On 20 December 2024, the European Pirate Party (PPEU) endorsed a citizens’ initiative called “Stop Killing Games” to protect gamers’ rights.[1] This initiative came about in response to Ubisoft’s decision to abruptly cut paying customers’ access to a game titled The Crew. We obviously support and endorse this initiative, but we do find it addresses only one of the many factors that are killing videogames: the violation of gamers’ rights as consumers. Videogames, however, are more than mere consumer products. Like movies and books, they are forms of artistic expression and, through their narratives, tropes, and symbolism, they reflect the artistic, mental, social, political, and emotional landscape of their creators and players. As interactive cultural artifacts though, they do not just reflect all these aspects, but they influence them, as the interactivity of the medium makes them extremely powerful influence tools.
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