I find it much more likely that my house would burn (or earthquake) down, taking all of my physical media with it.
Or you could leave a game case on the floor and accidentally step on it in the dark at night.
Or a small child could find it and think they found a new toy (and break it.)
Or you could loan it to someone temporarily and forget who you loaned it to when they never return it.
Or the label could somehow get scratched right down to the foil, making resurfacing pointless (which happened to one of my Gamecube games.)
Or you could put it on a chair/couch and someone could sit on it.
Or your pc/console could overheat and catch fire while a disc is in it.
...
Or you could move to Japan where Godzilla destroys everything, including your house and everything in it.
Or a giant wind-up death robot piloted by illegal immigrants could destroy your house and everything in it.
Or you could be kidnapped and meanwhile someone could schedule lootings of your house.
All the CD-roms and stuff I bought 15 years ago still work fine and didn't get lost.
I am not sure what the hell you guys are doing with your games if they have chances to happen what you guys say can happen to them.
On the other hand, NWN Modules were taken down, 7 years after there release. Unnaccessable, forever. And that's BioWare. I don't hold Valve higher (quite the opposite)...
As for digital data:
Server can be blown up.
Services can be down.
Robbery, not, but hackers do do DOS-attacks (Think Ubisoft).
EDIT: Oh wait, there can be. Data-theft or account-hacking and stuff...
You may not have an internet connection (or an extreme crappy like me) at a moment.
If your physical data gets lost, it's your fault. If digital data gets lost, it's someone else's fault. The first is just stupidity. The second a valid risk I rather not have.
I am not sure what the hell you guys are doing with your games if they have chances to happen what you guys say can happen to them.
I think they mean that as likely as these things are, they're still more likely than stuff going out of business.
I think that I'd rather face a more likely risk that I have control over than a less likely risk I'm powerless against. When my apartment building was on fire, I could decide exactly what I wanted to save. What was left behind was my decision (the fire didn't end up going up to our apartment so we didn't lose anything in the end though).
When I moved across the world and we were only allowed 2 suitcases each, we also chose what we left behind and what we took.
With something like that though, you have no control. Like when my computer crashed and I lost all my data. I didn't get to choose what I lost, I lost everything. If I had backed it up on DVDs or a hard-drive or something, I wouldn't have lost it, but because it was just date, poof, all gone.
EDIT: oh, also, you're more likely to die in an elevator accident than in a plane accident, but most people are still more afraid of being on a plan than in an elevator. Sometimes it's not about what's actually more or less likely, but what you're more comfortable with.
I think they mean that as likely as these things are, they're still more likely than stuff going out of business.
Not really, ecomic crisis, raising development costs and all it's even far more likely than the older days when there were no "download services/paid DLC"...
and sometimes things just dissapere and never turn up.
That happened to my Pokemon Crystal Version! I left it in my Game Boy, went to bed, woke up the next morning, and it was gone. My favourite Pokemon game ever... I still look for it, whenever I remember it. and on June the second I hold a memorial service... I never even finished the game... Thinking of getting one on eBay though...
Wow, it sounds like many of these games get beat up a lot. :eek: I never had anything happen to any of my games, in the last 20 years. They are all intact and in workable condition.
The benefit of having your own copy is you can choose what to do with it, you can back it up yourself. I have my original Secret of Monkey Island disks, and I have the files on my computer, and I have the files on my portable hard drive, and I have them on a backup disc. I am completely covered if anything goes wrong, which it never has. I guess, the point I was trying to make was that when you are not required to connect to a company to play your game, it is the customer that has the responsibility to do as much or as little as they want to protect their game.
I think having a download-able version is nice, convenient, and gives another form of backup, but having a physical copy sent to the customer too, is even better.
I still think that the things that will cause you to lose access to your DRM-protected downloadable games are more likely to happen than the threats to your physical discs--at least for me. My subjective opinion though.
Even if you disregard probabilities, there is a distinction in that the risks that threaten your physical media are manageable; you can take steps to reduce risks, and to minimize losses in cases where disaster occurs. Treat your discs well and they will not break or wear out in decades. Insurance will cover losses in case of theft, fire or natural disaster. Virtual goods on the other hand can not be protected from a DRM snafu, you are powerless to keep those things from happening.
DRM-free discs and downloads are of course the easiest to protect, you can make endless copies and set up as many off-site backups as you'd like.
Avistew, you used moving to the other side of the planet as an example - however if all your games are digital you don't have to worry about what to take, you just redownload them all if necessary when you get there. Also leaves more room in your case for other things.
Avistew, you used moving to the other side of the planet as an example - however if all your games are digital you don't have to worry about what to take, you just redownload them all if necessary when you get there. Also leaves more room in your case for other things.
Sure, but I'll take the having to choose what you take over the risk of losing absolutely everything.
Plus I took all of my games with me anyways. All the ones I'd want to keep at least. I mostly left books behind, and these I'm trying to get as ebooks more now.
Plus with DRM stuff you might not be able to install things on a different computer, etc. I don't really have a problem with digital stuff I can store on several computers, burn onto DVDs and so on.
I could never leave a book behind. Unless, you know, it was really shitty then i could leave it behind easily
Well, they're heavy and they take room. Plus with 4 suitcases I wouldn't have had enough room for all my books anyways. I'm already glad I managed to keep some of them (mostly sequential art though).
Since "related DRM" is mentioned in the thread title, I fell that I must ask this here. Has anyone read about the intense irony of Warner Bros. allegedly pirating an anti-piracy system?
The movie industry has a long and proud history of using intellectual property without permission. The reason why the industry is based in California is that they wanted to avoid having to pay royalties to Edison for his movie camera patent.
Well it is pretty easy to lose physical copies of computer games. The last 10 years I've moved about 3 or 4 times and every time something gets lost. I mean, it's unavoidable. You'd have to defy the laws of physics to know where all your stuff is. It's impossible.
I remember having classics like Leisure Suit Larry 7 and Curse of Monkey Island on disc many years ago, but suddenly I couldn't find them anywhere no matter how hard I looked. And I've been unable to procure those games since. I'm beginning to think the stories of gnomes breaking into your house at night and stealing random stuff might not be so far-fetched after all...
If Steam had existed 15 years ago it would have been a blessing. Instead of having games lying on some shelf gathering dust you'd have them all stored in a digital database. Even if your house would burn down along with all your physical possessions, your games would at least not be lost. Imagine still being able to play all the cool old-school games we had back then.
Oh well, I guess I just miss the classic Sierra games.
Not really, ecomic crisis, raising development costs and all it's even far more likely than the older days when there were no "download services/paid DLC"...
Valve grows by something like 50% every year according to the big man, hardly the sign of a company that's in danger of going destitute
Well it is pretty easy to lose physical copies of computer games. The last 10 years I've moved about 3 or 4 times and every time something gets lost. I mean, it's unavoidable. You'd have to defy the laws of physics to know where all your stuff is. It's impossible.
I remember having classics like Leisure Suit Larry 7 and Curse of Monkey Island on disc many years ago, but suddenly I couldn't find them anywhere no matter how hard I looked. And I've been unable to procure those games since. I'm beginning to think the stories of gnomes breaking into your house at night and stealing random stuff might not be so far-fetched after all...
If Steam had existed 15 years ago it would have been a blessing. Instead of having games lying on some shelf gathering dust you'd have them all stored in a digital database. Even if your house would burn down along with all your physical possessions, your games would at least not be lost. Imagine still being able to play all the cool old-school games we had back then.
Oh well, I guess I just miss the classic Sierra games.
I wrote many pages about this already, so i'll keep it brief:
I'm all in for downloadable games if i do have an account where i can redownload them everytime i want.
The only thing where i want discs is music, as i want it uncompressed and listen to it in my car as well.
I do not like DRM. I don't buy games which come with intrusive and annoying protection anymore and i prefer completely DRM free games, as more and more indies offer it.
Well it is pretty easy to lose physical copies of computer games. The last 10 years I've moved about 3 or 4 times and every time something gets lost. I mean, it's unavoidable. You'd have to defy the laws of physics to know where all your stuff is. It's impossible.
I have defied the laws of physics! I have moved 3 times in the last 10 years, and lost....nothing! Everything is categorized, and labeled. I have a fantastic spreadsheet/number system for all my boxes with everything in them. Some we haven't even unpacked (in case another move occurs) but no need. We know exactly what is in them.
Valve grows by something like 50% every year according to the big man, hardly the sign of a company that's in danger of going destitute
Even if the likelihood of it going under is less than .1%, it still takes the control of bought goods out of the consumer's hands and into the companies. For rentals, that is fine, but not for purchases.
I don't mind downloads as long as I can make personal backups. And of course, physical copies are nice for my favorite games, because I enjoy collecting merchandise. The whole concept of a Collector doesn't make sense, if everything is just on the internet. It's not the same.
Add me to the people who have never lost something in a move (well, we forgot something once, but he said he'd pack it somewhere else because it was important, so I put it on the TV and then I guess he forgot and I thought he had packed it so I didn't worry about it).
And I've moved a lot too. 3 times in the last 4 years, but accross continents each time. And about once every 3 years before that.
I guess I have less stuff or something.
My game discs are catalogued and properly stored alphabetically by genre........ok not alphabetically, but they are stored by genre. Point is, I never lose them.
Comments
Or you could leave a game case on the floor and accidentally step on it in the dark at night.
Or a small child could find it and think they found a new toy (and break it.)
Or you could loan it to someone temporarily and forget who you loaned it to when they never return it.
Or the label could somehow get scratched right down to the foil, making resurfacing pointless (which happened to one of my Gamecube games.)
Or you could put it on a chair/couch and someone could sit on it.
Or your pc/console could overheat and catch fire while a disc is in it.
...
Or you could move to Japan where Godzilla destroys everything, including your house and everything in it.
Or a giant wind-up death robot piloted by illegal immigrants could destroy your house and everything in it.
Or you could be kidnapped and meanwhile someone could schedule lootings of your house.
Don't forget robbery.
I am not sure what the hell you guys are doing with your games if they have chances to happen what you guys say can happen to them.
On the other hand, NWN Modules were taken down, 7 years after there release. Unnaccessable, forever. And that's BioWare. I don't hold Valve higher (quite the opposite)...
As for digital data:
Server can be blown up.
Services can be down.
Robbery, not, but hackers do do DOS-attacks (Think Ubisoft).
EDIT: Oh wait, there can be. Data-theft or account-hacking and stuff...
You may not have an internet connection (or an extreme crappy like me) at a moment.
If your physical data gets lost, it's your fault. If digital data gets lost, it's someone else's fault. The first is just stupidity. The second a valid risk I rather not have.
What?!? Noooooooo!
I think they mean that as likely as these things are, they're still more likely than stuff going out of business.
I think that I'd rather face a more likely risk that I have control over than a less likely risk I'm powerless against. When my apartment building was on fire, I could decide exactly what I wanted to save. What was left behind was my decision (the fire didn't end up going up to our apartment so we didn't lose anything in the end though).
When I moved across the world and we were only allowed 2 suitcases each, we also chose what we left behind and what we took.
With something like that though, you have no control. Like when my computer crashed and I lost all my data. I didn't get to choose what I lost, I lost everything. If I had backed it up on DVDs or a hard-drive or something, I wouldn't have lost it, but because it was just date, poof, all gone.
EDIT: oh, also, you're more likely to die in an elevator accident than in a plane accident, but most people are still more afraid of being on a plan than in an elevator. Sometimes it's not about what's actually more or less likely, but what you're more comfortable with.
and sometimes things just dissapere and never turn up.
That happened to my Pokemon Crystal Version! I left it in my Game Boy, went to bed, woke up the next morning, and it was gone. My favourite Pokemon game ever... I still look for it, whenever I remember it. and on June the second I hold a memorial service... I never even finished the game... Thinking of getting one on eBay though...
They're always somewhere. You just never really know.
Like where socks go when you lose them in the laundry.
The benefit of having your own copy is you can choose what to do with it, you can back it up yourself. I have my original Secret of Monkey Island disks, and I have the files on my computer, and I have the files on my portable hard drive, and I have them on a backup disc. I am completely covered if anything goes wrong, which it never has. I guess, the point I was trying to make was that when you are not required to connect to a company to play your game, it is the customer that has the responsibility to do as much or as little as they want to protect their game.
I think having a download-able version is nice, convenient, and gives another form of backup, but having a physical copy sent to the customer too, is even better.
Even if you disregard probabilities, there is a distinction in that the risks that threaten your physical media are manageable; you can take steps to reduce risks, and to minimize losses in cases where disaster occurs. Treat your discs well and they will not break or wear out in decades. Insurance will cover losses in case of theft, fire or natural disaster. Virtual goods on the other hand can not be protected from a DRM snafu, you are powerless to keep those things from happening.
DRM-free discs and downloads are of course the easiest to protect, you can make endless copies and set up as many off-site backups as you'd like.
Sure, but I'll take the having to choose what you take over the risk of losing absolutely everything.
Plus I took all of my games with me anyways. All the ones I'd want to keep at least. I mostly left books behind, and these I'm trying to get as ebooks more now.
Plus with DRM stuff you might not be able to install things on a different computer, etc. I don't really have a problem with digital stuff I can store on several computers, burn onto DVDs and so on.
I could never leave a book behind. Unless, you know, it was really shitty
Well, they're heavy and they take room. Plus with 4 suitcases I wouldn't have had enough room for all my books anyways. I'm already glad I managed to keep some of them (mostly sequential art though).
I remember having classics like Leisure Suit Larry 7 and Curse of Monkey Island on disc many years ago, but suddenly I couldn't find them anywhere no matter how hard I looked. And I've been unable to procure those games since. I'm beginning to think the stories of gnomes breaking into your house at night and stealing random stuff might not be so far-fetched after all...
If Steam had existed 15 years ago it would have been a blessing. Instead of having games lying on some shelf gathering dust you'd have them all stored in a digital database. Even if your house would burn down along with all your physical possessions, your games would at least not be lost. Imagine still being able to play all the cool old-school games we had back then.
Oh well, I guess I just miss the classic Sierra games.
Valve grows by something like 50% every year according to the big man, hardly the sign of a company that's in danger of going destitute
This. All of it. I entirely agree.
It's true, change is frightening and confusing.
I'm all in for downloadable games if i do have an account where i can redownload them everytime i want.
The only thing where i want discs is music, as i want it uncompressed and listen to it in my car as well.
I do not like DRM. I don't buy games which come with intrusive and annoying protection anymore and i prefer completely DRM free games, as more and more indies offer it.
I have defied the laws of physics!
Even if the likelihood of it going under is less than .1%, it still takes the control of bought goods out of the consumer's hands and into the companies. For rentals, that is fine, but not for purchases.
I don't mind downloads as long as I can make personal backups. And of course, physical copies are nice for my favorite games, because I enjoy collecting merchandise. The whole concept of a Collector doesn't make sense, if everything is just on the internet. It's not the same.
And I've moved a lot too. 3 times in the last 4 years, but accross continents each time. And about once every 3 years before that.
I guess I have less stuff or something.