PC gamers receive bill of rights

Posted at: 3:24pm 1st September 2008 by Ben Hardwidge

Stardock and Gas Powered Games present their list of requirements to save PC gamers from baffling system requirements, over-restrictive DRM and games that are unfinished on release

With buggy games that require oodles of patches, badly explained system requirements and restrictive DRM, PC gamers have a hard time of it when compared to console gamers. However, two games developers have decided to make a stance against the problems with PC gaming, and have drawn up a Bill of Rights to which they hope other games developers and publishers will adhere.

The bill was drawn up by Gas Powered Games; developer of Supreme Commander and Space Siege, and Stardock; developer of Sins of a Solar Empire and Windows skinning apps such as ObjectDock and WindowBlinds. It contains ten ‘rights’ that the two developers ‘hope that other publishers will embrace,’ and it covers a number of hot topics, from system requirements to patching and DRM. The full list of rights is listed below

1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.

2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.

3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.

4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.

5. 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.

6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.

7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.

8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.

9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.

10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Stardock’s CEO explained the reason for the move, saying that ‘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.’ On his blog, Wardell also expanded on the eighth right about DRM, saying that ‘Obnoxious copy protection methods punish honest, paying gamers.’

One of the main issues being addresses is also system requirements, which often baffle PC gamers who aren’t up to speed on their hardware. ‘The average consumer doesn’t know what ‘pixel shader 2.0 support’ means, explained Wardell, adding that ‘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.’