On the topic of "HURR PC GAMES ALREADY DO THIS."
Piracy.
PC games require you to install the game from the disc onto your computer.
There is absolutely nothing preventing you from installing it onto another computer.
This is extremely convenient, it's a system that works very well and means you don't have to get a disc in your device every time you want to play a game.
So, it's a pretty fair trade-off really.
You get the convenience of just starting a game when you want, which is a benefit for everyone. And the downside is the smaller portion of the market that buy used games cannot do so.
Given PC games are already about £10 or so cheaper than Console games, the issue of "Used" isn't that big of a deal. Combined with frequent sales, it's hard not to get a good deal when buying a PC game. (Useless it's a really awful Publisher, but, even The Grinch has sales, sometimes.)
Also opened the market and allowed for digital games to become a thing way before the console market. Which allowed for indie games to be developed and become big names.
So, basically, in summary. We lost the ability to get used games, however, gained the ease of use of just being able to play any game whenever we want.
Now. If we had to pay console prices, had to put the disc in each time we wanted to play, had a restricted market and all the other various downsides that come with a disc-based format, we'd be up in arms about it.
However, instead, we got a better way of getting games, for much lower prices, at the cost of a small portion of people who want to get games second-hand.
It's regarded as a necessary evil. One many PC gamers are entirely willing to put up with.
The more you know.
