Something I just thought about - future of digital purchases

If in the future everything is bought online, how will parents buy games for their kids? The entire thing of opening video games as presents will be gone.

That, and the fact I prefer having physical media is the reason I am not looking forward to the day we go digial 100%.

I couldn't care less about what kids will do not opening up physical games on Christmas. There are much larger concerns to worry about with digital distribution and cloud gaming.

1) The same way parents usually buy kids a present: With a credit/debit card instead of cash. "Opening presents" is an incredibly weak excuse. If someone wants something as a gift, parents will buy it whether its physical or digital. 2) Any well done digital distribution system is superior in almost every way to a physical only medium. I would get used to digital. XaosII

What, so how exactly are we going to give each other video games as presents, give each other our credit card info?

Go to our friends computer, put the info in, buy it and download it? How is the digital system superior? I can play instantly, have it for life, don't need internet. There will be no more excitement of opening your games for christmas or birthday.

Will your family / friends give you pieces of paper with codes on it.

Meh, I hope the day of 100% digital never comes. I still buy music and dvds in physical form. Having the physical item is nicer.

[QUOTE="XaosII"]1) The same way parents usually buy kids a present: With a credit/debit card instead of cash. "Opening presents" is an incredibly weak excuse. If someone wants something as a gift, parents will buy it whether its physical or digital. 2) Any well done digital distribution system is superior in almost every way to a physical only medium. I would get used to digital. MegaMatt91

What, so how exactly are we going to give each other video games as presents, give each other our credit card info?

Go to our friends computer, put the info in, buy it and download it? How is the digital system superior? I can play instantly, have it for life, don't need internet. There will be no more excitement of opening your games for christmas or birthday.

Will your family / friends give you pieces of paper with codes on it.

Meh, I hope the day of 100% digital never comes. I still buy music and dvds in physical form. Having the physical item is nicer.

The bolded is proof you've got no idea what you're talking about.

Come back when you've used digital distribution. Gifts are availible in todays world, yet you're worried about gifts in the future...

1) The same way parents usually buy kids a present: With a credit/debit card instead of cash. "Opening presents" is an incredibly weak excuse. If someone wants something as a gift, parents will buy it whether its physical or digital. 2) Any well done digital distribution system is superior in almost every way to a physical only medium. I would get used to digital. XaosII

I think opening gifts is a fairly valid point. This is why I am adamantly against pure DD---that physicality that you and everyone seems to downplay I see as crucial to the overall enjoyment of any game. Opening a well done collector's edition makes a game's release exponentially more gratifying instead of just hitting the download button. How exciting. This is why I hate e-books and fear print will eventually disappear. E-books are good for convinience only, it can never capture the care and craftsmanship a well put together book can. Same with games.

I've already gifted several games to my nephews on their birthdays. I made it through the steam gift system.

They enjoyed my digital gift more than any of the physical gifts their friends and parents gave them.

[QUOTE="MegaMatt91"]

[QUOTE="XaosII"]1) The same way parents usually buy kids a present: With a credit/debit card instead of cash. "Opening presents" is an incredibly weak excuse. If someone wants something as a gift, parents will buy it whether its physical or digital. 2) Any well done digital distribution system is superior in almost every way to a physical only medium. I would get used to digital. Nibroc420

What, so how exactly are we going to give each other video games as presents, give each other our credit card info?

Go to our friends computer, put the info in, buy it and download it? How is the digital system superior? I can play instantly, have it for life, don't need internet. There will be no more excitement of opening your games for christmas or birthday.

Will your family / friends give you pieces of paper with codes on it.

Meh, I hope the day of 100% digital never comes. I still buy music and dvds in physical form. Having the physical item is nicer.

The bolded is proof you've got no idea what you're talking about.

Come back when you've used digital distribution. Gifts are availible in todays world, yet you're worried about gifts in the future...

[QUOTE="XaosII"]1) The same way parents usually buy kids a present: With a credit/debit card instead of cash. "Opening presents" is an incredibly weak excuse. If someone wants something as a gift, parents will buy it whether its physical or digital. 2) Any well done digital distribution system is superior in almost every way to a physical only medium. I would get used to digital. MirkoS77

I think opening gifts is a fairly valid point. This is why I am adamantly against pure DD---that physicality that you and everyone seems to downplay I see as crucial to the overall enjoyment of any game. Opening a well done collector's edition makes a game's release exponentially more gratifying instead of just hitting the download button. How exciting. This is why I hate e-books and fear print will eventually disappear. E-books are good for convinience only, it can never capture the care and craftsmanship a well put together book can. Same with games.

Just think of waiting for Christmas and only to get a DD card in an envelope. Then there is the waiting for hours to play a game.

DD give more power to the publisher. Given the action and preserved entitlement that game publishers and developers have, I am scared of a pure DD market.

If in the future everything is bought online, how will parents buy games for their kids? The entire thing of opening video games as presents will be gone.

That, and the fact I prefer having physical media is the reason I am not looking forward to the day we go digial 100%.

MegaMatt91

What, so how exactly are we going to give each other video games as presents, give each other our credit card info?MegaMatt91

Almost every DD service has a gifting option. Buy the game as a gift and it sends them an e-mail with a link for that person to download it.

I think opening gifts is a fairly valid point. This is why I am adamantly against pure DD---that physicality that you and everyone seems to downplay I see as crucial to the overall enjoyment of any game. Opening a well done collector's edition makes a game's release exponentially more gratifying instead of just hitting the download button. How exciting. This is why I hate e-books and fear print will eventually disappear. E-books are good for convinience only, it can never capture the care and craftsmanship a well put together book can. Same with games.

MirkoS77

I too enjoy opening a well made, fairly priced CE. I own the CE for most Blizzard games. CE isn't mutually exclusive with a DD system, especially since they are already low print run items.

But the physical extras in a CE are the only thing worth actually having. A standard game will always have the same crap: DVD case, disc, a skimpy manual that has more text in EULA than actual content, and MAYBE a poster. Amazing.

Visa gift cards, or steam gift cards. Eh, no biggie not to open a present.

There are plenty of ligitimate concerns about digital distribution (what defines ownership, whether games will be treated solely as a service, price and availablity, etc). Not being able to open one as a gift isn't one of them.

Merry Christmas megamatt91! Don't you go killin nobody.

[spoiler] [/spoiler]

How about you forget so much about giving and getting material gifts and give your time, your energy and your love? I hate Christmas because of the rush to purchase crap.

How about you forget so much about giving and getting material gifts and give your time, your energy and your love? I hate Christmas because of the rush to purchase crap.

PC_Otter

Yea, but taking the time to think of what someone would like, taking the time to go out and find it, buy it, and wrap it demonstrates your time, energy and love. I find cash and giftcards (though the latter to a lesser extent) to be relatively thoughtless presents.

[QUOTE="PC_Otter"]

How about you forget so much about giving and getting material gifts and give your time, your energy and your love? I hate Christmas because of the rush to purchase crap.

MirkoS77

Yea, but taking the time to think of what someone would like, taking the time to go out and find it, buy it, and wrap it demonstrates your time, energy and love. I find cash and giftcards (though the latter to a lesser extent) to be relatively thoughtless presents.

How about you forget so much about giving and getting material gifts and give your time, your energy and your love? I hate Christmas because of the rush to purchase crap.

PC_Otter

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"]

[QUOTE="MegaMatt91"]

What, so how exactly are we going to give each other video games as presents, give each other our credit card info?

Go to our friends computer, put the info in, buy it and download it? How is the digital system superior? I can play instantly, have it for life, don't need internet. There will be no more excitement of opening your games for christmas or birthday.

Will your family / friends give you pieces of paper with codes on it.

Meh, I hope the day of 100% digital never comes. I still buy music and dvds in physical form. Having the physical item is nicer.

MegaMatt91

The bolded is proof you've got no idea what you're talking about.

Come back when you've used digital distribution. Gifts are availible in todays world, yet you're worried about gifts in the future...

you can buy games on steam and gift them to other accounts :|

MegaMatt91

My main reason is space. I have so much games, manga, comics, graphic novels, blu rays, and dvd's I was running out of space. When I switched to PC gaming back in 2010 I didn't plan on using steam for everything but after I used it once I loved it. I loved having all my games in one place with no box taking up space. Yes it sucks when I don't have the box for a game when a voice actor in it is at an anime con but I do buy the retail copy for games that require steam or origin since it does offer faster installation. Same with my comics. I buy the combo packs so I have both physical and digital and that way if needed I can sell off the physical copies in the future. With manga I buy whatever I can from the viz app because manga is what was taking up most of my shelf space. I hardly buy new american comics right away in digital only since I refuse to pay $4 for digital only when print is the same price. Books I always buy from the kindle store.

Also the price is usually cheaper for games if you buy digitial. I often wait for steam sales and I have so much money. Comixolgy is always having sales on issues and viz sometimes does sales but usually their manga is always a few bucks cheaper digital. Also it is just more convient for me to do some things digital. I still buy movies and tv shows physically but for games, books, and manga I love having them digital. With comics I still try to buy the combo packs, but right now for me digital works great since I am living abroad and having all my games digital I didn't have to worry about brining all these cd's with me. Also I can still buy books and manga from kindle and viz plus my parents send me the codes from the comic book back in the US and I am able to redeem them while over here.

I wil say though I do not want there to be a day where it is digital only and I never want to see cloud gaming become the norm.. People should have the choice to buy physical or digital and digital should be seen as a choice of convience and not the future. I understand some people may like opening games which is true even for me but I would rather just download it to my hard drive from steam. Plus kids can open other things like toys, dvd's, board games, clothes they want, consoles, etc.