By Morgan P
Physical video game purchases may seem unusual in an age of booming online game platforms and marketplaces. However, physical media remains extremely important for a number of reasons. As a video game researcher and content writer focused on environmental impacts, I was initially excited by cloud gaming’s promised sustainability. But as I will explain later in this article, it's not that simple.
Let’s start with one giant caveat… buying physical media does not mean that you don’t buy indie titles that only have the budget to publish digitally. Sometimes, for small publishers and indie developers, online-only publication is the only option. In this case, a great way to support developers is to buy directly from their website or their recommended platform. Some platforms take more of a cut than others, and being aware of what helps support the devs who are making innovative and interesting media ensures they have more opportunities to make the exciting games that you love.
Going Offline
Disconnecting From the Live Service Machine
Cloud gaming and live service games require a constant internet connection to function as intended. In many cases, there is no way to avoid this. This isn't inherently a bad thing. One of my favorite games, Hitman: World of Assassination, is a live service, and every time I play the game, it connects to servers to compare game scores and add new content. I can play offline, but my score is not properly tracked, and progress will not be synced. The limitations of the offline mode make the live service mode extremely appealing by comparison.
Whereas The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow, a beautifully designed indie game, can be played completely offline as a contained narrative. It is a game with no microtransactions or locked content, which would bar the player from the full experience of the game. With games like The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, once you have bought the game, you have the full game. These games represent a complete and finely constructed experience that is wildly different, but no less valuable than the replayability of Hitman.
Buying Second-Hand
Reduce and Reuse
It’s often unwise to purchase a new AAA title immediately after release. Take Cyberpunk 2077 as an often cited example; it’s a pretty robust and enjoyable gameplay experience now, but when it first came out, it was a buggy mess. Many of those who preordered or purchased and played it day one were bitterly disappointed. It was riddled with game-breaking issues and utterly failed to live up to expectations.
Following the notorious release issues, Cyberpunk 2077 became one of the easiest games to get a physical copy of in the months afterward. And as CD Project Red continued to troubleshoot and improve the game, those who picked it up second-hand were able to experience the game as the developers intended. Not only that, but buying second-hand also lessens your impact on the environment as you are avoiding waste.
The Reality of ‘the Cloud’
Nothing Comes From Nothing
The reality of the cloud is that it doesn’t just exist as some nebulous miraculous concept that materializes games out of nowhere. While the reduced environmental impact of eliminating vast production and distribution networks is significant, there is still a significant environmental impact due to the power required to run the necessary services for cloud gameplay and live service games.
Despite the carbon-intensive nature of massive servers and cloud streaming, purchasing brand-new physical video games is still much more resource-intensive. The reality is that there is no neat solution to the environmental impact of video games, but by buying secondhand physical media that are offline only, players can repurpose some of the already expended resources rather than continuing the resource-intensive process of physical production and cloud gaming.
Game Preservation
Don’t Let the Games You Love Become Lost Media.
Owning physical media is fantastic for media preservation purposes. Digital Games, more than many other forms of commercialized media, are at risk of being lost as the hardware and software that facilitates these experiences become obsolete. This doesn't just apply to the more obscure games of the 90s and expensive full-price games. Digital-only game experiences like P.T., which were only available for a short period of time, risk being lost to the lost media graveyard without considerable fan conservation efforts.
While there is a lot more to media and video game conservation than physically owning the media on which the game is stored, preserving these physical artifacts goes a long way towards retaining the availability and accessibility of video games. Missing drivers and other software requirements can make the games completely unplayable. But owning the physical media presents another avenue for media presevation which is becoming increasingly difficult in the digital cloud age.
DRM Woes
Ownership Rather Than a Very Expensive Rental
Purchasing a game should allow the player unrestricted access to use within the bounds of copyright laws. But Digital Rights Management, such as that which is included on many games sold on online platforms, presents significant consumer rights issues. This includes the inability to resell the game. There are very few exceptional circumstances in which a digital copy of a game can be resold, immediately devaluing the player's purchase.
Investing in live service only games and those reliant on the cloud present significant risks. Servers may shut down and make the game unplayable, or be removed from service without warning. A recent high-profile case of this was Anthem. Anthem’s servers shut down this year, making the game effectively unplayable.
Read the full article on GameRant
This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
