Why are some gamers so desperate to go pro digital?

[Gunstar Green]

Save the trees!

I think we are already by getting rid of manuals.

Honestly this was the turning point for me. With manuals beginning to atrophy and then disappear all together physical copies started being less appealing.

I like tangible stuff but it's just a disk and a case now and that's really not much more than a digital download other than it takes up space.

The retro gamers of the future would probably have to become digital pirates in order to play any games which didn't receive continued support or ports.

That's the only real drawback for me, but in fairness cartridges and disks and the consoles to play them on aren't going to last forever either and it remains to be seen how they'll hold up in the future. Not to mention a lot of the retro gaming community already are digital pirates.

This is partially why I really like the DRM free options for older games like GOG which has managed to preserve a lot of PC classics that would have otherwise fallen mostly to the domain of sketchy abandonware sites.

[isiolia]

but why can't we have both?

For argument's sake...

Because while shifting to pure digital would run into issues, it would also foster an environment that forces the industry to find or refine solutions to those problems.

Right now, do they need to hash out a good solution for selling/trading digital copies? Nope, they can just say to buy the disc. Do they need to lobby for better internet speeds/caps? Nope. Buy the disc.
They've got to include drives on the machines, make sure there's retail space, manage disc production, branding, copy protection...it's not like keeping that capability around takes no effort.

Big downside to the whole idea though is longevity. Download servers aren't free and the games will only be available as long as the cost of keeping those servers running is supported by the company which owns the rights to the game. There are a variety of reasons download servers could go down at any given time copyright issues, financial problems, low demand, etc. So essentially the period of time in which to legally acquire a game would be measured in years instead of decades unless it received extra support.

The retro gamers of the future would probably have to become digital pirates in order to play any games which didn't receive continued support or ports.

True.

'course, it might also be fair to point out the sheer volume of games that are only available to most people now due to emulation or abandonware sites, despite originally being distributed on physical media.

[Xeogred]

I was joking a bit there myself. I miss real booklets/inserts as well. At least Nintendo still kind of does it.

[GSZX1337]

There's a few reasons why I've gone digital, but I'll only elaborate on one of them for the sake of brevity. While you read this, be sure to keep in mind that I'm not planning on getting any of the new consoles and that my gaming is primarily through Steam.

The main reason I went digital is because physical copies are a fucking joke nowadays. They're made so cheaply that I just feel ripped off. I either go out and buy the game or order it and wait for it to ship and usually pay more for a physical copy. What do I get in return? A disc with an out of date installer in a thin plastic case, sometimes with recycling symbol holes, with a slip of paper. Whoopdie shit. Not even ten years ago, PC games would come in mid-sized boxes or thick keepcases with actual manuals. I find it kinda sad that I'm looking back on games from the mid 2000's for their packaging as back then I thought they were light compared to games from the 90's and early 00's.

What's worse is that some games (e.g. EA games in the late '00s) have bullshit DRM like SecuROM in their packaged versions, but don't in their Steam counterparts. Well, aside from Steamworks.

[CavZee]

The advantage of physically owning games out weigh the pros of digital for me in many ways. When the day comes that you can't buy physical at all it will definitely affect my purchasing decisions alot.

So basically unless digital games are consistently stupid cheap like steam offers,(which PSN is getting quite good at) then I'll go physical 99% of the time.

[Frag Mortuus]

I'm in the middle of a purge of most of my retro collection. The main reason is that I want to pay off some student loan debt this year. However, I also like how much space I'm opening up. I have a rather small house and anytime I can free up some space, I'm all for it. I'm even taking my large gaming PC desk and converting it to an HTPC so that I can get rid of my desk. I will eventually get a laptop that I can use for basic web surfing.

This feeling of freedom from whittling down my collection has left me pondering switching over to digital games if I'm planning a day one purchase. I have already gone completely digital when it comes to PC gaming, so why not for my consoles? I love the convenience of having all of my games on my system without have to store and swap disks. The major issue I see is that consoles haven't caught up with PC in regards to storage or purchase history like Steam. The PS4 has made strides in the right direct by keeping all of your downloads in your library, so if you delete it, you can just click it's icon and redownload it. However, when games are getting as big as 50gb, that 500gb HDD is looking rather small; and a 2TB HDD is good for now, but what about a few years from now.

Meh, a lot of rambling. But, I feel digital only has a lot of good qualities. At least for me.

[Zing]

The loss of manuals really hit hard the other day. I went out with my daughter to buy Kirby Triple Deluxe. In the car she excitedly opened the case to find nothing but the digital manual pamphlet. She would have loved to read the manual, even if it was just one of those basic control booklets.

I have very many fond memories of reading NES game manuals at school or on the way home from the store.

I'm in the middle of a purge of most of my retro collection. The main reason is that I want to pay off some student loan debt this year.

Just think, if these games were digital, you wouldn't be able to do this and your collection would literally have zero resale value.

[Gunstar Green]

Dragging manuals to school was the closet you could get to playing your games in class. Some of my favorite games always had their manuals in my binder. I especially loved bringing big honking PC game manuals to school.

[darsparx]

Kinda makes me glad I still have a ton of gba manuals...those boxes however would be even better. But gba manuals are really interesting to look at sometimes...

[LugNutX]

My main issue with digital on the consoles is the strict DRM that ties a game to that device. This is not a problem in the Steam-world. If my computer explodes tomorrow, I can still download those games under my Steam account on another PC. The convenience is unprecedented.

If my 360 or PS3 died today, I can't definitively say that I could retrieve 100% of my digital downloads on a replacement console. That's a problem. This is even more unclear 5 years from now when they've been phased-out completely. The customer support and download servers will not be there forever, and local backups will be useless with the current DRM situation.

While the consoles do have a transfer ability for digital downloads, this is usually a convoluted process that involves a web portal (which may or may not be available in the future) or a call to a customer service rep who treats you like a criminal. Meanwhile, I can pull out an original NES cartridge that I owned 25 years ago and play it in ANY NES (or clone, for that matter).

Prices are finally starting to drop on console digital sales. Maybe at that price point, I won't care so much about longevity. But for now, it still makes me a little uneasy. The PC digital marketplace is also more than just Steam - you've got Origin, Amazon, GOG, etc. It's slowly becoming possible to "shop around" for digital purchases, just as you do with physical. With consoles - you have Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo and that's really it. Other vendors sell digital codes, but they all go through the "big 3" for downloads.

I don't do it as often anymore, but there needs to be a loan process available, also. Even if it's a limited amount of small windows (ex. each game comes with 5 loans, redeemable for 7 days at a time). This is how my friends and I discovered new games in our youth.

I'll still pick up physical copies when I can, and hold out hope that the console manufacturers can find a way to make digital work. I wish the functionality was there now, but we've still got a ways to go.