Kevin

@Hoops

THIS!!! Wow, I can't believe I had to scroll through so many comments to find someone making this argument. I completely agree. I have a friend who behaves that way and he would buy a lot less games if it weren't as affordable to buy and sell games.

When you impose this extra cost on the second-hand market, it means that less people will play the game. This hurts brand recognition, word of mouth, consumer goodwill, and the likelihood that the player is going to buy BF4 (or 5 or 6 and so on). So you're spot on, it's a short-sighted cash grab that unfortunately is now the norm in the industry.

@(Unverified)

I complained because I had missed out, and I just got my free stuff. Thanks for being reasonable, Sony! I wasn't upset about missing the 30-day trial, just the free games because I didn't understand the logic of putting an expiration date on that offer (I understand why there's a limit on the PSN+ offer).

I own both systems, but end up playing almost exclusively on Xbox because that's what my friends play. So, I had simply forgotten about the offer/existence of deadline and hadn't visited Joystiq until after the offer had been (prematurely) pulled. If that makes me an idiot or unworthy to teh core gamerz on here, then so be it. But it's the truth. Now, I'm mildly psyched to play them because the consensus is they're good titles.

Hasn't this guy ever heard of Number Munchers?

@mrantley

First off, thanks for responding to my post. I wasn't sure if anyone was still reading this thread. Further, I tried to put some thought and effort into it, and you have done the same. I get the sense this is somewhat rare in this medium, so again, thanks!

I agree with you that the science is definitely undeveloped and inconclusive. That's partially my point as to why we shouldn't outright dismiss the idea that it may someday prove that exposure to this kind of content is significantly detrimental. Games are firmly heading in the direction of "reality simulators" with all of the technical advancements. There is a qualitative difference between Mario stomping a goomba and Noob ripping someone in half--I don't think it takes a psyc degree to grasp that concept, at least intuitively.

Believe me, I'm generally in agreement with your "parental responsibility" argument--I've identified myself as a libertarian for a long time. I just think it rings hollow in certain contexts, and increasingly so in this day-and-age. This is because our lives are becoming more and more interconnected, for better or worse.

Why are there laws requiring seatbelt use? It's no harm to anyone else if I don't wear a belt while driving (I always do), right? I might be maimed in an accident, but that's my problem, isn't it? No, the law is there because if I am maimed due to not using it, it affects the resources of the health care system and the tax dollars of citizens.

Now, you may counter-argue that no tax dollars should go to healing me in that case, and many people do make that argument. But, it would take a fundamental shift in our political culture for that reality to ever exist. It would mean a reversal of almost every law passed since the Progressive era 100 years ago concerning the interplay between private freedom and public duty.

I'm just saying IF (and I know it's a big "if") a detrimental link is proven, then I see no problem with the Constitution or with my personal conception of a republican society in restricting minor's access to it. Again, I personally don't like the way the proposed bill was written and I share your concerns over demagoguery, but I am not closed off to such a restriction if the science backs it up.

@BigEgo007

It seems like the average 'net tard can't discern the difference between "affect" and "effect" and "who" and "that." Am I the only one who sees that?

@BigEgo007

Oh, I'm a drama queen? Dude, I think you need to experience the Internet more if you think I'm somehow over-the-top. I'm just pointing out that Sony got themselves into this mess in the first place, and they're compounding it by not keeping the offer available for an extra 24 hours. That's all it would take--it's not much, especially when they said "through July 3rd." And the tweet from the PR guy doesn't help either.

I'm really not THAT upset about it. It's just the attitude from people like you (that's apparently echoed by Sony's officials) that has moved me to post more on this thread than I have on any other thread since the development of Web 2.0.

@Lucky48

Yes, I clearly have no common sense. If you didn't have a PS3 network account before the outage, then this deal doesn't apply to you, and you would still have to buy the games. So there's still resell value there, right? And if it's like you say and everyone affected SHOULD have downloaded the games, then that has already "destroyed" the resale value...they shouldn't have even offered them in the first place if they were so concerned about the resale value of 4- and 5-year old games.

@nbays

Amen! Rubenstein would fit in well among the people posting here. All that was missing from his tweet was "if u waited, ur an idiot."

@Anarqi

Sure, they didn't need to offer it. They didn't need to expose our personal information to hackers via a critical security flaw, either. Nor did they "need" to deny users access to the network for an unprecedented amount of time (over a month). But, in fact, these things did happen. Do you understand the concept of "goodwill"?

@Tihn

I know....the dismissive and insular nature of "gamers" continually amazes me. It's no more evident than in this thread. Since their lives revolve around either playing games or reading about games on the Internet, it is unfathomable to them that there are other legitimate customers whose lives don't.

Why was there an expiration date on the free games in the first place? How am I somehow less disadvantaged/put-out by their unprecedented breach and outage on July 3rd than I was on June 3rd? Yet, the vast majority of comments on here don't address these questions. It's just, "LOL I got mine. F the other guy. He's either an idiot or not deserving of owning a PS3 in the first place."