this reminds me of when I got my PS3, my mothers boyfriend convinced me to sell off my ps2 and all my games for it, so I could buy new games for the new console. I now have a different ps2, and a small collection of games for it, but they will never be *my* games from 10 years ago, I'll never get those back, and I miss them terribly.
My whole DS collection was sold, so that I could play new pokémon games on 3DS. I miss my Heart Gold copy, and I can't even replace it with an authentic copy without spending a good amount for an original case and box. I know I still have my pokéwalker somewhere, just have to find it. At least I do have a goal to recomplete my old collection. When I think about it like that, it feels like a fun mission, even if it's a pricey one ( I had so many DS games that go for too much now).
Having not watched the video yet: It gives an odd feeling of security. A digital purchase seems so abstract and fleeting. Physical copy is solid, I can hold it in my hand, it can't just ... vanish.
Fun fact... as part of my college experience, we went to a printing press. That "new game smell" is exactly what the production floor smelled like. It was amazing for me.
Why? -They look cute -I feel like I really own the game -I like to look at the case and the game disk or card -I can resell it -I can lend it to a friend
Also you can borrow it from a friend if they got physical, or you can buy a preowned version for a discount, which spoke to me when he talked about that one old game that really connects to you. I saved up my money for months back in the 90s as a kid to buy my own copy of Final Fantasy III (6) on SNES and can still remember having to ask my parents to drive me to the mall so I could buy a used copy from the game store, and how special it felt for me to have a game I loved so much of my very own, and that's not something I could have done as easily if someone else hadn't sold their old copy to that store.
Same for books, music, and shows: I try to buy the physical copy if it means a lot to me or made an impact. It's satisfying to just hold it and look at the covers. I think about this a lot. Growing up, books and toys were like memory sharers - like the memories I had while using them would be shared with them. Hell, when I finished a book as a kid, I'd carry it for another day just to let it steep in my brain and kinda say goodbye for now. I still do that to an extent by buying a physical copy. I still have my Gamboy Color and Pokémon Silver, lol. I bought a digital copy of Crystal to experience that other side I'd only heard about. I might just buy the box so I can put it on the shelf, lol.
I agree about books. I can’t stand ebooks. And cds gain such a personal connection for me that online music never has, a feeling that I own this specific copy of this music, I own these songs, and other people can’t ever listen to this exact recording.
I totally get the book thing. Nowadays, most of my book "reading" is audiobooks, but I still buy a physical copy that I can put on display. So next time I feel like going through a book or book series, I can really read that book. Because of limited space though, I only do that with books I REALLY love =)
I work in a bookstore and I've tried ebooks before, for cost and space reasons, but it's not the same for me. Partly because I always have to something else going on the background and if I'm trying to read on my phone or a computer, I just end up watching YT or playing a game or something, but if I'm holding a physical book in my hand, jt grounds me in the story. The bigger part is that I love seeing and touching physical reminders of the stories I love. I read a book years ago that said books are thicker when you finish reading then because they hold memories of the journey you took with them in the pages afterwards. I really loved that and it's stuck with me ever since.
Can't ignore the fact that corporations are shady af and could theoretically take away your access at any time in alot of cases. Even if you were to fight it in court that's effort you wouldn't have to exert if you bought a physical copy.
The lack of free exchange, resale, still having use of it when the internet is down is why I will keep buying physical copies. The digital download are a little more convenient but we ultimately lose the right on handling what we purchase how we like.
@@papasscooperiaworker3649 Doesn't apply to most games but stuff that's multiplayer focused and "Cloud" versions of game (which has somewhat become a thing) can't really work without internet
So, I am one of those weird people that buys almost all of my games digitally, and I think I can trace the origin of this. So, my entry into gaming didn't really come through traditional means. Yes, I do have a Game Boy Advance and a bunch of cartridges that I still keep, but in my teenage years most of my gaming was from playing indie games on PC, many of which didn't have physical copies that I could buy. I couldn't own a physical copy of Spelunky, FTL, Hyper Light Drifter, or Mount and Blade: Warband. Sure, some of these games did eventually get physical releases, but I couldn't have played any of them and that was the case for pretty much everything I played in middle school through high school. The switch is the main exception to this as it is my largest collection of physical games I have bought myself where I could also own digital versions, but even then my physical collection is only 7 games large. I guess for me, all of the nostalgia comes from being in front of a monitor with my keyboard and mouse, playing whatever weird indie game I have those memories for. I would be curious to see the breakdown of physical or digital preference among console and PC gamers, because I would be willing to bet that PC players tend to be less attached to physical copies of games because they have been forced to buy digital copies of games far more frequently. Sites like GOG have tons of neat classic games that even if you had the physical copies, wouldn't run on modern hardware. Itch.io has tons of indie games that are way to small for any sort of physical release. Steam has a lot of games that only come out for PC and it wouldn't really be profitable to release a physical copy. For these reasons, I think digital is way more popular among PC players than those who grew up console gaming
Dude I think you’re totally right, I’m sure it’s wildly different for those that mainly play PC games. If the possessions are never really there, there’s just nothing to get attached to, ya know?
Yeah I totally agree as well. I have almost never done any console gaming, and I definitely didn't grow up on it, so I have no care for physical copies of games. I probably only have about 2 physical copies of games and that's just because I got them for super cheap at a yard sale.
Consumer friendly solution: give me (also) a code for the digital version when I buy the physical one A little less consumer friendly but still better then now: if I already have the physical version of a game, give me a 50-60% discount on the digital version I want my games to be physical, but digital is SO MUCH more convenient.
Problem with that is people could give away or sell those codes, meaning they get less or no money from someone getting the game. Opportunity cost and suchlike
@@duckles426 My concept has been to do it like Nintendo Switch Online’s NES and SNES games. You have to connect to the internet like once a week or something like that to make sure you’re still subscribed to NSO, but besides that you can play the games offline. What if you get a digital copy of every game you buy, but you have to put in the disc/cartridge once a week/two weeks/month to make sure you still own it?
If they were to do this, then if your friend had a physical game, then they could put it into your console, take it out, and then you would get the game for a discounted price when you shouldn’t have.
@@duckles426 not to mention if they gave digital copies with every physical copy I could go to GameStop, get the code, then sell them back the game within a week and get my money back. Obviously if this system went through GameStop would change their rules to prevent it, much like target doesn’t allow you to return an opened dvd for that exact reason.
About a week ago, my friend lent me their copy of Pokémon Platinum. I never finished Pokémon diamond 7 years ago and I was ecstatic when I found out she had platinum and would lend it to me. I started playing the game and I had a flood of memories the second I chose chimchars poke ball. I felt like I was a kid again trying to understand Pokémon and this time, not getting lost in wayward cave. I beat the game yesterday with my Infernape being the MVP in the champion battle and I felt so happy despite it being just a game. Sadly I can’t keep this copy of the game but I know I will buy it eventually and I can still transfer my team to Soulsilver
Locations, and objects have always been difficult for me to pin down in the way that you describe here - I've suffered a lot from dissociation and derealization in my life, and in a way it's more comforting for me to be able to log onto a computer or console and see my entire library at my fingertips - to have that influx of memory and attachment in a digital space, because I understand better somehow that in a digital space these digital things are *mine* and not when I have a physical copy of something. Those things I've been taught are more of an 'ours' - that those memories are shared, that they shouldn't be private. This was an interesting video, though ^^
This ain't just a gamer thing. I recall hearing even my mother once talking about issues with e-books, and how easily your ownership of the digital books you purchased can be whisked away.
I agree. I could never stand anything happening to my books, and ebooks just can’t feel the same. I also almost get a feeling that even though it was probably typed on a computer, this author wrote these words onto paper for me.
sadly that's becoming less of a benefit since even a lot of physical games still download the whole game to your hard drive the same as if you bought a digital version
I always wear this old Goomba cap that my older sister once wore. It's been peeled over the times and the bill's cracked in half, but I still wear it because it reminds me of her and who she means to me.
Man, this hit home because I am sorting out old boxes and found the complete original run of the first bionicle sets with boxes and all. Truly something I will keep for sentimental value since those lego action figures were my absolute favorite toys as a kid.
I used to love getting physical copies of games, when these games used to have manuals to read through. It was just a joy to read more about a game that I’ve been excited for, maybe pick up on some inputs or tricks that I wasn’t aware of, and my favorite as a child was looking for game art of my favorite characters and trying to draw them. Unfortunately, this died down for me, and other factors like how my Soul Calibur 2 GameCube disc just had all the scratches one day, and consoles like PS4 require you download the game, making the disc more like an access key, resulted with me just deciding to go digital for the convenience of switching between games more efficiently. I will miss those times, having these game manuals so that I can learn more about a game or just draw their characters. Good times.
When I first got Pokemon Crystal, I sat on the staircase in the front of my house for hours just being amazed at all the animation and sounds. As an adult, I've had to get rid a lot of my childhood things because of either needing the money they could bring in or moving multiple times and being unable to transport them or keep them in storage. So I've come to value my experiences more and try not to rely on objects to hold that value for me. The NieR Endings were instrumental in helping me embrace that non-materialism to a certain extent
This video makes me sad. For some reason, I can’t remember almost anything that happened over two months ago. It’s always been like this for me. Even having a physical copy of something not a photo of me doing something doesn’t do anything. Sure a feint memory of something related to it will most likely pop up, but it isn’t tangible, or I can’t process that it’s me. It’s a really lonely and sad feeling. Other people know more about me then I do, and remember stuff I’ve done that I wouldn’t even think about doing right now. It kinda makes me tear up a bit, hearing people talk about vivid memories of me and friends while I have to pretend I know what they’re talking about out of fear they’ll resent me for not remembering moments together.
That sounds terrible, I'm so sorry. If you ever want to talk to someone, I'd be willing to listen. Sometimes talking to strangers can be easier than to people you know and are afraid to disappoint. Sorry if I weirded you out with that.. 😅
I actually prefer digital, mostly because of my disabilities. I have multiple chronic pain conditions which effect my mobility and having to get up constantly to change the disk or cartridge make things really frustrating and isnt really a good use of my already limited energy. The nintendo switch has been a godsend for me, seeing as I can no longer spend hours sitting at my PC, I can a lot of games I have on PC on my switch and its made it so much more accessible. In a perfect world, I would love to have shelves full of games, but I'm also quite poor and rely on sales which im more likely to get on digital. This was a really interesting exploration and it was fascinating to compare with my own thought processes.
My version of Crystal for you is pokemon black, I got it for my 12th birthday back in 2011 it was a gift from my dad and that night my dad suffered a massive heart attack and passed away.... We were thrust into foster care and I lost nearly everything but that game came with me and I played it while I still hadn't comprehended what was happening to me I completely shut down and just focused on my DS.... I didn't cry until I was alone, I remember feeling so completely broken and couldn't feel anything... I'm now crying as I watch and type this...
2:08 this box made me so damn angry I so badly wanted to have the collector's edition because I recently also got a vinyl. So I bought it from a website and they send me a email 5 days after launch that my order was cancelled man that made me sad.
I have no emotional attachment to any copy of a game I own, but I just like "having" the game, like he said, for me it's about that phsycological ownership. Also my paranoid mind goes, "what if the online hosting company (steam) went out of business?" which doesn't make sense but if that ever happens I want to still have my games.
I'm very much a nerd for any sort of physical media; for music, I collect analogue media like vinyl and cassettes and will usually choose those over CDs and digital downloads. For games, I like to keep a tight collection of my favourites; same with movies and books. For general consumption, however, I usually go digital; ebooks and Spotify, streaming services and Steam sales. When it comes to new releases, though, the two are more or less connected, to me, because of the price tag. If I ever buy a new game, it usually means it's something I'm looking forward to or a new entry in a franchise I cherish, so I always go physical when possible because ideally, if I'm willing to drop £50-£70 on a game, there is a high chance that it's something I will enjoy and cherish enough to want to keep a physical copy around. And as for collector's editions, I almost exclusively buy those for indie games or my absolutely favourite franchises nowadays, mostly because I'm running out of shelf space from my older statues lmao Awesome video as always, man, can't wait for next month's!
Tangible ownership is a big reason for me. However, with my Switch I pretty much exclusively have digital copies, with the exception of 2 games that were just a better price for the physical copy. And I think the reason I'm good with the digital copies is because the Switch is entirely my own. I always shared consoles with my sister growing up, so we divided the game collection into "yours, mine, and ours," where we had to ask each other to play a game that "belonged" to the other but didn't if it was "ours." Since I don't have to share my Switch, I don't need the same intensity of ownership ascribed to the games themselves.
I usually buy any game that is more than $30 physical for my Switch. As to me, spending a big amount on something that is not tangible to hold in your hands, just feels wrong
Daryl I've just discovered your channel and you have the most underrated channel on youtube. Seriously your topics, analysis, editing and jokes are all excellent. As you're clearly a huge anime fan like me I'd love to see you make a video on it.
Strongly considering doing an anime video in the future! Just trying to figure out how to make that fit with the current audience since it’s predominantly folks here for gaming stuff. Glad to have you on board!
I’ve kept about 95% of the games I gotten while growing up. I thought I’d always go for the physical copies of games and keep them so I could play them anytime I was in the mood for them. No seller’s remorse. Used copies were always cheaper than the digital versions too. Over the course of the last console generation I’ve migrated over to mostly digital PC games. The convenience and variety of digital wins me over nowadays, but I’ll always keep my consoles and the games I have for them.
As someone who prefers digital to physical, the physical manifestation of my ownership of those games I think has been displaced into my controller (specifically my pro controller, my joy cons feel weird). It's representative of the ownership I have over the console in general, and since all those games exist in that console it feels weighty and nice.
I never really have a problem with buying digital games, but when it comes to books and manga, I straight up CANNOT enjoy them unless I have a physical book in my hands. Something about that tactile experience of turning pages, thumbing through them, smelling that "book" smell...it's just as important to me as the actual content of a book.
When you got a digital game you're nostalgic for, you are just nostalgic for the icon on the console's homescreen, or the console itself. It's not really that diffrent
“Oh man I can’t wait to buy a physical copy of my favourite game!” Opens case, only to find a cardboard disc with a download code on it - where the actual game should be. “Piracy it is then!”
I like keeping all of my old sketchbooks, and this explains that urge very well. I don't necessarily want to reread the comic I made about a boring pastor turkey or be entertained by stick figures frozen mid-battle, I just want to remember those old times. just wanna be 5 year old, scribbling in a notepad with a ballpoint pen again.
Exactly! And that’s why I think I will always draw in sketchbooks, even though I draw digitally as well. Other than the feeling and style of a pencil and paper being very different, there’s a feeling of your drawings having real life form. I took a pencil and drew on this paper in real life.
9:19 -- "You'll be nostalgic for right now, someday." A few weeks before my fish passed away, I got him a floating log. I remember looking at the reviews, and seeing that a lot of customers were disappointed because some of them were defective and stopped floating after a few days. I actually took it out of my online cart before checking out. But a few minutes later, for whatever reason, I emailed Chewy to ask if they could change my order to include it. My fish loved it so much. His gills weren't working as well anymore, so he slept inside of the log so that he could easily stick his face out of the water for some fresh air without having to swim all the way up. He made his last bubble nest in that log. It's been some months. I still haven't taken down his tank other than draining it of most of the water. It makes me sad. But when I think about that log, it just makes the emotions flow for some reason.
My preference for physical copies is because if your ps5 gets disconnected from Sony's servers for an extended period of time (as proven if you remove the battery) digital games will not function on it, whereas physical games will
I love actual ownership and not having to worry about holding on to a console just because of a digital game. Looking at you, Scott Pilgrim! Also, I love the "new" smell when you first open the packaging.
One thing I always liked about physical copies when I was a kid was the manuals, sometimes they'd have interesting bits of info about characters or items in the game, lists of weapons or items and such, now all of that tends to be shown in menus and item descriptions and so on, but I always liked those little booklets. I buy physical and digital now, depending on price mainly, sometimes there are those sweet digital sales with really good discounts, other times you can buy a second hand game for a fraction of the original price (and without giving any money to EA). But I also like to get a digital copy so I can lend a game to friends, or sell it if I don't want to keep it.
My n64 was a hand me down from my older brother and my game cube was a Christmas present from him. My copy of paper Mario was bought 2nd hand from a high school friend and my copy of the thousand year door was a Christmas present from my mom. Definitely a lot a loving memories tied to those things ❤
Great points! Hearing you talk about nostalgia for games really gave me nostalgia for games. I've kept all my copies, even for games I didn't like and didn't really play. Another reason I tend to go digital is I really don't trust the companies to keep my best interests in mind. We've already seen cases of digital only games getting yoinked out of circulation by the publishers for one reason or another. So I feel like if I keep my physical copy, even if it's hundreds of years later, there is still the very small sliver of a chance that I can replay my games again.
This is also the case with books. I have a Nook (the original version when it first came out), and although I've read a number of books on it, it can't beat the feel of a hefty book in your hands or the texture of the pages. And that sentiment of "because it's mine" is still very strong within adult me. Even a worthless knick-knack can remain in my pocket or room because it's mine. Once when walking into my office, the clip from my laptop bag broke. I lost the spring and the little trigger piece, but I picked up the remaining hook piece and put it in my coat pocket. I could have chucked it when I got inside or got home, but it's still in my pocket a few years later.
I've been really feeling this topic lately. When I got divorced, my ex-spouse claims they tossed away my old chunky PS2 and my collection of games that I brought when I moved in with them, including games that are not just rare but most importantly, held importance to me. Nowadays I'm trying to rebuild that library, even if it's with emulation, but it's never going to be the same. It doesn't help that buying a PS2 nowadays is absurdly expensive and it'll be a quest for certain to find the games I had in physical copies now. Basically, there really is something special about having the physical copies of a game and the sense of 'ownership' really comes with some sense of comfort and joy because of the memories.
I think I just realized part of why I don't care about buying physical copies of games anymore is because I sold my old pokemon games. I've never really had that moment of nostalgia looking at my old cartridge, so it's not much of a consideration when I'm looking to pick up new games nowadays
Me and my brother still have all our old Skylanders, even though some of them don't even work, and all of them are a bit broken. They just bring back so many memories, there's no way I could get rid of them.
Well for me, it's not about *psychological* ownership. You see, when you buy a game digitally, you *don't* own it. You own the right to use a code that's never going to truly be yours. But when you purchase physical media - it's on your shelf, it's yours.
I don't know about this video... but I'm not sure how to express my disagreement. When I look at the games in my Steam library, I suppose I don't feel like I own the game quite I do with physical stuff, but there's so much more to a game on Steam than the game itself. Workshop content, mods, community hubs, it's all right there, just a click away. I may not feel like I really own Half-Life, but I instead feel like I'm connected to be part of a community just as passionate about the game as I am. And this community is not only passionate about Half-Life, but also Sven Coop, Crack Life, Afraid of Monsters, and just about every other franchise spawned from the franchise. Meanwhile, owning a physical copy feels somewhat isolated from that community. What I'm trying to say is, I think a digital copy done right in some cases has more tangibility than the physical release of that game by the fact that it lets you easily access the layers of game beyond the actual game.
Hate to ruin the mood but i felt I needed to say this here. I have aphantasia which means I can’t visual memories. This sucks. I can’t remember the faces of elementary school friends, the moments of playing games with my friends, or most of those games too. The worst part is I’ve lost 75% of the objects from my childhood and I feel like I need something to remember my experiences from so I don’t forget them
You hit the nail on the head on why I love physical games so much, like if there’s no other option I will buy the game digitally if it’s something I’m interested in but typically I always buy a physical copy. Just looking at it in my hands makes me smile, it’s also why I love repro carts. It allows me to experience games I’ve loved and always wanted to try in English or a physical form without the hassle of emulation.
You came SO CLOSE to stating a very real consideration for physical vs. digital: ownership. Not just the psychological feeling of ownership, but the literal legal rights associated with it as well. When digital games were just starting out on 7th gen platforms, I embraced it. Games that probably wouldn't be made otherwise, Virtual Console, all that. Then, Nintendo shut down the Wii Shop Channel. All those games (save whatever is still on my physical Wii U while that lasts), GONE. No rights, no protection...just gone. Tons of money down the toilet...so now I only buy digital games on crazy good discounts or wait for the Limited Run release. Because I am no longer willing to view my digital games as any less disposable than the people selling them to me.
Also the possibility of the developer patching out content when licensing "expires". So many songs in GTA games that were integral to the experience are just gone now.
I dont like having physical things and I have quite the steam library, where most of my favorite games are on. Whatever I have physical should be very important to me. For an example instead of boxes, I buy the official artbook for the games I really love. I dont have any physical copies of the Dark souls games, but I have the official artbook to lament on instead of a just a box. Id love to get Vinyls of soundtracks too but then I’d just have too much stuff in my house, I really only like having the “essentials” to life, and digital media just lives on forever and are always accessible.
I like the idea of artbooks as an alternative, but not for me since i also like things minimalistic. Perhaps if at some point console makers get their way and the industry goes full digital i can suggest this to my collector friends
I love physical copies, unfortunately with how tiny my apartment is, I have practically no choice but to get my games digitally, I just don't the physical space needed to house over 2000 games.
@@ParvaChauhan I feel like preventing theft would count under "taking care of it", but i see your point. and yeah steam isn't likely to go down anytime soon, but it will end eventually.
As someone who greatly prefers physical but _has_ to buy digital games because it's extremely more practical in my situation, this video (especially the parts about how digital games try to simulate the illusion of physical ownership through excess detail), has made me reflect on my experience and relationship to this subject even more, and made me realize something to address this immense conflict I feel over how I want to have my games. I think, instead of seeking attachment to the physical games themselves, I'll choose to attach myself to the console itself, the console housing a customized setup and has all of my games there for me to see. Instead of a plastic case and a cartridge/disc to look at, admire, smell, keep and treasure, I'll treat my console itself as that, so that in many years, once I return to the console after leaving it, that same momentary rush from rediscovering something precious from the past, will still be triggered by just switching the console on and seeing my collection there.
Even if it's not the physical game itself, stand-ins for physical copies can have much the same effect. When I first got Pokémon Crystal it was a digital copy on the 3DS virtual console, but the way I found out about it was that my local game store was selling these cardboard boxes with Pokémon Crystal art on the front and back, almost like a game box. Inside was just a piece of paper with a code you could use to get the game off the e-shop, but I kept the box. I still have it somewhere in my old bedroom back at my parent's house, because it created much the same effect as having an actual physical copy would have.
Even without nostalgia or memory tied to it. Physical copies are yours. You don't own digital product. If the companies server is gone. You don't have the right to a new one.
There's the feeling of "I can do whatever I want" with the physical copy. It maybe sell after you jump to the next gen, or lenting it to your friend. I feel digital copies are exactly as you discribe "you don'nt own it, you own the access of it", like I got my collection on Steam, I "own" almost 400 games, but some games are restricted to region, that means I will not have access to games I own if I move to another county. Sometimes, just the fact that needing internet to download the game makes it lost the ownership of it.
I'm not so attached to the physical copies. Since I've created my Steam account, I've never bought a physical game any more. I have a small collection of PlayStation disks and DS cards, but for me they're little more than just vessels, the nostalgia and emotions come when I put them in and start the game. The PlayStation console is not working, and I don't even have a TV that I can connect it, but now I have installed an emulator with all the games I used to play, and the emotional connection is there, with everything you described about your physical games. I feel as attached to the files in my computer (or even in a library "on the cloud") as I would be to a physical object. And this also works for music, movies, and books (I guess I'm a "digital child"! lol) I love when the box comes with beautiful art, lore booklets, physical objects, things that can create a full experience before you even insert the CD. But most games just have a lame instruction manual to explain the UI and the buttons I can press, as if I've lived in a cave for 30 years and never played a videogame before, and does a much worse job at that than the in-game tutorial. If there's no extra value, just give me a download button and I'm happy.
Just like you have this thing with playing Pokémon as you wait in hospitals, I play pokemon leaf green whenever I travel far from home. It brings back memories from when I used to visit family and would play it in the car. It makes me feel like my journey away from home will be safer and that I'll always come back ☺️
I kinda like physical and digital equally. When I was a kid I kept almost everything that had any sort of sentimental value, that included physical games. And most of the games in my childhood were physical since I didn't have the money to buy digitally and my parents didn't really understand how it worked. Also physical gaming was just a lot more common. But now I buy almost everything digitally just because it's easier, quicker and cheaper a lot of the time. If I really enjoy a game and it heavily impacts my life, I'll buy an artbook or a collector's edition or just merch in general. But everything else, I'm happy to just have the memory in my head and my console. I can get feeling like you don't truly own a game until you can touch it but to me buying physically feels like an investment. If I don't like a game I buy physically I have to either keep it and put it on display even though I didn't like it or go through the trouble of selling it or throwing it out. But if I didn't like a digital game I can very easily just delete it then forget about it.
I always prefer the digital copies because I remember when I was still a kid, I have a jailbroken PS2 that could play pirated physical games. It made me correlate physical copies with cheap things and prefer the much more "original" copy of the game. I also remember many disc game of mine broke down before even I reach the ending of it (PS2 Tom and Jerry hide and seek-alike game, yeah, It stills haunt me to this day).
Every time i hold my old copy of new super Mario Bros Wii i am reminded of when i played the game some 10 years or so ago back when things were simpler.
What I think is a main part as to why people prefer ''owning'' something physically over digitally is because so many things could happen with said item, You can give a friend to borrow it, You can boot it from time, You can have a feeling of actually ''owning'' said item compared to downloading it like the rest digitally, the physical item you have IS the copy you ''own'', Basically you ''have'' the game and can ''feel'' your ownership of said game compared to having it installed on steam or so on.
I prefer digital versions and I vividly remember the moment I switched from physical. When I was a kid, I've had a lot of movies and games. I've even had a huge flip book style box for 100 disks. I kept my games in such a box, maintaining an excel sheet catalogue. Back then hard drives on desktop were so small I had to uninstall an old game (or three) before installing a new one. The steam started to be a thing of importance, internet connection was stable and decent. I went to a store and bought myself a box of Team Fortress 2, came home, opened the box, entered the code from the box into steam window and the game started installing. I locked the box and instantly saw it as garbage. That box had never actually been required for anything but delivering that tiny code to me. It was manufactured garbage. I didn't understand it fully at the time but now I know that my inner ecologist is a big part of me, and he didn't like that concept of producing garbage. One of the factors that plays into that is the size of an average apartment in my city. It's not big at all, my current one room apartment is 30 square meters. In every place I rented my desktop was at the center of the room, taking most of attention and most of my time - I'm a software developer (and about to start working as a game developer), so most of my activities are happening at my desktop. Having posters would be nice, but storing boxes? I don't have an apartment big enough to say to myself: "yes, this part will be devoted to displaying my collection". I feel like I'll never feel like there is a need for that. I'm gonna try setting up my collection in VR when I get it, but I have over 700 games, 86 of them where I have all of the achievements. So I'm gonna have to think hard on how to organize that.
I know this video is about the psychology behind this behavior, but there's a lot of players like me that are digital-only because the physical copies are too expensive and hard to find. I live in a country with no direct support from Nintendo, so the physical games depend on what the shops are importing, that being which games are currently hyped. And when they arrive, they are at mercy of whatever prices the shops decide, sometimes 50% or even 100% more expensive than the initial price. It's a great video, I can tell it has some well done research and presents some nice psychology information. However, it only really applies to places where games are accessible and all you need to worry is whether want to get out of home or not. I really couldn't relate to the video anymore when you explained how easy it is to buy a physical copy.
Nostalgia plays a hefty role in what we deem as important. I am inexplicably attached to hard copies because to me, that is part of the experience. Yes all of these cases are taking up an entire cabinet in my room but I’m ok with that. Don’t even get me started on how bitter I am that they don’t put the booklets in with the cartridge anymore.
I didnt really play video games growing up, but this whole thing reflects why I have a legit personal library - multiple shelves of books I tracked down over the years because the titles had become important to me or helped shape me as I grew. I may rarely actually read them now, but I still just pick them off the shelf and leaf through them every once in a while just to feel the nostalgia.
I recently found my dusty old copy of Pokemon HeartGold while cleaning and man did it feel good seeing it. Instant nostalgia. Can't believe I managed to keep it in such good condition (aside from a little dust) even though I was like 8 when my mom first bought it for me. God knows where I put my pokewalker, though.
When I was 13 I got one of those cases that holds like 30 games in it. I put all of my games in it and brought it to school once so I could show my friend and then I put it in my backpack. When I checked my backpack just an hr later it was gone and someone had stolen it (I know it didn’t drop because my bag was mostly closed and it was too big). The teachers said there was nothing they could do. So I don’t have any old game cartridges from my childhood.
One thing that's never mentioned is not having to manage storage space. Having to download a game I uninstalled bc of storage is a huge barrier between me and satisfying the urge to play that game I haven't played in a while.
Strangely enough, my library nowadays is split neatly between the PC games all being digital downloads and console games being physical copies. This habit probably dates back from the days when I was a broke highschooler and all my games are pirated; all the PC games can be installed and run right after downloading, but the PS1 and PS2 games had to be burnt to a disc. Nowadays I have a proper job so no need to pirate, but I'm still a bit of a cheapskate so all my PC titles were bought during seasonal Steam sales and 90% of my console titles I purchased used.
Whenever I think back on my memories of playing Halo with my brothers, I start tearing up. I haven't had a chance to play Halo with my brothers in a long time. I still have my original Xbox that has all our information on them. Including our custom painted Spartans. I like to load up the game and just look at those for a moment. Remember a time when we could all sit together and play some Halo. It was always them two versus me. And if I felt like it I might give them a chance at winning ;P but I miss those days and look forward to when we can do it again.
This episode made me tear up and pull out my GBA copy of A Link to the Past. I have this game several ways digitally, even have a SNES hooked up with it in it right now. But the GBA copy was my first game, I still have the GBA as well. The label is torn and has been since I got it. But it's my copy. Its the first game and it's still my favorite game. Not any copy of LTTP will be as good as this one simply because of all the reasons you talked about.
I have been struggling with this for a few years now. Before PS4 I would buy everything physically but during the PS4 era I started to buy a lot more digital games, usually because they were indie games. And throughout the PS4 era I would buy less and less physical games. Why? Even though I fully agree that physical games feel more my own than my digital library. Laziness is definitely an aspect of it. I dont have to put the disc in, I dont have to walk to a store or stress whether it comes on time for release day when ordered online. But I think it is more than that. And I think its due to the fact I want all my games in one place. Normally that would be my shelf, but as I mentioned earlier I had to buy a lot of games digitally because there werent any physical versions. I love indies and I think I would blame them for me going full digital. But I havent regretted it thus far. PS Store has had amazing sales that not even bargain bins could match. But I do miss looking at the artworks of game covers.
After I finished this video, I went and found my copy of Dark Souls, and shed a few tears. That game genuinely changed my life for the better and I'm so, so glad I have my physical copy that I just bought on a whim one day. I could never bring myself to get rid of it or go digital. I think I'll always prefer physical media. This was a really great video that really illustrates how I feel.
Your talk of crystal makes me think of my love for silver. It pissed me off in so many ways, but I adored it and still have it even though it's chipped and doesn't work. I put ridiculously many hours into that game starting and restarting and it went everywhere with me. It now sits in a bag with all my other gen 1-3 pokemon games next to my side of the bed. My wife doesn't understand it, I'm glad you do 💚
I was totally that way as a kid, thinking the world of my N64 and GBA cartridges and the memories associated with them but I've since shifted to preferring digital these days. All of the stuff you mentioned are good reasons as to why (even if it was sarcastic). My family moved a ton of times and we've purged a lot of unneeded items from our house, so I'm not very materialistic. The one HUGE advantage physical games have is that you can loan them to friends but... I don't really have many friends who game so... not a big deal for me. I also think the value of physical games just isn't what it used to be (despite being more expensive). Instruction booklets used to be packed with all sorts of fun details, art and even hidden lore to their games. These days, all that's there is a small case with a cart/cd. I usually never want collectors editions because they're just cash grabs. I bought Breath of the Wild digital and it still gripped me like a lot of my childhood games, unlike a number of physical games I own that I just... think about but never really want to go back to.
This, THIS is why I hate digital subscriptions so much, because they rob me of the limited sense of ownership and collecting that I get from my digital only games on my computer. The same goes for my music collection, instead of the bookshelves (!) of CDs that my Dad has, I only have a folder filled with digital copies of music, but I still shy away from Spotify and the like because I would lose that crucial sense of ownership. I mean, I when I built myself a PC recently, I didn't even bother to include a disk drive, because everything I do is digital only, but I still really value the sense of ownership I get from having my video games installed on my computer.
Back in March of this year when Animal Crossing was coming out. I pre-ordered a hard copy couple weeks before the launch. The launch came around and Amazon sent me a notification that the game would be delayed due to high demand and COVID. All my friends that were playing it downloaded and already started playing. I got major FOMO (fear of missing out). I was freaking out everyday trying to get a physical copy at a store but nothing. I gave up and waited 7 days after the launch and got m copy. I didn’t really miss out on anything in the end...
If I have a game, I often have it only at one place. I've never delete any Minecraft world, never delete any saved data, even only has one save. I kinda like the way I treated those digital thing as a physical one. But that's for games and other media. For Music? I do prefer physical copy rather then a digital one. Buying a physical CD of even a vinyl, is having some kind of connection between myself and the band or the original song writer. That's the feeling I can't feel with a digital copy.
the betrayal of buying a physical pc game (EVEN PAYING $350!!) and then the case just has a heckin code in it. when there is a little nipple to put a disk in and its left barren.
I used to love physical copies of PSP games when I was a kid. I loved the idea of an entire world of possibilities in a tiny little package. But now that you basically have to download the game even when you have a physical copy it doesn’t feel the same
Your story with Pokemon Crystal brings me back to when I first got Pokemon Emerald. I was so excited when I booted it up and saw my in-game mom that I showed it to my mom and I said "mom look it's you!" Still own the game and original box and manual. Same goes for Pokemon Red Rescue Team. I love physical copies of games.
