This on the heels of a discussion with our kaywngstiad about how we would both pirate our own already owned content (DVDs) in a form we could actually access if our computers continued to keep telling us we cannot play them. The video game community still suffers under stupid Digital Rights Management mechanisms which are defective by design and only serve to drive otherwise honest players away from honestly buying and playing games.
Who the hell wants content that cannot be accessed? If you want me to pay $50 for a game, it better be playable as many places as I want. Every fewer place lowers its value for me. A game I can only play on one machine ever is worth 1/10th as much. Sure, I’ll buy it for $5. Otherwise, why should I bother?
Using Lawrence Lessig’s book Free Culture as quasi- guide, the blog Press Start to Drink takes a look at the current state of copyright law and enforcement within the game community.
Cease and Desist: Games Culture and Copyright Laws begins with Lessig’s assertion that current copyright laws are nothing more than “protectionism to protect certain forms of business.” This, the author writes, is what has led to, in some cases, “an immense tension between IP holders in the games industry and the IP fans who consider some games part of their personal culture.”
Furthermore, us fans make you money, you stupid mokes! It’s about time to start fostering fan cultures rather than attempting to subdue them as if that’ll make you more money. We’ll leave.
Thank you, Valve! Go read the link to understand why that bold is truly heartfelt. Fan culture and development makes the video game community something the movie and music industry can never be—a living, breathing interconnected web of socially creative continuity.
Link, via Game Politics.
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