Poll: Digital distribution vs. Hard copy

[koichan]

Digital Distribution if it's good, like Steam, and saves my games in case I lose them on my PC. It also works well for episodic games.

Otherwise Hard Copy for everything. I give you money, you give me game. Simple as that.
It's a kind of technophobia and also why I don't do credit / debit cards. Just cash.

I will go for steam style distribution. No fear of scratched disks or lost cd keys and it is easy as well. Plus you can use it on any computer you want.

Same here, i go for digital out of preference, even if it's a little more expensive.

I have a bad habit of losing/scratching physical media, you can't do that with digital.

Was an absolute godsend when my hard drive died last year: just log on to steam and download, no messing about with finding disks, updates and no-cd patches to get them working...

Must admit i'm surprised at the poll results, the only people i know that still buy physical media are those that are forced to for console games.

 

[jboking]

Call me old fashion, but if I don't have a hard copy I don't feel like I own it.

 

[Jandau]

Digital Distribution is a ripoff. You get an inferior product for the same price as a hard copy and have no resale value and have to endure far more bells and whistles just to play a game. DD was supposed to drop prices due to no manufacturing or shipping costs and minimal distribution costs. However, the prices stayed the same, so now we're paying the same and getting less. There is SOME convenience to be had with DD, such as not having to lug your games around, but how USEFUL is it really? Yes, you can go to Japan and download your games from Steam to your new computed, then do the same thing in New Zeland, but do you actually NEED that? And for this we sacrifice what little consumer rights we had. I'm sorry, but any setup where I can lose hundreds of dollars worth of games due to a decision by a random moderator (I'm looking at you STEAM) is screwing me up the arse. I could go on, but I belive that my animosity towards the CURRENT incarnation of Digital Distribution is apparent.

 

[L33tMarvin]

I perfer hard copy,cause not many sites are DRM free.Also everyone doesnt have a credit card or debit card

 

[Nutcase]

I have a respectable amount of games downloaded in my Steam account but I believe a hard copy is naturally more 'trustworthy' in the sense that it's something you physically own and can do what you want with it.

Burn a downloaded game onto a DVD and you've got a hard copy. Even better, mirror all your game installs onto a large hard disk so you have a backup copy without dealing with a stack of discs. Of course you can't do that with Steam, but that's a problem of Steam, not the online distribution model in general.

Compare and contrast to online music sales, where many stores have gotten rid of the DRM and people can now backup their stuff normally.

Actually, you can make a hard copy backup of any game through Steam. Under file, go to backup games, and select whatever games you would like. Ive never done it personally, but its there

All it does for you is to cache some (all?) of the install data so it doesn't need to be downloaded again. You still need a connection to Steam to re-install, which makes it not a hard copy.

 

[Mercernary]

Hard copy. You don't have to use memory to download the game and, for some reason, I like to collect the cases that they come in.

 

[Nemorov]

Hard copy... my computer tends to go scizo, so it's nice to have an automatic back up that I don't have to think about making myself. Also I buy a lot of used games, because I'm cheap.

And as my one musician friend once said, it's nice to have something to hold in your hands and fetishize as you're enjoying it.

Although, I must admit, Steam is nice. My Steam got corrupted and I had to kill it, but I was able to re-download all of my games.

 

[Nutcase]

mikecoulter, joystickjunki3: don't confuse digital distribution with DRM. GOG.com has no DRM on anything, you just download the stuff and it's fully yours from there on. Make a backup copy if you like, or stop playing the game and give it to someone else if you like.

edit: that is the kind of distribution I like the most. I tend to buy hard copies but only to avoid DRM.

I'm not confusing it with DRM... Games downloaded via the Playstation network, Steam or Live are only playable by you're account. That was my point.

That's a form of DRM. GOG doesn't have that as you can burn the games to a DVD easily. Same thing with Stardock's impulse service.

No, unfortunately Impulse is by and large the same as Steam. Impulse "backups" will not install without an Impulse connection, which makes them download caches and not backups. Just like with Steam, any game you "buy" from Impulse is really a rental of indefinite duration.

What might have led you to this misunderstanding is that the hard copies of Stardock's games in stores have no DRM, and Stardock makes a lot of noise about being against some forms of DRM, but they are very quiet on the forms of DRM they like.

 

[XJ-0461]

Hard copy, mainly because I don't have access to a credit card, but also because that way, I'm certain that I've got what I payed for, and no long times to download the game.

 

[DazZ.]

I like single player games hard copied. That way I can lend them around and borrow them fine, but if its multiplayer and I need to be on the internet I may aswell download it.

I like Steam because I didn't have to lug a load of CDs around if I was switching house for abit.

 

[Azraellod]

i will go for the hard copy.

that said, i never even had the option of a digital copy, since they are usually payed for via the internet, and my parents rigidly refuse to put their credit card numbers online.

 

[kemosabi4]

Hard copy, your hard drive or storage device takes a nose dive then what? Or you want it for later use but don't want it taking up space.

That happened to my Xbox HD. The consoles seemed like the only things with the problem. My console survives, and then my fucking HD takes a shit. Actually, getting your hard drive wiped is somewhat refreshing. You get to start over. But it was still pretty sad. Besides, my friend promised to bring me over the Fallout 3 DLC disk he bought, so I'm gonna have to say Hard Copy: 2, Digital: 0.

 

[Joos]

I like my purchases more tangible. For casual or indie games with limited game time and small download size, sure, digital distribution is ok. But for real games and movies? I'll have a disc please.

 

[L3m0n_L1m3]

Hard copy; that way if data gets corrupt, you don't have to re-purchase it. On top of that, you can bring it to friends' houses, it doesn't require *as much* download time, and digital distribution costs more.

 

[Lordmarkus]

For me, hard copy all the way and my arguments are like everyone else´s.

A cabinet filled with games feels more like an achievment, if I dare call it that, than a hard drive full of them. Then there's also the fact that it feels safer with a hard copy in case your computer goes bananas.

The only company I trust for digital distrubution is Steam because I know my games are safe restored. Then there is GFWL but that's only because the retail versions of the Fallout 3 dlc are too expensive.

Mentioning Games for Windows Live, does anyone know if your DLC is restored on your account like on Steam?

 

[mikecoulter]

For me, hard copy all the way and my arguments are like everyone else´s.

A cabinet filled with games feels more like an achievement.

I get what you mean completely here. It's just somewhat satisfying...

 

[Caprice0083]

Hard copy, your hard drive or storage device takes a nose dive then what? Or you want it for later use but don't want it taking up space.

That happened to my Xbox HD. The consoles seemed like the only things with the problem. My console survives, and then my fucking HD takes a shit. Actually, getting your hard drive wiped is somewhat refreshing. You get to start over. But it was still pretty sad. Besides, my friend promised to bring me over the Fallout 3 DLC disk he bought, so I'm gonna have to say Hard Copy: 2, Digital: 0.

Basic, and on top of that my xBox hard drive is only 20gb, and even then you could fill the 120gb model relatively fast so they would need to come out with a larger and affordable (Hopes Microsoft is listening but knows better)HD to accommodate the Digital Distribution.

 

[Husky.Gnoll]

I prefer Digital just because I hate Dealing with CDs. Also if I accidentally break my CD or I scratch it badly, there is no return for CDs (thanks to piracy). With Digital, however downloading and verifying is such a pain, but it's alot better then dealing with those CDs.

 

[veloper]

All this time I've only managed to scratch by accident 1 game disc to a point where it just reads very slowly and I never want to play hexen2 ever again anyway.

Digital distribution would be nice if it were actually much cheaper.
Most of the time the retail version can be had for less including shipping costs, if you just look around a bit.