outlawauron said:
This is something I'll never understand. I must one of the few to not care about the shape of my media, as long as I can get it. |
It's hard to explain (and to have to have a certain mindset for it), but physical copies are much more to me than a shape or a container for the digital stuff that is on it.
If I look at my copy of Pokémon Sapphire, I see my 9 year old self on Christmas Eve of 2004, awaiting his presents. He opens a small, but rather heavy one, and inside is a silver GBA and, underneath its packaging, Pokémon Sapphire. The first console/handheld video game he's ever owned. When I look at my copy of Fire Emblem Thracia 776 (the deluxe box) I see myself running to my mother, asking her to buy something of off eBay for me because it's really rare and seems to go for a decent price. I shiver as I press the bid button and await the end of the auction. And then, it is over, I've got the game, it is mine. I can barely stand, my legs are heavy and wobbly, I have to sit down.
When I look at my CD of Lynyrd Skynyrd's first album, I see myself sitting in front of my laptop, listening to Free Bird for the first time. I almost pass out at the guitar solo because it is just mindblowing and listen to the song on repeat for the next few days. Then, that same weekend, I take a trip to Cologne and buy the album, which also happens to be the first CD I've bought myself.
I will always remember that stuff. Looking at my digital copy of WipEout HD, I'm like "Oh yeah, I have that to. When did I get it again? The PSN incident or something?". It just means absolutely nothing for me. Even Fire Emblem Sacred Stones's digital copy, which got me into the franchise and was a big step on my way towards my gaming taste today doesn't evoke much, and I tend to associate these memories with my physical copy, which, in actuality, was bought almost 1 1/2 years later.
Maybe I'm a sentimental fool, but I just need something to remind me of all the good memories, and digital copies just don't do that for me. Never have, never will. For me, that's a huge part of why I want physical copies. It's just good to know that you actually own, can actually touch something that might just have changed your life, knowing that the data on it, the actual game or music or video or whatever it contains will be gone some day. The container will remain, probably for my lifetime, and with it, something to touch, to look at, that "contains" the memories.
I'm rambling on. I don't want to imply that everyone who prefers physical copies thinks like this, but for me, it's a huge reason why I want physical copies for everything as long as possible, and that goes for every media, every, well, thing out there.
And with that you're all probably thinking I'm a huge freak. :B
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