Call Of Duty Subscriptions: A Good Thing

The announcement of specific payment methods for any videogame title is typically met with thousands of frothing Computer Boys abusing their return keys. The truth is though, in this neo-conservative age, a little consumer choice could go a long way to righting some of gaming’s ills. And not a quote from Jerome B Braithwatewatewate in sight…

We’ve lost count of the number of times gamers and fellow professionals who have expressed the desire for gaming to become the exclusive club it was in their youth – something undeniably ‘ours’. Siphoning off 12 million Modern Warfare players – the vast majority of which seem interested in pwning and pwning alone – would leave us with a world in which we could play Braid without having to appear offline…

Moves such as this, too, are often the thin end of a much larger wedge, one that would allow publishers to offer online experiences more suited to the individual game concerned and, crucially, bring about a ‘free live’ movement. If publishers instead pay Microsoft to hold bespoke online services, making the whole lot free to your average end user, everybody wins. And we get a football MMO that’s basically like the Nike advert Guy Richie directed.

Greater control for publishers would mean greater responsibility, so far as overall game quality is concerned. While not wishing this upon any specific company, wouldn’t it be great to see online disputes end up in court? Future generations of law students could read about the landmark ruling Griefers v Noobs (2010), in which spawn camping was ruled a breech of gamers’ human rights.

Actually, that’d be terrible but, y’know, a few thoughts for you there…

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