Would you sell your soul for a video game Console?

A retailer in the UK duped about 7,500 people into selling their souls to buy an X-box 360 in what began as an April Fool's joke, just to see if anyone bothered to read all of the legalese in the contract they were agreeing to.

They rewarded those who took the time to read the contract and declined to sell their souls with a five pound discount.

Online game shoppers duped into selling souls

I first sold my soul to a girl with a very large gap in her teeth. It took me years to get it back. (Yes, souls are recoverable.) But then I met a former trapeze artist from a Hungarian circus. The rest, as they say, is misery.

So I feel a peculiar and vigorous bond with the 7,500 people who, so mesmerized by the idea of buying a video game, sold their souls to the UK gaming retailer GameStation.

You might think I am making this up. You might think that no one can buy someone else's soul. At least, not legally. Well, please check your own soul compartment, just in case you might have inadvertently sold its contents while ordering up a new Xbox 360.

According to Fox News, you see, GameStation decided to slip a clause into the terms and conditions of its purchase contracts that gave the company the rights to your immortal being.

The clause makes for stimulating reading: "By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non-transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorised minions."

The retailer reportedly began this clause as an April Fool's joke, but then developed it in order to prove to itself, the world, and the heated inhabitants of Haedes that no one reads these often draconian draftings.

So it penned this fun addendum to the soul-selling contract: "We reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act. If you a) do not believe you have an immortal soul, b) have already given it to another party, or c) do not wish to grant Us such a license, please click the link below to nullify this sub-clause and proceed with your transaction."

These, you see, are very reasonable people. They do not want merely to steal your soul and make off with it into the digital night. They want you to think very carefully. They want you to take stock of your spiritual situation and consider just how venal a human you have become.

In this case, the retailer not only offered a simple box to tick in order to opt out of the soul sale. It even offered an incentive of a voucher worth five British pounds for merely paying attention to their legalese. But GameStation estimated that almost 90 percent of those offered this redemption did not bother, leaving their souls at the mercy of those who would sell you a Monster Hunter.

Read more: CNet News

It just goes to show that you have to carefully read anything they put in front of it before affixing your signature.




[edit on 4/17/10 by FortAnthem]

Video game =/= video game console.

But...um...did you get an even bigger discount if you agreed to sell your soul? Coz I would have gladly taken the deal...I mean, I'm not really the one getting scammed...if they really got my soul, my body would cease to function.

[edit on 17/4/10 by CHA0S]

Assuming we have a soul, (big big assumption), isn't it also a large assumption that a legal document can take possession of this "soul" in any realistic fashion...

Oh look, I'll also chuck in the magic invisible pixies for the hell of it.

Originally posted by CHA0S
But...um...did you get an even bigger discount if you agreed to sell your soul? Coz I would have gladly signed that piece of paper in that case...I mean, I'm not really the one getting scammed...if they really got my soul, my body would cease to function.

They only provided the discount to people who bothered to read the contract and declined to sell their souls for the game console. (happy, A-E-I-Owned-You)

Those who signed away their souls also lost out on the 5 pound discount. Talk about doubly screwed!

Originally posted by FortAnthem

Originally posted by CHA0S
But...um...did you get an even bigger discount if you agreed to sell your soul? Coz I would have gladly signed that piece of paper in that case...I mean, I'm not really the one getting scammed...if they really got my soul, my body would cease to function.

They only provided the discount to people who bothered to read the contract and declined to sell their souls for the game console. (happy, A-E-I-Owned-You)

Those who signed away their souls also lost out on the 5 pound discount. Talk about doubly screwed!

It wasnt a hit at you, more so at the author of the article.

Originally posted by A-E-I-Owned-You

Originally posted by FortAnthem
They only provided the discount to people who bothered to read the contract and declined to sell their souls for the game console. (happy, A-E-I-Owned-You)

It wasnt a hit at you, more so at the author of the article.

Yeah, I know.

I went back and fixed the title of the thread anyway to avoid confusion.



[edit on 4/17/10 by FortAnthem]

I would trade my soul for a new ps3, I'm not using it anyways....

Consoles are bad...PCs are way way better and more powerful and allow for a greater diversity and control over your game. Didnt any of you ever play BF2? Haha

When I bought my first house, they handed me a thick stack of 25 or so documents to sign.

I went through and read each one before I signed it, and they asked me "What the hell are you doing? You're not going to actually read every one of those before you sign it, are you?" to which I replied "If you want me to sign it I am", and they were literally in a state of shock. They said they have been involved in hundreds of house sales and nobody has ever read all the documents before signing them before.

So if people aren't going to read the fine print when they make what for most people is the largest purchase of their life, it doesn't surprise me they won't read it for a video game console.

By the way I agree with THE_PROFESSIONAL, PCs are better for gaming than consoles. One example is the game "Sid Meier's Civilization IV" which is totally awesome and extremely complex as video games go on the PC. I read an article about how they really dumbed it down in a major way and made it more cartoonish to adapt it for the console. You simply don't have as many commands from a console as you do on a keyboard with all the shift-alt-control options added.

www.gamespot.com...

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution › Dumbed Down Nonsense

"Among other issues, the new game will simplify several game systems from the PC series that have become rather complex over the years."
-GameSpot, Sid Meier preview

"Meier suggested that in order to make the Civ experience work on a console, the team is looking to cram all the excitement of a Civilization session into a two- to three-hour game session, rather than the sometimes-epic sessions the PC versions can stretch into."
-GameSpot, Sid Meier preview

"In addition, much of the game is being streamlined for easier use and accessibility on consoles, such as the technology tree of various scientific upgrades players can research. The tech tree won't be as big as that of Civ IV, but it will have "all the essentials," including everything players need to win the space race."
-GameSpot, Sid Meier preview

"The designer suggested that the space race, as well as economic, military, and culture victories, will all be "equally viable" in the game, all the way up to the very last turn, since the streamlined research model will be more open-ended and let players switch "tracks" midstream from focusing on military might to economic power."
-GameSpot, Sid Meier preview

I mean come on, as far as most TBS games go on the PC, Civilization has always been relatively tame, are console gamers really THAT dumb when it comes to these sorts of games?

I have to say, playing a dumbed down version of the game on a console, you'd be missing out on half the fun. You're running an entire civilization, so even the PC version is dumbed down already from the real experience, why dumb it down even more to go to a console?

Now if simple dumbed-down games is all that interest someone, there's nothing wrong with that, but there's definitely an advantage to the more complex versions of games you can play on PCs.

[edit on 18-4-2010 by Arbitrageur]

Reply to post by Arbitrageur

I used to have that arguement with my friend back in the mid 90`s. He would try so hard to tell me a computer game was better than a playstation game... I said no way, computers are for SLOW games! Try to play a good ps game like jet moto or gran turismo on a pc and you would be skipping like 50 frames for every 1. Today might be a different story, with pcs getting faster. and with my maturity has come a great appreciation for complexity as well as speed. Me and my old friend, Krazy aka MDK from stans wood... loong time ago! lolz!


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by CHA0S
But...um...did you get an even bigger discount if you agreed to sell your soul? Coz I would have gladly taken the deal...I mean, I'm not really the one getting scammed...if they really got my soul, my body would cease to function.

Reading it carefully, they don't automatically take your soul right away. The contract just gives them the option to take your soul at some unspecified later date, should they so desire it. I suspect, if you don't keep buying things from them at a regular clip, that's when the repossession agents come for you. Otherwise, it's bad business on their part to take the souls of their best customers...

They only give you a fiver for reading all the small print?

I'd want a heftier discount than that

(I think reading instructions is for sissies, too)