This is why we need blockchain-based smart contracts and NFTs to enforce digital ownership rights. The political system is far too unreliable and corruptible to depend on for robust private property rights. If the nation-states can just maintain a free and open internet, decentralized opt-in protocols can do the rest.
Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
141–150 of 543 posts
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's the same argument as vigilante justice.
Sure, but taking this to its logical extreme, it seems like I could justify any act as long as it’s also legal. While I totally agree with the advice of “it’s illegal so you probably shouldn’t do it”, I don’t think it’s a terribly interesting conversation philosophically. Deferring to human law in these discussions feels like an existential cop-out. I think the question is substantially more interesting if you preten…
Well, sadly if something is legal then they can actually do that thing. I don’t like it myself, but that’s unfortunately how it works.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#143People won't like this, but we at Ultra.io are trying to tackle this exact problem by deploying certificates of ownership to a decentralized ledger as proof of your owning a game. AKA, we want to mint NFTs for each game sold, which allows a user to prove they own it. People hate those words, but we think that the tech has real value and a use-case in the market for solving inequity between publishers and users. This…
What's the tangible difference between this and email confirmations that you made a purchase?
If you lose track of the NFT that proves you bought it, that's no different than losing the email evidence. You're boned.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a sort of reductionist viewpoint that's ignoring the realities of the market (in this case computer games) and how monopolies are created. Games aren't fungible with each other. If you want to play Dark Souls, you have to buy it from From software. You can't go to an alternative Dark Souls provider that offers you better terms. Likewise Ubisoft has IP that fans want access to. Therefore due to copyright etc t…
> they have small monopolies that aren't as subject to market forces. But they are; you yourself give an illustration: > Some years back I decided I had had enough of Ubisoft's anti-consumer bullshit, and decided AC: Unity would be my last Ubisoft game (bits of the game that I had bought were locked behind a mobile game and there were paid-for items as well). There have been lots of times I have thought I would love…
>> they have small monopolies that aren't as subject to market forces.
> But they are; you yourself give an illustration:
I didn't say they aren't subject to market forces at all. I said they aren't as subject to market forces. They are insulated to some extent by the monopolies created for them my copyright. That's precisely why I gave my example - as something that I (and some others) do but which is almost entirely ineffective.
It's not a free market. Copyright and other IP protections specifically mean the goods are not fungible for the reason I explained.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#145Ubisoft claims accounts with games on it will never be up for deletion. I could see this being a bug, but could also just simply be that... the person is confused and that specific account didn't actually have a game on it? Could it be a different account maybe? That seems a more likely and simple explanation to me, and this right now just comes down to a he said / she said.
Obviously it's not great that the ToS has wording protecting Ubisoft's ass against such mistake, but again, everyone here is just taking the word of this one person as gospel, but I don't really see any solid evidence provided.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
This sounds great on paper but I really don't think that feedback channel is effective in practice. First of all, when a game or a platform does poorly, the reason for that can be very hard to discern (unless there's some kind of coordinated vocal protest). "The customers are disagreeing with the fine print of our end-user license agreement" usually isn't high up on the list of reasons. Secondly, there are many degre…
Your point about market inefficiency and misaligned incentives is a valid one, but government intervention, which is what many people in this thread are calling for, does not make market inefficiencies better; it makes them worse. Ultimately, people get the market they create through their buying decisions. The reason these market inefficiencies and misaligned incentives exist is that game distributors know that peop…
Do you think the first sale doctrine makes the book market more inefficient? Because that's along the lines of what people want for digital goods.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but taking this to its logical extreme, it seems like I could justify any act as long as it’s also legal. While I totally agree with the advice of “it’s illegal so you probably shouldn’t do it”, I don’t think it’s a terribly interesting conversation philosophically. Deferring to human law in these discussions feels like an existential cop-out. I think the question is substantially more interesting if you preten…
Well, sadly if something is legal then they can actually do that thing. I don’t like it myself, but that’s unfortunately how it works.
No argument but I feel like that’s an orthogonal topic to “is it moral for me to pirate a game that I purchased a legal copy of?”
I’m well aware that I’m legally allowed to do legal things, but “laws” have a lot of politics and emotion involved in their creation, and I don’t feel like they’re a great place to determine the “morality” of something.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#148This article is a great example of why we need legislation around ownership of digital items. I generally hate getting the government involved in things, but if you're paying money for goods, there needs to be a way to be credited or receive your digital goods in a way that still works without your "account". Personally I always get kind of nervous around buying things on PSN, Xbox, Stadia, Steam, Oculus, etc. If the…
Wouldn’t mind the music I’ve purchased remaining mine, too.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If they ban me, do I lose my thousands of dollars of games? You absolutely do. Anyway, I agree with you. Digital marketplaces are becoming more and more important and certainly I'm sure I have a lot of money in Steam, Kindle, and various other services. It'd be nice to move away from the Wild West phase given how much money's sloshing around at this point.
You can still play the games without steam (I often play without internet connection). But of course you'll miss out on a lot of things (multiplayer, achievements etc.) which might be important to you.
a lot of games have actual Steam DRM
You can definitely remove it, but it's not like GOG where the launcher really is 100% optional and you can install and play the games without an internet connection or an account of any sort
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
This sounds great on paper but I really don't think that feedback channel is effective in practice. First of all, when a game or a platform does poorly, the reason for that can be very hard to discern (unless there's some kind of coordinated vocal protest). "The customers are disagreeing with the fine print of our end-user license agreement" usually isn't high up on the list of reasons. Secondly, there are many degre…
Your point about market inefficiency and misaligned incentives is a valid one, but government intervention, which is what many people in this thread are calling for, does not make market inefficiencies better; it makes them worse. Ultimately, people get the market they create through their buying decisions. The reason these market inefficiencies and misaligned incentives exist is that game distributors know that peop…
> government intervention, which is what many people in this thread are calling for, does not make market inefficiencies better; it makes them worse.
I agree in general. Remember, though, that copyright is government intervention too. Are you in favor of getting rid of that? That would solve this whole problem too, since just downloading a new copy without paying would then be perfectly okay.