this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
766 points (98.5% liked)

Technology

60033 readers
2871 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 202 points 1 year ago (9 children)

I have content I purchased on steam 19yrs ago. Shit was built for completely different hardware but I can go install and play it right now. The physical console games I bought that year only work in consoles that have long since broken. I can go play HL2 whenever I want, to play my copy of THPS3, I have to find and buy a PS2 that still works.

Digital ownership can apparently work just fine

Sony is reminding us that Sony is a shitty company. The company that bought you amazing technology like the memory stick (tm) probably cannot be trusted.

[–] [email protected] 106 points 1 year ago (33 children)

Don't find yourself in a false sense of security.

Your games on Steam are just as ephemeral as any other digital content purchased online.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago (17 children)

All the physical games i ever owned went up in flames when my house burned down. I can still play games i bought on steam in 2008

load more comments (17 replies)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

True, but at least at this point, Valve is not a publicly traded company. Gabe clearly understands that piracy is an availability/distribution problem.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Even then in a worst case scenario due to the open platform piracy is a possibility. That's where some of the peace of mind comes from compared to purchasing of digital goods for a closed system.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Pirates are the librarians of the new age. But I caution you, much media cannot be found as soon as you step of the path of the big releases. So it really isn't the final solution.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

It's the best we've got unlike the rather ridiculous proposals of backing up their own games some have made. Average person does not have the storage or the determination to digitize everything and keep it safe in case of corruption with multiple back ups.

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (30 replies)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Agreed. Physical ownership is the shelf of old DVD and CDROM PC and XBOX classic game boxes in my basement that take up space, collect dust, will never work again, and will only be a remembrance of nostalgia for a bygone day. Plus I’ll probably never seriously want to play them again… let’s be honest. I can watch a video of someone else playing, it scratches the same itch, and saves me the trouble.

I like digital ownership, but there needs to be protections so we can’t be screwed.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I've never even owned a PlayStation but I've owned enough absolute shit made by Sony that I started boycotting them like 15 years ago. They really are a truly shit company. It always amazes me they are considered a quality brand.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

there's been instances of issues with steam games. like paid characters and skins in games being removed after the ip owners decided it was worth more money. dead by daylight did this multiple times.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or GTA getting patched to remove music from a game you already "own".

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 77 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

We need to stop calling it digital "ownership"! You don't get to own anything as a customer on these platforms, because rights that can be taken away on a whim are no rights at all.

[–] [email protected] 78 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

It never was

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (5 children)

In the case of pc platforms like GOG, and itchio, if you get a drm free version of a title, theres nothing the company can do to both stop you from storing it on an external storage (or multiple) if you wanted. They wouldnt be able to revoke it if its a single player game.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Remember the time when Sony invented rootkits to make their drm stronger? Pepridge farm remembers.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Remember when Sony made you use a proprietary mini SD card for your handheld instead of just allowing the format that was already in place and widely adopted?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

PSVITA COULD HAVE WON THE HANDHELD WARS IF NOT FOR THIS /copium

I’m still salty

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Remember when Sony stopped us all from having easy access to high density compact disc storage by slapping obnoxiously large fees onto blueray decoding licensing that they still maintain today? Or how about that whole… betamax… actually I’ll just leave that one to history.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Playstation keeps reminding us that digital ownership is not ownership.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago

Obligatory if buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

Yep. Rental is the more accurate term.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah. Digital ownership is very convenient. Sony's model is loanership or something

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's all loanership, no matter which platform.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It should be illegal to take back / away a digital purchase because of a rights change or any other reason. Sure, maybe I lose the ability to download again if the company goes out of business, but other than that, my media, my fucking property. And not in a distribution sense. Like it was a physical copy. It's not like they're allowed to enter my home and steal my blu-rays.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The ps5 and Switch will probably be my last consoles. I will just find ways yo mod the Switch when support dies for it to keep games on the go, and when psn is cut for ps5 that will be it. PC will be my way forward. I won't put up with this "pay for internet twice and still not own your games" stuff after these generations.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

I modded my switch once they started the online subscription. It's a really great jailbreak experience. Got ability to export saves too.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Points at the Jolly Roger.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago

If there's DRM involved, then you're renting, not buying. Take that into account when considering how to spend money.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Counterpoint: digital ownership — true ownership when you have the actual files — is amazing. It’s the media panacea we’ve wanted for years. Storage is cheap, content is boundless, and if you curate your own collection you can usually get it anywhere you want.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What the hell they talking about? Digital ownership is amazing. I can stream all my content from my server and keep it forever as long as I backup regularly. What sucks is buying shit digitally because then you don't own it at all

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah they’re not talking about ownership here. They’re talking about custodial “ownership”. Like when you buy bitcoin and keep in on an exchange - you down actually own it.

Some people think if you buy a movie from Sony or any other online only marketplace you actually own it….

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

After the spyware disclosure and consent form on launch of Horizon Zero Dawn, I ceased getting anything Sony.

But the recent discontinuation of service shows us the ethic of piracy is (and always was) one-sided. Sony takes what it pleases, and no one is going to enforce otherwise.

We are justified in taking whatever action is necessary to ensure our own survival and fair benefit including violent terrorism so long as the state's agencies are not going legislate or adjudicate fairly but in the favor of plutocrats and corporations.

The whole point of the social contract is equal treatment and preventing the bloodshed of natural disagreement resolution (typically intergenerational family feuds)

Sony can appreciate we just want our shows and tunes and games with little hassle, and not revenge for being a traitor to the peace.

Sony will totally download a bear.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

After this I'm getting an external drive and backing my gog library, since it and itch io are the last bastions of ownership (shame I can only pay in USD on itch).

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Thing is that most games on physical media aren't much good in the long run either for the very same reasons. Even the single player ones have a myriad of little bits and bobs of online connectivity nowadays. I expect 95% of them to break once their servers go down. Most of them for super stupid reasons..some version mismatch here, a weird timeout in the launcher there. And being on closed systems,.there will be no way to patch them by the community on consoles.

The only games I expect to still work are Nintendo games. That's not because they are the good guys but because their understanding of this whole internet thing is so laughably bad.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›