NOT BUYING GAME, BUYING DIGITAL LICENSE

[imotap]

So if we are not owner of the game i have some questions; (sorry about language im not native talker in english)
1- If we are not the owner of the game why are we paying total CD/DVD price?
2- If we just buy digital license, what if goverment in our country ban steam, sholdnt we still can play the game because its just a digital license. Where can we use that code other than steam if steam banned our countries?
3- this one can be unlogical but still im gonna ask:
-> If we are not owner of the game and if we cant access steam account(because like bannes steam in our country or other reasons) and there is no other places for playing game with our digital license. Shouldn't we be able to return these game digital licenses and take our moneys back?

[Kargor]

Originally posted by imotap:

2- If we just buy digital license, what if goverment in our country ban steam, sholdnt we still can play the game because its just a digital license. Where can we use that code other than steam if steam banned our countries?

You can't. Besides, you only get a "code" when you buy a key somewhere else, and that key is useless outside of Steam. It's exclusively a way to show Steam that you HAVE purchased the game, and make them enable it on your account.

3- this one can be unlogical but still im gonna ask:
-> If we are not owner of the game and if we cant access steam account(because like bannes steam in our country or other reasons) and there is no other places for playing game with our digital license. Shouldn't we be able to return these game digital licenses and take our moneys back?

It's not Steam's fault that your government is going crazy.

If you buy a book in a bookstore, and a couple years later your government declares that book to be illegal, the bookstore isn't going to take it back either. You have to burn it yourself, and just take the loss.

[Thiesen]

Welcome to the wonderfull world of capitalism...

(arscasm, casarms, smascar, carsams)

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by imotap:

1- If we are not the owner of the game why are we paying total CD/DVD price?

You don't own games when you buy them physically either. In other words, you're not paying for the disc. You're paying for the license to play the content stored on that disc. This has always been the case since the first video game was sold.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

Originally posted by imotap:

1- If we are not the owner of the game why are we paying total CD/DVD price?

You don't own games when you buy them physically either. In other words, you're not paying for the disc. You're paying for the license to play the content stored on that disc. This has always been the case since the first video game was sold.

This is just legalese, though. From a more practical perspective, back in the days, you owned the game -- nobody could just flip a switch and it would be gone. At least not until they came up with proprietary "DRM" systems trying to online-register games on shaky servers that would go away after a few years or when the company went belly up, or copy protection schemes trying to hack into Windows kernels which would no longer work on the next version. Or even the next update.

But yes, the disk and box and maybe even a tiny manual didn't add much to the purchase price. At the same time, I still think that "great sales", bundles, complete editions etc. make the games considerably cheaper than they used to be, even taking "bargain bins" into account.

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by imotap:

1- If we are not the owner of the game why are we paying total CD/DVD price?

You never owned a PC game on CD/DVD because you could not return it to a store once opened due to piracy. Ownership means you can re-sell something.

As for cost - every product has a price with purchasing being voluntary not mandatory. Sales exist after all.

Ironically when people complain about price and believe it should be X not Y, those selfsame people justify their wage with, i deserve Y not X.

[AustrAlien2010]

You're also not the owner of Soccer, but you can still play Soccer. That's how you should view it, I think.

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Kargor:

This is just legalese, though. From a more practical perspective, back in the days, you owned the game -- nobody could just flip a switch and it would be gone.

Well, no. Even back in the days of the earliest MMOs, they had the potential of shutting down. Plus, there were countries where trading in second hand games was considered illegal, too. You also ran the risk of losing access to your game due to copy-protection, such as if you lost your manual, code-wheel, or whatever other dongle was used for that purpose.

[Toonen1988]

"1- If we are not the owner of the game why are we paying total CD/DVD price?"

CD's/DVD's are data carriers. When you buy a video game on a data carrier, that data carrier is yours. You can do whatever you want with it, draw on it, break it, whatever you want. But the data that's on it, isn't yours.

Why are we paying even more then games on CD/DVD? Why did the price of games increases? The production cost of games also increased, ever think about this? What about inflations? Are you aware that we are now living in a other time then let's say 20 years ago? The product cost of games also increased.

2- If we just buy digital license, what if goverment in our country ban steam, sholdnt we still can play the game because its just a digital license. Where can we use that code other than steam if steam banned our countries?

Then your ♥♥♥♥♥♥, simple. This has always been the case, since the first day Steam released. This goes for any other launchers aswell.

3- this one can be unlogical but still im gonna ask:
-> If we are not owner of the game and if we cant access steam account(because like bannes steam in our country or other reasons) and there is no other places for playing game with our digital license. Shouldn't we be able to return these game digital licenses and take our moneys back?

No, the launchers is a sort of DRM. A system that checks if you are rightfully the owner of the user license. You can only play the game on the platform you bought it on. Why not different platforms? Simple, otherwise you can pay for one user license and share it with other people. You play it on Steam, a friend of yours on GoG, other friend on a other launcher. This results in less sold copies, which decreases the income of developers and publishers.

Even DRM free games aren't yours, which some people also believe. A DRM system is only a system that checks if you are the rightfully owner of a user license, nothing else. DRM free games doesn't have this system implemented. But that doesn't mean you are the owner of the game, it still falls under intellectual property.

Getting money back? No, because otherwise people buy a video game, play till the credtis and then refund. All developers will go bankrupt, there need to be boundries in refunding video games.

[Slatepaws]

Originally posted by Kargor:

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

You don't own games when you buy them physically either. In other words, you're not paying for the disc. You're paying for the license to play the content stored on that disc. This has always been the case since the first video game was sold.

This is just legalese, though. From a more practical perspective, back in the days, you owned the game -- nobody could just flip a switch and it would be gone. At least not until they came up with proprietary "DRM" systems trying to online-register games on shaky servers that would go away after a few years or when the company went belly up, or copy protection schemes trying to hack into Windows kernels which would no longer work on the next version. Or even the next update.

But yes, the disk and box and maybe even a tiny manual didn't add much to the purchase price. At the same time, I still think that "great sales", bundles, complete editions etc. make the games considerably cheaper than they used to be, even taking "bargain bins" into account.

The data is already on your pc.
Unless they start having hooks in windows and linux to prevent your access to that part of your drive, it's technically yours(possession is 9/10's and all that. the change to a 'license and not ownership' is to prevent resales). Buy a single or a few 12+ tb drives, depending on how big your library is. Use an rsync like backup client( they operate like apples time capsule? I think that's the name.) and have your steam library backed up there.
That way the data will still be there if you wake up one day and steam starts deleting games because they start 'revoking' licenses.

from there well, if that happens i'm sure those of us who've been on the net long enough know more than a few places.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by imotap:

1- If we are not the owner of the game why are we paying total CD/DVD price?

Because that's the price the game developers/publishers want for their games. Keep in mind that also with the CD/DVD versions you only pay for the license. And a plastic coaster.

Originally posted by imotap:

2- If we just buy digital license, what if goverment in our country ban steam, sholdnt we still can play the game because its just a digital license. Where can we use that code other than steam if steam banned our countries?

You don't. You bought a license which is to be used on the Steam platform. If Steam becomes unavailable due to your government, that sucks for you but you won't be able to use them.

Originally posted by imotap:

3- this one can be unlogical but still im gonna ask:
-> If we are not owner of the game and if we cant access steam account(because like bannes steam in our country or other reasons) and there is no other places for playing game with our digital license. Shouldn't we be able to return these game digital licenses and take our moneys back?

No, you shouldn't, because it's neither Valve nor the game developers/publishers who are to blame. Your issue is with your government. Of course they can choose to pay for the refunds, but I think you know that won't happen.

[Toonen1988]

Originally posted by Anoi Hidalgo:

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

You never owned a PC game on CD/DVD because you could not return it to a store once opened due to piracy. Ownership means you can re-sell something.

you never bought a used pc game? I know many game stores used to sell them

You could only sell old PC games where you need to fill in a product key before the installation. Used PC games can't be sold for a long time now. Why? Because you need to have a account or launcher to active your license key.

You could only sell PC games when you make a new Steam account for each game you buy and then sell the Steam account. You can also do this with Origin, Ubi Connect, GoG or any other launcher. But it's against the terms and agreements and not allowed. You can risk bans and other legal actions against you.

You are talking about the '90's, begin 2000. That was the time when you could sell and buy second used PC games. But from half 2000, it changed and games used DRM system's with accounts. You could only activate the key once.

What you are simply talking about are console games. Those are being sold second used till today. But that is also something coming to a end aswell, soon or later.

Imagine this, a person buys a console game, complete the game, then he sells it to the next person, this person complete the game aswell, then sells it to the next person, complete the game and sells it to the next person.

In this case, the developer or publisher only sold 1 user license, while 4 people played the game. So, they only have 1 time the income instead of 4. If everyone is going to do this, developers and publishers go bankrupt.

Many people keep forgetting that developers and publishers are commercialized companies that also have bills to pay and salaries. And those developers also need to maintain families.

It always baffles me that people complain about prices, linceses and find it all unfair. They also want to keep selling used games, but meanwhile they are also going to complain when developers close games due ficancial issue's, cancel serie's or go bankrupt.

The money you spend, is also the money to keep future projects going. Also something people keep forgetting.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by imotap:

So if we are not owner of the game i have some questions; (sorry about language im not native talker in english)
1- If we are not the owner of the game why are we paying total CD/DVD price?

Because

a) That's the price the publisher chose. There's no such thing as a cd/dvd price , or a game price. BBoth are basically ranges that stretch from $1 to as high as the publisher thinks they can get away with.

b) The CD/DVD was sold under the same terms. The only difference was that th cd/dvd was needed as a means of conveyance. Go find the EULA on one of those games and You'll notice it basically has the same EULA as we see now. In short the the cd/dvd was the equivalent of the box your pizza comes in.

Originally posted by imotap:

2- If we just buy digital license, what if goverment in our country ban steam, sholdnt we still can play the game because its just a digital license. Where can we use that code other than steam if steam banned our countries?

No where. You're ♥♥♥♥♥♥ m8. So better keep that government under close watch.

Originally posted by imotap:

3- this one can be unlogical but still im gonna ask:
-> If we are not owner of the game and if we cant access steam account(because like bannes steam in our country or other reasons) and there is no other places for playing game with our digital license. Shouldn't we be able to return these game digital licenses and take our moneys back?

Nope. If you government suiddenlty declared a book to be banned and made wownership a criminal offense, you're not entitled to a refund from the book store tyou got it from. The best you can do is just burn the book and move on with your life. All the more reason to pay attention to what goes on in your government. And maybe don't spend money on games if the idea of losing that game is that big an issue.\

I mean for physical media,

- what happens if the disc rots? hmm you can't use it any more
- what happens if it gets cracked or damaged?
- what happens if your old drive dies and you can acquire a new one because the tech is so out dated that no one makes or sells the things?

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Slatepaws:

Unless they start having hooks in windows and linux to prevent your access to that part of your drive, it's technically yours(possession is 9/10's and all that.

Not how that works.

Originally posted by Slatepaws:

the change to a 'license and not ownership' is to prevent resales).

There has been no change, Valve (and other places) are simply now spelling out what has been true since the dawn of the gaming industry.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

Originally posted by Slatepaws:

Unless they start having hooks in windows and linux to prevent your access to that part of your drive, it's technically yours(possession is 9/10's and all that.

Not how that works.

And right to possession is the other very important 1/10th. People always forget that,.

[Rin]

Licensed media, it's a thing and have been for some time. Just because you were born a coomer doesn't change the fact that licensed media exists far longer than you have.