Games as a service (GaaS)

[R.Graves]

It pretty much is Hoarding.

hoarding is hoarding if there's a theme and you have enough shelves.

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

i'd say, in the event that either one is functioning as it should that there's literally almost no difference in terms of convenience.

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.

not sure why that's necessary but its certainly i nice bonus you simply don't get with digital either way.

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

gay

How long it took you to organize your collection?

seeing as its always growing on a near day to day basis... forever?

I don't have to do jack

... well see here's another problem. you talk about buying things like its a chore. i find its great fun to go out to the dirt mall and see what i can find. just nice to be outta the house and as a bonus i get to score some stuff. and if i don't wanna leave the house i can just order it online.

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?

this is literally the only advantage streaming has. the one and only. you don't have to spend an extra 20 dollars on a portable dvd player. oh no. oh man. also streaming is extremely limited in the US when not connected to wifi so its borderline usless anywhere without it.

 

[Walpknut]

hoarding is hoarding if there's a theme and you have enough shelves.

Or I could just not invest in shelves just to hold my plastic cases.

i'd say, in the event that either one is functioning as it should that there's literally almost no difference in terms of convenience.

Nope, streaming video can be done from the toiler, or on the bed without even having to get up.

not sure why that's necessary but its certainly i nice bonus you simply don't get with digital either way.

What is a bonus? Cheap plastic?

gay

I know you are.

seeing as its always growing on a near day to day basis... forever?

What an absolute drag.

... well see here's another problem. you talk about buying things like its a chore. i find its great fun to go out to the dirt mall and see what i can find. just nice to be outta the house and as a bonus i get to score some stuff. and if i don't wanna leave the house i can just order it online.

Well I am rarely in my house most of the day during weekdays. Not really relevant to me.

this is literally the only advantage streaming has. the one and only. you don't have to spend an extra 20 dollars on a portable dvd player. oh no. oh man. also streaming is extremely limited in the US when not connected to wifi so its borderline usless anywhere without it.

Like I told you, you can download movies for later watch on most streaming apps, and if you have movies stored on a disc drive you don't even need wifi, no need to buy clunky pieces of obsolete hardware with bad screens.

 

[R.Graves]

Or I could just not invest in shelves just to hold my plastic cases.

i get it dude. you either don't like owning things or don't have the space for it.

Nope, streaming video can be done from the toiler, or on the bed without even having to get up

i just have my bed right next to the TV and all my consoles so....

What is a bonus? Cheap plastic?

tangible products are nice.

I know you are.

i think mom might too. last time i saw her she asked me if i had a "significant other"
well shit...

What an absolute drag.

gives me a cheap sense of fulfillment. not a drag at all.

Well I am rarely in my house most of the day during weekdays. Not really relevant to me.

that's fair. i mostly just haul ass between work and home until i can find the time to get out.

Like I told you, you can download movies for later watch on most streaming apps, and if you have movies stored on a disc drive you don't even need wifi,

really all of these things you can do with the completely free Utorrent app on your phone and mabe an SD card. so really what's the point of streaming if we're just looking to consume content. and don't be like "support the creators"
unless you're buying movies digitally individually. and even still studios see more profit from physical sales than digital.

no need to buy clunky pieces of obsolete hardware with bad screens.

this is gonna sound hipstery as fuck and may make me completely irredeemable but i find the bad screens kinda charming.
watching dragonball on my portable dvd player just felt... i dunno pure.

 

[Walpknut]

I have space in my house, I just don't intend to waste it on shelves for plastic cases. If I am gonna get something that goes on a shelf, it better be something cool like a figurine, a statue, a sculpture, a painting, etc. I also prefer my living space to be as uncluttered as possible.

 

[R.Graves]

in what way are movies or books on shelf "clutter"

their shape is practically designed for easy filing and organization.

which is more than you can say for statues. a statue by its very purpose is meant to attract attention so when you put 30 of them next to each other its the definition of clutter, at least visually speaking.

 

[Valdetiosi]

It rubs me in wrong way what Walpknut says, since it makes me get image of him being a lazy person not feeling to do anything that would require "work".

It's not a chore, infact spending time to organize collection alphabetically or rewiring is essential brain work, which you don't get from pressing sort button on PC.

 

[Alkuam]

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.

Isn't ARK around 160 gigs with all the dlc installed?

 

[R.Graves]

Isn't ARK around 160 gigs with all the dlc installed?

It rubs me in wrong way what Walpknut says, since it makes me get image of him being a lazy person not feeling to do anything that would require "work".

he does come off incredibly lazy. but too be fair there's no way to paint the act of using disc based entertainment as a chore without coming off like that. dude breaks down "put the disc into the slot" like its a multi-step process that's incredibly straining on the average man.

 

[Deleted member 93956]

I find curious people have such an issue with the format when, it essentially also includes any sort of post-launch support via updates, expansions, or DLC, as well as other things like networking support and multiplayer server reloads. Which hardly anyone is really against.

Also, the argument for physical as an enduring thing is silly, because that it's physical doesn't mean it's gonna work, even more likely as time passes. Holding on to cases for the rest of your entire life to avoid it being a bad "investment" seems dumb as hell to me. Only games with cases I've ever got were ones in sale that were cheaper than they were digital at the moment, and the only one that wasn't was Demon's Souls limited edition, which, surprise, had a guide/manual that was copypasted from Fextralife (which is obnoxiously outdated), the hardcover artwork booklet missing and the cardboard covering it pretty badly beaten. All that when I could literally just have bought it for 5 fucking bucks on a PSN sale. Discs are inherently obsolete as they can only hold so much memory, which most games tend to go over by now. So then you've got *more* disks, if at all, and you're back at the fucking PS1 era, how fun.

And as Walp said, for 99% of games you're really not gonna play the average one more than twice. And as a collector product, they're cheap as fuck unless they're limited editions, which then are cheap AND overpriced.

 

[Risewild]

And as Walp said, for 99% of games you're really not gonna play the average one more than twice. And as a collector product, they're cheap as fuck unless they're limited editions, which then are cheap AND overpriced.

Hey, I actually find myself going to my old games shelf and install those games and play them for ages all the time.
I rarely touch my Steam games. Just having Steam running on the background annoys me to no end, then I have to disable the stupid Steam overlay on older games because it causes problems (for example. Did you know that the Steam overlay makes Fallout New Vegas more unstable and crash prone?).


Let me mention that, once I reported to Steam that some Russian tried to hack my Steam account. Managed to change my password and everything.
Luckily I was logged in at that moment and managed to make a new password for my Steam and Email (just in case) before he could lock me out. Then I activated the two-step authorization thingie.

After waiting to see if they wouldn't change my password again, I contacted Steam providing the specific times of the hack attempts and copies of Steam emails that showed the IP and the "new" email of the person trying to gain ownership of my account. I told them I managed to change my password and that it seems that they haven't been able to change it again (this was on the next day) so it seemed like I was safe.

The answer I got was an email saying something like this: "Thank you for contacting Steam support. We have no evidence that anyone tried to hijack your account.
We hope you're satisfied with this reply."

While I was reading that email, my Steam account got suspended. I replied to that email saying that I was not satisfied and that I had provided proof that someone using a russian IP and russian email had changed my account password, and that even the copies of the Steam emails I had gotten (telling me my password had changed) were in russian. So how could they tell me there was no evidence. Also I asked why they suspended my account, if there was no evidence or any wrong doing.

I got a reply saying something like: "Oh, sorry. That first email was sent by accident. After reviewing the information you sent us, it's obvious someone in russia changed your password, but since you managed to change it back right away and had been no other external attempts to do it again, you're protected and there's nothing else we can do about the whole incident."

I sent another reply asking why my account got suspended then, if it was obvious I was safe. Got a reply telling me that for my protection they had suspended it...
Then they asked me for a lot of information and after I provided all the info, they asked me to to send pictures of any hardcopy game keys I had activated on Steam.
I did so and took them 4 days in total to reactivate my account.

I couldn't play my Steam games for 4 full days because I provided information about a hack attempt and they thought I was protected anyway... And the cherry on top of the cake was asking me for pics of Hardcopy Game Keys for games I activated on Steam. Luckily I had one hardcopy game I had activated on steam and that was the horrible Front Mission Evolution, a game I really hate. If I was on holidays or something... I would be screwed without my games, because I couldn't give them a pic of something I had home.

So, I do hate GaaS. They can take your access for the tiniest thing and if I didn't have a hardcopy game... I would probably still be locked out of my Steam account.

Want another example of GaaS screwing people? If you buy keys on key resellers, you can get your games ripped off your account, if for example the original keys were bought with a stolen credit card and then traded or sold to other people, for example. Ubisoft loves to do that.

There is also the thing about each major game company, now using their own online gaming distribution platform. So if you want to play games from several companies, you have to download and install several gaming distribution platforms, bloatware of the highest ground, that can and will collect data and info from the users, their hardware and even software they use.
If I want to play C&C Generals Zero Hour, these days I have to get Origin, because the game is not available anywhere else (like Steam or GOG), luckily I own the hardcopy disk version of it and of Command & Conquer the Last Decade, which also includes it so I don't need stupid Origin.

And then there's the whole internet thing, last year during several stormy days my internet was shit. Without internet I was bored as hell, I felt like installing something "new" (that I hadn't already installed on my computer at the time, since I was bored of all the games on it) to play, but I couldn't download any games because internet being bad... Well, I went to my bookcase and got Age of Empires 3 complete, C&C Generals Zero Hour, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and expansions and installed them all. I had a blast playing those games during the storms.

Also, good luck finding any online store selling some games, for example LEGO® The Lord of the Rings™ and LEGO® The Hobbit™ just can't be found for PC on online stores (it even got pulled off Steam too). That is another problem with digital stores, they can pull out games at anytime, and then they stop being available for purchase unless you can still find hardcopy disks .

GaaS, being either paying monthy or buying on a digital platform have advantages and disadvantages, same as having hardcopies, but I'll be damned if I don't prefer having the hardcopies available. Hell, I can even have some of the advantages of a digital gaming platform for the games I have on disk, if I want to. All I have to do is make a virtual image of the disks, upload them on google drive or whatever and download them later, if I'm worried about spoiling my disks or something. I still don't have to deal with stupid gaming distribution platforms that way, while I have access to all my games still (if I have internet, just like GaaS platforms).

 

[Walpknut]

It rubs me in wrong way what Walpknut says, since it makes me get image of him being a lazy person not feeling to do anything that would require "work".

It's not a chore, infact spending time to organize collection alphabetically or rewiring is essential brain work, which you don't get from pressing sort button on PC.

It is a chore when I could be making a lot of other stuff like going to work, going to art classes, paint something, go to the gym, cook, clean up the house, etc.
In between working from 7:30 yo 5:30, studying from 6 to 9, cooking my lunches, having Japanese classes on saturday mornings, doing art homework in the afternoon and the next day, if I am gonna dedicate that much time to an activity it better be something productive or at least fun.
I don't know about you guys but I have other interests outside buying plastic cases and organizing them in shelves.

 

[Risewild]

It is a chore when I could be making a lot of other stuff like going to work, going to art classes, paint something, go to the gym, cook, clean up the house, etc.
In between working from 7:30 yo 5:30, studying from 6 to 9, cooking my lunches, having Japanese classes on saturday mornings, doing art homework in the afternoon and the next day, if I am gonna dedicate that much time to an activity it better be something productive or at least fun.
I don't know about you guys but I have other interests outside buying plastic cases and organizing them in shelves.

How do you even have time to watch Netflix and play games?

But just to be fair, no one is wasting hours organizing games and books. You buy a new game, you put it on the shelf, it takes less time than the wait for Steam to log you in and open.

 

[Walpknut]

Steam logs in on start up and my PC has a solid state drive. It literally takes less than a second.
I watch Netflix and play games on Saturday and Sunday after doing homework.

 

[SquidWard]

They can't ban you without reason

I doubt that dude, I bet somewhere in that TOS there's a line reading something like, "Oh fucking well, it's our service if we ban you it's ultimately our decision so piss off." And not to mention people have proven to be innocent of breaking any TOS before and Sony's only response is once they have banned you, you cannot be unbanned. No thanks, that's just asking for a bad time. I own ONE game digitally that I spent money on for my PS4. That's Mortal Kombat X which I also have on Steam. If I had the chance, I'd have bought a GOG version but that won't happen. I also would have rather just had a physical disc that didn't just look nice and come with a Steam key like 99% of the big games you find on disc for PC now.

Talking about clutter with cases and discs, the only time that's entirely true in my opinion is when the disc is useless because you need Steam. Otherwise, I'd rather have my stuff. Digital's fine as long as I get to do what I'm doing with GOG, but I'll prefer physical.

Knowing how services have treated customers in the past, it's pretty foolish of me to trust them now.

 

[Gizmojunk]

Not to split the topic, but is no one else reminded by this... of the attitudes towards (and arguments for) a cashless society; the various pros & cons are a parallel, ...

**Edit [after Squadcar]: ...and a good chunk of the younger population would asperse the notion of owning physical cash in the same way as physically owning software.

 

[Norzan]

Even with the all upsides of digital, still vastly prefer physical. My Steam account can at any moment be hacked and i lose everything (even with all the protection, i know people that lost their steam account) and i don't feel like i own the games i have on Steam. It feels like Steam allows me to play the games i bought, but at any moment they can say fuck you and shut down my account.

Meanwhile with physical, Steam (or any other company i bought games from) has to come to my house to take my games and they sure as fuck ain't gonna try. And with physical it's time itself that takes my games, not some company owned by people that can suddenly take them. I find this much more reassuring.

 

[Walpknut]

Couldn't your house, at any point, get robbed and you would lose all your DVDs, VHS, and such?

Steam isn't gonna shut down your account for no reason, no offense, but neither you guys or me are important enough for Steam to go out of their way to close our accounts unless we break TOS. And with newer games, if you own them physicaly or not, if they are on PC you can't play them unless you have a steam/origin/Uplay account anyway so kind of a moot point.

 

[Risewild]

Steam logs in on start up and my PC has a solid state drive. It literally takes less than a second.
I watch Netflix and play games on Saturday and Sunday after doing homework.

Sure it does take less than a second, unless it goes "Updating Steam" for quite some time, then after some updates "Steam needs to restart", then "Logging into Steam" for a bit longer...

If someone has shitty internet, it might take quite a bit to login, then if the game you're trying to play has an update, it might take longer.

EDIT:

Steam isn't gonna shut down your account for no reason, no offense, but neither you guys or me are important enough for Steam to go out of their way to close our accounts unless we break TOS.

They did to mine. After telling me there was nothing they could do and that my account was safe, they went and suspended it. It's up there on my wall of text post ^ .

 

[Walpknut]

There is an option on the menu called "offline mode", let's you play offline and without having to download any updates. You only need to go online when you wanna download anything or when you are going to play multi player.

 

[SquidWard]

I'm pretty sure if you reboot, you have to log into the Steam servers still. They don't want you sharing games.