So a few days ago, Jim Sterling did a video on this diabolical cracka, Andrew Wilson, who basically proclaimed his desire for a future where videogame ownership is non-existent. Instead, this fuck wants to push for a model in which videogames are something you “access” but don’t own. If this sounds familiar, it’s argument that was pushed last generation when the game industry formerly declared war on the used games market.

The game industry has gone to some extremes in the pursuit of trying to bleed you dry. An understatement if I ever knew one. But the one thing that has bothered me constantly was the obsessive tethering of every game to some instance of an internet connection just to access all the content. And… not just for DLC. Basic functions started requiring internet. Some of you may recall when I talked about the game “Starhawk” where local multiplayer required an internet connection. Injustice 2, yeah I’m bringing that up again. In further patches, you complete a training/tutorial challenge or w/e, you’re supposed to earn coins. But you have to be connected to the internet in order to “receive” them. MK11, I’m hearing that all your progression is tied to an internet connection, so if you lose your connection, you lose all your progress. Bucko recently commented on Crash Team Racing in that if you win a grand prix, you earn coins for an in-game store… but you have to be online to receive the coins. Redout, an even worse example…. you couldn’t progress without internet, period. And that’s not even touching on all the games that require internet to be playable. Even Super Mario Maker 2 needs an internet connection, a store clerk told me that a few days ago (I was curious as to why it cost $70). To some extent, Bloodstained is guilty of this. Certain items are not available right away, the game already has 2 patches available to put the items in. I don’t care how good the game is, that’s unacceptable.

Those are already examples of “Access over Ownership”. You always need internet to have “access” to certain games and features. Always! It’s so ingrained into people’s minds that even the gamers who pride themselves in having integrity (laughable) will jump on you and shame you for not having internet. Even PS3 ads having some lady talk to Sony’s rep about her boyfriend not having his PS3 connected to the internet. And the Sony Rep mocking the boyfriend for it. “COME ON!” That was less of an advert and more of Sony blatantly telling you that internet is “required”. Though that’s more appropriate for the PS4. When I try to back up my save data to a USB, it tells me I need an internet connection, something I did NOT need on the PS3. And that goes for every other feature outside of sharing screenshots and recordings (shockingly enough). So if something happens to my console in it’s current state, there’s nothing I can do about a loss of data. And you will sit here and shout “YOUR FAULT FOR NOT HAVING INTERNET!”

You can imagine the frustration of trying to enjoy this hobby, and all these signals and signs telling you that without internet, your enjoyment is not important. And this is why I declare that the Wii was the last “free” console. In that you were not required to have internet to enjoy any game on the system to the fullest degree.

But that’s another topic. The point is the internet has been “forced” into a standard. Back in the day, all you really needed was the console itself. Maybe an extra controller for co-op, but all you needed was the box. Soon as internet gaming became a thing, it spiralled out of control. And 2 decades afterward, we’ve gotten to this point in time and history where the industry is now trying to redefine “ownership”. Just last generation, they brought up the “EULA”, a clause that was never remembered nor enforced, to say that you have no claim to the game you purchased with your money… to have any right to resell it. And unless they were shills, you had people going around…. and jumping on that bandwagon! The industry was adamant in trying to destroy used games. Microsoft and Sony were on board with that ideal by trying to prevent used games from being playable until the Xbone backlash.

People… the industry has been using the internet to really… deny you ownership for the last decade now. Now to play games online, you have to pay a subscription fee. Even Nintendo has jumped on board for this. Every new year, game companies find new and creative ways to utilize the internet to take away the shit that used to be free! Every once in a while, a company takes it too far, and then and only then will gamers raise hell! Capcom for SFxT, EA for Battlefront 2, Microsoft for Xbone’s “always online” policy… but these are only SYMPTOMS of one single problem. We keep ALLOWING the bastards to utilize the internet to RESTRICT OUR ACCESS! Why!? Every time a new game is released, what is the first goddamn thing gamers do after playing through it for 2 days!? Or beating it in 2 days!?

I hope there’s new DLC coming soon!

What’s the new DLC going to contain!?

DLC

DLC

DLC

DLC

You’ve ENCOURAGED this shit! Because you’re never satisfied with the game on it’s own! And that’s by design! By artificially making the game as bare bones as they possibly can, they evoke a desire within you to rectify it! There needs to be MORE to the game! It’s too short! Too easy! Anticlimactic! So, instead of thinking like a customer and perhaps repurpose the game for something worth your time, you instead sit on the game, waiting for new DLC to appear! Folks do you understand… that this means you don’t own the game…. but instead, the game owns you? By demanding DLC, you’ve already admitted defeat. You’ve submitted yourself to the whims of the game industry, handing over your power to them. Because… what that says is that you are willing to wait for THEM to get their acts together… 2-3 months after you’ve spent $60…. and that you’re willing to spend more on the same product. Indirectly, you’ve given the game industry permission to restrict your access to a game’s content. And… you rarely define the limitations of that permission. You’re saying that the game you purchased isn’t perfect. It isn’t good enough. It isn’t satisfactory… but you’re willing to wait a longer period of time for it to get better. You’ve been waiting Amma knows how many years, and you get the game, it’s disappointing…. but you’re willing to wait for DLC to make it all better.

By that point, you have declared yourself as a fucking tool!

You declare your patience for DLC as a given. It is expected. Anticipated. Demanded! With that in mind, you’ve given your power as a customer over to the industry as you have declared this one game as a service. A service is something you may pay for on multiple occasions. It’s not just a one-time deal. Auto-services is one thing. Medical Services is another. These are things you pay for more than once. And unless you’re ass fucking rich, these are not things you can OWN! You don’t own a service, it’s just something you pay multiple times for to sustain you. You could say that the service owns you.

Now… you buy an object, that’s different. That’s something you physically own. It’s something you can operate at no additional expense. Why? Because you don’t require other people to operate it for you. You own a lawnmower, so you don’t pay to cut your own grass. So when you buy a game that comes in the form of a disc, a physical property that you can operate at no additional expense, then yes, you OWN that game.

The waters get muddy when you introduce the internet. The internet is something you cannot physically own. Afterall, you have to pay a… “service provider” to give you… “access“… to the internet. And how that service is ran is entirely up to them. You have little to no control over that. You can buy the modem/router and turn them on and off, but without access to the service, you have literal paperweights.

The same applies to videogames. Now, a game console by itself should be no different from a dvd player, you stick a disc in and play the game. And for the most part, that remains true. You buy the game, you operate the game, and if you enjoy it, you keep operating the game. And if not, you either shelve it or sell it. That’s declaring ownership over something you paid for. However, if you’re not satisfied with said product, but decide that it’s better to wait for DLC or patches to make it “better”, you are declaring it a service. That is automatic forfeiture of your power as a customer. Because you gave the game developer tacit permission to start charging you for certain things that should already be in the game. Declaring the game as paperweight

This is why gamers played devil’s advocates in declaring that you don’t own the games you buy, because they have accepted the perception of videogames as services. This is why no one is looking at Premium $100 editions of certain fighting games that charge you $60 for the standard game plus an additional $40 for access to extra content…. as a total ripoff. This is why no one complains about season passes, temporary access to items before release. Because these fools have declared games as a service. The internet is never about ownership, it’s about having access to certain things. So when I see gamers online bragging about their digital purchases and how they can save physical space, I see a bunch of tools bragging about having no ownership of the things they buy. But gamers absolutely pride themselves in having access to the internet, as though it gives them a sense of power. Well, autonomy is power even if it is, at it’s core, cowardice, but nonetheless…

The internet is a blessing and a curse. And for the last decade, the industry has used it as a tool to convert itself into a “service industry”. So when demonic entities such as Andrew Wilson talk about what gamers want in regards to “social interaction, consumption of content, and games as services”, I roll my eyes when people complain about it. Gamers have shown for years that this is what they want simply by demanding more internet in their gaming. Their lust for DLC, their willingness to buy special editions and season passes over and over. Gamers are out of control (literally and figuratively) when it comes to internet access. And because they invest in a hobby that is all about self gratification, they don’t care who it hurts so long as they get their way.

So in this instance, yes, the gamer is 100% at fault. Because they’re junkies addicted to digital content. It was a “neat thing” back in the 2000s because it was relatively new, this internet access being able to enhance gaming. Now it’s so common that the internet is practically required as per the demands of gamers. No, I don’t count the whole lootbox fiasco as a counterargument. One instance of gamers putting their foot down (more like STAR WARS fans having more balls than most other fandoms) doesn’t make up for the fact that roughly 3/4s of the gaming populace are too stupid to NOT buy season passes! And why wouldn’t they? They get “access” to content before other people do, they have an obsession with being the first at everything. They get to enjoy a game on a different level than others would at launch. They get to show off on their youtube, twitter, and twitch streams about all the content they have access to which helps to prop themselves up.

This also extends to what we call “Cloud services” Oh, the ability to store games and/or game data on the cloud for later usage. Rather than use a USB stick, gamers would rather put their data on a service that could be cut off at any moment (hypothetically, ofcourse). If one’s system goes down, that same access to the data you put up is locked. But if you put it on a USB, that’s something you have control over. That’s your own personal storage. You can organize it, modify it anyway you want to, and there’s no risk of losing it outside of your own possible carelessness. At no additional cost, might I add!

Plus, trusting Sony with internet functionality has proven more disastrous for people, but they can’t help themselves. That’s another topic.

Gamers keep giving the industry inches, so they keep taking miles. We shouldn’t be surprised when EA boldly proclaims that even after Anthem’s severe loss in player base, they will not stop their business model because they know damn well that they can find some players willing to deal with their their shit. They’ve done so with every other company thus far. It should never have gotten this bad. But ofcourse, when dealing with entertainment, gamers have learned to turn off their brains as well, so we shouldn’t be surprised with the results.