"Unlock."

At least that implies that the good is capable of being locked. “Buy” says that I’m buying the thing.

Indeed, the idea of ownership is a basic natural concept that lawyers are trying to erase with newspeak and nonsensical hidden terms. It's a concept that's been unchanged for millions of years, even before humans existed. If you disagree with me, try taking a bone away from a dog chewing on it. It even goes back to single-cell organisms: even the mitochondrium is just [a cell owned by another cell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiogenesis).

And can you sell it afterwards?

The gaming industry is not ready for that discussion yet, but you absolutely should be able to.

It's being discussed in courts, see e.g. https://www.eurogamer.net/french-court-rules-steam-users-hav....

You should be able to if it is being advertised as “buy”. They should just say gain access to use it or something like that if they are not really selling anything.

If you're in the EU, you can :

https://www.clarionsolicitors.com/articles/reselling-used-so...

It might be difficult in practice though, with platforms like Steam providing no means to actually resell a game to someone else.

case in point amazon kindle and "buy"

"Get."

But you bought a license to use the game. If you had truly bought the game you would be within your legal right to resell it (via copying to 100 people), which you are not.

I like the distinction - pirating isn't stealing, licensing isn't buying. Clear and concise.

You bought one license to the game which should be resellable exactly once by the purchaser.

In the physical world you buy physical copies of things. Certainly in the digital world, you could buy digital copies.

that's like saying if you bought a title to a bridge you would be within your legal right to resell it (via copying the title 100 times with a photo copier).

it's all just whatever people agree upon is the correct thing to do, and people don't agree that what you're saying is the correct thing to do.

>people don't agree that what you're saying is the correct thing to do.

Other than the current written law (which is very, very, influenced by corporate lobbyists), how are you coming to this conclusion?

i wasn't talking about written law, i was talking about what people agree with. the law is something separate from that.

>If you had truly bought the game

I think this is the point. We want to truly buy with a Buy action, and license or subscribe with License and Subscribe actions. I'm sure people would be mad even if a Licensed or Subscribed item would cease to work, but it's more honest, than saying that someone Bought something.

Just like when you buy a book you’re allowed to photocopy it and sell the copies?

Buying a book means buying the paper the book is printed on, the intellectual content (text) is not bought. You are allowed to resell the paper. And you are in fact not buying a license to use a book when you buy a book, you are literally buying the actual physical book.

If you were buying the paper, then two books of the same page count (even if those pages were blank) would be the same price and interchangeable. They are not. Likewise if you were paying for the paper, then a book with no paper, such as an audiobook, would be free. Again it is not. You are buying some form of media that contains the intellectual content.

No, like when you buy a book and the vendor isn't allowed to come into your house and take it away from you with no refund and no recourse.

Creating a copy is violation of copyright. Owning a book, reading it, then reselling the copy you own is not.

'Buying' digital goods nowadays means the vendor can take the goods away from you at any time, for any reason, with zero compensation, and absolutely no possible way to recover said goods.

> Creating a copy is violation of copyright

Correction: creating a copy that doesn't follow fair use requirements, is a violation of copyright.

If I buy a book, that does not give me the right to print 100 copies of the book and sell them. Indeed if I buy a lawnmower, that does not give me the right to make 100 identical copies and sell them. The right to manufacture something is not a fundamental part of purchasing an individual item.

If I can't make copies I don't own it, is it my book or not?

I challenge you to find me a major online store where a game's page says you are only buying a license. I just went to https://store.steampowered.com/app/582010/Monster_Hunter_Wor... and the first link says "Buy Monster Hunter: World". By every indication, I'm buying it in the same sense I buy a physical book from an online bookseller.

Now, fortunately, it's illegal to mislead customers that way.

When you “buy” a concert ticket, are you buying the artist? The venue? The rights to the song?

When you click the button labeled “Buy”, you buy a license. You’re not buying the source code, or the company that makes the game, or the copyright, or the website.

Almost all words in language have more than one meaning depending on context. Except maybe to you.

If I go to an online store and buy a paperback, they will mail me a copy of it that I may keep for the rest of my life. I can read it 100 times if I want to.

Before this law, I could go through that exact process to get a e-book, but then they could come back later and revoke my ability to read the e-book that I “bought”.

Those two cannot use the same word. They are not the same class of transaction. The latter is more like a rental or lease. They both live behind a “buy” button, though.

If I’m told I’m buying an e-book, and the seller later steals it from me by making it unreadable, I have no qualms about obtaining a replacement copy through other channels. I already paid for it; I’m going to have and enjoy it.

You are buying an experience on that night. Similar to buying food at a restaurant

You aren't buying a bad faith argument.

No, you're literally buying an entry ticket. If you were buying an experience, you could sue because the beer was not to your taste.

You’re asking me to remember something that you explicitly state is your personal opinion?

Rather, he’s saying if someone sold something to you, you get to use it. I don’t think any further analysis of this comment will yield anything more.

Money can be exchanged for goods and services. (And licenses, but don’t obscure that point in the fine print.)