This Right Here Is Why Digital Everything Is a ROTTEN Idea.

As most people know, PSN and Xbox Live have been on and off, though mostly off, the past few days. The culprit is apparently a DDoS attack that "hacker" group Lizard Squad had been promising for quite some time. Now, let's be clear - this is crap. Hopefully, every last member of Lizard Squad will be found and be made into nice leather handbags, and people who enjoy playing online will be able to get back to it sooner than later.

Also, let's not kids ourselves, PC elitist bastards - this can happen to Steam or Uplay or Origin or anyone else. That the consoles were targeted is little more than a desire to screw over the most people on Christmas of all days, when tons of consoles were being given as presents. Put bluntly, the only thing saving the various sundry PC platforms is the lack of massive new users on this otherwise joyous holiday.

Either way, this is miserable for all PS4 and Xbone gamers. And yet, perhaps this is a needed dose of reality.

We live in an age where more than a few people are advocating the end of not just physical goods, but of ownership in general. More than a few people are tying their purchases to DRM platforms and digital console purchases, throwing their ability to use the products that they're paying a considerable amount of money to the hands of fate. Be it on PC, Xbone, or PS4, companies are pushing hard to convince us all that nothing can go wrong, and that digital distribution and DRM are not only okay, but preferable to traditional ownership.

Well, during this blackout, I've been able to fully use all my PS4 games, and the couple games I have for my new Xbone. I didn't need to worry about whether I already had them installed, or if I needed to finish the installs, or if I'd be able to re-download something in case a deletion is needed to make room for a new game. Basically, it's been business as usual for me, and for those of us who haven't surrendered all our consumer rights to the fragile ether of the internet.

This isn't the first time this happened, of course. In late June to mid-May of 2011, an actual hack of the PlayStation network forced the service down, as well as compromising users' personal information. Sony threw a few (digital) games at their customers, and endured several lawsuits from the data theft.

Now this isn't anywhere near as bad, at least as far as anyone knows. All signs point to this being no more than a bunch of kids slamming servers to the point of compromising functionality. And that, my friends, is the issue.

By going all-digital, especially DRM-based digital, consumers leave their gaming choices to the fates. If a game isn't installed when the servers are being crapped over, the player is SOL, with no real recourse. It's a matter of luck whether a game, or in this case a whole network, won't go to crap at the very moment a user has free time... Especially in high-profile times as the holidays.

I'm reminded of the raving Xbone fanboys who, after the 180, petitioned MS to stick to their original DRM plan. Could anyone imagine how bad this would have turned out if that were the case? People getting Xbones on Christmas Day, only to hook them up and find them little more than paperweights. Sitting there every hour, trying to see if XBL is on long enough for the check-in... This would have been far, far worse than it is now.

The issue isn't with using the internet, obviously. The issue is that so many people seem willing to let the internet use them, effectively. By being completely dependent only on the internet, without any way to function offline, we open ourselves more and more to this sort of attack, and with life as hard as it is already, do we really need to enable a bunch of script kiddies to ruin our gaming?

I know I won't. The digital-only zealots can have that headache, and for me, it'll be business as usual.

I couldn't agree more. I also want to add another issue: games being delisted for whatever reasons. Double Dragon and OutRun Online were pulled from Xbox Live. And most recently, Marvel vs.Capcom Origins was just taken down. Granted, if you bought the game, you get to keep it, but still...

Steam is all digital and it's still up.

Fancy that.

Also, lets not forget that many console games these days need online verification to launch anyways.

1) That's not the point. Steam can be breached like everyone else. It has only been lucky so far.

2) Do you mean games with a single player component or multiplayer-only games? If the former, can you list, say, 10 of these "many games" that require online verification on consoles?

More on topic: I absolutely agree (though I encourage TC not to call people "bastards").

I wish people understood the fact that we do not "own" the copies of games we buy digitally. We own a limited, terminable, non transferrable license to download and play them on a limited number of household systems (Steam EULA, section 2, paragraph 1).

A license that can be arbitrarily revoked at any given time without warning or explanation (Steam EULA section 4, paragraph 2) and no refund is in any case available in case of license termination or any other condition in which you lose access to your account (Steam EULA, section 9, paragraph 1 and section 10, subsection C).

In other words, you can lose your purchases at any time and there is nothing you can do about it. Not even sue or take part in a class action lawsuit (Steam EULA, section 12, paragraphs 5 and 10).

Yep. Physical all the way.

Well said. The points here were always salient, but they take on renewed significance in the wake of the XBL/PSN outages.

Although slightly unrelated, I've personally experienced being locked entirely out of my purchases before, with Google closing down the gmail account I used to access the PlayStore on my phone. And with my account went access to my copy of Chaos Rings. There was no justification or explanation offered as to why I was locked out of my purchases and seemingly no one I could contact about it. It's worrying to think that your purchases could be swept under the rug overnight like that and there's nothing you can do about it.

Yep, it's about the lack of control. Remember the early rumors about the new Sony and Playstation consoles either doing away with physical media or requiring a mandatory online activation (or periodic online checkup)? Same shit.

I am not saying that digital media is bad. It can be convenient in certain cases, yes, I even use it sometimes. But it's important to remember why the industry (and not just the game industry, but various industries) are so interested in a digital business model. It's PARTLY because it can convey some convenience to customers, thereby encouraging more sales. It's PARTLY by cutting down on production and manufacturing costs, thereby increasing profits. But it's MOSTLY about transitioning from a packaged goods model into a service model. If you're selling a packaged good, then for the most part you lose control of it once it's out of your hands. With a service model, you retain a higher level of control because you're always free to cut off service (it's hard to make a customer give their game disc back once they purchased it...but if it's a service, you can absolutely cut off that service or require them to keep paying indefinitely in order to use it).

And, this is the way of the future. In a fairly recent topic about piracy, someone argued to me Adobe isn't concerned about piracy since the people who pirate Photoshop weren't gonna use it in the first place. And...maybe. But notice how Adobe is transitioning from selling software for a set price, and is now selling a SERVICE wherein you use that software for X dollars a month. That may get more buyers by lowering the short term costs, but the flip side is that they will now cut off service if you don't keep paying indefinitely, and they're free to jack up the service costs at any point. This shit is absolutely going to get more and more prevalent, because the PRIMARY goal here is to take control away from the consumer. Is digital convenient? Often, yes. Cheaper? Often (though probably not as cheap as it should be, given the loss of production of physical content). But that's not why inductries are trying to go that route. Those are just the stated selling points that are used to convince us to relinquish control over what we spend our money on.

All DD game system relay on a third person on a for each time to play a game. I had a laptop that could no longer get on to the internet and after a while to get onto steam offline mode you need to log into steam in on-line mode.

Also DD is more of a long term retail. Despite what case they point at from the EU.

Look at what companies are doing and now imagine if they get the primary power over your game experience.

It has a place but a pure DD for gaming is bad for the gamers.

Stopped reading at "Elitist Bastards"

Yeah I don't want my gaming to go digital only and be treated as a "service". If they want to offer that as another option the I'm fine with that just keep the physical option open as well. I still buy my books in paperback, I still buy my music on cd's, and I still buy my movies on blu-ray.

@YukoAsho: Yep 100% agree. I'll always prefer physical.

The first sentence is not correct, the need to connect every few weeks was a bug that has been fixed for some time now.

Play offline? This has nothing to do with digital distribution and more to do with systems being integrated into the internet for mandatory patches, multiplayer and online check-ins.

Not all digitally distributed games have these DRM restrictions, not even all steam games do. This becomes a non-issue when there are multiple ways to download a game and are not bottle necked by a single store.

@Minishdriveby: Play offline? This has nothing to do with digital distribution and more to do with systems being integrated into the internet for mandatory patches, multiplayer and online check-ins.

Yeah, the problem illustrated by these outages isn't really DD, it's DRM that requires you to constantly check-in before you can play. Pretty sure that is universally hated.

That being said, I only purchase digitally when i have to (or there's a ridiculous sale on Steam or something).

In two weeks people will shrug it off and forget.

Well I agree that digital everything can be a bad idea, and I don't think that hard copies will ever be completely beaten out by digital games, I do think that they offer a convenience to the consumer. I still buy games in hard copies because its just how i've always bought games, and I like having a physical object to represent it just because I like collecting things, not to mention that hard copies are much more reliable. But I do feel like there is a certain convenience that can be brought with the idea of talking to somebody about a game and considering buying it, and and then, instead of getting up and going to the store, simply scrolling over to the online store and buying it right there. I understand it's not always reliable, and there are a lot of possible issues, and I still always go with a hard copy over digital, but I do think there is promise to be found in a digital market option along with hard copies.

Yes, yes a wedding ring, that's the best you could come up with.

Because you know, if we're taking about something of the same number a wedding ring and games you own are identical.

So what's the single game you've ever owned?

digital games on the PC are far cheaper than anything on consoles, and the sales for these games happen early and often. I bought shadow of mordor a month ago for 20 bucks, which is far better than any console deal. I don't get how you can think that digital gaming will not be cheaper when it is already proven that it is, just ask anyone who has ever bought pc game.

The difference is that on the PC there are multiple digital storefronts competing with each other, which in turn drives prices down. Not so on console, and unsurprisingly digital prices reflect that lack of competitive need to lower prices.

For whatever reason Sony has consistently better prices and deals than Microsoft who still has a habit of selling digital games at MSRP (something most retailers don't even stick to for physical boxed games), but neither are priced well enough to supplant physical boxed goods.

Digital gaming has already happened on console. It has not proven cheaper.

The term is highly apt for that kind of person. If you're conflating your self-worth with the benefits of the box you happen to game on you're a prick, doubly so if you evaluate the relative standing of people based on that. And multiplied by a dozen times when the benefit said box was arbitrary coincidence (as was the case here with Steam not being attacked) rather than a feature of the box itself. At that point we aren't even talking about "elitist bastards" to be honest, more like human trash.

Seriously, these people (if you can even call them that) are scum with the social awareness of dog food. It's the very worst, purest kind of fanboyism driven by self-esteem issues rather than the factionalism that advertisers play to. The existence of these people speaks to a very disturbed, dark throwback to primitive humanity.

I think that since consoles have been mimicking the PCs evolution over the years, DD is only going to get bigger. I think there will probably be physical media for a while it's only a matter of time before DD is the norm. Physical based disk storage is becoming obsolete and if the mobile space has shown me anything is that people don't really have an issue with not having to use a disk to use apps. I remember when people were all up in arms because XBL was broadband only, I don't here any complaining about that now.

I am completely 50/50 on this. While I understand the collectors need to have something "real" in their hands, I'm not really all that sad to see it going away. My days of having a bunch of disk cases lying around taking up space has come and gone a long time ago.

MDK and articuno:

I agree that digital distribution on consoles is horrifically done, often things are not cheaper at all, and the way things are done on a console right now, I would never buy anything digitally. However, PC gaming has proven the model can work, and I think what may eventually happen is that as PC gaming becomes more mainstream, consoles will have to start competing with those prices, and then the prices will be driven down, or consoles will just fade into obscurity.

You think Steam is just going to arbitrarily revoke your game licenses? Why in the world would they ever do that?

Also, we don't "own" copies of games we buy physically, either, if you read the EULAs. It's all about licenses and always has been. The real problem with digital is... uh..... Can't think of one. Maybe if the service loses all of your account history and you also lose all of your game files? Then you might be screwed. You also might be screwed if your disc gets scratched. One of those things seems more likely than the other to me.

Being forced to check-in with an online service just to play a game is the real problem. Our Christmas was almost ruined thanks to that. We wanted to play Jackbox Party Pack but couldn't, dammit. Good thing we had a WiiU and Smash.

Not a word of that is the point.

The point is that with physical copies you are in indefinite control on where and when you own and play your copy of the game (and yes: you do own the physical copy, no one is allowed to come and take it away, unlike a digital license), and whether the disc gets scratched depends on the use you make of it. I've had CDs since the late 80s that are in mint shape.

On the other hand, your access to your digital copies depends on external factors, more specifically a remote server you have no control over. The likelihood of that server going offline is irrelevant: the EULA is written around that very same eventuality, so they have thought ahead, I wish people did as well.

@Black_Knight_00: You don't need to access an external server to play digital games... Once it's on your system, you can access it whenever you want, unless the publisher requires a check-in to a server, in which case, the same restriction would apply to the physical version.

Have you played the digital version of a game before? :p

"Once it's on your system"

Your ability to download and install the game is tied to a server. If anything happens to either server or account, your purchase is inaccessible.

I buy games digitally because it's more convenient. Also, I really don't want to own like 40-50 game boxes per console, per generation. I don't have the space for it, nor do I want my place to be represented solely by video game boxes which means useless clutter. I fully understand that a lot of people like collecting games physically, but I do not.

For me, there's also no advantage owning anything physically, unless you are a collector I guess. The worries about companies randomly revoking your access to your library are laughable and border on the lines of conspiracy theories. They have no good reason to do so, it's only written there to cover all their bases, nothing more. I have never had an issue playing games I've digitally purchased, ever. I'd rather have games digitally to carry over on my account than to have them physically. If I lose a game or if the disc gets scratched I have to buy another copy. That'll never happen digitally, it's tied to my account.

DDoS attacks are commonplace in any technology industry and nothing will ever have 100% availability, it's just not possible and it's an unrealistic expectation to have.

Basically, this thread consists of people like this:

@Black_Knight_00: Yep. :/ What's the problem? You have to get a disc from a store, too, which might not be open when you get there. And you can't even sue them for the gas money. It's a tragedy, really.

That's not even close to the planet where the point is.

@Black_Knight_00: So what's your point? I'm obviously not seeing it. I must be blinded by the evil corporations stealing all of my human rights.

No, you're just having a fanboy moment trying to defend your purchases :/

@Black_Knight_00: lol, oh, okay. Thanks for clearing that up.

Which incidentally is why you ignored my previous post with "the point is" at the very start.

@Black_Knight_00: I already directly responded to that and you said "that's not the point."

I'm a known fanboy of missing the point, though, just defending my inability to grasp basic reading comprehension.

I know you were thinking it. ;p

No, I think you can read and comprehend just fine. Just fanboying out before a statue of the Gabe god.

Seriously though, nothing he said was fanboyish.

@Black_Knight_00: The only statue I own is of Shigeru Miyamoto. Gabe is just a life-size photo on the ceiling above my bed.

Must be a pretty large room then.

@Black_Knight_00: THE BIGGEST.

It would have to be, in order to accomodate his majestic girth

I find it funny that people are rooting for the physical copies in this day and age when "physical copies" are an amalgamation of physical discs and digital day-one updates that allow the disc to run.

@Black_Knight_00: lol, I'll send you a digital copy of it if you want. :p

I don't like buying major games digitally, because if there's no demo and you don't like the game, you can't return it or trade it in. Thus, it leaves the game companies laughing all the way to the bank.

That's actually a really good point. Games coming out in beta or even alpha state (say, AC Unity) are becoming a huge problem. Zero collecting value. Might as well buy those digitally. At least Skyrim was re-released in GOTY edition with all the fixes already included.

If you are really worried about that you can just install the game as soon as you buy it making this a complete non issue.

You know, I don't see that happening very often. Maybe it's because I don't buy a lot of Ubi or EA games, but I find that to be GREATLY exaggerated by forumites.