Games as a service (GaaS)

[Walpknut]

They can't ban you without reason, I just make it a habit of not breaking terms of service. And if Steam goes down or something gets removed then I just pirate it, simple. Meanwhile, if one of my physical games breaks, for example my Fire Emblem Awakening for 3DS, I am shit out of luck, I would have to ship it from the US, which is expensive, or get a bootleg copy which would also involve me having to crack my 3DS to play it pirated.

Also I rarely play games too much after completing them, so I really don't think I will randomly get a craving for Portal 2 in the next 10 years, thus I don't need it occupying shelf space in my house.

 

[R.Graves]

Digital is the future.

Digital is gay and bad and is simply using convenience as enticement so they have the right and ability to fuck you over at any time they please for whatever reason they please. Not to mention most of the world doesn't have a decent enough internet connection to make it worth it. like large portions of the midwest US would just be fucked if we suddenly switched to digital only.

gotta say, future's looking dark boys.

 

[Walpknut]

You are letting pieces of worthless plastic entice you to keep obsolete stores in bussiness. You are convinced the act of owning something physical is more valuable than the experience of having the game. Similar to the people obssesed with having physical books, they are more into the idea of owning a book than into reading it.

 

[Norzan]

Digital has as many downsides as physical, probably even more. Because games like Scott Pilgrim or PT (i know it's a demo, but there are physical demos) can no longer be downloaded and played. You pretty much have to fork literally thousands of bucks (seriously, check Ebay for consoles with the PT demo installed) for a console with PT installed.

Digital means things can disappear into the internet ether, never to be seen again. Meanwhile with physical, i can still get another copy because there's always another out there.

Pirating games is also getting increasingly more and more difficult, with torrent sites getting shutdown all the time. So digital stores shutting down could mean you're shit out of luck.

Yeah, gonna completely disagree with digital being "the future", because it sure as hell it isn't to me. Not saying it has no place, but i sure as fuck don't want it to replace the physical market.

 

[R.Graves]

sorry walp but paying for a tangible, physical copy of something is always going to be inherently more valuable than simply paying for permission to use the software/content.

 

[Valdetiosi]

I really agree with Graves, ever since before even starting the usage of Steam as another way to play games. Back then I had (and still have) NES, SNES, PS1/2 and 3. With 3, I started to notice constant requirement for internet for updating games, and some games requiring internet function to maintain content in, and it frustrated me. I like to play games instantly, not wanting to wait for them. Even worse is because for all the patches that come out, I see relatively little changes (then again, I might have been lucky iwth not getting issues that changelog says, since it seems to be context specific).

And ever since that, I have been attempting to get physical copies of games that I own on steam through flea market. Surprisingly it has worked so far, and opened up some old games I have never even heard of.

Spoiler: Latest catch

 

[Big No]

Spoiler: Latest catch

Ew, you bought the Max Payne film?

 

[Valdetiosi]

Ew, you bought the Max Payne film?

Well I did have Max Payne 1 and 2, might as well check the movie since it was only 1€

 

[R.Graves]

Well I did have Max Payne 1 and 2, might as well check the movie since it was only 1€

even if its cheap garbage its still garbage. why bother?

 

[Gizmojunk]

You are letting pieces of worthless plastic entice you to keep obsolete stores in bussiness. You are convinced the act of owning something physical is more valuable than the experience of having the game. Similar to the people obssesed with having physical books, they are more into the idea of owning a book than into reading it.

Physical is better than digital in all instances other than ease of replacement. The biggest problems with digital—served up the way Steam does it, is that you cannot revert to a previous update by reinstalling, and (authentication aside) you cannot even install it without Internet—and that has to be high-speed, and very high bandwidth. Most ISP's in the US cap their [lied about] 'unlimited' internet connection to a paltry number of gigs per month; (by paltry I mean 20-35, but as low as 3 to 5gb is not unheard of). That means that the subscriber cannot download a major release game without maxing their bandwidth usage for the MONTH—if they even have that much. The lie about 'unlimited' here in the US, is that after a fixed amount of data, they drop the speed to comparable with dial-up. Oh yes it's unlimited... but it's like unlimited drips from a faucet, as opposed to full stream from a firehose.

When I was with AT&T, they limited my bandwidth to 22GB per month. That could easily mean that Steam alone could cause me to suffer dial-up speed for weeks by its mandatory system & game updates. As it is, my new ISP allows just 35GB per month... and after then I can watch the Google logo load chunk by chunk in realtime.

R.Graves is correct, about there being a vast swath of middle America that is stuck on dial-up or outrageously priced satellite based ISP service. The insidious thing here is that developers sell physical game discs with just the Steam installer on it... When the hapless customer buys that they can't even use it without hauling their desktop PC into town; and do it again for each required update. It wouldn't be so bad if Valve offered downloadable installers for the games, but they don't—yet that's what the discs are supposed to be; local copies of the installer.

**As was mentioned earlier... Like with GTA[?] the music license expired, and anyone without the physical disc installer, has now permanently lost a big chunk of the music. Digital distribution allows them to reach out and take back from the customer.

***Sadly, this applies to GoG as well, for unless you hold onto the previous offline installers (too), any changes they make are irrevocable, the user is stuck with them.

As for books... as any cynic should know, they can edit a [hosted] digital book, and it edits them all; but they cannot edit a hardback on the owner's bookshelf; (or saved PDFs, true). Did you miss the time that Amazon took back purchased copies of 1984? (And of course the apropos nature of that wasn't missed.)

Books can be more than the sum of their words, and I know of at least one fellow who recently released a [physical] book that was custom scented—because you cannot put that in a digital ebook. Myself I would choose a physical book over a PDF any day—not least for the reason that I can read it while using (applying it to) my computer, and not having to share the screen with a PDF reader.

 

[Norzan]

Another boon of a physical copy (at least for older games) is that the CD comes with the installer, meaning i don't need to download the game and instead just install. Specially with how ridiculous games are getting now with data sizes, some reaching the upper 60 gbs. And this is the worst for people like me who have shit internet connection.

The last big game i downloaded was the Witcher 3 and it was 35 gb. It took me two days to download it. Yeah, my internet connection is that bad. And this was before the DLC, so god knows how big is the GOTY edition.

Of course you have now bullshit physical copies where it doesn't even have the CD with the installer, instead some cardboard with the code to download the game. Games like Metal Gear Solid 5 and Fallout 76 did this shit and it's disgusting.

 

[Valdetiosi]

even if its cheap garbage its still garbage. why bother?

I like to watch garbage, there's a term called bile fascination.

 

[Walpknut]

sorry walp but paying for a tangible, physical copy of something is always going to be inherently more valuable than simply paying for permission to use the software/content.

With Physical you are also paying for permission to use the software, but it comes with a built in expiration date.

Also, you can easily get the Scott Pilgrim game if you kno0w where to look, same with PT. Piracy is not getting harder. but I am not gonna prod further then, it's against the forum's rules.

Another boon of a physical copy (at least for older games) is that the CD comes with the installer, meaning i don't need to download the game and instead just install. Specially with how ridiculous games are getting now with data sizes, some reaching the upper 60 gbs. And this is the worst for people like me who have shit internet connection.

That's only for older game like you said, even console games make you download most fo the game even when buying physical. And with older games, unless you live in a literal hole in the ground you can donwload them in less than 5 minutes. For example, in the time it took me to write this whole reply (5 minutes) I downloaded Fallout 2 off Steam, and the highest my internet goes is 10m/s and I cap downloads at 5mb/s.

 

[R.Graves]

With Physical you are also paying for permission to use the software, but it comes with a built in expiration date

what might that be? there are still working models of the fucking magnovox oddysey out there. the first console from 1972 still functions today. unless you're referring to disc rot which seems to really only be affecting SEGA saturn games on any massive scale.

i can agree digital is a great way to preserve content but literally only if you're a filthy pirate. because god know Lucas won't allow star wars to ever be released again and there are tons of example of this. Amadeus has only been made available on bluray with the directors cut. or Goldeneye 64. that game is so tangled in licences between paramount, nintendo and microsoft that it'll probably never be released again. so yeah consuming content through digital means is great but digital services are gay because they're inconsistent and sometimes just straight up stop existing.

 

[Walpknut]

Sounds more like Physical is what made those thins get lost to time. Imagine if it was on Amazon Prime, Hulu or Netflix, you could just type the name and you are good to go, no need to buy a bunch of plastic that needs a shelf, it won't get scratched or sun damaged by accident, and it's much less expensive, the Netflix app even let's you download a movie to watch later for those times where you need to watch The Lobster in the toilet but you have no internet and there was a blackout.

 

[Gizmojunk]

I downloaded Fallout 2 off Steam...

But I bet you only got the Bethesda approved re-release of it.

(Do you intended to use local installers of the user mods to repair it?)

 

[R.Graves]

, no need to buy a bunch of plastic that needs a shelf

you keep saying that like its a bad thing when its actually quite nice to physically see the things you own. A collection having physical presence is like 90% of the appeal of having a collection.

it won't get scratched or sun damaged by accident

... this also doesn't happen if you keep things in the case and out of direct sunlight. is that really that hard?

and it's much less expensive,

it goddamn well better be since you're not really buying anything except for permission.

let's you download a movie to watch later for those times where you need to watch The Lobster in the toilet but you have no internet and there was a blackout.

... that just sounds like what physical media already does but with extra steps.

 

[Walpknut]

you keep saying that like its a bad thing when its actually quite nice to physically see the things you own. A collection having physical presence is like 90% of the appeal of having a collection.

So, the only appeal of a collection is having a collection. Like I said, it's more an infatuation with the idea of owning something rather with actually watching/playing/reading it. Pretty masturbatory.

... this also doesn't happen if you keep things in the case and out of direct sunlight. is that really that hard?

It's even easier to not have to deal with a bunch of disks just to play a game.

it goddamn well better be since you're not really buying anything except for permission.

Same qith physical media, but you are also being burdened by cheap plastic that only has calue because of the label on it.

... that just sounds like what physical media already does but with extra steps.

Actually it has less steps. Or are you gonna tell me you can watch a movie on the toilet with your Disks?
Compare 1 click on an app to having to find the disk, take it out, placing it on the player, move the TV so it's in view of the toilet, and if a black out happens, you are shit outta luck.

 

[R.Graves]

So, the only appeal of a collection is having a collection. Like I said, it's more an infatuation with the idea of owning something rather with actually watching/playing/reading it. Pretty masturbatory.

say what you want dude but its a totally valid hobby and isn't hoarding at all.

It's even easier to not have to deal with a bunch of disks just to play a game.

...
who has ever once been like "ugh discs are so inconvenient"
they're about as convenient as you can get dude.
you put the disc in and within seconds you're playing the game. has the populace really become so lazy as to be too fucked to even take 4 seconds to put a disc into a machine?
unless you're referring to having multiple systems. that can easily be solved with splitters and maybe a CRT TV or two soooooo....

Same qith physical media, but you are also being burdened by cheap plastic that only has calue because of the label on it.

its not a burden. jesus you talk about cases like they're lepers. also you keep referring to plastic as cheap. like... no shit? its plastic. what do you want every case to be hand carved from oakwood?

Or are you gonna tell me you can watch a movie on the toilet with your Disks

... laptops have disc drives you know.

having to find the disk, take it out, placing it on the player,

this is all one step not 3. also finding a disc shouldn't be that hard if you take care of it. i have tons of shelves and everything's in alphabetical order. it takes maaaaaaybe 10 seconds to find something.

move the TV

who said anything about a TV? even if you don't have a laptop these exist:

also they're battery powered so they work in a blackout.

 

[Walpknut]

say what you want dude but its a totally valid hobby and isn't hoarding at all.

It pretty much is Hoarding.

...
who has ever once been like "ugh discs are so inconvenient"
they're about as convenient as you can get dude.
you put the disc in and within seconds you're playing the game. has the populace really become so lazy as to be too fucked to even take 4 seconds to put a disc into a machine?
unless you're referring to having multiple systems. that can easily be solved with splitters and maybe a CRT TV or two soooooo....

You know what's easier? Not having to bother wit hdiscs and just stream video.

its not a burden. jesus you talk about cases like they're lepers. also you keep referring to plastic as cheap. like... no shit? its plastic. what do you want every case to be hand carved from oakwood?

Well if they are gonna charge me for something that also needs to have it's own shelving space it better be made of good material, have a nice design and be worth anything.

... laptops have disc drives you know.

Actually nowadays most don't. And even if they have they usually don't have Bluray players.

this is all one step not 3. also finding a disc shouldn't be that hard if you take care of it. i have tons of shelves and everything's in alphabetical order. it takes maaaaaaybe 10 seconds to find something.

How long it took you to organize your collection? With Streaming it's already ordered and I don't have to do jack.

who said anything about a TV? even if you don't have a laptop these exist:
View attachment 11646

also they're battery powered so they work in a blackout.

Does that one have an HD screen? My phone has one. And I don't have to rest it somewhere, just hold it in my hand. And BTW, that's YET ANOTHER device you have to buy on top of buying physical media just to be able to watch it, something you can get done with 1 device with Digital media. Also do you take your old ass DVD player with you everywhere? On a plane? to work?