Fairplay Campaign

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 4:48 am

Definately worth doing, go to http://www.fairplay-campaign.co.uk/

Eerhardt · Post by **Eerhardt** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 5:52 am

I like the initiative Sleep

, but I think there are a few things to consider:

the effect: other than drawing the attention of the gaming industry, I don't think you can expect any changes soon. If you really want to lower videogame prices, other such campaigns will have to follow suit.
quality games: I understand developing a new game takes tremendous amounts of time and money and I, for one, am more than willing to pay that £45 instead of £20 if the game is really worth it (and I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm only saying this because I can afford it now ) and the profits the team behind the game get out of the sales are reasonable.
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Just my 2 cents, but like I said, a good initiative .

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 8:39 am

For what little my opinion's worth, the article's economic arguments are highly suspect. For example:

"The games industry, taken as a worldwide whole, actually lost in the region of £1 BILLION in 2001."

True, but most of that is due to companies folding for various reasons, many completely incidental to game production. Many highly priced games made a good deal of money in the same year. Or:

"Look at Microsoft - earlier this year, they released the new Xbox console at £300, insisting that it was a fair price and couldn't be sold any cheaper. Consumers, though, refused to buy it, and Microsoft swiftly slashed the price..."

This gives the impression that people banded together and consciously made a decision ("refused') to buy Xbox at a specific price; and that Microsoft "swiftly" responded to this "action." That's not the case.

I can't say what's fair or not as far as game pricing is concerned, but the gent's arguments smack of iconoclasm and generalizations to me, with a typically broad, angry solution that solves nothing in the long run. IMO.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 9:11 am

I think people stayed away from the xbox because the gamecube and the PS2 cost $100 less. Not to mention there is a certain amount of loyalty amongst console gamers similar to the PC vs. Macintosh clans.

frogus · Post by **frogus** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 1:20 pm

Hell, I've been practicing a Don't Buy A Videogame week for months! Anyway, I would rather see a campaign to get the 'excess' £25 we are all paying given to Amnesty or Oxfam, truth be told...does someone who can afford to pay £20 for a PC game really need that other £25 anyway?

RandomThug · Post by **RandomThug** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 1:26 pm

whats

Whats with all these wierd L's your all talking about. Buncha wierd Euro's.

Yeah I'll sit here in my ignorance and enjoy every minute of it, just wait till we point our fingers at you.

Thug

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 2:27 pm

Capitalist say that retailers prices items at whatever point people are willing to pay. If I could make something for $10, and sell it to some poor schlep for $100, I'd be crazy to offer it up for only $50.

When compact discs came out on a widescale basis, they were priced at about $11-14 at most retailers, while cassettes cost $7-9, even though a cassette tape costs more to manufacturer (no moving parts in a CD). The fact of the matter is that people were willing to pay $14 for a CD, so that's what retailers charged.

Same thing for console and PC games. If consumers (like me) weren't willing to pay $50 for IWD2 or $60 for NWN, stores wouldn't charge that much for them. However, there is a large market segment willing to pay that price for a game, so the prices keep going up.

Big companies employ huge marketing departments which are filled with demographers who find out how much people disposable income people have and how much of that income they are willing to spend on computer games, and they price their wares at the upper limit of that threshold.

The best way for prices to go down is to get a retailer or two to break ranks with the rest of the competition and lower their prices. You see this at places like Wal-Mart or Best Buy, who customarily sell their games at prices lower than stores like Babbage's or Electronics Boutique. They'd rather have a larger market share than a higher profit per item. For instance, I picked up NWN at Sam's Club for about $47, while Babbage's still charged $60. I saw Robotech: Battlecry for the Xbox at Best Buy for $36.99 while EB wanted $50.

I think if the economy continues its downward trend, we're going to see an overall decline in prices, not only for video games, but on all retail items. We're already seeing it in big ticket items like computers and large home appliances, which are coming with either slashed prices or rebates. However, if the economy picks up and consumer confidence rises, we'll see an increase in prices across the board.

Tyralyon · Post by **Tyralyon** » Mon Oct 07, 2002 8:03 pm

To RandomThug

quote:
..................................................................
Originally posted by RandomThug:

Whats with all these wierd L's your all talking about. Buncha wierd Euro's.
..................................................................

explanation:
£ is pound as $ is dollar as ¥ is yen as € is euro and so on....

and what exactly did you mean by.....Buncha wierd Euro's .....???
(you probably spelled wrong and ment weird)

did you mean the currency???.......but what is the logical difference between the two letters L and S when it comes to symbolyze currency???????
L is not better than S.....and S is not better than L.....right???
they are just two letters........

can money be wierd???
but that was probably not what you ment

you probably ment that european people are weird....did you not???
well....that was....not a kind thing to say......

and why would they be weird????
you just called all europeans weird...just because england and a few other countries happens to use the letter L as a part of their currency.........

that is not a very logical assumption.....
you see...in case that you have not heard about it....
many of the european countries use euro as currency......

calling the inhabitants of the euro countries weird...just because england uses pound....
is not very fair.........

Tybaltus · Post by **Tybaltus** » Tue Oct 08, 2002 9:51 am

Originally posted by Tyralyon

explanation:
£ is pound as $ is dollar as ¥ is yen as € is euro and so on....

and what exactly did you mean by.....Buncha wierd Euro's .....???
(you probably spelled wrong and ment weird)

did you mean the currency???.......but what is the logical difference between the two letters L and S when it comes to symbolyze currency???????
L is not better than S.....and S is not better than L.....right???
they are just two letters........

can money be wierd???
but that was probably not what you ment

you probably ment that european people are weird....did you not???
well....that was....not a kind thing to say......

and why would they be weird????
you just called all europeans weird...just because england and a few other countries happens to use the letter L as a part of their currency.........

that is not a very logical assumption.....
you see...in case that you have not heard about it....
many of the european countries use euro as currency......

calling the inhabitants of the euro countries weird...just because england uses pound....
is not very fair.........

I dont think Thug meant anything offensive...I think he was just confused with the currency....Im just guessing.

And what is all this talk about L's and S'....Im lost...

Regardless...welcome to SYM.

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Oct 08, 2002 9:57 am

Originally posted by Tyralyon
calling the inhabitants of the euro countries weird...just because england uses pound....
is not very fair.........

@Tyralyon, welcome to SYM. Just in case nobody else has said so, before.

Remember: context. Search out some of RandomThug's previous posts, and you'll find that he's intelligent, thoughtful, and satirical. He doesn't mean to attack Europeans. That kind of thing isn't allowed on GB. Check out our forum rules for an explanation of policy.

????

No offense, but could you use 1 question mark everytime you want to ask a question? You see, I was cursed back in 1120 AC to bear a grammatical demon, and everytime I see something like this I have to let that demon out and kill again. Indirectly, as a result, you're responsible for the deaths of all the inhabitants in a local suburb. I'm sure neither of us wishes for that to occur again. It's really too much to bear on the conscience. Thanks.

RandomThug · Post by **RandomThug** » Tue Oct 08, 2002 9:58 am

Actually

To be honest I was being rude, just taking the normal American Stereotype to comedic end... But on a serius note.. I wanna quote a gamer whom I take with respect... Tycho from penny Arcade...

The problem with games isn't that they cost too much. I'm not an economist or anything, but I'm willing to bet that regular old, non-collector games cost more or less what they used to in real dollars. What's more, the technically savvy have been getting games for free as long as there have been games, and this will only get worse as prices go up. No, I'm afraid we won't be joining this boycott, or any other boycott, or signing any petitions, or wearing a silly suit and walking back and forth, or any of that ****. Activities like this will only anger our corporate overlords, causing them to activate dormant volcanoes in our midst and bury us in molten rock. So if you're into magma or whatever, you know, hey.

The reason we never go in for feel good, change the world adventures isn't just cynicism. Okay, maybe some cynicism.

The problem with the games I buy is that they're ****ing broken. There was a spat on here recently about consoles and PCs, which is better, and I'll be straight with you when I say that the last few days have tried my resolve as a diehard PC enthusiast. These were my choices last Saturday night. A, I could keep banging my head against Unreal Tournament 2003, the brand new game I bought whose inexplicable crashes to the desktop put my remaining hair follicles in full rout. Or B, I could just turn on my PS2 and play Sly Cooper, which from beginning to end never gave me a moment's pain. The issue becomes more ridiculous when you realize that Unreal wasn't crashing because it was poorly conceived or produced, but because there was a known issue with the copy protection method that keeps legitimate owners out of the game. I hate to keep harping on that, but my Inbox is full of people who got screwed by this right alongside me, and I feel like their avatar. Infogrames put something they knew would break the game for some people on there, they had to know, because they'd just had the same issue with Neverwinter Nights. Of course, you're only going to see that on forums and in tech support correspondence - such is the state of PC gaming and the news covering it, that a publisher can commit an act of this kind with full cognizance and it's totally fine.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Oct 08, 2002 3:43 pm

Penny Arcade, cool site

I didn't see your post as anything but humourous, it is possible that your dry sarcastic sense of humour isn't understood by everyone, me, I found it funny and I am British(perhaps unfortunately

)

/-\lastor · Post by **/-\lastor** » Tue Oct 08, 2002 4:06 pm

PA simply rules (I'm a webcomic fanat, my webcomic bookmark list now numbers 50+).

But HELL, I hardly buy video games, about once every 6 months. The only thing I do is check the web or play CounterStrike, and that's free. I hardly even play copied games.

The only problem is that that week is just is in a local holiday (we've got some sorta second Christmas in the Benelux, without the sentimentalities and more presents

on the 5th of december, but we also celebrate Christmas, with less presents of course

) so I'm out of the league.

Tyralyon · Post by **Tyralyon** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 8:15 pm

To fable and Tybaltus
thank you for your welcoming...i appreciate it....

to tybaltus...all the talk about L's and S's....I was just pointing out that it could not have been the currency that RandomThug was talking about.....since there is no such thing as a "better" letter.......

to fable
you will never see me post another unnecessary question mark in gamebanshee again...i am sorry for all the killing....

and randomthug........i will trust in our great, good moderator...if fable says that you were only joking and chooses to leave our posts as they are with the contents and all....then i am ok with it....
it is just that i tend to overreact when it comes to racialism....my school has a lot of students and teachers who is that way and i tend to...errh..."react"...to some of my "classmates" when they go too far.......

anyway.........i apologize to you all......for all the bad feelings that i might have caused........and i am very sorry for bumping in on this thread all of the sudden with something totally off topic........

Tybaltus · Post by **Tybaltus** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 8:23 pm

Originally posted by Tyralyon
To fable and Tybaltus
thank you for your welcoming...i appreciate it....

to tybaltus...all the talk about L's and S's....I was just pointing out that it could not have been the currency that RandomThug was talking about.....since there is no such thing as a "better" letter.......

Sure no problem, friend.

Ah...I see. Just didnt know what was going on ther for a few minutes..

Originally posted by Tyralyon
anyway.........i apologize to you all......for all the bad feelings that i might have caused........and i am very sorry for bumping in on this thread all of the sudden with something totally off topic........

No bad feelings here, just a little confused as usual.

And I see no problem with the bump, and I imagine the mods feel the same way. Its all good, man. You should feel more welcome to express your opinion here as long as you do it with sence...thats all.