Do you really care about video games?

[Inazuma]

https://www.youtube.com/user/GamersGettingPlayed

Anyone here who loves video games and is sick of the direction the industry has been going lately, needs to watch this guy's Youtube channel. He speaks the truth.

Not only does he help point out the bullshit that we as gamers should be aware of, he also tries to educate us on our rights and how they are quickly being taken away. He is very passionate about saving gaming and our rights as gamers. Anyone who likes video games should agree with him and want to help support him.

He is even trying to create a proper union, so we can lobby in congress and help fight back against corporate greed. If we don't do something like this, gaming will be dead very soon, and we will have no rights left.

It is pretty sad how he only has 3.4k subs. This man deserves a hell of lot more subs and support for what he is doing. Everyone please sub him, watch his videos, educate yourselves more and help spread the word to others.

[fastbilly1]

I am curious about his tapes, but after listening to another of his videos, the tapes are most likely just audio of kids on xbox live cussing. Releasing those to Congress wont do anything. The ESRB will not be enforced by law, just like how the MPAA ratings are not. Should they be? Well that is a different question.

A Gamers Union sounds good on paper, I am curious to how it is going to work out for him. Ill keep an eye out for it. I agree completely about his view of once we lose hardcopies we could really be screwed, not all companies are GoG or Steam. Why he leaves out Nintendo and PC gaming?

I like how after he grew out his van dyke he kinda looks like Brian Cranston on Breaking Bad

Edit:
I see he doesnt comment on PC gaming because he doesnt play PC games, fair enough.

[TornadoCreator]

He's interesting, but he seems too wrapped up in certain ideas. Audio tapes? Seriously? They're not that special and you won't shut down Xbox live, you'll cause a few people to get pissed off and that's about it... The sad part is, for the most-part I agree with this guy but I don't think he's considered his arguments properly. He's so quick to advocate unionising action without truly knowing the outcome and honestly, I don't see his ideas making a difference.

[NintendoLegend]

He's interesting, but he seems too wrapped up in certain ideas. Audio tapes? Seriously? They're not that special and you won't shut down Xbox live, you'll cause a few people to get pissed off and that's about it... The sad part is, for the most-part I agree with this guy but I don't think he's considered his arguments properly. He's so quick to advocate unionising action without truly knowing the outcome and honestly, I don't see his ideas making a difference.

Yeah -- it's almost like he's so passionate about it that he has a misplaced optimism. I mean, really unionizing is one thing... but gamers don't work for game companies. Hundreds of millions of game-purchasers all over the world aren't going to suddenly decide to stop buying games in order to gain more "rights."

[Nemoide]

IMO a "Gamers Union" is not such a necessary idea. I like to think I care about video games, but I hardly think that makes me some sort of oppressed victim.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 might be a dick move to their core fanbase, but the key to stopping this sort of practice is to NOT BUY THE GAME. Not to lobby to congress and get some sort of law passed that prevents selling minor game updates on discs. Yeah, the company exists to make money. It's how a game industry based in a capitalist-economy works. It inspires corporate dickery, but it's hardly unique to gaming.

Keeping a list of names of people who leave negative comments on his videos because he thinks their corporate thugs working for Sony or something? That sounds ridiculous and paranoid to me.

M-maybe I don't "really" care about video games like this dude does...

[StuntDouble]

I think the guy is seriously delusional myself. I can sympathize a little bit, it sucks that we pretty buy unfinished product, and in order to complete it we have to spend more money, but a gamer's union? I can't see something like that ever getting off the ground.

As far as getting the government involved, I think that's probably the last thing we want to do. How many industries have actually been helped by more government involvement?

[J T]

involved, I think that's probably the last thing we want to do. How many industries have actually been helped by more government involvement?

This is about protecting the consumer, in which case government regulation is almost required because companies will do whatever they can to make money. That's the whole point of regulation, and the commonly expressed republican/tea party belief that regulation is unilaterally a bad thing is simply wrong. Sometimes regulation is needed, sometimes it hinders efficient business. It should be examined on a case-by-case basis.

I think this guy is a little nuts, and a little on point. He's mellodramatic about what he believes will happen if games switch to a subscription service and he's spilling over with rage and a bit of paranoia. Nevertheless, he has a valid point that it does appear that the gaming industry is trying to move to a model of gaming where games are a subscription or rental based service and no longer a product. This would have negative consequences for consumer ownership, which will also erode the ability to maintain long-term consumer access to games that are important to gaming history. Also, much of this is happening in sly ways that the majority of consumers are unaware of. For example, nobody advertises that buying some of Capcom's recent games will only allow you to resell part of the game, and therefore immediately has little value on the secondary market. These trends towards the elimination of physical media and even of ownership over digital media are troubling, though digital games services such as gog.com have done quite a lot to actually preserve gaming history while not taking away consumer rights and should be commended.

I like the option to rent and subscribe to games honestly. Most games I played in my youth were rentals, not purchases. Now that I'm older, most of my games come from online Steam sales, which some would argue is also a rental, since the games require an online check in, cannot be resold, and ownership is not guaranteed in the EULA in the event of Valve going under. It does trouble me as a consumer to know that the longevity of my access to my Steam games depends on the longevity of the company's success. It is also unfair to other online game distributors because I feel, whether I'm satisfied with Valve's service or not, that I need to continue to buy my games from them to support them and retain my collection. That being said, Steam is a great service and I'm willing to use it because the low prices offset the risk for me.

I do think consumer rights are not being factored into the equation enough as far as all of these diigital rights business matters are concerned. I don't know if a gamers union is the right tactic, but it might be. I wouldn't want this guy representing me as he's too blustery and prone to exaggeration, but I think people should be educated about how the monetization schemes of the digital age can end up negatively affecting your rights as a consumer. It will take a grassroots kind of consumer movement to spread that message because it won't likely come from the industry, unless there are more companies like GOG that are vocal about this sort of thing.

[brunoafh]

I agree with most of the posts here. I love video games, but I don't take them very seriously. I think the industry is going in the absolute worst direction it possibly could, but, I understand that there's no stopping it. People will still make entertaining video games regardless of what the industry as a whole does, plus there's already enough out there to entertain me for a life time. So, whatever. Everything goes to shit eventually, the video game industry is no different.

[StuntDouble]

This is about protecting the consumer, in which case government regulation is almost required because companies will do whatever they can to make money. That's the whole point of regulation, and the commonly expressed republican/tea party belief that regulation is unilaterally a bad thing is simply wrong. Sometimes regulation is needed, sometimes it hinders efficient business. It should be examined on a case-by-case basis.

Good point, J T, I hadn't considered the consumer protection aspect of government involvement.

[Segatari2002]

This is about protecting the consumer, in which case government regulation is almost required because companies will do whatever they can to make money. That's the whole point of regulation, and the commonly expressed republican/tea party belief that regulation is unilaterally a bad thing is simply wrong. Sometimes regulation is needed, sometimes it hinders efficient business. It should be examined on a case-by-case basis.

Was that really necessary? When has it ever been wrong in this country to hold a different belief than another person? I, for one, happen to think the liberal/progressive idea of still more regulations is simply wrong. I'm not trying to instigate an argument, far from it. All I'm asking that since this is a gaming themed site, do we really need that kind of political jabbing going on in here? There are other forums for that debate and it only seems to lead to angry outbursts and regretted sayings all around.