This is your somewhat regularly scheduled Stop Killing Games update.

Stop Killing Games is an European Citizens Initiative aiming to keep games playable even after their developers and publishers have stopped supporting it.

Germany has hit the threshold sometime yesterday evening. France has also started to catch up. They are still below 50% but there growth over the last couple of days has been the biggest. Netherlands and Denmark are still in the low 90s.

The milestone comes on the eve of this years Gamescom in Cologne, Germany which is set to kick off today. SKG is not going to have an official presence there. (I’ve checked with the organisers) But if you are attending and want to help spread the word I’m happy to share official marketing material, either in the form of flyers or the files for flyers, so you can print your own. They come in both German and English. If you want some, send me a DM.

Relevant links:

  • ZagorathEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    They’ve got options.

    • never build in forced server components to begin with
    • patch out the need for the server as part of the last update before support ends
    • give buyers access to run their own servers with an officially-provided executable and set the client to connect to that executable
    • open source the whole thing

    And maybe others. It’s about making sure that a product you have paid for actually works as it was sold to you. It’s honestly a really basic consumer protection concept. You sell me a television and it stops working within a reasonable lifetime due to your own failure, and you’re obligated to repair or replace it. The same should be true of software.

    • dino@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      Lol, yea exactly. Thats why electornic devices stop working after their guarantee runs out 80% of the time… ;)