Digitlization - What do you think?

[Huston 5,800]

It's the digital age, and just about everything we do is running on a computer, mobile device, somewhere in the cloud or integrated into some sort of online-system. For one thing in the last decade and the decade now, digitalization has been slowly touching the many aspects of society, entertainment and other things that we all love, enjoy, or do.

 

Honestly, I could just go on about how stupid it is in some cases, but in other situations, seems appropriate. But for games being in some form, digitalized in the means of distribution I can't really say I agree with it. For example, buying a physical copy of the game, but end up requiring external software to 'download' the game online despite having the disc installer (which apparently doesn't work). I guess for this aspect, I'm not one to like it any form (Steam, Origin, U-Play, whatever). I miss the days of going down to the store, and picking up a physical copy and buying it pretty much off-the-counter. It use to give me a sense of ownership for a game a genuinely bought, in which eventually, I'd enjoy (without the expensive need for online dlc). Sadly, those days have come and gone.

 

What's everyone else's view on this? Doesn't necessarily have to do with game-distribution digitlization and all, but the digilization of a lot of things around us (I guess namely, things in the form of entertainment).

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

i HATE this new, digitized version of software purchasing.  I didn't buy Civ V for this very reason, or the new SC2013.  Why should I have to sign into Steam to play the game I bought?  More than that, why am I only getting the "rights" to play these games if I'm laying out the cash for them?  I miss cartridges, we should bring back cartridges and 2D platformers!  Alright, that's a little bit get-off-my-lawn-ish, but I think it's completely foolish to just accept the crappy EULAs they're forcing on us with the draconian DRM.  When I buy something I don't want the company I'm buying it from to treat me like a criminal, like a common thief.

 

Oh, and the DLC they want us to buy to complete the game we already paid for, that's pretty insulting, too.

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

The gaming industry with their DRM model are being dogs in the manger in the same way that the RIAA.  Both will discover that these are agreements in restraint of trade, and will probably be clobbered in a court challenge eventually.  All this screaming about "intellectual" property rights is just so much bally-hoo with a view to increasing the already unconscionable profit these outfits are trying to protect.

 

Having to log in to a vendor to play an already acquired game is an invasion of privacy, notwithstanding anything in the doubtfully legal EULA.  Profits in these game purveyors would be greater if they fired their legal staff.

[Duke87 1,070]

I feel like it's lovely when done in a civilized manner. The complaints of the above posters are about it being done in a not civilized manner. I have no issue obtaining something by download so long as it is mine to keep and do with as I please once I have it without a permanent leash to the distributor, and so long as it does not involve needlessly having its own way with my computer.

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

I feel like it's lovely when done in a civilized manner. The complaints of the above posters are about it being done in a not civilized manner. I have no issue obtaining something by download so long as it is mine to keep and do with as I please once I have it without a permanent leash to the distributor, and so long as it does not involve needlessly having its own way with my computer.

Exactly.  Kind of rules out Valve (Steam) and Origin, wouldn't one say?

[Huston 5,800]

so long as it is mine to keep and do with as I please once I have it without a permanent leash to the distributor, and so long as it does not involve needlessly having its own way with my computer.

 

That's all I ever wanted. But it's unobtainable these days when most games are involved in online verification and the need to download corporate gaming platforms. In addition to that, my game's dlc which I legitimately bought had more than often failed to verify offline. I'm not much of an online gamer myself (I do on the occasion when I feel like it), so it definitely plays a part in the "I really don't like Origin or any form of it, can't we just get rid of it" attitude. That and a thumbs down to the new 'DLC' styled business practices that superseeded Expansion purchases.

[Sabretooth78 808]

This is why I'm glad I bought by copy from Amazon and not Steam (which I had not even heard of - I must have been blissfully living in a cave).  I too think the whole thing is rather despicable and certainly reduces the chances of me buying something new going forward.  Give me SC4, BAT and continued support for Windows XP under Wine and Parallels respectively (not going anywhere anytime soon) and I have enough to keep me occupied from a gaming standpoint.

 

You can extend this to other media forms as well.  Movies:  Various content providers (Verizon FiOS does, as do TWC and DirecTV I believe) allow you to "buy" movies and content which then resides in/is playable only from your authorized set-top boxes.  I've never partaken in this (also partly because I'm cheap) - but what happens when you change providers, which everybody does (I certainly do!) or if the company goes belly-up or otherwise discontinues the service?  I sincerely doubt they mail you a DVD to make you whole!  Do you even get those "purchases" back if/when you return in the future?

 

Similar things could be said for e-books.  I have a Kindle yet I have never bought an e-book.  For the same reasons as above, and also because I just prefer reading off paper - it's not even so much the "smell" or "sound of opening a book" argument that many people use, I just find it easier on the eyes.  Even at work I tend to print something out if it involves a lot of reading.  I have, however, switched the few subscriptions I own to e-format - which for the most part are just PDFs.  The searchability and interactivity with those is a definite plus.

 

Bottom line, it's all about control.  One of, if not the main reason the whole HDTV format came into being was to find a viable way to bring copy protection into broadcast TV.

 

I find there is a definite satisfaction to owning a tangible product that you don't get with digital media - with one exception:  I got over that very quickly with music - to me at least, physically owning a CD became superfluous almost 20 years ago.  Maybe it's because you can "do" a lot more with digital music, i.e. playlists, etc.  These benefits don't apply to movies, books and games.

[Terring 6,476]

Before start digitilazing everything, make some backups first. One of the last thing I want to happen is losing a book or a music disk because of software collapsing or hacking.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Well, the problem is that in most cases it is NOT a software purchase.

 

Most models boil down to a purchase of temporary and heavily restricted usage rights that can be revoked ("we no longer operate our servers"), further restricted ("sorry, bandwidth problems") or torpedoed by events outside of the purchaser's control (e.g. DDOS attack on server or service) ANY TIME - not to mention that you open the door to surveillance & spying, misappropriation of data, computer manipulation by deep and intransparent DRM features, potential attack vectors due to the requirement of additional software that opens another channel to the Internet, and elimination of any re-sale possibilities. The kicker? There is no technical necessity for any of this at all. This is NOT done for your convenience. You don't gain anything.

 

It follows the current trend of fencing in users, forcing them to use certain systems that are under the absolute and nearly unlimited control of the vendor - and trying to make them feel just great in their golden cage because w00t, they got spiffy achievements and it's 5 bucks cheaper, yay!

[bitsaul 9]

It is a sad state of affairs, indeed.  I am actively boycotting pretty much any and every game that requires DLC, expansion packs, subscriptions or anything else that is not part of the core game but is needed to enjoy the game.  Sadly that means almost all releases for the current generation of gaming consoles (which I would never consider buying. this is next gen?... lol ok).

I think game maker should really be taken to task for attempting to set trends in the marketplace which clearly exploit the customer.  For example, the most popular game right now, Destiny, is a mere skeleton of a game specifically designed to be released one tiny morsel at a time at the maximum price allowed.  Over the last few years I've actually taken the time to write emails or letters to companies explaining my disdain for their business practices and I actually think it helps to voice such opinions (as long as you act professional about it and don't fill your emails with cussing).  Many companies do seem to respond in a progressive way once they get called out on their greedy practices by the customers.

 

On the positive side of things, my repulsion from the console world of being nickel & dime'd to death by DLC games has lead me to discover the infinite good that is the Simcity 4 modder community.  I'm so very lucky to have over ten years of steadily evolving mods from such creative minds to draw on.  This is easily one of the best online game communities I've ever come across in my 35 years of playing video games.  Kudos to everyone that keeps this boat afloat!

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

I believe I've already said it is a matter of privacy.  In no way am I willing to let any "vendor" surf around in my machine, even if they could.  Most of them don't have Linux hackers on staff, so good luck to them.  I also run a pretty stiff firewall, and while I consider it unnecessary, I also run a virus scanner on top of apparmor provided by the operating system.  Kind of belt and suspenders approach.

 

Am I paranoid?  You bet.  They are after everybody.

 

The Internet has absolutely no privacy except on really strongly encrypted links and not even then if someone really wanted to crack it.  People like that have supercomputer resources and some very strong people.  Just try an put one over on NSA or CSIS.  (Hi guys!)