Microsoft’s DRM backlash now has backlash of its own, as a group of Xbox One devotees have created an online petition to reverse Microsoft’s new anti-DRM stance.
When the Xbox One first debuted at E3 2013, the majority reaction was one of stunned anger. The new games look good, and the new console seems as serviceable as Sony’s next device, but then Microsoft got around to discussing the system’s digital rights management scheme. Had Microsoft stuck with its initial plan, the Xbox One would refuse to play used games and players would need to maintain an active internet connection simply to play the titles they do own.
The outrage over this announcement was immediate and overwhelming. Within mere days of its Xbox One press conference, Microsoft decided to drop its DRM scheme and instead fall back on roughly the same anti-piracy measures seen in the Xbox 360. Hearing this, the Internet rejoiced (then immediately went back to hating everything save for pornography and pictures of adorable kittens).
All of this occurred weeks ago, and we’d assumed that it would be last anyone would hear of the Xbox One’s draconian DRM. Turns out we were wrong. At this very moment an online petition is collecting signatures in an effort to convince Microsoft to return to its cast-off DRM scheme.
Why? We’ll let the official description seen on the petition’s Change.org page explain:
This was to be the future of entertainment. A new wave of gaming where you could buy games digitally, then trade, share or sell those digital licenses. Essentially, it was Steam for Xbox. But consumers were uninformed, and railed against it, and it was taken away because Sony took advantage of consumers uncertainty.
We want this back. It can’t be all or nothing, there must be a compromise.
The petition then asks people to digitally sign a short message to Microsoft, which reads, “Give us back the Xbox One we were promised at E3[.]” Please note that we added the period at the end of that sentence, because that’s how our language works.
As of this moment, the petition has attracted 3,143 signatures. It needs just 1,856 more before … well, we don’t really know. Do the people behind this campaign intend to send all of this to Microsoft? I can’t see a few thousand signatures affecting the company to any real degree, particularly given that the petition looks like it was written by barely-literate teenagers. I’m not saying that to slam the people behind this movement, but there’s just no way Microsoft can take a petition seriously if it lacks simple elements like proper punctuation or any sort of compelling argument beyond “we want this, you’re jerks for taking it from us.” It all seems very entitled, doesn’t it?
Still, to each their own. If you’re with this group, please take a moment to visit Change.org to toss your name into the swelling ranks of petition supporters. Or you could sit at home and revel in apathy while eating Otter Pops. If history’s any indication, that’s usually the best way to deal with online petitions.
Source: Change.org
