We don't own our games?

[Keep 117]

What do you own? Looking through my possessions, I feel fairly comfortable that the food in my fridge belongs to me. And I have an odd confidence that the hardware in my PC is mine. But the books on my shelves? I seem to have very little rights over them. The CDs stacked up in a cupboard (remember CDs?) certainly aren’t my property. And the software on my computer may as well be tied to a long piece of elastic, just waiting for the publishers to give it a tug. You own a license. But a license for what? This lack of ownership becomes even more concerning when it comes to the digital space, at which point our rights to anything become extremely ambiguous. And that’s something that can bite you hard on the bum, when places like Steam seem to reserve the right to ban you from your account, and not even tell you why they did it. Below is the story of one RPS reader who says he lost access to his entire Steam collection, and thoughts from game lawyer Jas Purewal on whether we really own any game we buy.

Full article here -

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/01/thought-do-we-own-our-steam-games/

[Bob]

Hmm he's certainly not entirely right about CDs. You do own the disc. You obviously don't own the copyright.

[Keep 117]

Hmm he's certainly not entirely right about CDs. You do own the disc. You obviously don't own the copyright.

Yer I think that was more a typo or taken out of context as he later says the same about DVD's.
You own the DVD, but have a limited license on the software on the DVD.

[Bob]

I remember, back in my PC owning days, the licence agreements you had to agree to before you could even get the discs out of the packet where pretty draconian and certainly did limit you to using the software rather than owning it.

I'm fairly happy with copyright law as it applies to music, games and film.

I like to get paid when I do work and I don't blame those industries for trying to stop people taking the mick.

[Keep 117]

I remember, back in my PC owning days, the licence agreements you had to agree to before you could even get the discs out of the packet where pretty draconian and certainly did limit you to using the software rather than owning it.

I'm fairly happy with copyright law as it applies to music, games and film.

I like to get paid when I do work and I don't blame those industries for trying to stop people taking the mick.

It's still more or less draconian now, copyright law is fickle, gray and open to interpretation. Basically you don't own your xbox either you agree to an end user license agreement on that too, and that's hardware... M$ just didn't like the possibility of people modding it.

It does make you worry though when digital distribution is the norm as to what will happen to our own accounts!

[Bob]

Digitial Distribution is going to be an absolute ballache I can tell you all now.

[Keep 117]

Digitial Distribution is going to be an absolute ballache I can tell you all now.

Your account will definitely get banned that's for sure!

[Bob]

Cheers ears!

[Dante3000]

Interesting. But I'm sure grips are tightened with this sort of thing as soon as the internet and all of its copyright-dodging pleasures came along.

[Keep 117]

Interesting. But I'm sure grips are tightened with this sort of thing as soon as the internet and all of its copyright-dodging pleasures came along.

You just need someone rich enough to get banned and take it to court!