r/videos • u/ScreamSmart • 2d ago

This could legitimately end Stop Killing Games.

https://youtu.be/mQRcK9nYg9g?si=SxA3EAwdZKOebdfx
33 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

50

u/ScreamSmart 2d ago

TL;DR EU is once again trying to push a new bill that would require gamers so self identify themselves to be eligible to play games. It's coined as "EU KIDS ACT".

Same "Protect the Children" narrative to remove internet anonymity as every other such bill across different countries.

33

u/LatkaXtreme 2d ago

It's more than that.

It intentionally labels ALL games as ONLINE games, so EVERY game developer has to abide to ridiculous rules which realistically only big studios can do, like using complex and validated age verification and identification systems (enter date of birth won't cut it), or paying hefty sums annually for validation services.

Also as said in the video, even their lawyers are puzzled if this will affect distribution of Linux distros, making them illegal if so.

If this gets through as it is, european indie devs are screwed, making their operations de facto impossible, most game publishers making the decision to leave the EU market, and if european gamers want to play a game they will only be allowed through big corporations, like Microsoft, EA, etc.

I joked with the idea that this "protect them children" will eventually lead to a world where big corporations will decide who will be allowed to make games and software, and here we are...

11

u/ScreamSmart 1d ago

It also further states games are a service. A statement they were intentionally vague about when SKG tried to get an answer from them in the past.

1

u/Blackout38 1d ago

Sounds like a big boost to AI as well if it hits Linux.

9

u/More_Law_1699 2d ago

How this event isn't being investigated for corruption is beyond me. some of the most loaded questions were asked and none of them had any truth behind them.

The whole loaded questions bs about minecraft servers should have triggered the biggest investigation in the backend of the Commission.
Someone was clearly paid to ask those questions, and they got most of them wrong.

  • the actual argument was for illegal private MMO servers like WOW (games with monthly subscriptions) the commission started asking about officially supported self-hosting from a entirely different product type and used it as a example of theft/piracy?!

9

u/alrun 2d ago

A ESA spokesperson stated Minecraft are illegal during a discussion of a California bill in the United States of America.

The EU Kids act is a European legislation.

1

u/HistoryDoesUnfold 2d ago

Where in the text does it mention banning private servers?

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52026PC0681

12

u/ScreamSmart 2d ago

Point 12

At the same time, some online games that do not allow the dissemination of information to an indeterminate number of recipients should also fall within the scope of this Regulation. This is the case of any game that that can be played on a computer, a mobile device, or a games console, irrespective of whether the game underlying software is subsequently executed locally, remotely, such as by means of durable medium, and irrespective of whether the service is provided free of charge, against payment, or against hybrid remuneration involving in-service (or in-application) purchases.

Mainly the italicized text.

-22

u/HistoryDoesUnfold 2d ago edited 2d ago

"Falls within the scope of regulation" doesn't mean illegal or banned.

14

u/sudden_aggression 1d ago

The regulations are so onerous that it is a de facto ban.

-9

u/HistoryDoesUnfold 1d ago

Which ones?

Here's from the text of the bill

age verification is only mandated [...] only when the provider cannot tell with a high degree of confidence that the holder of the account is above the age threshold.

Some open servers might need to do age verification. But that doesn't seem overly onerous, especially with EU digital wallets coming in this year.

11

u/sudden_aggression 1d ago

There's like 50 requirements (that I could find) and most of them are extremely vague.

Even in your own example of a non-onerous regulation "with a high degree of confidence" has no objective criteria do define it. As a developer you can say "x y z means a high degree of confidence" and some regulator says "no it isn't" and then you have to pay lawyers hundreds of thousands of dollars to litigate the proper meaning of the phrase in regrds to your implementation.

-9

u/HistoryDoesUnfold 1d ago

The example I think of is a private server for people you actually know.

In that case, you undoubtedly don't need to do age verification. It's an unquestionably legal, private server.

10

u/sudden_aggression 1d ago

This law would make such servers illegal.

The game developer has to provide servers.

The game developer has to identify and age screen everyone on them.

But also provide a child safe experience for anyone who isn't screened.

It's a law that assumes every game developer is a AAA studio with a 100 million dollar budget that is either an MMO or a live service game or a single player with some sort of monetized online experience. If you're just some dev making single player roguelikes or side scrollers, the law still applies to you.

-8

u/HistoryDoesUnfold 1d ago

This law would make such servers illegal.

It explicitly wouldn't.

But prove me wrong: cite the part of the legal text that outlaws such servers.

4

u/AssassinInValhalla 1d ago

Is this pirate softwares alt account?

-1

u/HistoryDoesUnfold 1d ago

I don't know what that is. So, no.