It's not that games can't work as books, it's that books can't work like games.

Trust me, if book publishers could keep you from actually owning a physical book, from reselling it, from photocopying it, from lending it to a friend, they would. And with ebooks they do.

The fact that games are software gives publishers additional capabilities and control over the product, and they take advantage of that control to limit user control whenever possible. You just can't do that with a pile of paper bound together, otherwise they would.

This is where legislation can come in though. We need to make it legally clear that when you buy something you really own it. Renting, leasing, licensing, these ideas aren't bad on their own, but you can't call that "buying" and the venue offering these services shouldn't be called a "store". If it's called a store, it needs to be actually selling things, otherwise the entire business is disingenuous and deceptive.