I am writing this both as a letter of complaint but also a clarification for Sony. Being a world renound company, it is only fair that they be informed of their mistakes.
A couple of days ago my 7 year old son (quite an avid gamer) decided that he would like to transfer his Minecraft experience to our new Playstation 4 console. Having been good at school, like any good parent, I decided I would purchase an electronic version of the game for him. Unfortunately, coming from an economically unstable, institutionally corrupt country with the worst human development index on the European continent - Macedonia (known to a few as FYROM), it was not possible for me to sreate a PSN account. Like its other competing consoles, Sony (i thought) had opted to leave out all the coutries which are a testament to governmental and juditional failure like mine!
A simple inquery in a Sony forum yielded the following response: "The reason for your country not having a PSN store is because of your government and legal regulations!" . Fair enough, its true that we suck in that aspect and a lot more!
So, without futher adue, not being able to find Macedonia on the list, I proceeded to the next best thing. Choosing the Netherlands as my country since I have my brother living there with a permanent address. It was during the scrolling to the Netherlands that I found the need to write this letter! Namely, I came accross coutries like: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
This for me was very surprising. It got me thinking whether Sony has done their research on country regulations properly or not. I could not come to ANY logical reason as to why this is so. Hence this letter.
Dear Sony,
I am a Macedonian disgruntled owner of a brand new Sony Playstation 4. Although I completely agree with your policy of encouraging development of corrupt countries by barring them from the PSN Store, I cannot for the life of me understand your criteria for determining which countries qualify and which not for PSN Store.
Namely, being in Macedonia (territorially in Europe), I was informed (via Sony PSN forums) that "It is not in fact Sony's fault that Macodnonia doesn't have a PSN capability, but rather my coutries government and legal regulations are not in accordance to Sony policy!"
Well, I would like to clarify some facts for you! Namely, although we do have quite a bit to go to reach the standerd of say the Netherlands, AND the country is run by a family of totalitarian sociopaths, here is a list of laws that we DONT apply to our citizens:
What prompted this letter?
A couple of days ago my 7 year old son (quite an avid gamer) decided that he would like to transfer his Minecraft experience to our new Playstation 4 console. Having been good at school, like any good parent, I decided I would purchase an electronic version of the game for him. Unfortunately, coming from an economically unstable, institutionally corrupt country with the worst human development index on the European continent - Macedonia (known to a few as FYROM), it was not possible for me to sreate a PSN account. Like its other competing consoles, Sony (i thought) had opted to leave out all the coutries which are a testament to governmental and juditional failure like mine!
A simple inquery in a Sony forum yielded the following response: "The reason for your country not having a PSN store is because of your government and legal regulations!" . Fair enough, its true that we suck in that aspect and a lot more!
So, without futher adue, not being able to find Macedonia on the list, I proceeded to the next best thing. Choosing the Netherlands as my country since I have my brother living there with a permanent address. It was during the scrolling to the Netherlands that I found the need to write this letter! Namely, I came accross coutries like: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
This for me was very surprising. It got me thinking whether Sony has done their research on country regulations properly or not. I could not come to ANY logical reason as to why this is so. Hence this letter.
The actual letter/email
Dear Sony,
I am a Macedonian disgruntled owner of a brand new Sony Playstation 4. Although I completely agree with your policy of encouraging development of corrupt countries by barring them from the PSN Store, I cannot for the life of me understand your criteria for determining which countries qualify and which not for PSN Store.
Namely, being in Macedonia (territorially in Europe), I was informed (via Sony PSN forums) that "It is not in fact Sony's fault that Macodnonia doesn't have a PSN capability, but rather my coutries government and legal regulations are not in accordance to Sony policy!"
Well, I would like to clarify some facts for you! Namely, although we do have quite a bit to go to reach the standerd of say the Netherlands, AND the country is run by a family of totalitarian sociopaths, here is a list of laws that we DONT apply to our citizens:
- Women which have been victims of rape will NOT receive 90 lashes in public for "being alone with a man who is not a relative" - As they do in Saudi Arabia, which has access to the PSN store (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatif_rape_case)
- We DO NOT flog our citizens for alcohol consumption or having "illicit" sex without authorization or for sharing private space with the opposite sex! - As they do in Qatar, which has access to the PSN store (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Qatar#Capital_punishment)
- We have NO LAWS which could land you in jail (or worse) for indecent clothing!!!! - As they do in United Arab Emirates, which has access to the PSN store (http://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/uae-laws-you-must-know-to-stay-out-of-trouble-2012-02-28-1.445519)
- We do not (can not) sustain 7% of the US economy with laundered cash - As does UAE and Qatar.
In fact besides the political/government corruptions (also present in the nations mentioned above), I can safely say that our basic human rights (UNLIKE in the above mentioned nations) are quite safe and protected constitutionally.
I wasn't sure that you guys at Sony are aware of this so I decided to give you some insight to this freely available information!
Finally, I would like to add one more thing Since I assume, being a world class company you also conform by world class ethics, being a Sony customer, and as such, being always right (as a customer), I would like to suggest that having official Sony stores in Macedonia, it is also fitting that you make available the Sony PSN store as well.
Also I would appretiate any feedback on this.
Best regards,
Taner Selim
A Sony customer
1 comment:
When the say "The reason for your country not having a PSN store is because of your government and legal regulations!", they mean economics reasons like taxes and rules that prevent them from publishing certain games, not about other laws that aren't their concern.
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