Why is it that the game industry is the only entertainment industry that's fucks people over?

[Veylon]

Sculptors. Robbed by piracy. Whining about it.

You know, I can see how if they made their bread and butter on selling repros of their work how they'd have a whinge about unethical pricks selling cheap knock offs... but that doesn't really seem to be the angle the campaign took...

This leads to an unexpected group to be robbed by pirates: authors.

You know how much Dickens made off of The Christmas Carol, one of the best known works in the English language? Nothing. He actually lost money on it, as he had to pay someone to have it printed.

Why? Because copyrights didn't exist back then. Anyone could print and sell copies of his book without giving him a penny. Similarly, many copies of The Hobbit printed in America had no connection to Tolkien and likewise profited printers without benefiting Tolkien in any way despite his work being the only reason they had something to print.

Copyright law needs some major work done on it, but we don't want to throw it out entirely.

 

[tippy2k2]

Well that's OK, I've always got my books! Damn....$15 for the newest Stephen King book. Well that's OK, we have digital books now! All of the convenience with a cheaper price!....$15 for the newest Stephen King book on my Nook? Well...damn.

Ya, but that's $15 for something that's probably going to give you a good 20 hours of enjoyment (assuming you like King's books). If you really like the book, you might reread it multiple times. Also, are King's books just more expensive than other new releases? Most of my books say they're only 10 bucks US on the back. Regardless, $15 for 20 hours of enjoyment is a pretty fantastic deal.

Books industry aside though, I think you're right.

For a brand new King book, that's actually low. Though to be fair, King's books are bigger than the freaking dictionary so you're almost certain to get your money's worth.

I was referring more to the eBooks issues when I made that post; primarily the price-fixing issues that have really just now finally been (somewhat) resolved with giant lawsuits...

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/07/16/apple-settles-ebook-price-fixing-complaint-with-states-consumers-could-pay-450m

 

[ResonanceSD]

Broken games, DLC, day 1 season passes.

Why is the games industry the only entertainment industry that hasn't evolved?

Music can be bought cheap, £1, films DVD £10 blu ray £12 and download options. All entertainment has gotten cheaper and more consumer friendly but why does the game industry continue to push and push and push its luck until enough people get so pissed off the AAA industry will crash?

Because people keep giving money to bad publishers, keep preordering shitty games, and continue to think that all reviewers are unbiased and unpaid by publishers. The system is stacked against the consumer.

 

[cdemares]

Does anyone really think other industries don't screw people? There is no type of business that doesn't screw people. If anything, the videogame industry is better at learning from mistakes and listening to customers than most other industries. Partly, it's because we gamers are so incredibly demanding and vitriolic. Seriously, we can be the worst customers. Can you imagine if we bought games from the physical offices of game companies? They'd have to use riot shields and armor. Meanwhile, they work crunch-time hours and still go out of business. Being a AAA dev sounds worse than being a janitor. I'm surprised they don't get more pissed at us for our self-entitled crap. If I had worked on Mass Effect 3, I would have had a rage-faced meltdown.

 

[DoPo]

Sculptors. Robbed by piracy. Whining about it.

You know, I can see how if they made their bread and butter on selling repros of their work how they'd have a whinge about unethical pricks selling cheap knock offs... but that doesn't really seem to be the angle the campaign took...

Oh, no - it was very specifically Internet piracy, of course. The thing that went without actually saying it outright was that it was aimed against torrent trackers, as well. So, no - they weren't the least bit hindered by it. But, hey, free publicity.

Counter-tangent:

Wasn't some European Copyright enforcement mob sued by one of the people they supposedly represented for using their music in some promotional work without authorisation?

I'm too lazy too google the exact incident, but yes you are correct. It may have been a US one though. Or maybe there was an US one as well - I think it was more than one case. I mean, there was one case very recently [http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-firm-caught-pirating-news-articles-150107/] but I think you're not referring to that - other than it, I believe there were at least a couple of others in the last few years.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Well one because they can. Anybody can pirate music and does all the time. Games are harder to pirate so they don't need to be so cheap to entice people to actually buy them.

Two, they don't actually fuck people over. Gamers in general are just a bunch of whiny dicks.
Music people and moviegoers don't get DLC. You are literally complaining about having the option to buy more content.
In 90% of cases the content simply wouldn't exist if it wasn't part of DLC.
Season passes are also not fucking people over. You don't HAVE to buy it. If I like the game I probably will because its a cheaper way of getting DLC.

And while I'm here: Early Access is also not fucking people over. Yes, the games often turn out shit but you know what you get into when you buy an incomplete game. I have never regretted buying Early Access shit other than Rust but thats because the game was bad to start off with. Beta Testing a game to some people is worth the 20 bucks. I got more than 20 bucks worth of enjoyment out of minecraft before they went and ruined the game which wouldn't have been possible if they didn't let people in until the proper release.

The Escapist community is particularly notorious for it but a lot of gamers seem to mix up the ideas of "Something I don't like" and "Something that exists to make my life worse". Then they have the nerve to complain when those that got GTA banned from Target do the exact same thing.

The only game I can think of that shows the industry not caring for its consumers if the recent Assassins Creed and one game out of a few million seems a bit harsh to call out the entire industry on. Especially considering it was a good game other than the bugs.