user’s ability to transfer the software. Finally, we consider whether the copyright owner imposes notable use restrictions. [Footnote omitted.] Our holding reconciles the MAI trio and Wise, even though the MAI trio did not cite Wise. See Cisneros-Perez v. Gonzales, 451 F.3d 1053, 1058 (9th Cir. 2006) ('[W]e are required to reconcile prior precedents if we can do so.')"

 

[El Nino]

If the ruling is upheld, what happens next is going to depend on the licensing agreements written for each game sold. Merchandise like clothes and books are covered under "first sale", but a different set of rules applies to software because computer programs are sold with licensing agreements. The agreement can be written to include a clause prohibiting resale of the product.

So if the ruling is upheld, game companies can write new licensing agreements for their games to prevent them from being resold.

I have a friend in the game industry, and we haven't talked about this subject, but he seems in favor of buying originals because developers don't make money from used sales and it's hard for small companies to stay in business. Also, Gamestop is a major retailer, and I think they sometimes push their weight around, so cutting off one source of income from them might be a way of fighting back on the part of the game companies.

If I were to call it right now, based on gut instinct and no prior research, I would say that banning the resale of games is a questionable move. Even if it were just to hit back at Gamestop, it would also apply to EBay sales made by individual consumers. If I were to hazard a guess, I don't think such measures pay off in the long run; I suspect that they actually hurt the market. For them to even resort to such measures, I wonder if the industry is reaching a plateau. But then, I speak from ignorance here.

 

[Pluvia]

Also I forgot to add that it looks like all current disc media will be moving digital in the future, which will also stop all 2nd hand sales.

 

[theeboredone]

If they do go through with this, I'm sure there will be a spike on used games bought through Craigslist or Ebay. Though I wonder if you could get in trouble for that (Craiglist more than Ebay).

 

[Pikaville]

I ****ing hate the people who run this world.