Digital vs Physical + Piracy vs Preservation discussion

[daro_glez]

I prefer to buy physical games at a discount. I might buy a digital game when it's really cheap and, for the rest, arrrrrr

 

[Tetronomicon]

I kinda want to vote for both the first and last choice .

I'd say that I lean pretty much entirely digital these days. However, it is primarily through piracy that I do. While stuff like GOG is good (mostly because you can download a copy for yourself), I find piracy to be the best option because I can store any game I want. Legitimately or otherwise .

If I'm going to pay for something, I'd like a physical copy I can keep as a sort of "backup". Short of that, I'd like to be able to download it onto my own storage device. Much like a physical copy, it then becomes my responsibility too keep it intact/operable (as opposed to some secondary entity deciding if I have access to it or not).

So... digital > physical... but with the caveat that I have access to it regardless if others have currently deemed it worthy to do so.

 

[Mecharocca]

Living in a pretty tiny (but cozy) place made me sell part of my collection.
But mostly because I wasn't playing them. I do think it's good to buy physically primarily since you do own the game, however the convenience of digital is nice, if you can back them up.

I don't like the license stuff, the idea that they own the money I gave them but I don't own the game is odd. But regardless of the option, preserving the game into an archive is the most important to me.

 

[NipponMastaZero]

If possible I'll always go for physical but it depends on the system.
Nintendo Switch: Physical
PC: Digital Only
PS4 or PS5: Physical
XBOX SX: Digital
Retro Stuff (until PS2/Wii era): Mostly digital with emulator but also collecting or still having alot of physical games.
WiiU or PS3: Physical
Modern Retro Releases: Both, sometimes digital only is enough but also buying physical for collecting purpose.

So for playing older stuff, I like to have an emulation machine (recalbox/retroarch) with all the systems. That's why I love cdromance or retrogametalk now

 

[MRX1992]

Piracy is perfectly fine, it preserves the games that otherwise would be lost in time, doing retro piracy is not even half bad since those companies don't make a dime anymore. Something is not wrong just for being illegal. Oh, btw, I choose phyiscal for 99% of the games, digital is just a "scam" because they are not selling players the whole product, they are just giving you a download link and guess what, they save money, you guys don't. Buying physical at least they are selling you the real product

 

[Mopeybloke]

I play all my games on PC, so I don't have a choice for physical in most cases. As most people who buy on PC, I also don't have a disc drive any more. The fact those were phased out and people have moved on means we weren't that attached to physical media in the first place. I guess that could be because installing the game and running it from hard drive was the norm even before the discs went away. We're still essentially doing the same thing.

 

[Jvsouza11]

I buy games digitally with the money I have available, but when the game is unnecessarily expensive, I use Hydra and pirate the game. (And I choose carefully which game I should pirate.)

 

[Strawhatjames93]

I buy my games digitally these days. I use to love physical media but these days due to space limitations and the lack of stores to buy digital is my most viable option.

Recently tho I have stopped buying newer games tho. I can’t stand getting a game and have it buggy or requiring a massive update to play I might just be fussy tho

 

[pl1sk1n]

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.

Unless you remove said "service" element from the game. Think Re outbreak 1 and 2, demons souls private server, and a whole bunch others who while do not fit the bill of "live service" fully, they where modded to act in a way that would allow continued experience of title, what the developer is communicating and the overall content.

I think having code on disk i can use as i like is always a better option for preservation then no.

But you are correct, companies like ubisoft are stating "get used to not owning your games", well the obvious answer to that is "get used to us not buying in to your model".

IMHO, Games should only be a way for a person to relax, switch off a de-stress, and if it means, for my own personal sanity avoiding addictive mechanics, while having the ability to switch off, i will always go physical and alternative routes.

No one really "needs" games, we need food, water and a place to live. Games are a bonus which can have a positive effect on our mental health. If they become a hindrance to that, then people will respond by cutting it out or go back to older content.

If the market falls, let it, only way they will learn and then the indi companies and developers can pick up the peaces.


God bless companies like GOG who provide older experiances, while digitally, they are not a live service and once you own it, you own it. But how long they will keep this model, is any ones guess.

 

[Somnia]

When I'm broke I go with piracy, but I enjoy getting physical whenever reasonably possible. Now if a game ends up being VASTLY more expensive than a digital purchase or is an overpriced retro game, I'll probably stick to digital/piracy. But if a digital game is $30 on a sale and the physical is $40, I'll just go physical.

 

[Varyag]

I am willing to buy media in legitimate ways, as long as it's not too expensive and the service is convenient. So I end up buying almost everything digitally. However, that always depends on the company I'm buying the stuff from to not be assholes and take it away from me. On principle, I don't buy always online games that aren't strictly multiplayer (like Helldivers 2) and I am ALWAYS ready to back up and/or pirate my entire gaming library in case something happens. I need to buy more hard drives.

also, screw streaming services very much.

 

[fake-kun]

I buy my games physically, but it mostly because of economic realities.

Actually, I think physical media are overrated when it comes to preservation. Discs and cartridges are ultimately nothing more that containers for files. They all will eventually rot away while the files can be copied and shared endlessly.

 

[Jeanfranc]

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.

Yep, physical or digital matters not, you do not own the games either way.
Physical releases are obsolete on launch due to updates and digital games (Steam) have drm.
But if you pirate a game or buy it from a drm-free store like GOG or Itch you DO own it, and nobody can stop from you from doing whatever you want with that software.

Also there is no difference between owning a game on a Blu-ray or owning it on your HDD, they are both discs that store data digitally. Same goes for cartridges: if someone were to, just hypothetically, "obtain" an hdd with the entire SNES library on it it would be exact same as owning all the original cartridges, it's the same data just stored in a different manner.

 

[χKai]

Finally, a poll where I don't have to lie or cover up the truth.

If I had money to blow I'd buy everything I play.

Since I don't...

 

[Ian Naxieas]

I answered the last option because that's the current reality of my situation, but I prefer getting stuff digital. I have a pretty big library of consoles and physical discs, but I end up emulating whenever I can. It's more convenient, doesn't take up so much physical space and you can get cool stuff like hacks and translations for many retro games. For new games I just go digital. Buying a box with a digital download key is a fucking joke.

 

[INTIMIDAT3R]

When things go all digital... I'm out of the pool.

Digital games and movies are like crypto... they disappear like the wind when the "digital rights" expire.

 

[thanonyx]

Physical media will always trump digital each and every time in my book.

That being said I think that once a game is discontinued/delisted it should be considered fair game.

 

[INTIMIDAT3R]

There will always be piracy.

I'm all for paying for a good game... but I don't like being robbed.

When we were told during the transition from cartridges to CD/DVD... games would be cheaper. They weren't... they claimed production costs, packaging, advertising, etc.

A few years ago, a magazine, broke down the cost of games... basically after the first $20... it's all profit.

Free market... I'm all for companies making a profit. When the price/profit of a game exceeds what the quality is, I vote with my wallet... I usually buy used games unless it's a title that I believe is worth my hard earned money.

 

[Ikagura]

There will always be piracy.

True and sadly the honest people will suffer the most.

 

[Anonicus]

Even though that Yes, I do use Steam and have been using that as my main platform for gaming alongside Emulation, I still prefer Physical to this very day. Honestly looking at it all, I blame Game Devs and Companies behind consoles for making a hardware so powerful that they feel like they NEED to try and cram as much graphics and shitty code into their games to get the most out of the console which in turn drives the Disk Space requirement beyond 50 GB. Sure, to give Nintendo some slack here they are pushing hardware that's at least powerful enough to appeal to the masses while still giving devs wiggle room to make good looking games (If they're not TPC/Gamefreak).

Thinking about it, I just think game consoles should just go back to using Cartridges again. You can get 128 GB SD cards now that costs like, 12$ but I think in a bulk it's much cheaper. But Blurays aint cutting it since they can only store like 50 GB per disc alongside games taking longer to load (This has been an issue since we've been using discs in games!)

Anyways, I'm rambling on and on. But yes I prefer Physical more than anything but for Modern Games being Digital due to the lack of space on discs alone. And Retro, Piracy, I aint paying so much for all that.

 

[hazys]

I like the feeling of physically owning games (and consoles), but it's not practical, consoles die and discs rot, and at the end of the day game preservation is about archival and emulation, because the hardware is not going to last and IP law gets in the way of reproduction.

Something I do regret is when games are developed for unique hardware, like certain arcade games or the DS family, which an emulator will likely never be able to accurately reproduce. But that's just how it is.

 

[thanonyx]

I like the feeling of physically owning games (and consoles), but it's not practical, consoles die and discs rot, and at the end of the day game preservation is about archival and emulation, because the hardware is not going to last and IP law gets in the way of reproduction.

Something I do regret is when games are developed for unique hardware, like certain arcade games or the DS family, which an emulator will likely never be able to accurately reproduce. But that's just how it is.

Give it time

 

[Omega Chad]

I'm afraid of breaking things that are a treasure to me. I'm going with digital. At least in Digital, games like P.T is still preserved and you'll be able to play it regardless off it's state. Just don't break your console.

 

[WolfOfPersia]

I'm broke so I usually buy most of games after 3-5 years with discount but even if I buy a game, I will sail the seven seas the moment that game is cracked, because I know that I'm gonna have unconditional ownership of that game when ever and where ever, for example me and my friend buy games in our steam family account so that we pay less and share the game but jedi survivor didn't have family sharing and not only that you couldn't install it on more than 2 PCs, what in the god's name is this BS?
and in case of old games, I only buy the re-release if they add something worthy like additional modes or general reworks like resident evil classic and resident evil remake on gamecube but nintendo must be out of his god damn mind if they think I will give them 20$ for the bare bone version of the mario sunshine

 

[Razputin_Psycho]

Talking about preservation of video games I feel often gets fogged up by piracy conversations.
Let's be honest with ourselves. We don't pirate our games to preserve our favourite consoles. We do it because we want free games. It really depends on how committed you are to it.
Do you really think RetroGameTalk will last forever? Did you think Emuparadise or Vimm's Lair were immovable? I am barely getting sources from other sites that I won't snitch. Even then, it will only be a matter of time until Nintendo ninjas will come for them.
The best way to preserve all games off a console is to do what the Conpletionist did with the 3DS and Wii U (as ashamed as I am of what he did later that year). Buy every game and donate the console, account, and the HDDs/SD Cards to a museum that will try to preserve them as long as possible.
People say he should have pirated them and hacked his 3DS, but that is what gets Nintendo shutting it down.
I think preserving video games should mean keeping them at least long enough for them to enter the public domain. Imagine if Drill Dozer ends up being public domain, but there are no consoles to play the games on in the year 2101. That I believe is what video game preservation is about. (Lol! 2087 will be the year you can legally release Sonic.exe as a film and sell it).
That being said. Piracy does have it's benefits. There might be some preserved microSD that somehow works that would have the one working copy of Jazz Jackrabbit. It happened with films and books. Roman literature has been rediscovered through critic reviews and historians having nothing else to work with. Imagine if AVGN is the only footage to preserve ROB or Milo's Secret Castle lol.