Games Reseller Buys 7500 Immortal Souls

UK retailer Gamestation legally bought 7500 of its customers’ immortal souls in an extended April Fool’s prank which demonstrated that the vast majority of people do not read the terms and conditions when buying online.

The retailer added an “Immortal Soul” clause to its terms and condition agreements on 1st April, and kept it there for two weeks as an informal survey to reveal how many people read the small print when making a purchase.

Souls taken in part-payment

The result is a literally damning indictment of shopping habits: 7500 people, or 88 percent of people buying online at Gamestation in the last two weeks, scrolled past the new clause and unknowingly gave their soul to Gamestation in part-payment for a video game.

Only twelve percent spotted the clause, and ticked the opt-out box, to be rewarded with a £5 voucher towards other purchases.

The result should be a wake-up call to everyone. File-sharers, for instance may not realise they have agreed to certain conditions when buying material online, and the new Digital Economy Act will allow copyright owners to clamp down on them hard – even if they are unaware of the conditions they have agreed to online, or unaware of any file-sharing at all. Apple, in particular has come in for criticism of the restrictions it places on material.