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Signatures skyrocket for Stop Killing Games campaign after big youtubers take up the cause, resulting in 100k signatures in 48 hours. (Details on how to help in text body of post) (slrpnk.net)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net to c/games@lemmy.world
70 comments fedilink hide all child comments

(Text below written by @treasure@feddit.org. Hope you don't mind me yoinking it for here!)

The European Citizens' Initiative 'Stop Destroying Videogames' is nearing its deadline on July 31st and is still missing quite a lot of signatures. To be precise, at the time of writing this post, only 560.000 of the required 1.000.000 signatures have been reached.

Another requirement has already been fulfilled: The minimum signature threshold has been reached in 10 countries, 7 were required.

If this is the first time of you hearing about this initiative, here's a short TL;DR for you (more detailed information can be found here):

  • Publishers that sell or license videogames should have to leave their videogames in a functional (playable) state.
  • This means: Remote disabling of video games (such as live service titles) without providing means of keeping the game functional without the involvement of the publisher should be illegal.
  • This does NOT mean that publishers should support their games forever, but rather that they provide tools (such as server binaries) to enable others to keep the game playable.

The initiative is slowly picking up speed again recently after its creator published a video explaining some of the background and why he doesn't want to continue after the initiative is over. The video has been well-received by the community and some big influencers have reported on the topic.

If you are an EU citizen and have not signed yet, THIS IS THE TIME! The month until the deadline is met will pass quickly. Use two minutes of your time to influence something that may improve your life forever!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN. (or click here for a guide on how to sign in your language)

Also, if you are a UK citizen, you can sign a UK specific legal petition that also carries legal weight (forces parliament to investigate the issue). You can sign that here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702074/

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[-] cecilkorik@piefed.ca 52 points 1 week ago

This also has big implications for consumer rights and society as a whole in other areas of digital technology and right to repair, it is a foot in the door to start actually holding manufacturers responsible for the full lifecycle of their products (digital and real) that requires them to actually relinquish their control when their product reaches end-of-commercial-life, instead of turning everything into digital garbage out of what basically amounts to apathy and compulsive rights hoarding.

[-] cRazi_man@europe.pub 51 points 1 week ago

Don't Give Up. You Can Cuss The Whole Time Just Don't Give Up.

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 12 points 1 week ago

Hell yeah! We can do this!

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 23 points 1 week ago

I hope the wording of the petition is very clear. The last time this was brought up in the UK the government of the time basically just brushed it off by intentionally misunderstanding the petition. You can't give them any leeway to do that this time.

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I suspect they would've brushed it off regardless, they didn't want to deal with it. There's another 100k UK petition (The one linked to at the bottom of the OP text) that would force them to re-look at it with more depth which is also ending quite soon.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 1 week ago

Yes I've already signed it, and I signed the original. Although even back then I suspected that the petition was simultaneously too vague and too specific.

It was vague in that it didn't really explain what it was asking to happen, and didn't really make the distinction between a product being technically still functional and a product not working because the servers have shut down. While at the same time being too specifically focused on games rather than server run software in general. What happens if Adobe goes down, does everyone lose access to photoshop?

I just feel that this has a better chance of succeeding if they were to de-emphasize the games aspect, and allow politicians the wiggle run to focus on the corporate business side of things.

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[-] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

Drama drives these things. I totally understand Ross not wanting to engage in it 10 months ago but look at what it can do.

[-] Drbreen@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 week ago

I initially read this as a petition to stop games that have killing in them facepalm

[-] Klear@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Still better reading comprehension than PirateSoftware.

[-] treasure@feddit.org 17 points 1 week ago

Not only do I not mind you yoinking the text, I want to thank you for your contribution to the cause. If everyone who has signed could get one more person to sign, the initiative would succeed!

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 week ago

Glad to help out, and thank you for letting me use your well written words! :D

[-] Etterra@discuss.online 13 points 1 week ago

Makes me wish I was European so I could sign it too.

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

In that case, help spread the word.

[-] Bronzie@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

Am European, but not in the EU.
Wish I could do my part too

[-] brsrklf@jlai.lu 10 points 1 week ago

I've been hearing about this for so long I honestly can't remember whether I've already signed it.

[-] Gonzako@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Not an issue! Just try signing in again and it won't add it if you already signed

[-] drspawndisaster@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

As an American who can't bear to play most online games because they might go down or disallow Linux users, please please please please check. EU laws are our only hope of having usable fucking technology.

The thought of being able to mod and host my own GTA 5 online server when it goes down, without some weird custom server mod that also uses Windows-exclusive anti-cheat on most servers, sounds like a damn dream. I miss that game... but fuck Windows, nothing is worth installing Windows. I just realized I've been ranting about the lack of Linux compatibility of GTA 5 Online in reply to someone's comment about how this petition has gone on for a while. I swear I wasn't hijacking your comment, I just have strong feelings about Linux gaming and got carried away.

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 week ago

Absolute legend.

[-] Magnus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 week ago

Signed the UK parliament one, sadly drowning in those Brexit benefits when it comes to the other.

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[-] paraphrand@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Well, that pirate guy didn’t do anything. (Unless he actually caused this, then… messy causality…)

[-] Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world 56 points 1 week ago

He actively misrepresented the campaign and spread misinformation about its goals. I don't know if he genuinely didn't understand or if he was too embarrassed to admit to a mistake but he did a lot of damage to the momentum and perception of the whole thing.

It sucks these big creators only now pick up the mantle but it's better than nothing. There's still some time left.

[-] MolochAlter@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

I don’t know if he genuinely didn’t understand or if he was too embarrassed to admit to a mistake

Worse, he actively lied. In his edited video about the petition he actively misrepresents the initiative, then goes on to edit out the the part of Ross' video that would have contradicted his misrepresentation.

This is not an innocent or negligent mistake on Thor's part, it's an active attempt at burial.

[-] derpgon@programming.dev 7 points 1 week ago

Even worse, he is a narcissistic lying piece of shit with high ego. He would never admit a slight mistake, and thinks of himself as all-knowing. Think ChatGPT - confidently lying all the time, but always doubling down.

[-] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

I haven't really been following it or him (I don't really even know much, other than the gist of not wanting games to disappear when devs decide it's too expensive to keep the servers). What did he do? Because normally he gives pretty good takes.

[-] paris@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

He wildly misunderstood/misrepresented the initiative two videos in a row (and continues to ten months later), and he continually discredits the entire initiative because of contrived edge cases.

I think this paragraph from this twitter reply really sums it up:

My dislike of the initiative stems entirely from the wording to keep all games in a "Functional Playable State" after sunsetting which is not possible for all games and could limit what kinds of games people make in the future.

The idea that creativity would be hampered because games would have to remain playable when the company shuts down servers one day is ridiculous. Can you imagine if we talked like this about anything else? "We can't force every phone to use the same USB-C charging port because it would be too technically infeasible to do so and hamper creativity." "We can't outlaw CFCs because they're useful chemicals and it would be technically infeasible for some products to be made without chlorofluorocarbons (the things that fucked up the ozone layer)." "My dislike of the initiative stems entirely from the wording to 'make cars limit their emissions' which is not possible for all cars and could limit what kinds of cars companies make in the future." Ridiculous.

It's absurd that I'm not exaggerating when I say his opposition to Stop Killing Games entirely boils down to "I think companies should be allowed to take games away because it would be really hard for them to leave some games playable when they're done supporting them 🥺"

I used to passively like Thor, but when I watched those two videos he made last year about SKG I lost all of my respect for him.

[-] tarball@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Did my part and signed, I hope it reaches the required threshold

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[-] kazerniel@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

I'm an EU citizen living in the UK, but only signed the UK one because I'm not putting my passport ID into petitions O.o

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Just to clarify, this isn't a normal toothless petition, this is an official EU mechanism that allows citizens to bring problems to the attention of the European Commission, and force them to pass judgement on it legally. You can read more about it here.

It's good to be skeptical of anything asking for that personal info, but I'd suggest researching into it to confirm that it is indeed legit.

Thank you for signing the UK one :)

[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 3 points 1 week ago

I hope this petition succeeds. There are games and other digital media I want to experience, but corporations are dead set on just trotting out new things on their terms.

[-] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago

Done!

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[-] Deathray5@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 1 week ago

Damm I wish I could sigh these things but some dumb fucks decided I can't

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this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
441 points (99.3% liked)

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