   the morality of renting games
  I'm curious what people think about renting games. In the past (and probably in the future) i've had a gamefly account. I've always used it as a way to try before you buy a game - in fact there are a lot of games that i've bought because of it.The problem is that I don't end up buying most of the games I have rented. There are also some games that i've enjoyed but haven't bought because I just didn't have the money to do so (though I would have liked to). Considering that the game developers get essentially no money for a game that is rented, how do you differentiate between renting a game and pirating a game?   
  Well rental movie copies aren't the same as retail ones so I assume the royalties work differently - money from each rental perhaps? If so then games would be the same.Nothing wrong with renting - I thought this thread was going to be about the OBVIOUSLY illegal idea of renting a game just to copy it.   ;  Gamasutra had an article on such some time...Basically, it boiled down to the fact that publishers like rental games, even though often there are few or no royalties, for a few reasons.1. It's guaranteed sales prior to the release (contracts and such for X number of games) which takes a lot of guesswork out of how much budget you have to spend promo-ing without spending more than you will gross2. Rental places pay full price - and unlike retails, don't deal with returns, overstock, etc.3. Rentals provide exposure to possible buyers.Granted, a lot of these reasons are for big game companies - the same as the movie industry, if you put a lot of games out you are gambling that some will be successes and that they will cancel out the flops plus some. Rental buys give some guarantees ahead of release.   ;Quote:Original post by d000hgWell rental movie copies aren't the same as retail ones so I assume the royalties work differently - money from each rental perhaps? If so then games would be the same.I'm not sure about the UK, but in the US there are no royalties for renting a game. I feel bad renting a game, because the developer essentially gets no $$ from me. At the same time, next gen games are going for $69.99. That just seems like too much.   ;  I don't know about games but I know rental shops in the UK normally pay something like £100 for a video so you'll probably find they also pay far more for games than you'd buy them for in a shop.   ;Quote:Original post by Will FQuote:Original post by d000hgWell rental movie copies aren't the same as retail ones so I assume the royalties work differently - money from each rental perhaps? If so then games would be the same.I'm not sure about the UK, but in the US there are no royalties for renting a game. I feel bad renting a game, because the developer essentially gets no $$ from me. At the same time, next gen games are going for $69.99. That just seems like too much.If you are renting something from a big company like EA or MS then there's nothing really to feel guilty about, because the developer(i.e., the humans which actually did all the work) are already paid, and the company can handle themselves(i.e., figure out what is in their best interests for profit)I figure, if they allow (legal) rentals, then somehow they're coming out of the deal ok.   ;Quote:Original post by Will FConsidering that the game developers get essentially no money for a game that is rented, how do you differentiate between renting a game and pirating a game?I'm not sure that you even need to make a differentiation. One is clearly illegal, and the other isn't. A rental copy of a video game is effectively a trial version of the game, since the playing time is constrained by the rental period. Of course, a player could rent the game multiple times and complete it in so doing, but the costs start adding up.   ;Quote:Original post by kSquaredOne is clearly illegal, and the other isn't.Laws are not morals.   It's perfectly legal to laugh at a fatal traffic accident, but I pity the person who does.Quote:A rental copy of a video game is effectively a trial version of the game, since the playing time is constrained by the rental period.There is no need for a trail version.  That's what demos are for. Quote:Of course, a player could rent the game multiple times and complete it in so doing, but the costs start adding up.But it's not a video game company's choice weither to rent a game or not.    Who really knows how much money is lost when someone rents a video game?   It's kind of a mix bag, for lesser known games, it's a boon, but for popular games, expecially movie tie ins, who knows how many of those renters would be buyers.Sure, the cost ads up, but with a $20 a month rental fee, like most rental places offer, the cost would be the same regardless of how long you have your game out.   ;  I'm not convinced the rental places are charged more for games for rental - I know Blockbuster just took a percentage of it's retail stock and used it for rentals. It's a different case for videos, because they tend to get released for rental before they do for retail (or at least, they used to). Whereas game rentals are generally available the same day.There's also no distinguishing between a "rental" copy and a "retail" copy as there is with dvds / videos. The publishers are probably happy with the deal because they get the bulk price from the rental store + the "free" advertising that goes along with a game rental. Chances are that 1 person purchases the title out of every 5 that rent it, that's not a bad return!   ;Quote:Original post by BinomineQuote:Original post by kSquaredOne is clearly illegal, and the other isn't.Laws are not morals.   It's perfectly legal to laugh at a fatal traffic accident, but I pity the person who does.Laws aren't morals, but they reflect our morals in the sense of what is "good" for society and what isn't. An apple isn't an orange, but they're still both pieces of fruit. Regardless, any sort of equivocation between pirating a game and renting it is really stretching things.Quote:Quote:A rental copy of a video game is effectively a trial version of the game, since the playing time is constrained by the rental period.There is no need for a trail version.  That's what demos are for.Er, what demos? Quote:Quote:Of course, a player could rent the game multiple times and complete it in so doing, but the costs start adding up.But it's not a video game company's choice weither to rent a game or not.Of course it is. It's not as though they're forced to sell their games to rental companies; if they decide they don't want anybody to rent their games, they need only to restrict sales to retail sellers.In any case, the rental market serves an important customer niche: people who aren't sure if they like a game and want to try it for themselves first. In contrast, if you buy a new game and decide you hate it, it's tough cookies; you can't exchange it for a different game. The concept of try-before-you-buy has spawned entire cottage industries of consumer goods: leased cars, free samples of toothpaste in the mail, shareware software, et cetera.   