Edit2: As of third of July we’ve achieved the minimum amount of 1 million signatures! But organizers recommend as many signatures as possible to cover for possible invalidations (1.5M would be ideal). If you have not yet signed, you can still help!

Onto the post.

Yarr citizens of the high seas! The Stop Killing Games movement is still ongoing and we’ve recently had a second wind. It’s within reach!

We’re all lovers of media in here, and games currently have no safeguard that guarantees that they won’t be locked down long after being released and abandoned. If crackers help us, they can still be played long into the future, but many times there isn’t such a possibility, specially in multiplayer games.

This initiative seeks to change that by mainly:

  • Disallowing planned obsolesce in paid video games. (Ex: By disallowing phone-home based DRM after the game reaches end of life. Like in Ubisoft’s The Crew)
  • Ensuring that paid multiplayer games can still be reasonably played long into the future. (Ex: By releasing relevant server hosting software)

If you didn’t sign yet, there is only one month left. Tell your friends too.

Do you live in the EU?

Do you live in the UK?

Do you live elsewhere or would like to know more?

Disclaimer: Reminder post, sort of relevant since piracy movements have much to benefit from this initiative.

Have a fine day!

  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 hours ago

    Either stopkillinggames.com has crashed…

    Or the counter has exceeded its max possible value.

    UPDATE:

    We’ve done it.

    Don’t stop signing up!

    Get these damn numbers as high as they can go!

    Clocked at about 16:13 UTC/GMT, or 4:13 PM UTC/GMT, Thursday July 3rd, 2025.

    Fuck July 4th.

    Gamers…

    This is our independence day.

  • Scrollone@feddit.it
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    16 hours ago

    KEEP SIGNING EVEN AFTER THE THRESHOLD HAS BEEN REACHED!

    Signatures will be checked and, historically, 10% to 20% of signatures have been invalidated.

    So we need to get at least 1.3 million signatures to be completely safe.

    KEEP SHARING!

  • Damage@feddit.it
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    19 hours ago

    Given the impressive increase in signing rate, I’m a bit afraid it’ll turn out to have been tampered with

    • Scrollone@feddit.it
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      16 hours ago

      Yes, that’s why it’s important to gather more than 1 million signatures. At least 1.3 million to be on the safe side.

      At the end of the collection, all invalid signatures will be deducted from the total.

      So now it’s more important than ever to keep sharing and signing.

  • czl@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    An important reminder that if this can be enacted into law, there is a chance it would not only apply to games but also at some point maybe to all software that does not require a server to operate most basic functions (ie. looking at you adobe)

    Sign it, and get your friends and family to sign it because the proposal is pretty common sense: if you buy something, you should own it.

    • spy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      Another reminder that if enacted, in practice this is not only for Europeans.

      If games have to be reasonably playable in Europe then they will be reasonably playable everywhere.

      This benefits all consumers one way or another.

      More importantly though, for everything, like the comment I’m replying to mentions: If you buy something you should own it.

    • ArkyonVeil@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      2 days ago

      Personally hoping this opens the door to discussing planned obsolescence in the digital realm as a whole, from games to software. It’s corporate wild west over here.

    • istdaslol@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      You don’t need any ID to sign it, so you can sign it on their behalf if they give you verbal permission.

    • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      Sign it, and get your friends and family to sign it because the proposal is pretty common sense: if you buy something, you should own it.

      ESPECIALLY when it’s advertised as ownership and not a rental service.

    • antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      This is mainly why I signed it. I honestly don’t care about new games, and the whole narrative around the campaign is frankly infantile, but it should at the very least be a start towards fighting such practices in general.

  • beesthetrees@feddit.uk
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    2 days ago

    Remember everyone, 1 million is a MINIMUM goal. Keep signing afterwards if/when we reach the milestone, as some signatures can be declared invalid due to errors like wrong spelling, so we need every single person we can get in the EU to sign this!

    • Droolio@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      WTF! How did it hit target already? Hope there wasn’t any bot farming involved…

      Otherwise, pleasantly surprised!

  • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    Glad to be proven wrong on this. I’m not very confident at the EU will act (the UK already said in February they are not going to) BUT hopefully this can at least get some grass roots momentum going and they can turn this petition initiative into something sustainable for the long-term

    • Jrockwar@feddit.uk
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      1 day ago

      Well the UK said they have no plans but now they have to actually debate it in Parliament. So it’s better than nothing - at least the proposal gets a chance to be heard.

    • Damage@feddit.it
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      2 days ago

      Let’s say you’re company x budgeting y millions to make a game, after this passes, you may want to account for the fact that the EU may legislate the issue in the years it takes you to develop your game. Might as well work on compliance in advance.

      Yeah, wishful thinking, I know.

      • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        That only works if the EU signals that they are taking this into serious consideration, which I don’t really think they will, but I want to be very clear that I don’t think the effort is therefore fruitless. I just hope people understand that this petition doesn’t even count as a start lol. We have to build off of this or it just fizzles out.

        At this point the petition works best as an organizing force if you ask me. Gets people informed and hopefully involved

        • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          I will be so pissed if this gets 1 million signatures and they just hand-wave it away, which is entirely possible, but it’s still worth signing this anyway.

          • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip
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            1 day ago

            That is by far and away the most likely outcome but still, people should sign it and follow the initiative as it moves forward with other plans

    • Dutczar@sopuli.xyz
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      2 days ago

      EU has done some legislation on microtransactions, the most recent one being mandatory real-life currency price tags instead of the in-game currency ones.

      It could be seen as a gambling issue rather than digital ownership, but it at least means they pay attention to video games.

      • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        Predatory corporate practices that are pissing off parents as they harm children are a lot easier than “video games are art and should be preserved,” unfortunately

        • SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org
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          1 day ago

          But we got a lot of consumer protection going on and a right to repair movement. For instance phone batteries will have to be easily replaceable again starting in 26 or 27, can’t remember. None of that has anything to do with protecting the children and it still all passed. Video games are already recognized as art btw. All we need now is consumer protection for digital products, it’s extremely lacking in that department.

  • Ms. ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    Do I have to be a citizen of the EU or just live there? I’m going to be moving to Sweden soon but won’t be a citizen for a long while still

    • ArkyonVeil@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      2 days ago

      Citizens only I’m afraid. You can still help though by spreading this around, if any of your friends are EU citizens they can help.