CymTyr: Possessed, I was going to write a nice little message explaining why getting rid of the second-hand market is bad, until I realized that no matter what any of us say you will retain your position.
I find your posts to be entertaining at times and often insightful. It's a shame you won't be swayed from your position. The suits at THQ do not need a 7th house, seriously.
If you want to take up a noble cause, start rallying for developers to get better deals from publishers such as THQ. The developers are the ones who suffer, not the publishers.
I don't really have a problem from the second hand game market (in fact, I get most of my console games used, although I rarely buy games for anything other than PC). However, I also realize that game companies, in order to stay in existence, need to make money off people like me, who really don't contribute anything (at least on the console side). What bothers me is when people feel they are entitled to video games because they view games as too expensive. It bothers me because I partly agree with them. Video games, when they are released, are far too expensive for me to justify a purchase, unless it's a game I know will be high quality from a company that puts out great games. However, I realize that I can just wait and get games later, for cheaper. The "games are too expensive therefore I don't feel bad not paying gaming companies a dime and become enraged when they try to monetize my part of the market" argument bothers me in part because it seems so similar to the arguments pirates make.
Part of my annoyance is also with Gamestop. They make money off buying games from users for cheap (usually $10 - $20 for new games) and selling them for $5 off the market price. What I think people don't get (not implying people over here, I see it more over on Kotaku) is that no matter what price publishers set games at, Gamestop will perpetually be able to set a more attractive price point. It's inherent in the business model. If every publisher sold separate access to multiplayer for people who buy games used and people were aware, Gamestop would be forced to sell games for cheaper in order for them to be able to compete with new games. Yes, it may involve them cutting the price of games that they buy from people who buy games new, but hopefully it would encourage them to cut out the middleman entirely, and have better deals on both sides of the spectrum (better sell price for people who buy games new and sell them and a better purchase point for people who buy games used). Even if you add $10 on top of that (if the user wants multiplayer), it will still be a superior deal to a game bought used at Gamestop and everyone will be happy, except Gamestop, which is essentially simply a parasite.
That was rantish, but I hope I clarified my position. I'm not anti-used purchaser, nor anti-publisher, just primarily anti-Gamestop and other retailers who screw absolutely everyone.
KyleKatarn: No, people are not entitled to video games. I don't see anything wrong with getting games on sale either, this is what I usually do. I also don't see anything wrong with buying used games or giving your old games to charity. Plenty of good reasons why already posted in this thread. Just like most anything else you buy, you should be able to resell it at a degraded price or give it away. I just see DRM as ruining the game which then makes it unplayable for someone who get's the game secondhand years later when it's not the latest game. I know people who didn't get a PS2 until the PS3 came out and the price for the PS2 dropped.
While I personally don't mind not being able to sell my games, as I rarely sell any games, I understand why people would, and I support their ability to do so. I simply also think that game developers should get money when people play their games, especially for optional features a la EA and THQ's actions to monetize the used game market.
I do, however, see digital distribution as a way for people to get old games for cheap. Since data sitting on a server doesn't cost very much, DD services can offer games for much longer than they last on store shelves, at a fairer price than many old games currently demand (often selling more than they did initially). If developers and publishers are wise, they will knock their prices down regularly so penny pinchers like me can obtain great, but dated, games for cheap and still make a profit off of it.
