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Stardock proposes PC Gamers Bill of Rights
Have you ever bought a game you had high hopes for, and then were disappointed, not by the game itself but all the politics and mismanagement surrounding it? Buggy and rushed releases, draconian copyright protection, intrusive download managers or updaters – all significant distractions from enjoying a game. Some feel so strongly about those distractions, developers included, that they have sought to craft a “PC Gamer’s Bill of Rights” that they feel should be used as a framework for game development and release.
Compiled by an independent game developer, it is composed of 10 rules they feel highlight the most common mistakes publishers make, most of which just anger and frustrate gamers, causing them to potentially avoid buying games in the first place. The rules include asking publishers to quit releasing rushed games, focusing on completing them rather than getting them out the door. It also asks to avoid using DRM, along with removing CD/DVD checks on launch. Some of the rules are very reasonable, and in fact if every game was released to those standards PC gaming would be a much different industry.
Most of them are just fantasies, though, as publishers these days would never agree to such terms. It's a good read, but perhaps more of a dream than anything close to reality.
Compiled by an independent game developer, it is composed of 10 rules they feel highlight the most common mistakes publishers make, most of which just anger and frustrate gamers, causing them to potentially avoid buying games in the first place. The rules include asking publishers to quit releasing rushed games, focusing on completing them rather than getting them out the door. It also asks to avoid using DRM, along with removing CD/DVD checks on launch. Some of the rules are very reasonable, and in fact if every game was released to those standards PC gaming would be a much different industry.
Most of them are just fantasies, though, as publishers these days would never agree to such terms. It's a good read, but perhaps more of a dream than anything close to reality.
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User Comments (4)
Post a comment| KingDingDong on August 29, 2008 12:05 PM | nifty idea, lets see what happens....
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| Brewskie on August 30, 2008 10:28 PM | "Most of them are just fantasies, though, as publishers these days would never agree to such terms. It's a good read, but perhaps more of a dream than anything close to reality." Having the game makers create a "bill of rights" is like having King George create the Declaration of Independence. This should be done by someone/something "other" than the industry (and NO...not the government).
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| badger1977 on August 31, 2008 5:21 AM | People have been saying that devs/pubs will not go for this because of piracy however, mosy if not every game has a crack / no c/dvd patch availabe. For exampe: Half-Life 2 - available to download, so whats the point of the protection system. BioShock - available to download, so whats the point of the protection system. These are just two that use irratating protection systems. Not everyone copies games. I dont know about you but I like the look and feel of a new game and this adds to the anticipation of getting it home and ragging the s*** out of it  . I would just like to add another point; console games can also be cracked but no one is having a go at them (at least I dont think so... im a pc gamer so im not really up on consol stuff). Anyway what I mean by that is no matter what they do some c*** will crack it eventually wheather it be on PC or console so why not just trust their fans. Maybe in a perfect world eh.... this ends my 2 cents
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| thejedislayer on August 31, 2008 7:45 PM | It will only follow deaf ears until it withers away, like some broken musical tune. To think for one second that the game industries would agree to some ridiculous terms, that even I find a bit ridiculous, is astonishing at best. Perhaps this is merely a beginning stage to let game companies know that users won't put up with their bullshit for much longer. Whatever may be the case, the game companies have read, laughed their ass off, and moved on.
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