ABSTRACT
By making the case for a right not to use Internet to play videogames, this chapter reminds the reader of the entanglement between Intellectual property rights, contract law, and privacy issues. Since videogame sector became THE entertainment sector with massive investment in the AAA videogames, the use of Internet enables business models limiting the rights of players, evolving from the audience to customers. This evolution affects the relationship of the players with the game. This is manifested both by the quality of the game, i.e., instability and bugs included in the software emulating the videogames, and by the reduction of freedoms granted to players. Those are trapped by captives figures hiding blurred contracts limiting their right as copyholders ensured by technical means and by a “consented” intrusion in their privacy, this trap being set up to guarantee the publishers interests. As explain in this chapter, the recognition of a right not to use Internet to play videogames could thwart this imprisonment by redistributing the respective role of each actors: publishers providing a stable game, players enjoying freely their copy without any intrusion.
