An advocacy group for video game players is pushing to label digital rights management on retail boxes and to standardize end-user license agreements across all games.
Entertainment Consumers Association founder Hal Halpin has asked the Federal Trade Commission to require labeling of DRM on game boxes so the customer knows what installation restrictions are in store or whether any rootkits or other invasive software will be installed. He explained his goals in an extensive interview with Ars Technica, in which he said disclosure is of "paramount importance."
Ideas include some sort of icon on the front of the box -- similar to the ESRB content ratings that appear in the bottom corner -- with more detailed information on the back. Halpin hopes the concept can be introduced without legislation.
As for end-user license agreements, or EULAs, Halpin wants publishers to create a standardized agreement instead of "30 or 40" different ones. "People go into the store, buy the game, open it, and they can no longer return it ... by standardizing the EULA, consumers will have the confidence to know what it is they're agreeing to before they buy the product," he said.
That idea met some resistance from industry attorneys, but Halpin is optimistic. Before starting the ECA, he headed the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, which helped to standardize PC game box sizes and to include helpful logos like "PC-CDROM." "These were not herculean undertakings, and they didn't require legislation. So if we can do those things, then certainly we can do these," Halpin said.
The ECA has been around for a few years now, and while they own the popular Web site GamePolitics, I've found most of their previous efforts -- focused on legitimizing video games and fighting anti-game legislation -- similar to those of more powerful lobbying groups, such as the Entertainment Software Association. The DRM and EULA issue, however, has some real meat on it because it acts solely in the interest of players, and will surely meet resistance from publishers.
Kudos to Halpin and the ECA for finding a worthy cause.
