Latest news with #EuropeanCitizensInitiative
Irish Times
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Frustrated gamers lead revolt of digital serfs against subscription-led model
The Black Death was generally a bad thing. Lots of people died and not in pleasant ways. Broadly speaking, it wasn't a good time. But as tends to be the case with society-altering events, there were other impacts beyond the terrible. It essentially damaged the feudal system beyond repair. That was an unexpected positive benefit. Under feudalism, ordinary people owned nothing; there was instead a chain of responsibility from monarch through nobles to lesser nobles and eventually to peasants or serfs. Those higher up the chain benefited from those at the bottom engaging in the system, largely with no choice, and could pull the rug out from the serfs at any time without any notable right for peasants to challenge. With fewer peasants or serfs available to work the land they didn't own after the Black Death, those left became empowered to make more demands. READ MORE The European Commission may soon be in position to end or reform digital serfdom due to a movement built around computer games. Stop Killing Games is a movement that is using the commission's European Citizens Initiative to try to reform the nature of ownership of digital assets. Its core demand is that if a consumer has paid for a game, that consumer should be able to play it even after official support ends. That goal goes beyond video games to a fight over what digital ownership actually means. The European Citizens Initiative was introduced under the Lisbon treaty and is a direct democratic tool that requires action from the European Commission should certain thresholds be met. The key threshold is to get one million signatures from EU citizens, with signatories from at least seven member states. Stop Killing Games began collecting signatures in June last year in response to a game called The Crew being delisted by Ubisoft, a gaming giant, earlier in 2024. Players who had invested time and, crucially, money into this game could no longer access it. A game that most of the people reading this column haven't heard of has now fuelled an extraordinary movement. The Stop Killing Games European Citizens Initiative cleared the one-million-signature, seven-member-state requirement earlier this month. In fact, it has signatories from citizens in 22 EU member states. The movement plans to collect another 400,000 signatures between now and December, at which point it plans to submit the European Citizens Initiative to the commission. That's the point at which matters get really interesting. Once the signatures are verified, the commission must meet the campaigners in a public hearing and respond within six months, either outlining what legislation it will bring forward or explaining why it will not bring any. Any outcome, even a negative one, has ramifications for the subscription-led digital economy we all live in today. It will be obliged to address the issue of digital serfdom. In a manner akin to medieval peasants, consumers today have access but not control over many of the things they spend money on. The rights that consumers have are quite limited in terms of preservation. The games, books, films and music you listen to exist at the mercy of platforms and publishers. It extends beyond our social lives. Subscription models permeate every aspect of the software we use in our working lives today. The end result is a built-in obsolescence not just of the good or service but of users' rights to them. The gaming industry has largely opposed the Stop Killing Games movement. Sega, Nintendo , Microsoft , Square Enix, and Epic along with other large publishing houses have come out against the European Citizens Initiative. That is understandable, as any level of success will cost these publishers either money or power. On the financial side, publishers would have to consider maintaining largely unprofitable platforms to provide access to games in perpetuity. If they opted against that, they would need to turn over control of these games to an entity that would, creating assorted headaches around intellectual property. That is why a petition using the European Citizens Initiative is pivotal to the future of what we consider ownership and our consumer rights. [ Microsoft making billions from alleged unlawful processing of data for advertising, lawsuit alleges Opens in new window ] To date, the European Citizens Initiative hasn't proven very effective a tool. Of the few that have gone forward, none have directly led to legislation. That said, the attention gained using the process has indirectly led to change. This includes the EU's current plans around limiting the caging of animals, with the bloc taking stronger stances on matters such as the right to water. The commission's own rules and habits mean we won't have to wait all that long for answers on what comes next. If Stop Killing Games files as expected in December, the commission will indicate within less than a year what it will do and why. Digital serfdom will move from a concept of philosophical debate to the legislative agenda. That in itself is a win.
Time of India
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
The 'Stop Killing Games' initiative responds to criticism of its movement from lobbying group Video Games Europe
AllBollywoodCelebscoopHollywoodOriginalsBinge Ross Scott of 'Stop Killing Games' has responded to Video Games Europe's criticisms. | Credit: X The 'Stop Killing Games' initiative has been gaining momentum since the end of June 2025, with the movement's European Citizens Initiative crossing 1 million signatures on July 3. The success of the movement has prompted a response from video game lobbying group, Video Games Europe. The industry group disagreed with the aims of the movement, claiming that 'Stop Killing Games' was ignoring the multifaceted nature of game development, and that implementing the initiative's proposals would make game development prohibitively expensive and increase the legal liability faced by publishers. As a result, 'Stop Killing Games' organizer Ross Scott released a response video where he addressed, and often debunked, many of the claims made by Video Games Europe. Ross Scott of 'Stop Killing Games' addresses industry lobby I think Video Games Europe making a PirateSoftware-tier flimsily reasoned statement against Stop Killing Games while having all these infamously anti-consumer companies directly involved with them says a lot. This is exactly why Stop Killing Games needs to succeed. — Rin | 凛 (@TheIshikawaRin) July 7, 2025 Ross Scott's video went over the statement released by Video Games Europe, and in doing so, he pointed out areas of agreement, and areas where he believed the industry group was being deceptive or misleading. Ross stated that if anything, this response from Video Games Europe meant that movement was actually having an impact. Ross was also unsurprised that Video Games Europe opposed the initiative, as he believed that the industry group was driven by business interests who did not care about game preservation and instead wanted to maximize their bottom line, unlike actual game developers and fans. When it came to Video Games Europe saying that publishers had a right to discontinue online games, Ross agreed. He simply wanted to give others the ability to archive discontinued or unsupported games. Later arguments from Video Games Europe, however, drew a harsher response as he believed they were made in bad faith. Ross pushes back on many of Video Games Europe's claims The first major claim Ross took issue with was the idea that game publishers would be held legally liable if they ever allowed third parties to modify their games. Ross had a hard time believing such an eventuality couldn't be addressed in an End User License Agreement (EULA). Another argument Ross argued against was the idea that developing online titles with the regulations 'Stop Killing Games' was suggesting would make the process prohibitively expensive. Ross pointed out that a lot of the expenses incurred in online game development were the result of incorporating micro-services and platform integrations that could be done away with without rendering the game unplayable. Ross also argued that since the proposed regulations wouldn't be retroactive, publishers could start reshaping their development roadmaps accordingly should any of the initiative's ideas be taken onboard. Ross ended his response by admitting that he wasn't necessarily trying to convince the lobbyists themselves, but rather the average player, who might get taken in by arguments that he believed were made in bad faith. For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. First Published: Jul 08, 2025, 03:05 IST Pulak Kumar is an entertainment and current events writer who got his start with bylines in Sportskeeda and Koi Moi. He's immensely passionate about understanding and analyzing the latest happenings in Hollywood, anime, gaming and pop culture. Read More 8/7/2025 3:17:7
