Used Video Games Are Not Evil

I've been seeing a lot of comments from game development spokespeople recently that boil down to "The sale of used copies of our games are killing the industry" and "This problem is worse than piracy." Personally, I just don't see it.

I haven't bought very many used video games, but I've probably got a small handful of them. In each case, I wouldn't have purchased it at full retail price, as it was long after the game had launched - meaning that the quality and quantity of online play would be minimal - and I knew that I wouldn't be getting the full $60 or $70 value that I expect from a new game. Or, to put it another way, I think of it the same way as I do buying a used book, back issue of a comic book, or a second hand lawnmower for that matter: the producers made their money when the item was new, and the vast majority of ancillary sales of it are going to happen at significantly lower amounts and just aren't going to end up making the originators any additional money. Maybe that's not right, but it's the way the world works. Even when an old Marvel or DC comic is sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars, its original publishers don't make a nickel off the transaction. The people who've held onto it all those years are the ones making big bucks, if there are any to be made. And 'twas ever thus.

For game companies to think that their product should somehow be different, such that they receive a piece of the action each and every time it changes hands, is kind of nuts, if you ask me. I have no problem with them building in incentives against that sort of thing - such as providing bonuses in sequels that are only open-able if you still have the previous version kicking around the house - but whining and complaining about used games sales just seems petty and childish to me.