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A new law has been passed in California which prohibits the use of words like "buy" and "purchase" on digital storefronts like Steam. (www.pcgamesn.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

To which I said something like ‘But all that does is highlight the problem without actually changing the situation.’

I think the idea is, that the minimally invasive regulation only has to fix the information imbalance between producer and consumer. Then, once the consumer has all the information, they can make an informed racional market actor descision. That's supposed to price shitty rip offs out of the market eventually.

... yeah I don't believe it works either.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It doesn't make any sense if the whole market is shitty rip offs.

In this case I'm not saying all games are bad, shitty games, but they are all shitty rip offs in the sense that they all legally can, and many do just suddenly deactivate, and you're not even compensated for this.

The whole fundamental legal trick the software industry has pulled is making everything into a license for an ongoing service, as opposed to a consumer good.

And the problem is that this is now infecting everything, expanding as much as possible into anything with a chip in it.

Even if the consumer is perfectly informed, it doesn't matter if the entire market is full of fundamentally unjust bullshit, as there aren't any alternatives.

All you get is consumers who are now informed that their digital goods can poof out of existence with no recourse.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

But the whole market isn't shitty rip offs.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Can't Stardew Valley, Undertale, Outer Wilds and No Man's Sky also be legally removed from your Steam library for any reason?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago

Yes, and if you don't like it you don't have to buy them. It's why I prefer not to use Steam.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Please reread the second sentence.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

The second sentence isn't true.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

They're just gonna go all in on marketing to Kyle and his CoD buddies, and ignore the nerds who care about weird shit like ownership.