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Comment by ferbivore | Hacker News Reader

This is an incredibly bizarre view. Most people who play games don't consider them disposable trash. I don't quite understand why you would post this, given the context. You don't personally care about games, therefore the industry's anti-consumer actions are justifiable?

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I read it as an observation that regardless of license terms, 99% of gamers will loos the ability to play a game after some amount of time (10? 15? 20 years). If you accept that, the change from "buy" to "license" is not as large as it seems.

Except that it’s not true. I can play all the games of my childhood with various emulators. No source code required.

Machine code has always been enough.

Right, you can. Most people can't manage that (or won't be willing to put in the effort).

It's not a complex process whatsoever? Your average consumer can figure it out.

I’m sure most could if they really wanted to. They just don’t.

License terms? Really?

Which license terms, specifically, prevent me from playing a 20-year-old game on a 20-year-old machine?

None. It just won't install or run correctly or well.

Really? Why's that?

> You don't personally care ...

I'm just stating the fact. If you want to own software, you need to get the source code. If you don't get the source code, you're paying $10-$60 per perishable consumable, and should be always be aware of that, not deluding yourself about some "ownership".

I own my personal computer software, from the Linux OS, through code editor, compilers, etc. I have the source code. I personally care, so I do own, and pay extra (in time and money) for that privilege and look down on people who don't, as I think they are foolish. I do not care about the games, so the license deal is fine with me. I played the game already, if I really want to play it again, I can pay $5 on sale again.

If you and others care about owning games, or any other software for that matter, demand and pay for the source code. Otherwise you own nothing.

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