UK News - Prohibit publishers irrevocably disabling video games they have already sold

 

 

 You may remember the EU wide initiative to expand consumer protections for video games, the Stop Killing Games initiative. Well, the same network of activists is working in other areas and has launched or re-launched a similar initiative in the United Kingdom.

Currently, the British campaign is at the petition stage. If you're a UK citizen, you can sign the petition here. The text of the petition reads as follows.

The government should update consumer law to prohibit publishers from disabling video games (and related game assets / features) they have already sold without recourse for customers to retain or repair them. We seek this as a statutory consumer right.

 Most video games sold can work indefinitely, but some have design elements that render the product non-functional at a time which the publisher controls, with no date provided at sale. We see this as a form of planned obsolescence, as customers can be deprived of their purchase and cannot retain or repair the game. We think this practice is hostile to consumers, entirely preventable, and have concerns existing laws do not address the problem. Thus, we believe government intervention is needed.

The deadline is 14th of July 2025. UK government petitions have to pass through a committee to get published online to collect signatures and there are two thresholds, the first is 10,000 verified signatures which triggers a response from the government regarding whatever the petition is about. Then at 100,000 or more signatures, the issue raised in the petition must be debated in parliament. So far the number of signatures is over 12,000, so a formal response is guaranteed, though the show of support on the issue would be strengthened if it hit that second threshold. Incidentally the EU wide initiative has stalled somewhat so if you're an EU citizen better sign before its too late.

European Citizens Initiative to prevent publishers from killing games

I've been informed of an initiative to promote game preservation in the European Union. I am not an EU subject and I have what can be described charitably as a healthy contempt for representative government. 

Nevertheless I think this initiative is worthy of support. Corporations and governments most effective tools for control and expansion are to present themselves and their policies as both normal and inevitable. If you disagree with something before they send the thugs they make you feel small, isolated and strange. So, a show of popular opposition can be very usueful in rally further opposition.

I like games and hate that that the industry is actively hostile to the public almost as much as they are to their employees.

Preservation of art, media knowledge and entertainment is important. If you're in the EU and want to preserve media or just make things uncomfortable for major corporations signing couldn't hurt.

https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2024/000007_en

Update: In addition to the 1 million valid signatures requirement each member nation has a set threshold to meet e.g. 9,870 signatures for Denmark. I was under the impression that in order to pass an EU initiative needs all these thresholds met but I'm told it needs 7 to pass though the more nations that meet or surpass that threshold the more impact it will have.

Public Domain Clay how the Public Domain can aid creation

 

Political poster produced by the German Social Democratic Party,
"Give your vote to us! And protect this house!"

 

I've been playing an addictive game called Social Democracy and Alternative history (SDA), it's a game where you try to stop the rise of Hitler. The game is on Itch.io and can be played in browser here, and my review of the game can be read here. The reason I'm writing about that game on this blog is because in addition to its many plus points as a game, it is an excellent example of what's possible thanks to the public domain.

The game's setting is historical and its "characters" were real people, it also uses artwork and recordings from the period to set the scene and build up the world. This game is one of my favourites for this year, and it would not exist if copyright had an even stronger hold on art than it does currently. It was made by one person using an open source game engine (Dendry Nexus) and materials that are out of copyright, and is released under another the MIT licence. The public domain has a bad reputation, associated with B-movie schlock and amateur efforts, I don't think that's entirely fair, but it is the reputation it has, so I'm happy we also get games like SDA that elevate the concept and show its potential in a more impressive manner.

Music credits:

Choir. English:  The Internationale in German. 19XX. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXKr4HSPHT8, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Internationale-de.ogg. CC-BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

CNT. A Las Barricadas (Instrumental). 17 June 2014. http://www.cnt.es/, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_las_barricadas_(Instrumental).ogg. CC-BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Columbia Orchester and Mendelssohn. Fruhlingslied. Columbia, 1917. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/78_fruhlingslied_columbia-orchester-mendelssohn_gbia0003448a. Public Domain

“Deutsche Arbeiter-Marseillaise.” Wikipedia, 31 Oct. 2023. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deutsche_Arbeiter-Marseillaise&oldid=1182815568. Public Domain

Erich-Weinert-Ensemble. Workers of Vienna. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/WorkersOfVienna. Accessed 29 Feb. 2024.

Großes Odeon-Orchester. Warszawianka. 5 May 1928. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/WarszawiankaOdeon1928. Public Domain

Kapelle Jais, München. AUF HOHEN BERGEN. Odeon, 1920. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/78_auf-hohen-bergen_kapelle-jais-mnchen_gbia0166297b. Public Domain

Marek Weber and Bruno Granichstaedten. Fräulein, wie kann man nur so treu sein. Parlophon, 1920. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/78_frulein-wie-kann-man-nur-so-treu-sein_marek-weber-bruno-granichstaedten_gbia0290517b. Public Domain

Mitgliedern des Berliner Schubert-Chors mit Blas-Orchester. Marsch Der Eisernen Front. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/front_20210826. Accessed 29 Feb. 2024.

Pauline DOBERT - Alt, Bruno SEIDLER-WINKLER-Orgel. Komm, süsser Tod. Sept. 1923. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/dobert-komm-susser-tod. Public Domain

Peasant Band BAUERN KAPELLE and Sousedska. BEIM FENSTERLN - U OKENEČKA. Columbia, 1923. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/78_beim-fensterln-u-okeneka_peasant-band-bauern-kapelle-sousedska_gbia0483844b. Public Domain

REICHSBANNER-GAU-KAPELLE mit Chor. Wann wir schreiten Seit’ an Seit’. 1928. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/reichsbanner-gau-kapelle-wann-wir-schreiten-seit-an-seit. Public Domain

---. Zur Sonne, zur Freiheit. 1928. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/reichsbanner-gau-kapelle-zur-sonne-zur-freiheit. Public Domain

SIGRID ONEGIN and Schubert. DER LINDENBAUM (The Linden-Tree). Brunswick, 3 Dec. 1923. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/78_der-lindenbaum-the-linden-tree_sigrid-onegin-schubert_gbia0260352b. Public Domain