You Are What You Own, Which Isn’t Much
I’m not the biggest fan of corporate drama or politics. However, I am concerned about recent developments in regards to Ubisoft revoking the license of The Crew for its customers.
I know that I really don’t own something I buy on a disk. I just have the ability to use the license I paid for. I can’t freely copy and distribute a game just because I bought it once. But here’s the thing: It’s the same concept as a book. I can’t make photocopies of the complete works of Terry Pratchett and distribute them around town. However, I own those books. They are mine. If somebody steals them from me, I have legal recourse to say that I am the owner of those books and request legal intervention to protect my property.
If you are (un)fortunate enough to own a copy of Too Human, the various legal issues around the game have nothing to do with your disk. Epic Games can’t kick in your door, dig through your old CDs, and snap it in half. If you own a PS5 with a download of Silent Hills, there isn’t going to be a forceful extraction of it from your hard drive. I am one of the few people that has a physical copy of Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth (one and two, go me) and can still play it even when EA lost the rights to the IP. In these scenarios, you purchased access to a license and it is yours. The various publishers can no longer sell/distribute the software, but so long as that disk runs, you have access to that game.
Even more baffling, again, is that if somebody stole your disk, it is your property and you can demand its return. There is so much idiotic conversation about ownership vs. use of a license that causes people to miss the point that if you buy something you should own it and people shouldn’t be able to take it away from you.
From what I can tell, we are in a post-ownership generation. People just want to defend their corporate overlords and be grateful for the chance to suckle a bit of enjoyment from a withered teat. Everything is temporary. Some digital ones and zeroes in a constant state of flux with patches and added content. The concept of buying games in a complete, physical state is almost alien to the post-ownership generation.
Consumers have long been in a losing battle. We are allowed to own very little. Everything needs to be tracked and monitored and controlled. Control is worth criticizing, not tolerating or supporting.
But I’m just a cartoonist, so what do I know?