This is potentially a big deal for anyone who plays PC games, because just about every game you buy on Steam or elsewhere is technically sold to you as a license instead of as a product you own. Also, we’re no strangers to seeing our favorite games go away when the servers are shut down—games like Anthem, Concord and DarkSpore (remember that one?) became basically unplayable for that very reason. And the only reason I know about it is because I was watching the latest episode of The Full Nerd over on YouTube.
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Of course, the bill was just announced and has a long way to go before it even goes up for a vote, much less becomes law. And since the full text of the proposed bill has yet to be published, we don’t even know how effective it could be or what ramifications it may have for the business of buying and selling PC games.
But even if Rep. Torres’ proposal never becomes law, I think it’s interesting that we’re now seeing members of Congress who seem fairly savvy when it comes to gaming. Torres himself appears to have been born in the Bronx in the late ’80s, so it’s very easy to imagine he spent a fair bit of time playing and talking about games with his friends while growing up. As someone who was also born in the ’80s and still has vivid memories of folks like Jack Thompson and Leland Yee waging ridiculous campaigns to pin youth violence on the influence of violent games and movies, it’s heartening to see some folks in the U.S. government adopt a more grounded and empathetic attitude about PC gaming.
“When you pay for a game, you should own it,” says Rep. Torres, according to his announcement of the bill. “Consumers must have the right to own, the right to play, and the right to transfer the games they buy. A game that can be taken away the moment a company pulls the plug is not a purchase. It is a rental disguised as a sale.”
Sounds pretty good to me!
In this week’s episode of The Full Nerd
This week your regular cohosts Adam Patrick Murray and Alaina Yee were joined by PCWorld’s Michael Crider to discuss the “Power To The Players Act” and what it might mean for PC game players, as well as breaking down their impressions of the first wave of RTX Spark laptops now that Crider has had a chance to review one himself.