The European Commission released their full position now on the Stop Destroying Videogames initiative, and it's not the response many will have been hoping for.
“They say that existing EU consumer law “already provides for important safeguards protecting the economic interests of consumers”, and note that video game publishers have to inform about “the duration and the conditions for terminating the contract before the consumers signs up for the video game”.”
Well that would be cool, but anything about the duration and conditions for terminating the contract i’ve ever read on boxes or terms of service is: " We can do whatever we like, whenever we like, just so we’re clear’ (im slightly paraphrasing). So it sound to me like the EC says: " Well these sellers said fuck you up front so they’re immune to any responsibility". Cool, cool. I saw a digital fairness act, but maybe we can hang something up in the mandated warranty tree? So if a game shuts down in 6 months barring you from playing, you would be entitled to some form of restitution instead of hoping the dev has morals.
Still doesn’t solve that corpo’s have their fingers over the killbuttons on our cultural heritage existence, so, you know, there’s a lot of work to do still.
It’s a basic premise of European and EU legal systems that you cannot use a contract to subvert national or international law. I guess the difficulty is who exactly enforces the existing laws that are supposed to guard against consumers getting ripped off.
L’Union européenne a pour mission de soutenir et de compléter les actions menées par les États membres pour préserver et promouvoir le patrimoine culturel de l’Europe.
Dude, it’s ok to be wrong sometimes, no one would judge you :) In fact, it’s a sign of strength to be able to admit you’re wrong, and people will like you more for it. It’ll also be good for you personally as you will be more effective in more things :)
“They say that existing EU consumer law “already provides for important safeguards protecting the economic interests of consumers”, and note that video game publishers have to inform about “the duration and the conditions for terminating the contract before the consumers signs up for the video game”.”
Well that would be cool, but anything about the duration and conditions for terminating the contract i’ve ever read on boxes or terms of service is: " We can do whatever we like, whenever we like, just so we’re clear’ (im slightly paraphrasing). So it sound to me like the EC says: " Well these sellers said fuck you up front so they’re immune to any responsibility". Cool, cool. I saw a digital fairness act, but maybe we can hang something up in the mandated warranty tree? So if a game shuts down in 6 months barring you from playing, you would be entitled to some form of restitution instead of hoping the dev has morals.
Still doesn’t solve that corpo’s have their fingers over the killbuttons on our cultural heritage existence, so, you know, there’s a lot of work to do still.
Upfront? As in the UELA you get to read after opening the box, at which point you can’t return the game anymore?
EULA is not valid in EU. Contract terms that are unfair under EU law have no legal or binding force on consumers.
It’s a basic premise of European and EU legal systems that you cannot use a contract to subvert national or international law. I guess the difficulty is who exactly enforces the existing laws that are supposed to guard against consumers getting ripped off.
Its not the eu’s job to protect cultural heritage. What kind of nut job comes to conclusions like this?
here is a quote from the european commision:
Great rebuttal.
Well that’s a broad interpretation of a translation into a language no EU country officially speaks. So…
Better ?
They’d be really upset if they weren’t monolingual.
They’re monolingual and anything written in English isn’t valid since it’s not the official language of any European country.
Checkmate!
Well you can’t really argue video games are culture except the ones that are but they don’t count.
How fragile is your ego when you have to say “nuh uh” to something so unambiguous?
More fragile than you can possibly imagine.
Out of all “internet commenters who could not admit they were wrong,” this is quite high ranking in my memory.
I will remember you, friend.
😘
also, i just wanna remind you, Ireland is an eu member state.
Yeah, well, I didn’t remember that when I said it. Doesn’t count.
Dude, it’s ok to be wrong sometimes, no one would judge you :) In fact, it’s a sign of strength to be able to admit you’re wrong, and people will like you more for it. It’ll also be good for you personally as you will be more effective in more things :)
lol, at least you tried