Seems like we need some copyright reform WRT issues like this. We need a true way to have digital ownership; including putting assets in escrow and a way for access to continue after the store is shut down or the item removed from the store.

▲

Jcampuzano2 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Your access to a digital product you have "purchased" should not be tied to the continued existence of the store you also bought it from. Similar to physical products.

If I bought a game at GameStop we aren't required to continuously reach back out to them every once in a while to check that they're okay with me playing the game I bought from them. And if GameStop goes out of business they aren't going to come knocking on my door to make sure I never play the game again or take it back from me.

Once a game or any other product is purchased from a digital store, it should not require the stores continued existence or permission.

Yes there are some drawbacks in that maybe they could argue then that they could stop allowing redownloading a game you've already purchased but so be it, they'd just be offering a worse experience and users would move away.

We also need to stop allowing unclear language. When we lease a car at a dealership they never use the term "buy" or "own". That's strictly reserved for ownership. We should require the same for other licensed/leased products.

▲

simiones 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

One fun thing I remember from reading some EULAs for physical games I bought in the past: the EULA for StarCraft at least explicitly said that you are required to obtain prior written permission from Blizzard Entertainment before lending the disk to a friend. Obviously this is not practically enforceable, but it shows that nothing of this kind is new from these companies' perspectives.

The way the law is structured, you are never buying copies of digital goods, regardless of the format in which you obtain them. Instead, you buy a license to use the digital good under the specific terms and conditions of that license. That is why if you get a disk with GNU utils on it from the FSF, you are still bound by the GPL in what you can do with the data on that disk.

▲

saghm 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's ridiculous to me that trying to play some recent games from Microsoft-affiliated studios requires me to sign in with a Microsoft account even just to play also malone. Paying them for Halo MCC or Gears 5 isn't enough to be able to play the campaign alone; the main menu is literally blocked by a sign-in screen. There's no reason whatsoever this should be allowed.

	▲	matheusmoreira an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, it's so disgusting. Mass Effect Legendary Edition comes to mind, it's filled with mandatory EA bullshit. I think I'm just gonna ask Astra to hack this nonsense out of the games I have.

▲

Findecanor 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've been posting a similar idea for years. Require that for each piece of commercial software there is a "method" to open it up and use without requiring on-line servers. The method is be registered with a special government agency for that purpose, who first verifies that the method works.

Later when the agency considers the software to be "abandonware", it publishes the method.

▲

tancop 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Remove DRM laws and make copyright on all media expire after 5 or 10 years off market. Abandoned franchises should get the same treatment. Call it Sackboy's Law. See how quick Sony and EA rush to port their back catalogue.

	▲	RunningDroid 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		On the topic of copyright expiration, "It's a Wonderful Life" would have been lost if the current copyright regime had been in place when it was produced: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life

▲

bsimpson 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Copyright has been broken for decades. Disney famously lobbied to pervert it for a century longer than reasonable. (Hence, the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.) I'm honestly amazed we finally have new entrants to the public domain again.

We absolutely need reform, but it seems difficult (nearly insurmountable) when we have an ineffectual congress and highly effective lobbyists.

▲

2OEH8eoCRo0 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

We do but it'll never happen. Estates would accumulate huge libraries of digital goods and never need to buy anything new.

Which would be awesome which is why it won't happen.