Realistically though, it can be quite a complicated situation. One I’ve written about numerous times before. Servers behind the scenes can be incredibly complex, especially when it comes to games that have DLC and micro-transactions. And then you have to add to that the licensing on music and other things. Plus various other things I’m not thinking of right now
Holy lazy writing Batman!
As if this all wasn’t adressed by SKG 100 times before. Did the author never hear about SKG before writing this article?
…and they wonder why we become EU-sceptics…
Is there something we can do? One more petition, with already debunked lobbyist lies? I will sign it again.
coincidence the same time they passed a pretty regressive anti-immigration law.
The European Comission being corrupt as fuck really doesn’t help with growing anti-EU sentiments. This is why people lose faith in the EU.
Prosecute Ursula von der Leyen for treason and crimes against the European Union. Dissolve the European Comission and/or give more power to the European Parliament.
How are we supposed to be the leading democracy if only the arbitrarily-appointed commissioners can introduce new legislation?
How is it a functional democracy if one of the most successful citizens’ initiative is essentially being ignored, because it doesn’t align with corporate interests?
President von der Leyen, along with the rest of the European Comission, are digging the entire European Union’s grave. And they’re doing a very good job, unfortunately.
Treason?
She has repeatedly made decisions that cost the EU and benefitted the US. Putting foreign powers’ interests before the European Union’s sounds like a clear case of treason to me.
I would also like to know what the hell they are talking about.
Funfact, anytime someone utters the phrase “leading democracy” that just means they have drank the kool-aid and are either too blind, ignorant or stupid to realize there’s no such thing.
Every government is corrupt as fuck as a base line. There is no leading democracy they all fucking suck.
Every government sucks.
Some just suck more then others, the only upside to democracy is they at least typically out right murdery to their own people most of the time. And pretend to play nice.
Nobody said anything about governments or even democracy itself being good.
‘Leading democracy’ just means it’s the best out of all available democracies, regardless of how bad they all are or how flawed the system of democracy is. It’s relative.
Are also calling for the complete abolishing of the government of your country and thereby call for the destruction of the political system, when you don’t like the government in office, or is it just something you do with the EU
My country’s government has been democratically elected. If it makes terrible decisions, the people have the choice of electing a different one. In theory at least.
The European Comission is not democratically elected, and regardless of how batshit insane its decisions are - we have no legal pathway of changing it.
The European Comission is not ‘the political system’ of the European Union. It’s one part of it. A part that is undemocratic and needs reforms as soon as possible.
The EU commission is elected by the directly elected European Parliament based on suggestions by the Council/member states. The Commission can be voted out of office anytime when it loses support in the European Parliament.
The Austrian government is elected by Parliament based on suggestions by the Chancelor candidate (the latter chosen by the President). The parliament can vote the government out of office anytime.
According to you the one thing is utterly undemocratic while the other is not. ok.
The EU Commission is not the EU, but it is its executive and administration. I f you just kill that, you let everthing derail. Bureaucracy is a dirty word but there without it political entities implode.
I don’t know why we’re suddenly talking about Austria - a country I’ve never mentioned, because I’ve never been there and know little about it.
Judging solely based on your description, it does sound similar to the European Comission. I wouldn’t say either is particularly democratic. Both seem quite similar to the Chinese democracy, which is rarely referred to as democracy at all in the West.
The EU commission is elected by the directly elected European Parliament based on suggestions by the Council/member states.
This is wrong. The European Parliament does not elect anybody. The president of the European Comission is chosen by the European Council, while the rest of the comissioners are chosen by the Council of the European Union.
The Parliament only gets to vote on the final result, as usual. Theoretically, it can vote against the proposed Comission, or put a motion of no confidence in the Comission. Both of these only have limited realistic use, because the Parliament still cannot put forward its own nominations.
Sources:
I am talking about Austria because to compare it with other parliamentary democracies it helps to chose one concrete example, you can chose another one if you like. How about Germany, the largest member state. There Parliament’s position in this regard is actually weaker than in Austria.
I have no idea where you are coming from but you seem to lack knowledge how parliamentary democracies work if you hold the completely outlandish view that they are on the same level as the Chinese system in terms of democracy.
Back to the EU Commission. Its election is obviously a system where both, the Council / member states and the EP hold power. (“election” is the word in the treaties btw) This is by design. Power is not centralised. It is common in parliamentary democracies that parliaments elect/consent on members of the government but don’t choose them. However government with members that are not to the liking of a majority in Parliament won’t be elected/voted into power. The same is the case in the EU and there is precedent for that as well. The vote on VdL yielded a paper thin majority im the EP and only because VdL was giving the EP concessions in return. If the EP targets candidates as not acceptable they will not make it into the Commission. Again, there is precedent for that.
If that sounds like Chinese “democracy” to you, half the democracies (ie all parliamentary democracies) on earth are in reality a Chinese style “democracy”. Seriously?
Calm down.
The government does nothing. More news at 11.
I see a lot of defeatist commenters are content to lie down and let this be the end result. I’ll let the man himself explain why this isn’t the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgoODQFrPgw&t=734s
tl;dw: There is a much broader support for SKG in the European Parliament, the other legislative body besides the EC. They can’t introduce new legislation, but they can modify existing legislation; specifically, SKG is targeting the Digital Fairness Act.
There is a much broader support for SKG in the European Parliament, the other legislative body besides the EC
Ah, the one that’s actually VOTED for (rather than appointed by “The Council”) is more responsive to the will of the people! Imagine that!
Definitely not the end of the movement, but it’s still disappointing that they reached anything other than the obvious conclusion with so much grassroots support.
Expected, though. The EC is not exactly known for having sensible opinions.
“They say that existing EU consumer law “already provides for important safeguards protecting the economic interests of consumers”, and note that video game publishers have to inform about “the duration and the conditions for terminating the contract before the consumers signs up for the video game”.”
Well that would be cool, but anything about the duration and conditions for terminating the contract i’ve ever read on boxes or terms of service is: " We can do whatever we like, whenever we like, just so we’re clear’ (im slightly paraphrasing). So it sound to me like the EC says: " Well these sellers said fuck you up front so they’re immune to any responsibility". Cool, cool. I saw a digital fairness act, but maybe we can hang something up in the mandated warranty tree? So if a game shuts down in 6 months barring you from playing, you would be entitled to some form of restitution instead of hoping the dev has morals.
Still doesn’t solve that corpo’s have their fingers over the killbuttons on our cultural heritage existence, so, you know, there’s a lot of work to do still.
It’s a basic premise of European and EU legal systems that you cannot use a contract to subvert national or international law. I guess the difficulty is who exactly enforces the existing laws that are supposed to guard against consumers getting ripped off.
o it sound to me like the EC says: " Well these sellers said fuck you up front so they’re immune to any responsibility"
Upfront? As in the UELA you get to read after opening the box, at which point you can’t return the game anymore?
EULA is not valid in EU. Contract terms that are unfair under EU law have no legal or binding force on consumers.
Its not the eu’s job to protect cultural heritage. What kind of nut job comes to conclusions like this?
here is a quote from the european commision:
the EU is committed to safeguarding and enhancing Europe’s cultural heritage.
Great rebuttal.
Well that’s a broad interpretation of a translation into a language no EU country officially speaks. So…
L’Union européenne a pour mission de soutenir et de compléter les actions menées par les États membres pour préserver et promouvoir le patrimoine culturel de l’Europe.
Better ?
They’d be really upset if they weren’t monolingual.
They’re monolingual and anything written in English isn’t valid since it’s not the official language of any European country.
Checkmate!
Well you can’t really argue video games are culture except the ones that are but they don’t count.
Dude, it’s ok to be wrong sometimes, no one would judge you :) In fact, it’s a sign of strength to be able to admit you’re wrong, and people will like you more for it. It’ll also be good for you personally as you will be more effective in more things :)
How fragile is your ego when you have to say “nuh uh” to something so unambiguous?
More fragile than you can possibly imagine.
Out of all “internet commenters who could not admit they were wrong,” this is quite high ranking in my memory.
I will remember you, friend.
😘
also, i just wanna remind you, Ireland is an eu member state.
Yeah, well, I didn’t remember that when I said it. Doesn’t count.
lol, at least you tried
Goddamn it. Lobbying wins again
Lobbying will always win until people start busting out guillotines
it’s literally corruption with makeup.
People like to say the US is a corrupt cess pool, and they’re right, but so is the rest of the world. EU isn’t an exception when corporate profit are on the line.
Money wins again.
It’s not a big enough issue for the pols to come down on the side of the people. They know they won’t be voted out on this one decision, so they came down on the side of the money.
On the bright side, there’s not enough money in live service anymore, so plenty of companies are getting cold feet when it comes to making games that can be killed anyway. Yeah, that’s a reach for a silver lining, but it’s something. I’d like to believe that the action they say they’re taking will result in real change, but it sure doesn’t sound like it.
there’s not enough money in live service anymore, so plenty of companies are getting cold feet when it comes to making games that can be killed anyway
Got a source to back that up? I’d love for it to be true, but all I’ve ever heard is the opposite…
And I thought there was a third example in recent weeks, but I’m struggling to find it right now. In place of that, you can look at the implosion of Sony’s live service efforts, with Marathon falling far short of making money, and for some reason Fairgames, rumored to now be called Break-In, will be the last one out the door after that Horizon live service. After that, I’d be shocked if they keep trying.
Marathon falling far short
Teehee 😁
As it is the tradition in the sector, I hope the industry will listen to player communities and agree on better sunsetting standards so communities can continue to meet and play together.
lol. lmao even.
Industry? Listening to customers?
Especially the fucking gaming industry where the likes of EA, Ubisoft, and all the HUGE companies now owned by Microsoft have been shitting on consumers with absolutely staggering impunity for decades!
What the fuck @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu ? You are listening to people who don’t represent the majority of users. Fuck you.
*citizens, not users
Good video to show how bs the corpo claims are. Especially the licensing claims.
I think this video is specifically for the California bill, but similar arguments are being used against both initiatives.
Corruption. Corruption everywhere.
I come to distrust the EU with opinions like this every day
