TimothyOilpants

Go spend some time with a dictionary then come back and we’ll talk…

Why is it not coercion if your boss simply ignores you instead of propositioning you?

I would consider it a moral failure if they boycotted and attempted to punitively coerce game developers and publishers.

If you want to have some different “gotcha” conversation, you don’t need my participation, you can talk to that strawman all on your own…

If you ever believed that any video game was going to be available for the rest of your life I don’t really know where to go from there…

I have never once in my life had the expectation that any digital entitlement I have purchased would be usable for the rest of my life.

Not only would that be an insane, illogical, and entitled perspective to hold; but it is also directly contradicted by every TOS/EULA of every single streaming service I have ever signed up for, and the T&C of every single digital purchase I have ever completed.

I am at a loss as to why you, or anyone else has ever had a different expectation.

Also, are you saying that when you accept an employment offer that you don’t have the expectation that compensation increases and career mobility will be available independant of sexual favors? That’s weird.

Sorry you couldn’t defend you position with facts and rationalism.

On the plus side, I have no reason to believe that is a condition that brings you any negative feelings.

A boycott, by definition is an attempt to punitively coerce others.

If your employer attempted to coerce you into physical relationship to “earn” a promotion, would that feel different to you than them simply overlooking you for said promotion?

There is a clear difference between disengagement and a boycott.

I think the system that capitalists developed in the 19th and 20th century devalues art and exploits creatives. I think at the time, their work wasn’t seen by the masses as “real labor”, or being of intrinsic value to humanity due to the general population being mostly preoccupied with figuring out how to meet their basic survival needs in an newly industrialized world. This led to people being accepting of someone else’s exploitation as long as it provided them benefit. This is the same dynamic that has ignored rampant sexual exploitation in hollywood, union busting, back-to-work legislation, and slavery at various points throughout history.

If an actual majority of the 3,700,000,000 gamers believe that physical media must exist or they will boycott the entire industry (as unlikely as I think that is), then yes, they will likely get what they want as artists will feel pressured to kowtow or risk their livelihood. If this were to come to pass, I would see it as a moral failing of society to choose the ongoing victimization of creative workers for their own convenience.

To be clear if the gaming industry was currently attempting to eliminate digital sales and move explicitly to physical media, I would feel the exact same way about public pressure to keep digital.

My objection is not about one set of practices over the other, it is about the artists fundamental moral authority to choose how their intellectual labor is capitalized without direct interference from outside influences against their will.

…again, you have now clarified that MANY people are making exactly the kind of products that you want, but for some reason you feel compelled to complain about and interfere in business that doesn’t impact you, surrounding products you claim not to support anymore…

Make it make sense. Because it sure sounds a lot like “this thing used to be made just for me, now they are making it for people different from me and that’s not fair!”

Great, so we agree that platform holders and AAA devs going digital only won’t hinder the industry!

So you’re saying there are more products that do exactly what you want now than ever before, but you’d rather sit around whining about the ones that don’t?

Sounds pretty much the same as people complaining about a black Little Mermaid…

I guess you are who you are.

Nope that was meant for you. You were insinuating that developers won’t be able to make money if they don’t “comply” with some draconian corporate strategy they loath… and the reality just doesn’t support that.

Indie developers are making more money and getting more mainstream coverage than at any point in history.

We live in a fully globalized world, anyone can absolutely stand behind their sole creative vision for their game and make a living today.

You might have a point if indie development and publishing wasn’t in the middle of literal renaissance… Things made the way YOU prefer are hardly disappearing. If AAA gaming isn’t for you anymore, then move on; no need to announce your departure.

Again, my problem is people in these types of threads, and frankly outlets like GamesRadar, presenting their opinions as though they represent opinions of anything other than a loud and incredibly tiny minority of the 3,700,000,000 gamers in the world right now.

I have hundred of game credits to my name. My opinions from direct, lived experience, not assumptions about my niche expertise may apply to an industry I don’t really understand.

Most of the best games I have played in the last decade have been non-mainstream.

Great! Those games will continue to exist. Not everyTHING needs to be for everyONE. If AAA gaming isn’t for you, then move on. This entire minority circle jerk about DRM, digital only, etc, etc. is a giant case of “bean soup”.

There are 3,700,000,000 gamers around the world. Most of them don’t give two shits about any of this. THEY are the people AAA the industry exists for, not you.

No. Video games are fundamentally artistic expression. If YOU choose to engage with them commercially then you do so at the creators direction and on their terms.

We’re not talking about public utilities, survival essentials, or any other tangible goods. We are talking about something inherently experiential in nature.

The creator can continue to produce their work in whatever way they want. Art does not require an observer to exist or be valuable.

How many years have you spent in the video game industry?

Why would I care?

If a thing stops being something I want to engage with, I stop engaging. Demanding that everything that has ever existed, must continue to exist in exactly the fashion of my preference would seem like a mental illness.

What makes you believe that returning to this historical norm is necessary?

Mostly the fact that television, film, and music capitalists were incentivized to essentially steal intellectual labor from creators in the same way that industrialists were stealing surplus labor value from factory workers.

It is the sole discretion of the artist how, when, where, and IF their art is consumed at all. If you didn’t create something you have no legal or moral authority over how it is stored, displayed, interacted with, or commercialized. If you have a problem with how a particular artist does any one of those things, then the solution is to not consume their art, not demand that they adapt their creative process to accommodate your preferences.