"We the Gamers of the world, in order to ensure a more enjoyable experience, establish equality between players and publishers, and promote the general welfare of our industry hereby call for the following:
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 adequately play 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 express 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."
Excellent initiative Brad! You're right on target. Congratulations for Stardock and Gas Powered Games on this wonderful initiative.
A perfect example for the need of a Gamer's Bill of Rights is what's happening with the borg collective (aka EA) getting their hands on every possible profitable developer. I started to get worried when they assimilated one of my favorite developers: Bioware. The immediate result was an obnoxious SecuROM-based DRM for Mass Effect PC. With a limit of 3 activations depending on hardware changes and rootkit-like behavior, it absolutely penalizes paying customers while not doing anything effective against piracy (unless we consider second-hand sales as piracy). That Malware/DRM is getting into Spore and apparently any future games coming from EA. A DRM that makes legitimate gamers to ultimately resort to piracy tools is plain dumb. The Borg is getting big and bossy as the most recent assimilation will be Take-Two Interactive.
What we gamers and the gaming industry need is brave publishers and developers standing for what's right while still being able to prosper.
Cheers!
aLap