Thoughts on Digital versus Physical Media
Playing and Making Games casually will always be a thing for creative people. Whether it’s making custom characters, coming up with story scenarios in RPGMaker or a Visual Novel Maker app, people are always making stuff.
But what about the Physical elements in Role Playing Board Games or playing the role of a Dungeon Master? People have their own character sheets and stuff they built from scratch. You can’t delete ideas, you can only really Patent and Copyright them.
Board Games are still and always will be a pastime that while it does trend in and out, has almost indelible aspects that history cannot take away. Chess, Checkers, Solitaire, Shogi, Mahjong, Battleship, Monopoly, these are entertainment pillars born from History.
When I think of physical media, be it movies, books, music, it comes in layers: like when you visit a library to rent an 8-track player or VCR to play old media. Some stuff is so old you have to use a Microfiche viewer to look at Newspapers from 100 years ago.
But here’s the thing about that: Public Libraries preserve these media as a Public Service. They accept donations, sure, and sometimes major industries donate, but it’s never in the spirit of making a profit so people can access the media. It’s pure preservation.
I can go to these Libraries and read Comic Books, Graphic Novels, listen to Radio Drama CDs, watch old movies, all because I invested in a Library Card and occasionally pay a small rental fee.
But what if Libraries made the same decision the Videogame Industry is currently making towards Physical Media? Would Government institutions stand for it? Would world organizations protest?
Can Libraries make the open excuse that “oh everyone looks at our content digitally so we have to do this” and justify the elimination of physical media? I highly doubt it, especially given the historical value of many of the collections in existence.
A saying I heard once: “There is no end to books”. Be it fiction, be it history, be it documentation, mankind will keep producing things. Books are simply one form and platform that this “endless media” can take the form of.
But what about Videogames? An amalgamation of storytelling, art, music composition, interactive media, and so many other genres that you can try and fail to squeeze games in to as a category. What makes Games different from a Library Book?
Entertainment is the so called “Lightning in a Bottle” that people try so hard to capture and sell for profit, and really that’s what it boils down to for most: profit. The passion for “making” games is only there for a select few now.
Technology marches on. We use Digital Media out of convenience, possibly because we’re tired of physical media breaking down, possibly because we need more room, possibly because it’s currently cheaper than owning the physical copy (or vice versa).
But does convenience justify eliminating one option over the other? People still buy LP Records, they still buy Laser Discs, they still buy 8-track cassettes. Whether it makes more profit or not shouldn’t matter, especially if there is still Demand.
There’s companies out there like Hamster Corp making self contained Emulated classic games and selling them as part of the “Arcade Archives” collection. But at what point does a Game get to join that Archive?
If that Archive is reduced to a “tap” (as Kojima put it) that people have to constantly pay to have access to, is it even Entertainment at that point? Especially if that Archive can be removed at any given time?
Monopoly of Service is considered Illegal, especially if businesses aren’t allowed to flourish and compete with the same media, or if said media can’t be bought or sold at competitive prices. So can you blame people for filing a Lawsuit when Businesses pull this shady practice?
But it isn’t limited to businesses competing over profit, consumer rights are violated as a breach of trust. What you invested in is taken from you, delisted, stolen, or discontinued. Either because it’s not selling, or because you’re not regularly buying.
Can Libraries and Museums get away with Delisting or Burning Archives and Works of Art because “no one’s visiting them” or “they aren’t making money”. Vincent van Gogh never made money off his art! It got preserved after he died!
And what about all the games dedicated to people who passed beyond this life? Will they be unceremoniously delisted as well? Forgotten by all and sundry because Digital Profits are more important?
Admittedly, half the games I own are tied to a Steam Account. And it wouldn’t be the first time Valve delisted a game if the contract for archived access to it wasn’t renewed. I lost a chance to buy Sonic Spinball on Steam awhile back over this.
I am not especially torn up about it because Sonic Spinball despite its middling popularity is still part of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and there’s plenty of Roms and maybe even Romhacks of it on a server elsewhere.
It also is comforting to know that I actually OWN the original Sega Genesis Cartridge of Sonic Spinball, though it could probably use some maintenance after all the years of me NOT playing it.
It concerns me that for all the physical media I own, a lot of it is in Cardboard Boxes gathering more and more dust. Possibly all the copper from the circuitry is getting oxidized as well. I no longer have working video cables for my older consoles either.
Do I think physical media takes precedent over digital? Not necessarily, but nor do I feel it necessary to maintain a physical collection. Some hobbies are better suited to other people.
If you think of Game Consoles as a “Convenient PC” for people who don’t want to mess with maintenance and upkeep of a computer and ever evolving hardware, wouldn’t Digital games be the “convenience” of Physical Games?
But, in the face of all this Convenience, is it even necessary for the Industry to phase out one over the other? And by necessity I am talking about appealing to Customer Needs, not the Profit Margins of Mega Corporations who try to control everything contractually.
For every Best Buy out there, there’s a Disc-go-Round or U-BREAK-I-FIX. For every Car Lot, there’s a Repair Garage. For every Barnes & Noble, there’s a Half Price Books.
For the Gaming Industry, if making Physical Media is such a hassle, wouldn’t you save more money by not making games at all? Wouldn’t it be better to just leave making games to the people who actually, you know, CARE ABOUT making Games?
If you ask me, if there is profit to be had, instead of trying to scam your demographic, how about running a legitimate and fair business that values its customers instead? If you don’t want to, make money some other way, but leave other people’s interests and hobbies alone!
Regardless of what the A.I. Ceos at Sony think, I still have my own dream to make videogames of my own, and if my customers want a physical copy, I don’t mind breaking out a DVD Burner for the job.
Perhaps it’s all a matter of Scale. Perhaps we are all doomed to lose great games at the expense of human greed. Or perhaps we’re recreating a digital equivalent of Scribes and the Church (owning the narrative of games that exist and arbitrarily deciding what History will remember).
I think a lot about all the media we lost in Library Fires throughout history. But it could potentially be far worse if Digital media reproduces the Great Book Burning of Nazi Germany.
Even scarier is that Fahrenheit 451 predicted this would happen.
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