What does it even mean to “own” a video game?

[BraLoD]

Chrkeller said:

BraLoD said:

If Gabe decided he likes boats so much that he would like to spend every single penny on buying as many of them as possible and Steam would be permanently shut down today, how many of these backed up games would still work without going thorugh Steam client tho?

If Godzilla destroyed your house and broke all your physical games, how many would work?  

I know my comment sounds cheeky, but I stand by it.  The odds of Steam going anywhere, in my lifetime, is roughly the same as Godzilla destroying your game collection.  

We should ignore possible and talk about probable.  Steam isn't going anywhere.  

edit

I honestly think the odds of you losing your game collection is higher than Steam shutting down via fire, being robbed, tornado, etc.  

That would require an external factor not related to any of my games, unlike the case of Steam.

So yeah, quite cheeky, it points out the fragility of it quite a lot, as Valve literally could ruin your games meanwhile no game company in the world could ruin mine.