Stardock announced today the Gamer’s Bill of Rights: a statement of principles that it hopes will encourage the PC game industry to adopt standards that are more supportive of PC gamers. The document contains 10 specific “rights” that video game enthusiasts can expect from Stardock as an independent developer and publisher that it hopes that other publishers will embrace. The Bill of Rights is featured on Stardock’s website (www.stardock.com) and is on prominent display in Stardock’s booth (1142) at the Penny Arcade Expo.
“As an industry, we need to begin setting some basic, common sense standards that reward PC gamers for purchasing our games,” stated Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock Corporation. “The console market effectively already has something like this in that its games have to go through the platform maker such as Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony. But on the PC, publishers can release games that are scarcely completed, poorly supported, and full of intrusive copy protection and then be stuck on it.”
Chris Taylor, CEO and founder of Gas Powered Games stated, “This is an awesome framework for the industry to aspire to, and ultimately so that we can provide our customers with the gaming experience that they have wanted for years, and really deserve.”
As an example of The Gamer’s Bill of Rights in action, Stardock instituted a policy of allowing users to return copies of The Political Machine purchased at retail to Stardock for a full refund if they found that their PC wasn’t sufficient to run the game adequately.
“The PC market loses out on a lot of sales because a significant percentage of our market has PCs that may or may not be adequate to run our games. Without the ability to return games to the publisher for a refund, many potential buyers simply pass on games they might otherwise have bought due to the risk of not being certain a game will work on their PC. The average consumer doesn’t know what ‘pixel shader 2.0 support’ means, for instance,” said Wardell.
According to Stardock, the objective of the Gamer’s Bill of Rights is to increase the confidence of consumers of the quality of PC games which in turn will lead to more sales and a better gaming experience.
The Gamer’s Bill of Rights:
This is almost too nice
Yeah, being able to download it any time you want is going a little far.
The rest of it is a fucking shame though, most of it should have been expected the entire time. It's a real pity the big guns in the publishing industry can't get a few of them through their heads. I'd buy games left and right if I weren't so bloody paranoid about them running like complete crap.
But it is current Stardock policy . And it is a drawback: no support for second hand game.
This bill of rights looks great, it would be really good to see standards emerge in the PC gameing industries. But there are two rights there which are a little vague.
Those two should be more specfic, as define what is a "finished state". For some genres, like MMORPGs, it is impossible to release a "finished" product.
As for updates, what does it mean? Patches? Expansions?. And meaningful? How do we define "meaningful"?
As for the rest of them.... I love you Stardock!!
You do not buy the game, you buy a licence to the game. This licence is nontransferable. Second hand games may as well be prirated copies.
I greatly respect Stardock, but I think this Bill of Rights is perhaps indicative of a bit of hubris. Considering, however, Stardock's success and what appears to be its moral integrity, perhaps they are somewhat justified it putting this up.
It's just too generalized and rhetorical, though:
2. Who defines a finished state?
3. Who defines meaningful?
8. Who defines what a potential criminal is? If this refers to DRM protection, then isn't this point redundant to 9 and 10?
1 also appears impractical, since some proof (which perhaps could be faked) would be required. Also, do frequent minidumps (I'm glad to say I don't suffer from them) count as "not working with the computer"? Also, when a game doesn't work with a computer, does it matter whether the problem lies with the game or the computer?
5. Who defines adequate?
4 is interesting. I support Impulse (I know it doesn't force itself to load to play the game), but here's a question: If playing the game involves MP, then clearly the game needs to be on its latest update to play, generally. But if the updates are only found on a platform such as Impulse, then isn't Impulse indirectly forcing itself to be loaded in order to play the game? Or do you mean that it shouldn't be forced to load, and kept running while the game is played? Or am I just confused?
I do support 6, 7, and 10 though I just don't get the others - they seem either unreasonable, impractical, or generalized. I am aware of a law lecturer at uni who is strongly against a bill of rights in general, because, in a common law system, it only needs one vote from uber-judges (who aren't elected by the people) to interpret a bill of rights statement in a way that the people aren't happy with for a precedent to be set, and thus losing some democracy in the process. I'm not a law student, and I don't really have an opinion on this, but I can see where he's coming from. At least in this case, the statements tend to be too general to be useful, and are as such open to interpretation. EA will claim that they don't treat their customers as potential criminals, but Stardock will claim that they (EA) actually do anyway. It's just too uncertain.
Perhaps I need to chill out about this, but to be entirely honest, this doesn't appear to achieve much. I'm sure some people may come up with many counter-arguments even to the points that I personally agree with, and so on. I just don't see what it achieves - a successful company promotes a bill of rights that happens to accord with its own strategy (as I see it). Am I being unreasonable?
Whoa man, easy on the translation. It's a statement of good industry, not a constitution.
lol I suppose you're right. I guess I shouldn't take everything so seriously...
I guess it means that you can play the game (especially in a single player mode) without starting the download/update manager. It also means that you can play it (after having installed it) on an offline computer, like a laptop during travel
thiss is why stardock is the best company ever! i hope they make loads of money and publish more great games!
wooohoooo!!!!!!!!!
I remember in school when they would serve breadsticks on this parchment paper at lunch, and we would write new constitutions on them to pass the time...
My favorite was "Official Declarations may only be written on Official Parchment Paper, and only after the breadstick is finished"
those were the days...
So this upgrade won't be sold in stores, can someone tell me more about this.
Congrats on the intiative. It's very refreshing to finally see this sort of approach emerging in any part of the software development industry. Full stars.
Doctors, Lawyers, Mechasics, Electronics manufacturers - many industries have standards that are enforced by law that ensure that a customer has certain minimal rights and can expect certain things. Yet the software industry, while it is very vocal about its own rights in terms of properiatry, makes little effort to uphold similar standards.
Thumbs up.
These are good but I think the number 4 is not followed through on. Sure you can deactivate Impulse but it still forces itself to be run in another way. I love Sins was really looking forward the 1.1 patch and now the expansions. But since all of these will be available on impulse only it is forcing those who want new content to use that.
Now this is my complaint. I have dial-up internet and can access nothing else. Any higher speed internet is simply unavailable. When I downloaded updates I went to the library, signed in to this web site, and then downloaded to my USB. Even if I wanted to try to download from dial-up, it won't work. Impulse says it cannot connect to the server.
I bought the retail version of this game and do not play online. I expect that extra content would be made available to those without a good internet connection too. Why can't you guys continue to offer updates the same way as well as via Impulse. I also bought the Political Machine 2008 and am having similar issues with it. I had hoped that Sins would not follow the same path.
If anyone from Stardock could maybe answer my concerns, I would very much appreciate it. I own Galactic Civs 2 and the others I mentioned. I believe you are one of the better publishers, so please keep it that way.
Thanks for any reply to this message.
Amen.
I started buying original games about 3 years ago cause I was afraid of (I dare to say) all of these whould happened. Now I only buy these games that meet at least say 7 of these rules. I agree with San Tsu that it is time for us to claim our rights and not be sheeps for game industry.
Thanks Stardock for, at least try to protect us.
What do you mean? I downloaded the game and also I bought the retail version. I do not need to install Impulse in order to play it!!!
In stardock central it says about min reqs
I am almost sure it will.
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This is a great first step. Now SD should get the ECA involved and take the game up another step.
Spartan,
Where are you posting from? I've got a wall of code in your reply...
I think meaningful would mean that if there is a critical error, say for example one that causes the game to randomly crash, then it should be the first thing on the to-do list.
Not that I'm implying anything, mind you.
"Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund."
I'd guess this calls for a literal translation. It may seem unfair to be having people return software because it's their computer's fault, but there are drawbacks to a fair system. First, proof is impossible. You would have to send a godlike tech support guru out to their house and inspect their computer inside and out before you could even presume that the problem was on their end. Unless they want to spend billions on the task, that's just not going to happen. Second, people aren't rational. Even if you proved it was their own fault the game didn't work, many would still hate you for "screwing" them anyway.
The only plausible alternative to a no hassle return policy is what we have now. You buy a game, it doesn't work/runs like shit. You try to take it back, they tell you to fuck off. You don't buy anymore games. I don't buy anything from EA, Ubisoft or Lucas Arts before it's been through the works. I just don't trust them anymore, I'm going to have proof the game was finished and properly supported before I buy it. If returns were no hassle instead of all hassle, I'd be a little more willing to offer myself up as a sacrifice for the latest beta test from EA that may or may not run to completion.
"Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state."
I would assume this refers to rushed releases. KOTOR2 anyone? It's fairly obvious when a game flat wasn'tt finished. I'd go with reasonable doubt. If it's reasonable to doubt the incomplete status of the game, then it's finished.
"Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release."
Doesn't really belong in a bill of rights. It is however a key hook to get people to actually buy the product. It's more of a common sense thing than something the customer has a right to. It's like having ketchup and mustard at a hotdog stand. Your customers don't have a right to condiments unless you're actually selling them, but you'll sell a hell of a lot more hotdogs if they get them anyway.
If you provide updates beyond bug fixes, and that's what they mean by meaningful updates, and it's at least semi difficult to get them through third parties with an illegal copy, people are more inclined to buy it. The content packs Bioware is doing with Mass Effect are a good example. They're sorta like miniature expansions, pre planned and with a nasty barb in the mix since EA went with SR7 and online activation, but an excellent method of selling copies to people that are capable of buying your product and on the fence about pirating it.
"Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer."
30 fps, 1024x768, low settings. I'd consider that a nice baseline to work off. There, defined aqequate.
8,9 and 10, yeah... kinda repetative. The first does cover the other two. They are irritating enough that I don't mind their getting special mention though. Would be nice to have mandatory activation in the list too though.
Also, for 4, the key word there is play. Impulse doesn't have to run to play the game. It really doesn't change anything at all, it's just one patcher instead of another. Even when downloading stand alone patches, they still require software to operate, even if it's winzip. One of the more recent fads in DRM on the other hand is having a patcher type program that also servers as your own personal nanny, making sure that you're behaving. They start up with the program, connect to a server, prevent you from running various types of software, all kinds of wonderful things.
Commendable but doubtful other publishers will follow suit any time soon. Will definately have me keeping tabs on Impulse/Stardock released games than any other publisher. I'm quite sick of stupid copy protection schemes that go so far as to force me to look for and download cracks to play the games that I paid good money for. It is refreshing to see at least one company out there that won't treat me like a criminal for purchasing their games.
Sometimes I doubt why I still purchase games when pirates seem to have a lot easier time running the software they download without any hassles like cdkey checks, online checks, birth certificates, passports, citizenship cards, dna checks, retina scans and fingerprint proofing just to play the damn game (I may have exaggerated a little but rest assured once the technology is available those publishers would stoop so low as to have these kinds of ridiculous protection measures).
At least with Stardock I don't feel like I'm shelling out money for a product that is lackluster or will never get even one patch to fix issues let alone multiple updates. Definately well worth every cent for any stardock product just for the treatment you receive as a customer and the support that is available to you.
Japan. But that has nothing to do with it since I run an English system. I thought it had something to do with Firefox and commented about it in one of my threads but I was told my SD that Firefox is not the issue and it does not happen every time I post - It is strange to be sure. If I edit my posts it goes away but they have the edit feature turned off on most forums.
When I read number 4, the first thing that came to my mind wass VALVe and their Steam platform. When you think about it, Steam isn't that bad. Sure the online connection is a pain in the ass at times (running off a generator during a power outage ) but overall it does it's job of keeping pirates at bay while avoiding the necessity to perform a cavity search.
Thank you Stardock you are awesome...hope you can give EA a run for its money
Games are never finished, just abandoned.
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