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NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2024 14:53:31 +0000
From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: 'Stop Killing Games'
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2024 10:53:31 -0400
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All I can say is: Good luck... you're going to need it.

The 'Stop Killing Games' campaign - started by Ross Scott - is an
attempt to get regulators to look at how publishers are end-of-lifing
games, making them unplayable. Hopefully with the aim of changing the
industry and giving gamers some more control of the products they've
purchased.

Which is something I'm totally in agreement with. The fact that
Ubisoft can kill a game like "The Crew" on a whim (or, ultimately,
that Valve could remove our ability to play any of our libraries of
games by turning off the Steam servers) is very problematic. 

But I'm fairly sure that any efforts to change these policies don't
have a snowball's chance in a very hot place.* The publishers have all
cunningly wrapped themselves safely in legalese, reminding us that we
never actually BUY anything anymore; that our money is just spent
'licensing' the games, and that the EULAs we agree to give them all
the rights to take away the games whenever they damn well choose.
Morally - and fundamentally legally - it's wrong, but they've twisted
the law so they have all the advantages.

I mean, sure, I'd love if publishers were required to patch games or
release code and assets** if they decided they weren't going to sell
it anymore, so we gamers could keep using our property... but c'mon,
we all know that won't happen.

Still, it's an effort worth supporting, even if we all know its
hopeless. 

If you're interested, visit https://www.stopkillinggames.com/countries
where you can sign petitions, learn which local officials to bug about
the issue, and support the protest. 















* a snowball is a ball made of crystallized frozen water, usually
compressed into shape by hand. Back when the Earth was still cold
enough to have winters, snow would fall from the sky and accumulate
into huge drifts. Children would scoop up some of this snow, shape it
into balls, and toss it at each other in wholesome joy. Snow -
ball-shaped or otherwise - rapidly melted into liquid water when the
temperatures were above zero degrees, so much so that it's
impermenance became an idiom. This footnote is added for anyone
reading this post from an archive in the future.
** or possibly put it in escrow, only to be released after the
publishers stop supporting the product