Is a gaming consumer watch dog needed?

~>Dg<~ said:
money that the big companies generate no chance in hell of anything being done.

who would try and go against the power money they have.


hmm independent noobs take on activision / ea yeah right oh.

lol imagine top 20 lawyers in world and some hero independent fighting the pc cause :p . say this mister say that . this is what is happening now. this is why its starting to happen as they can dictate what they want due to the money that is involved.
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actually its not that hard or expensive if you low paid / unemplyed in the uk ,,, legal aid .. means you dont pay jack all in legal costs :D
 
~>Dg<~ said:
money that the big companies generate no chance in hell of anything being done.

who would try and go against the power money they have.


hmm independent noobs take on activision / ea yeah right oh.

lol imagine top 20 lawyers in world and some hero independent fighting the pc cause :p . say this mister say that . this is what is happening now. this is why its starting to happen as they can dictate what they want due to the money that is involved.
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Yes you right, never mind that intel and microsoft have been fine millions by the EU:rolleyes:
 
so... and while they stomped over everyone what did that generate :rolleyes:

the simple fact is the big boys will dominate the opinions with there dirty tactics
 
~>Dg<~ said:
lol imagine top 20 lawyers in world and some hero independent fighting the pc cause :p . say this mister say that . this is what is happening now. this is why its starting to happen as they can dictate what they want due to the money that is involved.
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Lol what makes you think this is only pc gaming? There are aspects of console gaming that can be affected in a similar way and lets face it, these consoles are waaay out of date, not the hardware, the whole way they were set up to run. Almost certainly next gen will give the dev/pub more ways to increase there own revenue or block you for the sake of it.
 
TheMightyTen said:
****
equally as succint & pointless as your post :rolleyes:

I will edit this in the morning and give an actual discussive point rather than a monosylabic **** fuelled answer. I accept I've had a belly of beer happiness. It will be interesting to see if you can do the same?
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No as in No, I don`t feel I need help from an offical regulator to ensure that I get fair treatment. I think I`m treated quite fairly thankyouverymuch.
 
i dont think its only pc gaming

simple fact is the powers that be will have , control and seek control of what helps sell there games even more.

saying bad words or bad reviews of there products hurts sales. so why have this negativity when you can erase it or erase the user putting this bad review.
 
~>Dg<~ said:
i dont think its only pc gaming

simple fact is the powers that be will have , control and seek control of what helps sell there games even more.

saying bad words or bad reviews of there products hurts sales. so why have this negativity when you can erase it or erase the user putting this bad review.
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That sort of thing might fly once or twice (though theres more likely to be an actual reason), but do you honestly think banning anyone who badmouths something is gonna do your rep any good? Not to mention i think people would take notice and some heavy duty legislation/fines would hit them smack in the face.

Its just an extreme step up from Biowares moderators removing any thread which badmouthed DA2, my particular favourite were ones that stated 'this thread is unrelated to DA2' upon closure.
 
You have the power to become the consumer watchdog yourself. Every one of us.

If you dont like what a developer is doing, hit them where it hurts the most.

Pirate every game you would have purchased from them if they had treated you with respect instead of concluding that all their customers are morons.
 
Watchdog = yes please.


Publishers need to know they can't ship half-finished games and not bother to fix them for months, if they fix them at all. They need to know that selling a game on a multiplayer experience and then having shoddy and broken servers is unacceptable. Then as mentioned in the OP, need to know that criticism of their own game does not warrant or justify banning people from the games they've bought - and doing so should put them at liability to be sued/compensate the individual.
 
petemyster said:
Excellent point, your opinion is a unique one and having explained your view point I'm starting to become convinced by your argument. However let me retort:

Yes.
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I think your post fails in comparison to the intellectual prowess of the one you quoted.

If only an equal amount of thought was placed into your own post then my opinion may have been swayed although as convincing as your argument is, I think I the op outlined his point more clearly.
 
elmuzzy66. said:
After reading what is happening with greebo and all this EA banning people's account for what could best described as an 'opinion', do gamers need help from an offical regulator to ensure that we get fair treatment.
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Am sure the other year I heard on the news...something to do with music industry, am going to be vaige here because I cant remember in full detail, but basically they had people working for them that would go to small businesses such as a garage for example, and if they had music on they would say to the manager of that garage you have to pay us a large fee because your playing that music of one of our artist and our artist should be compensated because your customers are benefiting from you having that music on in the background.

I just remember hearing this and thinking what the hell, complete joke! But that was ages ago and cant remember full details, but maybe someone here knows what I'm talking about?
 
SkScotchegg said:
Am sure the other year I heard on the news...something to do with music industry, am going to be vaige here because I cant remember in full detail, but basically they had people working for them that would go to small businesses such as a garage for example, and if they had music on they would say to the manager of that garage you have to pay us a large fee because your playing that music of one of our artist and our artist should be compensated because your customers are benefiting from you having that music on in the background.

I just remember hearing this and thinking what the hell, complete joke! But that was ages ago and cant remember full details, but maybe someone here knows what I'm talking about?
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Any business playing music needs to have a PRS license for that exact purpose..

http://www.prsformusic.com/Pages/default.aspx

Maybe that is what you are talking about?
 
SkScotchegg said:
Am sure the other year I heard on the news...something to do with music industry, am going to be vaige here because I cant remember in full detail, but basically they had people working for them that would go to small businesses such as a garage for example, and if they had music on they would say to the manager of that garage you have to pay us a large fee because your playing that music of one of our artist and our artist should be compensated because your customers are benefiting from you having that music on in the background.

I just remember hearing this and thinking what the hell, complete joke! But that was ages ago and cant remember full details, but maybe someone here knows what I'm talking about?
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you need a public performance license if you play music in the work place, so they are right to fine people for this, but it is not watchdog based, its a special department just like the tv licensing authorities. although being harsh, it is pretty much the same as piracy as you are playing music/video to the public, therefore possibly increasing your sales, without spending a penny.

i just think with a watchdog would just delay games being released or certain content being removed because someone has taken offence to it. i seem to remember a game, but cant for the life of me remember which one, where it was supposed to have the well known terrorist organisation as one of the playable teams, and that got delayed as fuss was kicked up and they had to change the names and all.
i had an issue yesturday with direct2drive where i purchased a gta 4 and couldnt get my serial key. now, at the time i was a tad annoyed, and if said wathdog existed then i would have probably complained that i was being unfairly treated as pre-sales they were more than helpful, but as soon as my money was finally taken, they were very slow to reply. now enough people do this and said watchdog will investigate and direct2drive gets a big fine, so what do they do now, they up their prices or stop their offers to recoupe their losses, so who actually loses out, the consumer.
in an ideal world everyone would be treated fairly and with respect. but in reality, if one or two thousand kick up fuss about something, then they will be overshadowed by the one or two million people that hand over money no questions asked when new games come out.
 
I agree that something must be done. For example: I paid a healthy £30 for Call of Duty Black Ops which was not just a totally rubbish game, but also unplayable to a large degree. Not only that but the game cannot be sold on, being tied to my Steam, account. This means I effectively wasted £30 due to no fault of my own and what's more I have no recourse at all.

Add to this the fact that a massive percentage of PC players had the same experience as me and the fact that Treyarch/Activision made a MASSIVE amount of money out of Black Ops and you soon see that something is pretty wrong at the moment.

I can't think of another product that I couldn't get a refund on if it was purchased faulty.
 
Forde said:
I agree that something must be done. For example: I paid a healthy £30 for Call of Duty Black Ops which was not just a totally rubbish game, but also unplayable to a large degree. Not only that but the game cannot be sold on, being tied to my Steam, account. This means I effectively wasted £30 due to no fault of my own and what's more I have no recourse at all.

Add to this the fact that a massive percentage of PC players had the same experience as me and the fact that Treyarch/Activision made a MASSIVE amount of money out of Black Ops and you soon see that something is pretty wrong at the moment.

I can't think of another product that I couldn't get a refund on if it was purchased faulty.
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the problem with pc software over console and other non computer related products, is the hardware is sooo vaired. the devs can argue it ran faultlessly on their setups so its not software but hardware that causing your problems, therefore, the purchased item is NOT faulty.
we all know this is wrong as most, if not all, pc gamers had the same or similar issues with this game, but it is an easy get out clause.
take things like universal exhaust back boxes or universal tv remotes. although universal, and the fact you wont know if it works until you purchase it whether or not it will fit/work with your product, they will not work on 100% of products/cars on the market, but you still cannot return it if it doesnt.
 
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I see your point totally, paradisiac - entirely true. It's a loophole that needs to be closed somehow (if it can even be closed). I'd say Black Ops is one of the worst scenarios extant, though.
 
Forde said:
I see your point totally, paradisiac - entirely true. It's a loophole that needs to be closed somehow (if it can even be closed). I'd say Black Ops is one of the worst scenarios extant, though.
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agree'd, i for one would like there to be some form of unity between game devs and hardware manufacturers so that the games are fully tested on not only new and current hardware in different configurations, but also some older hardware that is still commonly used.
if you buy a pc game from a store rather than online, you will always be greeted at the checkout with the words 'your computer does meet the requirements doesnt it, as it cannot be returned unless its faulty'.
people blame console ports being the reason, which might be true, but unless people start ditching their consoles and buying pc games in their masses then this wont change, so hardware manuacturers and game devs need to work out how to make console ports more compatible. or make a few very good pc exclusives which will make people think about making the switch from console.
unfortunatly i cant see either happening, with or without a watchdog.
 
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