by Phoenix, HSM team writer

All of us have heard of rent to own, or leasing to own: this applies to items of substance and value in the real world. We pay a purchasing fee for these items we can’t seem to live without, or maybe an item we need, for whatever reason. We buy and pay for things every day, and once that transaction is concluded we own said item: lamp, sofa, desk, shoes, dress, sports jacket – the list of items is innumerable.

But what happens in the virtual world when we pay for an item? We own it, right? We paid and received it, so we own it, right?

Well, no; that isn’t what happens. We don’t own anything in our virtual world; not even our virtual self is ours.  Everything we have forked
over funds for in our virtual world is on loan from SCEE or SCEA.

“I paid good money for that personal space and those furnishings!” Comes the inevitable response. “They were downloaded to my account; I see them and use them every day. Of course they are mine!”

Sorry, but no: nothing in this world of Home is yours or mine. Read the fine print: you pay to have access to some entitlement metadata sitting on a server. The content we pay for is only ours to use as Sony sees fit to lease it. If they see fit to remove said items, then they can. No warning, no explanation.  If that item breaks, as far as we can see, there is nothing in the contract that says Sony must repair that item. If it disappears, the same goes for that scenario. We simply have a leased item in our inventory that does not function as it was created to, or goes missing, as can happen. True, some developers we notified will see to repairs, but in the end those repairs are to their product files, not our owned content.

It’s important to have perspective. The concept of ownership in a digital — and virtual — world is a bit different than the brick-and-mortar analog world of yesteryear.

So how does that make you feel? If you’re angry, think of this way: how could you own a virtual item? I mean, where would you keep it without Home? Outside of Home there is nowhere that these items can be used; they are virtual, and built to exist on this one platform.

Think of it as owning a star. A while back, there was a craze to purchase stars (celestial bodies, not celebrity bodies). People paid money and got a picture of a cosmic ball of light. This was supposed to be the star they now owned. Out of all the billions of stars out there, they would be hard pressed to point out or even visit their star, yet they bought them.

Whenever the inevitable day comes that Home shuts down — which, hopefully, is still quite some time away — what could you do with all the swag you’ve accumulated in Home? Home is a virtual world, and so it has virtual content. None of this content was ever meant to belong anywhere but where it is, in Home. Just like the stars: something can be beautiful and appealing, and yet tantalizingly out of reach. So why be angry or upset that you don’t own what you’ve purchased? You paid for a virtual item, and got a lot of fun out of it.

I wrote this piece because I overheard a couple discussing what would happen to all their stuff when the servers go offline for the last time (like it or not, the topic of Home’s future is the single overriding issue in community dialogue right now). What happens to all the things you’ve bought?

The answer is nothing — because you own nothing. You’ve only leased it for an undefined amount of time. It’s natural that when paying money for something — real money — we think of the items as ours. And technically they are, after a fashion, for as long as they are there and we use Home. There is no replacement clause or recompense addendum to the lease contract.

Stop complaining that you want a refund or intend to demand some compensation. From a company PR standpoint it would be nice to have such, but contractually we as consumers agreed to the rules of the game when we signed up for it. Unless some of you have a secret virtual world out there, where your Home content will function and you can visit it in a great virtual warehouse somewhere, you don’t own it. And one day, just like Home, it will be gone.

Whether that day comes a week from now, a year from now, or a decade from now, it doesn’t matter. Remember why you bought that content in the first place: to have fun. And, for many of you, your microtransactions have brought you years of fun. So keep some perspective — and enjoy what you’ve spent your money on.

Share

One Response to “Virtual Property Ownership Rights”

1. Gary160974 says:

   May 8, 2014 at 5:42 pm

   Users tend to forget the amount of dlc and add ons to games they don’t use anymore. My ps3 download list is littered with characters, add ons, cars, weapons, levels and outfits thst I’ve got rid of or don’t play the game anymore. With any virtual items or add ons, you either dump it yourself or you hang on to it for so long it becomes out of date. Just enjoy what your buying. At least then if it goes you can say I got my money’s worth.

   Reply