# Are second-hand video games becoming less viable? Developers are making it harder to buy their games used —. and so they should By Dale Boyd — The Griff (Grant MacEwan University) EDMONTON (CUP) — Gamers with joystick imprints on their thumbs are most likely - anticipating the upcoming holiday season, which will boast a plethora of blockbuster video game releases: Battlefield 3, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are but a few. With new video games costing about $70 apiece, it’s unlikely the average Joe will be able to afford all the latest and greatest games. The economy is tough these days, and luxuries like video games will almost certainly fall to the bottom of the proverbial heap when it comes to expenses. What’s a gamer to do? Well, in days past, one would more than likely play the waiting game (pun intended). Picking up used games months after their release for a nice discounted price was the perfect way for gamers to have their game and play it, too. I’m sad to say that those days now seem numbered. More and more games of late, like Electronic Arts’ (EA) Battlefield 3, come with an “online pass” that allows the gamer access to certain features, like online multiplayer modes. The pass is a code that comes with the initial copy of the game. It can only be used once, so if someone were to buy the game second-hand, they would be out of luck. Right now, it’s mostly just the multiplayer portion of games that are lost to second-hand buyers, but any gamer worth his or her salt will tell you that a game without multiplayer is only half a game. It’s always more fun to play with friends, and the game developers know that. So why do these companies want to rain on our used game parade? The same reason any of us do anything: it’s all about the money. Game developers like EA or Activision don’t see a single dime from game resales. All the money stays with the retailers. It’s understandable why developers would be miffed. Sure, they make loads of money off of the initial release, but after a while, there is no point for a customer to pay full price when the game is cheaper used. Developers are completely cut off from a large amount of profit being made off of their product. It might be unfortunate for the average gamer, but it is also somewhat selfish of game stores to expect developers to stand idly by while cash is being made from their products. Video game development is known to be a career with a live-in-the-office kind of commitment, and those hard-working individuals that provide us with hours of entertainment are the real victims here. Sweet and sour charity The underbelly of benevolence By Natalie Serafini motivation behind it isn’t entirely virtuous? If maybe a three-quarter part of you wants to be nice, while the other quarter wants to be nicer than everyone else? I often notice that people can appear to be incredibly charitable on Facebook: posting pictures of canned goods for food shelters; posing dramatically with duct tape over their mouths and the words “I am silent” across the bottom. While these are great ways of raising awareness, there comes a point when you have to wonder if these people are promoting a charity— or their own benevolence. I myself am all too familiar with the warm afterglow that comes when my generosity has been noticed. It was shortly after the earthquake in Haiti. I was participating in a 24- hour vow of silence at my school to raise money and awareness for Free the Children. I had been fundraising for about a week, asking people I knew and people I barely knew for pledges. At first I was nervous that I wouldn’t meet the minimum pledge of $25. Gradually, that concern morphed into a compulsion to raise more money than anyone else. I raised $100; $200. By $230, I felt I had reached my limit, and then another $5 came my way. Brother, I was on a roll! I felt proud to say, “I’ve raised just over $230, but my goal is $300, so any 16 |: a good deed still good if the contributions would be much appreciated ... Even a dollar makes a difference.” Meanwhile, I glowered at anyone cheap enough to toss in spare change. At the next Free the Children meeting I continued on my giving- spree, volunteering to help organize a Caroling for Charity event. I felt almost saint-like in my virtue. I was worrying about raising money for little children in Haiti, while other girls my age worried about their hair, or cramming for a test. I had- bigger, more global concerns—I was special. I approached the club president to say that I would hand in my funds later because I had “more money to collect.” As I said this, I glanced down at the stack of envelopes and completed pledge forms on the table. I scanned the pledge form on top of the pile—just to see how I was doing. The form boasted seven stingy contributors. Probably the most that girl had raised was $30. I walked out of the meeting exhausted that avenue, I started asking Not that I’m boasting, but in case with smug certainty: if that girl was my people who had already pledged if they | you’re wondering, my obsessive nature competition, I had nothing to worry “couldn’t spare a little more.” I asked paid off and I raised more money than anyone else. No, I did not get the trophy or parade in my honor that I’d been dreaming of, but it still felt pretty damned good. I like believing I’m a decent person almost as much as I like knowing I’ve helped someone. You could say this makes my good deeds “1 felt almost saint-like in my virtue. | was worrying about raising money for little children in Haiti, while other girls my age worried about their hair, or cramming for a test. | had bigger, more global concerns—! was special.” about. Still, I felt an obligation to raise a boy I had known for three days if he $300. Those children needed me—and —_ wanted to donate. I considered acting selfish— but don’t forget, three-quarters I didn’t want to take the chance that loud and obnoxious so people would of me is still being selfless. I’m inclined someone else had raised $250! do anything to shut me up.I guilted my to just leave the other quarter alone and So I went around, asking more parents into pledging more,and threw in _ hope the ratio doesn’t shift. people for more money. When I $25 myself, just to reach that big 3-0-0.