(mini rant) "Hardcore" gamers are too concerned about physical copies

[Krispyboi]

I think the reason people obsess over physical copies is because of a small sense of nostalgia.
Nostalgia of back in the ol' days when you had to go outside and buy games in person at a shop then come back home to open up the box and put it into the console. When you didn't have to just sit in front of a screen and plug in your credit card number for 5 minutes. Nostalgia is great, everyone loves memories of doing fun stuff as a kid but I think the people that obsess over physical copies just try way too hard to keep holding on to that nostalgic feeling.

 

[FAST6191]

I think the reason people obsess over physical copies is because of a small sense of nostalgia.
Nostalgia of back in the ol' days when you had to go outside and buy games in person at a shop then come back home to open up the box and put it into the console. When you didn't have to just sit in front of a screen and plug in your credit card number for 5 minutes. Nostalgia is great, everyone loves memories of doing fun stuff as a kid but I think the people that obsess over physical copies just try way too hard to keep holding on to that nostalgic feeling.

How many people back then got given games as gifts? Or only played given games round a friend's house? Or maybe rented them? Like I don't think I technically ever owned (or pirated) a copy of GTA 3 or vice city but I played them enough that even all these years later I can still remember the cheats, story beats and probably most of the map (or at least where a bulk of the game took place).

Don't get me wrong I have even heard "I don't want flash carts because I want a label, smell and annoyances of carts", and any amount of people willing to put in some serious coin to get/make a repro for similar reasons, and could well see that being a factor for some. As anything close to a dominant factor in the debate? No chance.

 

[linuxares]

Physical = I actually own it.
Digital = I hope I can always own it.

 

[gamesquest1]

its simply about freedom simply, am I free to do what I want with the game I bought, can I resell it and recoup part of my original investment, can I give it to a friend if I don't like it, can I "regift" it to someone else if I forget about their birthday and don't want to seem like a jerk, do I want to be able to play the game still in however many years or do I have to just hope Sony/Nintendo/MS are still supporting redownloading on older systems

not only that, its also about freedom to find a bargain or wait a few months to when people are reselling at a price im more willing to pay, if all games are digital only prices will stay inflated much longer, I have found some real good bargain on games a few weeks after release, where the brand new retail price is £60 and I get the game for £15/20 because the original owner needs some quick cash or something, both me and the seller are much happier to have that option than they be screwed and not have that quick cash to cover an unexpected bill and I would either have to pay the full £60 or wait 2 years till the devs finally drop the price, the only winner in a digital only marketplace are publishers and developers who get to rake in probably 5 times the cash over the life of the game as people have no freedom to choose second hand copies you gain nothing, the prices would be just as high, and stay that high much longer without any competition to buy from

 

[nxwing]

I try and go physical as much as possible. Nostalgia plays a factor but my unstable and sometimes slow internet connection plays an even bigger factor. There's also the fact that if I want to, I can easily sell my copy or lend it to a friend for borrowing.

 

[Hielkenator2]

Clearly you did not experience the video game crash in the 80's.
Besides the fact this has nothing to do with the quality of games nowadays, the fact that ANY publisher can choose to delist or REMOVE the game YOU BOUGHT, just does not seem fair. What did you invest in AIR? It is like the game you bought is stolen, when that happens. And it has happened to me btw.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I know collections are nice, and it's always reassuring to know you have physical things that can't be lost with a hard drive crash, but it seems like most people are way too quick to dismiss digital games. When you buy digital, you don't have to worry about games getting lost or damaged. You also have the convenience of not having to take the time to put a disk into a console.
I've heard the argument that "I don't want to pay $60 for access to some code that I can't actually own. Then I can't trade or resell games." This argument is pretty dumb. When you buy a game, you're never paying for the value of the actual physical good, you're paying for the code that makes up the game, i.e. the product. Discs are dirt cheap to manufacture. As for the whole "trading" thing, that's just an unfortunate side effect of the times.
Tl;Dr:
Digital games are way more convenient than physical even though physical looks nice

You will still have to buy media to store your games on especially on Switch.

 

[::Phoenix::]

I think here the issue over which people always discuss is not even physical vs digital. The real matter here is DRM. If digital was only DRM free, and *all* games were available digitally DRM free, most people in this thread would more easily converge to a consensus. DRM is the worst thing that could happen to gaming, not its digital distribution.

 

[rmorris003]

I prefer the cheapest price but I love the convenience of digital as my XB collection is mostly digital while my PS4 collection is half and half because I primary use my XB. PS4 has no tax for Canada so that is also a bonus.

 

[gamesquest1]

I think here the issue over which people always discuss is not even physical vs digital. The real matter here is DRM. If digital was only DRM free, and *all* games were available digitally DRM free, most people in this thread would more easily converge to a consensus. DRM is the worst thing that could happen to gaming, not its digital distribution.

being brutally honest I can see why they want DRM, if every game was DRM free (which would probably also cover piracy protection on game disks) they would certainly loose a lot of sales, the main issue is they want to have their cake and eat it, if they could just stop being greedy fucks and honour the system of being allowed to sell the item you purchased then everything would be fine DRM or not as long as it isn't obnoxiously overzealous DRM, instead its like buying clothes and being forced to chain them to your wardrobe for life, no your friend can't borrow your suit for a funeral, no you can't give your cousin those shoes he likes that don't fit anymore, it can only ever be worn by you EVER

I prefer digital when the games are on sale because it means I do not have to run out to get it and PS4 has no tax for Canada.

see this is the issue, here, I don't think anyone who prefers physical games cares in the slightest if someone prefers digital only, more power to you, if its what you prefer thats great, just some digital only advocates seem to want to remove the choice from other people out of spite or malice or something which is honestly kinda weird unless you own shares or something in the likes of EA

 

[::Phoenix::]

being brutally honest I can see why they want DRM, if every game was DRM free (which would probably also cover piracy protection on game disks) they would certainly loose a lot of sales, the main issue is they want to have their cake and eat it, if they could just stop being greedy fucks and honour the system of being allowed to sell the item you purchased then everything would be fine DRM or not as long as it isn't obnoxiously overzealous DRM, instead its like buying clothes and being forced to chain them to your wardrobe for life, no your friend can't borrow your suit for a funeral, no you can't give your cousin those shoes he likes that don't fit anymore, it can only ever be worn by you EVER

The problem is that keeping DRM would imply that even if you could transfer/sell your game to someone else, this would still be bound the storefront/service you are using. So if it goes down, your right of trasnferring the game disappears immediately. It is the inability of "physically" coping a digital game without relying on an online service the real issue.

I agree that DRM will never disappear, however, I don't find impossible the fact that having everything DRM free would, contrary to intuition, lower piracy, as most cracking groups crack games exactly for two reasons: removing DRM, and for the glory of being the first of cracking the DRM. With no DRM around, this would possibly go away, and storefront could still exist easing downloading and playing of games, rather than downloading some rar on a website.

 

[Goku1992A]

Let's just say if you get banned you wont have access to redownload your digital games again. You cant even resell them neither. Its too many drawbacks with digital.

 

[FAST6191]

The problem is that keeping DRM would imply that even if you could transfer/sell your game to someone else, this would still be bound the storefront/service you are using. So if it goes down, your right of trasnferring the game disappears immediately. It is the inability of "physically" coping a digital game without relying on an online service the real issue.

I agree that DRM will never disappear, however, I don't find impossible the fact that having everything DRM free would, contrary to intuition, lower piracy, as most cracking groups crack games exactly for two reasons: removing DRM, and for the glory of being the first of cracking the DRM. With no DRM around, this would possibly go away, and storefront could still exist easing downloading and playing of games, rather than downloading some rar on a website.

Third party verification could be a thing, and while in some ways it shifts the burden it can be done in such a way as to either release things following storefront failure or be all but immune to it.

Likewise music was considered to be DRM encumbered if you went legit or did not rip your CDs yourself (though even then microsoft tried it on there), something no vendor nor record label would ever consider... right up until they didn't.
Maybe that was a function of storage size, bandwidth, side channels and mode of use but they are all going one way as a historical thing.

 

[yoyoyo69]

I know digital is nice, and it's always reassuring to know you don't have the risk of scratching discs, but it seems like most people are way too quick to dismiss physical games. When you buy physical, you don't have to worry about games being taken down or removed lost / damaged or the fact they are resalable. You also have the convenience of not having download the entire disc worth of contents onto a console.
I've heard the argument that "I don't want to pay $30 for access to some disc that I actually own. Then I can trade or resell games." This argument is pretty accurate. When you buy a game, you are not held to ransom (as much) by developers or publishers. Also when you pay for the code that makes up the game, i.e. the product. Discs are dirt cheap to manufacture (but a pointless example as you are not permitted to burn your own copy, so you are in effect buying the disc). As for the whole "trading" thing, that's just an unfortunate side effect of the times. (also nonsense, trading has ALWAYS been a thing with physical)
Tl;Dr:
Physical games are way more convenient than digital even though digital doesn't require a disc.

On a serious note:

Discs have benefits and digital downloads won't be around forever.

Once physical is gone, gaming will become much more expensive.

Once digital downloads are gone, future generations will be paying constant subscriptions to access content, for a limited time.

I suspect they will be repurchasing, remakes too after a while.

Money, it's all about money, as all things are.

I intentionally kept the formatting.

 

[Jokey_Carrot]

The thing about digital game sis once the servers are gone they disappear and can only be found on romsites or on console harddrives. It's even worse when the game has always online drm and can't be played.

 

[64bitmodels]

digital all day everyday
people are talking about how once the shop goes down the games go down and thats bullshit, digital has way better preservation qualities than any other form of media
if a game goes down on steam youll always find a pirated copy on igg games
plus steam has the biggest modding community, has the most games, is the highest populated digital storefront, etc
Im sorry but you guys are really getting your tits tangled up over ownership and whatnot
Nintendo eshop, once you download the games theyre saved onto your sd card (or nand if youre a masochist) and you barely have to worry about updates, which unfortunately, may take a lot of time as most of them are of the long, long time of 3 fucking seconds.
the only time where youd have to worry about download speeds is if youre downloading a newly bought game/transferring data, when in big chunks, yea it can take quite a while, but its way better than having a copy of the game that can break at any time assuming you dont take good care of it
i had a dvd copy of sonic generations back when i was 6, loved that game so much, played it a lot on my 360 and then wham the god damned thing just stopped working due to being scratched, and i got sonic unleashed of all games as a replacement. you ever consider that children could break a copy and lose 10- 60 god damned smackeroos??
also, there's this little feature, im not sure if youve heard about it but on the switch it allows you to launch the software without having to download the update, i think that's right on the update screen when they show it to you.
the only defense people have is ownership and frankly i dont care, as long as i can play games with or without mods its good to me. its not like once the store closes down all the digital games youve bought will just dissappear or something unless youre using steam, which is still bullshit since you shouldve downloaded them before the shop closed!! companies usually announce this sort of stuff so people can prepare in advance!!! also knowing valve theyd probably release a utility or tool to remove the steam DRM from all your games after/before the storefront dies
and before anyone comes up and says " well then you should be supporting streaming" theres a difference, when the game goes down it gets removed from your library, unlike digital games which just stay until you uninstall them, also streaming has more latency, and is online all the time whereas digital has less latency and can be played offline

 

[spinal_cord]

I prefer physical copied over downloads for one main reason. 'Big Videogame' have no way of preventing me from playing a 30 year old game if I want to. However, games downloaded from some sort of service will always rely on that service being there. If 'Big Videogame' decides to remove a game from there servers, or remove a back-end service that the game requires, the people simply can never play that game again. My enjoyment of gaming should not EVER depend on the publishing company/services still existing in a decades time. If I pay £30-£100 for a game, I want to OWN that game and I want to play it even if I have no internet connection or the company has gone bust or my HDD has failed.

 

[tech3475]

Here's why I prefer physical on console:
1) I don't like all my games being tied to an account, if something were to happen to the account then I could lose my games.
2) I often find physical can be cheaper outside of maybe a sale (Doom Eternal Xbox One on Amazon is currently £39.99 but on XBL it's £54.99)
3) DRM, for example, when my internet went down on my non-home Xbone I was locked out of my games

On PC I'm more accepting but then I have less of a choice, although most physical releases I see are just codes and disc based DRM can be more of an issue, such as the time I tried to play a couple of disc based DRM games but the DRM prevented me and these days DVD drives are more rarely found internally on laptops.

 

[FAST6191]

digital all day everyday
people are talking about how once the shop goes down the games go down and thats bullshit, digital has way better preservation qualities than any other form of media
if a game goes down on steam youll always find a pirated copy on igg games

The lack of self awareness... that is impressive.

Im sorry but you guys are really getting your tits tangled up over ownership and whatnot

The option to buy games others are done with and resell those I am done with is a thing not worth pushing for?

 

[64bitmodels]

The lack of self awareness... that is impressive.


The option to buy games others are done with and resell those I am done with is a thing not worth pushing for?

I have no business with resale tbh, the only time id use it is when that particular game isnt getting made copies anymore and the digital storefront is dead, but in that case i would probably be able to emulate it on pc since the console would be old AF by the time that happens.
Also what's with me having a 'lack of self awareness'? Wasn't everything i stated right?? if a game goes down there will most likely be a site that helps with archiving the digital formats of those games- i mean look at wiiware and its closure in early 2019- there are sites up today with the wad files of these games readily available for download.

 

[FGFlann]

There are several contradictions in your reasoning. Such as DVDs being breakable but not applying that same standard to SD cards, which are even more prone to data degradation. In the case of digital store fronts you also advocate downloading your entire library of games to preserve it, which is obviously limited by your ability to store data. Not always feasible depending on the size of your library, and subject to the same limitations of degradable physical media. Also your ability to use this data is often times limited by your ability to access that particular online service.

Perhaps the most egregious suggestion is that your solution to physical video game preservation is to break the law.