One small point, though about code reuse. It is a commonly held belief that code reuse can help decrease the costs of a game. But at this point, I think that very little additional code can be reused for cost savings. Every program/game is different, and the things that are shared have already been factored out into libraries a long time ago.

I think the exact opposite is true. The whole purpose of copyright is “to promote science and the useful arts” as Jefferson said it. If media companies were able to get away with this fair use would be history.

The point of fair use is that I can buy a product use it, sell it or destroy it without having to pay for it again. This isn’t even copying the game and selling it which would be a violation of the media companies rights.

This would have the same outcome as the record producers suing radio stations at the start of the radio age. They received payments for their song being paid but the song writers didn’t get paid from the rotation.

They can produce cheaper games if they made more of their code reusuable and released more low cost games to go along with big expensive gambles. The Sims shows a lot of money can be made from a simple inexpensive game.

I don’t agree. Once I buy something, it’s mine. Why should anyone else get to say what I do with my own property? As long as I don’t make copies and give them away, I can do what I want. And if that includes selling what I own, I should have that right too.

In a world where people fight for their rights all the time, successfully in many countries, I find it disturbing that only in the music, game, and movie business are consumers’ rights being taken away.

If video game companies want to sell more software, how about they try making their games affordable? I love games, but I can’t afford to buy new ones. So I wait for them to drop in price or buy used. If Epic pines for some of that used revenue, they should have made it easier to buy in the first place.

In a perfect world, the videogame makers would be able to control how consumers use its products and the consumer can either go “ok” or “screw you”. But like music and movies, people expect ALOT more for ALOT less. This is not such a bad thing but it could really cripple the game industry.