Games Are Forever (Cue Shirley Bassey)
Game Tycoon's David Edery weighs in on the debate over pre-owned games with a well-reasoned contribution to the discussion, in which he suggests: "People feel entitled to buy and sell used goods. If game publishers clamp down on the practice, they risk offending the mass market in the same way that music publishers managed to."
But it's a comment by 'Ivy' which compresses the problem away from its coal base, as it's suggested: "Diamonds are one example of durable physical goods with no aftermarket, which is almost entirely due to a brilliant (heh) advertising campaign by De Beers in the 1930s that imbued the gems with high emotional value that prevented reselling them. If publishers manage to create a similar non-tangible value around games, the problem will be solved."
So there - we just have to figure out a way to make games impossible to part with, they'll be... impossible to part with. [Yes, we know the above picture is an _emerald_, but it's all we could find on short notice.]
Comments
I changed my policy on buying used games because some thought on used music some time ago, when I started madly downloading music from the net. My philosopy was that I wanted to support the bands. I wanted them to see my money as much as possible, not the record label, or retail.
But I also didn't want to waste my money.
So I download a ton of music. What stays on the hard drive I pay for. If I listen to it more than once or twice, I pay for it. If I don't pay for it, I delete it. When I did pay for music, I did in a way as direct as possible. If I couldn't buy directly from the artist at a show, I bought it from their website. When I couldn't do that, I bought from an independent record store.
I realized that trading in used music, or buying it, was one less album the artist would see profit from.
If you're going to buy a used game, why not just pirate it instead? What are you really accomplishing by buying the used game, aside from being legal?
p.s.The diamond analogy doesn't work, because a diamond's value is its rarity. This might be said of older out of print games and collecting, but I can make an exact duplicate of the game's most important component: the game. I can't do that with a diamond.
Posted by: John Beeler | December 16, 2005 6:10 AM
I think that "being legal" is pretty neat thing to achieve. It is somewhat strange to force people to buy new games just because some little part goes to the developers. ts bussines, not charity.
The "second hand" market has its place in the business environment. People selling original games after they finished them will get some money they will likely spend on new original games. And people who can not afford games at full price will have the warm fuzzy feeling like "i am no thief, i can buy my games".
Maybe its just first step. as people grow in their profesional life, they can get more money and start buing new games when they can afford it.
Posted by: xentar | December 19, 2005 3:50 AM