Digital vs Physical + Piracy vs Preservation discussion

[Chezlyn]

As the times move forward, more and more Companies are moving toward digital media as opposed to physical distribution.

Essentially, you're paying the Devs/Companies to use their property or media. On the opposite side, Devs/Companies have to physically print and distribute their product, raising its price to pay for the entire distribution process.

With that, there will always be pros and cons to both sides.

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Moderation note: this discussion developed itself along paths linked to the piracy/preservation debate, and for this reason the thread title was adjusted to encompass a broader discussion.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Despite loving some games to be digital, it is kind of hard to let go of physical copies since it has been like that for over the years or decades ago (and the unique manuals with cover arts on the front, the back or even inside)

However, my suggestions would be either by making both or making a poll on which one you would get first and then maybe they will release the other option later

 

[Waffles]

Honestly? Given the state of the industry right now and the way they keep pushing stuff like Games As A Service on us, I see no advantage on getting physical copies... chances are, you'll end up with a very fancy-looking paperweight after a while.

 

[moonbits]

Physical media nowadays are worthless paper weights, a glorified key. Only Nintendo games are worth purchasing on physical form but even then I live in a small apartment I can't hoard boxes of games/media anymore.

 

[Shadowruls]

 

[It's Thinking 2]

We need both. Physical works without internet, but physical wears out. Digital can be removed, but also preserved on a flash drive.

 

[VampireLord1024]

I've mostly bought physical games, though I have bough some digital games.

 

[GVSE]

I used to collect physical media because I liked having a cute little object in my room, as a decoration and a visual reminder of things I like... but I think I can print some covers myself, instead of buying something expensive that will definitely rot. And as a society preserving culture, definitely only with digital copies we can truly preserve these works. And that's the relevance of online public archives, because it's a "huge and dramatic sacrifice" for companies to commit to continue producing something "just" for preservation, right? Not even a single copy for a museum and libraries... nothing! People need to resort to ""piracy"" mostly because of DRM.

 

[CRTRebel]

The physical copy has always been inviting to me because that record or that medium as it may be was encapsulated a world unto itself, at least my view of the matter has always been that, but-as our friends rightly pointed out above-these will eventually deteriorate irretrievably, and the only way forward in that regard will be digital preservation. That's all.

 

[It's Thinking 2]

I used to collect physical media because I liked having a cute little object in my room, as a decoration and a visual reminder of things I like... but I think I can print some covers myself, instead of buying something expensive that will definitely rot. And as a society preserving culture, definitely only with digital copies we can truly preserve these works. And that's the relevance of online public archives, because it's a "huge and dramatic sacrifice" for companies to commit to continue producing something "just" for preservation, right? Not even a single copy for a museum and libraries... nothing! People need to resort to ""piracy"" mostly because of DRM.


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What you do is you buy a stack of blank CDs and copy everything.

 

[Spike]

Buy second hand rip it to NAS then sell it again.
If you wanna be legal, if you re a dirty pirate (I would never) you can skip the buy part.

That's for old stuff, new stuff...just buy digital, like steam games, i don't have modern consoles that i can buy physical.

 

[GVSE]

What you do is you buy a stack of blank CDs and copy everything.

They'll rot anyway. And they mean i'll need a modded hardware and.... if i have one....... .. . it's better go digital.

We should be able to have some sort of....... code, key, some shit like that, that you could prove you had bought that game once and than you gain access to it forever. The need to buy a new full-priced file of the same game you had in other consoles it's so offensive.

 

[Spike]

Let's be honest here, there's no forever.
This stuff is going to the trash or ebay and eventually to the trash once it reaches someone who doesn't care.
I just want to keep things for as long as I'm alive, which won't be a lot.
So Maybe a NAS with some redundancy (Raid 5?) for games and movies.
For personal stuff (AKA stuff I can't get off the internet again) an external 2.5" SSD with a USB enclosure.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Let's be honest here, there's no forever.
This stuff is going to the trash or ebay and eventually to the trash once it reaches someone who doesn't care.
I just want to keep things for as long as I'm alive, which won't be a lot.
So Maybe a NAS with some redundancy (Raid 5?) for games and movies.
For personal stuff (AKA stuff I can't get off the internet again) an external 2.5" SSD with a USB enclosure.

True, a bit unfortunate for those who wanted to see it
Fortunately though...CDRomance exists if you just want to play the game (I wonder who made that)
I'm grateful to have found such sites to try games that aren't available here

 

[Swabbleflange]

I've really gone back and forth with this. Although I've never been a collector for the sake of it, over the years for various systems I've naturally built up modest collections. But I also don't like having loads of 'stuff' so I've typically moved everything on when I've moved on from a current system, and relied on emulation and re-releases to continue playing my core favourites. I have been a big advocate of digital, but on a selective basis. Basically I trust Steam more than anything. I've had a Steam account for 20 years and have never lost access to anything I 'own' on there. Heck, I bought a whole bunch of stuff digitally for the 360 and that's as good as gone, as I never moved on to the Bone or Series. I don't really trust Nintendo for digital purchases either, and am very curious to see how things pan out with the Switch 2.

Having said all that, I did start gathering physical Switch carts about a year ago. Something in the air about streaming services, online DRM, patch after patch, and various publishers shutting down their own launchers and services is giving me prepper tendencies. Even though I'm heavily invested in Steam I worry about The Blackout leaving me without access. In that unlikely scenario I can still pop a cart into the Switch and off I go. It's more about that for me than having something on a shelf.

Really though, the answer to all of this, whether it's to play or preserve, is emulation. It's countless numbers of us curating emulators and ROMs on hard drives. Beyond the desire to feel like we own an item, that is.

 

[DaeZun]

Personally, i only like ps2 collecting bc it bring me memories (Or the FMVs on OPL are laggy).
However, sometimes i enjoy to customize loose copies too.

 

[Darklink]

I try to buy physical when I can for modern consoles.

I actually just bought physical copies of Tales of Destiny Director's Cut, Destiny 2, and Rebirth to celebrate them all having complete or almost complete fan translations.

 

[Waffles]

I no longer have the space nor the money for collecting anything, but I used to enjoy it.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Good for collectors, I'll stick to digital though because it's kinda hard to get or even find a store with games I wanted

 

[MeatyMuffin]

I still buy the bulk of everything I play physically if at all possible. I’m definitely running low on space but I always want to have some tangible representation for what I spend my money on.

 

[Leon]

If i could i'd buy physical everything, however now that i'm mostly a pc gamer, that's nearly impossible unless i want to crack them and burn them to disk or buy them DRM free.

If i could i would, but well, that's not really a option for me now.

 

[KitFistoFanGirl]

I have a shit ton more, but this is what I keep out in my tiny ass room. At this point, majority of my gaming is through emulators.

 

[mandrakes]

Good for collectors, I'll stick to digital though because it's kinda hard to get or even find a store with games I wanted

call it for investment so i prefer physical than digital

 

[LUNARMYTH]

I figure I used to own many games physically that I don't now, and I can't just walk into a retro game store with a smile on my face ready to drop 500 dollars on a SNES cartridge or equivalent. If I've got a peg leg for notions like that so be it. Even 60-70 dollars on a modern game is often wild to me. I can't make the purchase unless I'm sure the game is up my alley.

 

[Estein]

Piracy is my get go nowadays,i stopped buying stuff in late 2000s because taking care of the cd was not reliable(stopped buying games at PS2 gen),taking more space and getting expensive,i do not consider buying digital nowadays too,though i did buy a modded Xbox360 on that period just to play some games like Ninety Nine Nights,Nier,Enchanted Arms,Blue Dragon and something like Lost Odyssey,Eternal Sonata over that times because X360 emulation was still on infancy back then(run very bad and unplayable)