cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/28425976

Sign here to support the EU’s “STOP destroying videogames”

This initiative calls to require publishers that sell or license videogames to consumers in the European Union (or related features and assets sold for videogames they operate) to leave said videogames in a functional (playable) state.

Specifically, the initiative seeks to prevent the remote disabling of videogames by the publishers, before providing reasonable means to continue functioning of said videogames without the involvement from the side of the publisher.

The initiative does not seek to acquire ownership of said videogames, associated intellectual rights or monetization rights, neither does it expect the publisher to provide resources for the said videogame once they discontinue it while leaving it in a reasonably functional (playable) state.

  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    7 hours ago

    Yes, but it can start at the state legislature, which is a lot easier. But you need a lobbying campaign to get anywhere. Louis Rossmann has made some progress this way by banding together with farmers, and while it’s painful and expensive, it does work.

    So if we’re going to do something in the US, we need a lobbiest, a lawyer (to draft a bill), and a lot of people to show up and give testimony. But we only need to win in one state, and then it gets a lot easier. So:

    1. Pick a state with good consumer protections and a market segment that’s somewhat rated to what you want (video games probably won’t work, but other software could)
    2. Work with pissed off companies to put together a lobby
    3. Find a few reps that care (e.g. the reps for those companies’ districts), and get them to sponsor your bill
    4. Appeal to regular people saying this is a stepping stone to what they actually want
    5. Get people to annoy their reps, show up to hearings, etc in support of the bill
    6. Get the bill to the floor (crazy amount of effort)
    7. If the bill passes, start the process over in the next state, which should go smoother

    Once you have legal precedent, repeat the process with a small expansion to the thing you actually care about. This should be a lot easier, because you’re just expanding the same rights to more types of customers.

    It’s much more of a long shot, but it does seem possible.