Sorry to be getting philosophical— but what does it even mean to “own” your video games? How does one define ownership in this context? How does owning a digital copy accessible through a specific storefront compare to having a tangible object with all the data inscribed in its fabric? What about those infamous little cartridges which grant you access to a copy of the game but via a digital download?
Physical media decays and is susceptible to dysfunction given their sensitive nature, digital storefronts and servers for storing downloaded games get shut down left and right, emulators and OS become less functional without constant maintenance, repositories are constantly getting “burned to the ground” (e.g. Myrient is done at the end of the month).
Why should I even care about this “ownership” thing when I know I’ll always be able to emulate any game I could ever dream via dumping or emulation sites? Why should I be worried about my digital copy of Metroid Prime Remastered potentially being snagged away from me in half of a century? These are questions I’ve thought about recently, and can’t give a very clear answer… what about you?
Last edited by firebush03 - 4 hours ago
