Will Digital libraries ever become as revered as a physical collection?

[marvelvscapcom2]

I used to be an extreme digital naysayer and to a certain extent I still am because Physical copies are just much better with the cool art works and collectibility aspect plus you can trade them or sell them later which makes buying digital almost insane but Lately I have been buying digitial games mostly because some games only have digital releases (Cup head, sonic mania) and sometimes just out of convenience.    

One thing I noticed is If you were to go up to someone and say "I have 2,000 games on steam"  They'll probably say something along the lines of "Who cares" or "Yeah nice whatever"  but if you show someone 2,000 physical copies of games all stacked along the walls they will revere you as a gaming god of sorts and be in awe

My question is do you think we will ever admire eachothers digital collections or be like "let me look at your steam account real quick" or if it will be a thing to amass digital copies as it is to collect physical media.  Maybe with the surge of digital games or if games become digital only in the future?     

In a way our collections on VG Collect our digital when we admire eachothers collections as we can't see the physical media even though we know it's physical.  It's just a picture of the box art.   I wonder if digital libraries will ever become collectable.   I would assume if they became tradeable and sellable than it would really boost their collector market.   What do you think of the future of digital collectors.  We all will be some day unfortunately

[burningdoom]

No. Not only is it not as impressive looking as a shelf of games, but half the digital games out there are pirated copies. So anyone that has a torrent program would have a killer collection.

[will12bell]

I think by the next console generation there might not be any physical discs anymore. As long as there is a physical option then digital games won't be as admired. As soon as physical games are no longer a thing I could kinda see this happening.

[jce3000gt]

.

[emporerdragon]

Not really. For most people, when you have a large physical library it gives off the vibe of a curator maintaining a library. With a large digital collection though, it's more indicative of poor impulse control (as most large digital libraries are created from humble bundles and Steam sales).

Where digital collections become revered is in the individual games themselves, with people supporting impressive in-game inventories filled with rare and/or high dollar items. I know I consider my Team Fortress 2 backpack to be far more impressive than my nearly 1,000 games in my Steam library.

[sworddude]

I'm pretty sure it will be pretty personal an online collection.

Everyone has their own taste so to others it might just be so so.

That being said some online items/ mobs weapons skins etc in certain popular online games fetch really high amounts of dollars so that's a thing in the current era.

Those items are usually very hard to get and made in very limited numbers on purpose by the developers. In that case kinda the same way as physical collectibles.

I will say though if they would release certain digital downloads in limited amounts, maybe than will it become collectible 

[desocietas]

I agree with emporerdragon - I have a lot of games in my Steam collection and hundreds of other keys that are still yet unredeemed. Some because I just haven't had the time while others I just am not that interested in playing and figure I'll give away.

The stuff that I always appreciate about a physical collection:

• packaging design
• cover art
• manuals
• merchandise / goodies / pack-ins
• being able to let a friend borrow a game that they're curious about
• being able to sell the item

Digital games suffer from the issue of "out of sight, out of mind" for me. I often forget what I own and either buy it again or just never play it because I never think about it.

[emporerdragon]

Digital games suffer from the issue of "out of sight, out of mind" for me. I often forget what I own and either buy it again or just never play it because I never think about it.

I know that feeling too well:

"Hey that game looks interesting, I'll check it out!" *clicks link*
"You already own this game. Purchased 3 years ago. Last played: Never"
"Oh."

[bikingjahuty]

Probably not. I have warmed up to digital distribution over the past few years, but I am under no illusion that I own the games I've bought and downloaded belongs to me. I know that the IP on the carts and disk I own don't belong to me either, but I do own the physical medium that they are on. Ownership is a big part of why I collect and I think a lot of other collectors feel the same way.

[Warmsignal]

I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think you can collect something that is not material, technically. Collections are made up of unique items (even in terms of mass produced), and downloads are neither. Physical copies are different, even if it's a copy of the same thing, it's condition is most likely different. Besides, the online policies state you're only buying permission to use the game. So is that a collection of permissions, or games?

Whatever it is, it's not an enticing concept to me in the least.

[xnblank]

I will never want to let go of physical media. Being able to trade, lend, resell and display your collection in the real world is the beauty of owning something physically. I really don't like buying digitally unless it's my only option mostly because companies treat digital media as just a license to play the game instead of owning the actual media. They decide to shut down their storefront and servers, say goodbye to anything you didn't have installed.

I like the goodies you can get with physical purchases; the manuals, posters, artwork. It's great to collect and display.

Plus nothing beats displaying everything orderly on a shelf.

And also :

Digital games suffer from the issue of "out of sight, out of mind" for me. I often forget what I own and either buy it again or just never play it because I never think about it.

[hoshichiri]

The problem with digital games compared to physical is a lack of true ownership/control. If I have a Mario 3 cart, I own Mario 3. I can play it on any device that runs NES games, I can dump the rom to make my own digital copy, I can get a new system if mine breaks and all is well.

Digital games do not afford us that freedom. For example: you can't download Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World anymore. It's simply not in the marketplace. I have a digital copy on my 360. Does that make it a cool, interesting thing for other gamers to see? Well, no. I can't lend it to them. I can't sell it. I could put it on a memory card/flash drive and copy it to another system... but without my profile for Xbox live to check against, it's useless.

Assuming that someday, we find a way to crack into old console hard drives, past the checks & restrictions & copy protections, then maybe it'll be a big deal. People will comb flea markets, buying half-dead units to dig through their data for long-lost games. Without that, digital games as we currently know them will simply be a thing floating on some old hard drives in the closet, while cracked & pirated copies get traded freely.

[oldgamerz]

evtually if the game industry keeps going digital only than a lot of games would be trashed to the general public. Remember you do not own a digital copy of a game like others have said and servers are well known to close down even steam. I have to also agree with the first reply, people with torrents would be king with the way things are going and.

 as I recall steam likes to tweak games of the past not giving players original experience in my experience, and I don't know what that is all about

[kashell]

I can't see digital libraries becoming as impressive as physical ones. This applies to all forms of media and entertainment. I'd rather have/see a bookshelf filled with 500 books than a Kindle containing 500 of them.

I've softened my stance on all things digital, but I'll always be Team Physical.

[abe]

Not likely. There are a some issues. Actual ownership of something you can hold in your hands vs being licensed software is one problem, as people have already mentioned. Another problem is that digital games also lack the rarity appeal that many physical games have. For the most part, digital copies of games have no rarity whatsoever. If you want it, you can buy it. Steam isn't going to "run out" of a game. The only exception is when a publisher loses rights to a property and the game gets taken down from all official digital storefronts (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game).