Back in April 2024, I wrote about the Stop Killing Games initiative from Ross at Accursed Farms. Now, it's heading to the European Union with a European Citizens' Initiative you can give you vote to. Sorry fellow Brits, but thanks to Brexit we can't get involved in this. If you're part of the European Union though, you can now truly try and make your voice count.
As a reminder on what it's all about from the ECI:
This initiative calls to require publishers that sell or license videogames to consumers in the European Union (or related features and assets sold for videogames they operate) to leave said videogames in a functional (playable) state.
Specifically, the initiative seeks to prevent the remote disabling of videogames by the publishers, before providing reasonable means to continue functioning of said videogames without the involvement from the side of the publisher.
The initiative does not seek to acquire ownership of said videogames, associated intellectual rights or monetization rights, neither does it expect the publisher to provide resources for the said videogame once they discontinue it while leaving it in a reasonably functional (playable) state.
It's a worthy cause, because some publishers do have a habit of shutting down games when they move on, leaving players with nothing to show for it even though they paid for it. Games that contain a single-player element especially should always have an option to let you continue on. It's a bit more complicated for online-only games, say for those that have micro-transactions and battle passes, but still you're often spending a whole lot of your money to be again left with nothing.
Check out the initiative and give your vote. See more on the Stop Killing Games website.
Direct Link
Mountain Man Aug 6
Quoting: Purple Library GuyHard disagree. I strongly reject the premise that individuals can be denied fundamental rights just because they happen to be part of a company.Quoting: Mountain ManThat some companies choose to do so without coercion is commendable, but it would be immoral to force them to do so.No it wouldn't. Companies are legal constructs, not people.
Quoting: Mountain ManThe individuals who are part of a company already get forced to do things by the company; it makes no difference to most of them whether some of those directives come from the CEO or from the government via the CEO. The shareholders have extra rights by virtue of being shareholders (they get to own something and yet have limited liability for its debts), so there's nothing wrong with balancing that a bit.Quoting: Purple Library GuyHard disagree. I strongly reject the premise that individuals can be denied fundamental rights just because they happen to be part of a company.Quoting: Mountain ManThat some companies choose to do so without coercion is commendable, but it would be immoral to force them to do so.No it wouldn't. Companies are legal constructs, not people.
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me