4 ms·

Sadly, I believe that this is correct. Look at what happened to music and movies. The only question is if the tech, and especially people's internet connection

Sadly, I believe that this is correct. Look at what happened to music and movies. The only question is if the tech, and especially people's internet connections will get there. Personally, I much prefer being able to 'own' games and run them on my local hardware. But I think the convenience of not having to download/install/update anything, just hitting "Play" and go will outweigh the disadvantages for most people. Which is sad, because I think this will make the overall experience worse for everyone, for the sake of just convenience. Everything will be stuck again in walled gardens like Netflix, Spotify & Co are now.

KineticLensman 6y ago
> I think the convenience of not having to download/install/update anything, just hitting "Play" and go will outweigh the disadvantages for most people > Which is sad, because I think this will make the overall experience worse for everyone, for the sake of just convenience. I miss the convenience of pushing a physical thing that I own into a slot on a device that I own and hitting a physical button labelled 'play'. Especially when the cheap app running on an expensive tablet that connects my expensive physical speakers to the library of all the music I could possibly want to rent for some reason can't see the speakers, even though I have rebooted my wifi, logged off and back into my streaming service account, re-installed the app, updated the speaker's firmware, etc etc.
- antihero 6y ago
  Or you can just plug your laptop/tablet into your speakers and play your local music collection.
  - KineticLensman 6y ago
    > and play your local music collection The local collection that I stopped expanding three years ago because I was now paying for a streaming service. Clearly, it's a trade-off. I don't miss paying vast amounts for a CD that might at best have one or two tracks that I really like plus a load of fillers. I've discovered a lot of music that I wouldn't have found otherwise thanks to streaming. But I worry for some of my older relatives who can barely navigate a smartphone interface, and for whom setting up the streaming on a modern device is a hit and miss affair.
    - antihero 6y ago
      > The local collection that I stopped expanding three years ago because I was now paying for a streaming service. I know that feeling. When what.cd went down it was a tragedy but I was able to continue mostly as normal. I even "slimmed down" my collection to make it more portable, which was a mistake because all of the classics on streaming services are fucking remasters. God, I miss those days of music forums. My music discovery hasn't had half the same intensity or wonder since those years. Now what, Spotify playlists? Their shitty nerfed "radio" playlists? I miss music forums and trackers dearly. There's reddit but it's not quite the same.
nightski 6y ago
It's kind of amusing because if you have a good enough internet connection to stream, the "pain" you describe of download/install/updating games is virtually non-existant. It takes 2 clicks to install a game on steam or other platform and updates are automatic.
- cloogshicer 6y ago
  You're right, the automatic downloads have made things much easier. But it's still not anywhere near instant play. I have very fast internet at home but games can get tens of gigabytes big. If I have half an hour to play a quick game, that's a non-starter. And let's not even talk about selecting hardware for a pre-built PC or building a gaming PC from scratch. That's just too much to ask for, for most people. Don't get me wrong, I love all that stuff. But I think most people don't. That's the only way I can explain why anyone would pay the premium for the awful and expensive experience that are modern game consoles.
  - nightski 6y ago
    Sure, if you are playing a new game. I suppose if you like to dabble in huge games that are 10s of gigs in size that might be a problem. It's a lot more common for me to have a handful of games I am interested in installed and ready to go whenever I have the urge to play.
    - disgruntledphd2 6y ago
      As long as you wait for them to stop patching, you'll be fine \s.
  - whynaut 6y ago
    I don’t think it was the case on PS4/XB1, but on PS5 I can choose to play a game while it updates. Did last night with Sackboy.

KineticLensman 6y ago

> I think the convenience of not having to download/install/update anything, just hitting "Play" and go will outweigh the disadvantages for most people > Which is sad, because I think this will make the overall experience worse for everyone, for the sake of just convenience. I miss the convenience of pushing a physical thing that I own into a slot on a device that I own and hitting a physical button labelled 'play'. Especially when the cheap app running on an expensive tablet that connects my expensive physical speakers to the library of all the music I could possibly want to rent for some reason can't see the speakers, even though I have rebooted my wifi, logged off and back into my streaming service account, re-installed the app, updated the speaker's firmware, etc etc.

antihero 6y ago
Or you can just plug your laptop/tablet into your speakers and play your local music collection.
- KineticLensman 6y ago
  > and play your local music collection The local collection that I stopped expanding three years ago because I was now paying for a streaming service. Clearly, it's a trade-off. I don't miss paying vast amounts for a CD that might at best have one or two tracks that I really like plus a load of fillers. I've discovered a lot of music that I wouldn't have found otherwise thanks to streaming. But I worry for some of my older relatives who can barely navigate a smartphone interface, and for whom setting up the streaming on a modern device is a hit and miss affair.
  - antihero 6y ago
    > The local collection that I stopped expanding three years ago because I was now paying for a streaming service. I know that feeling. When what.cd went down it was a tragedy but I was able to continue mostly as normal. I even "slimmed down" my collection to make it more portable, which was a mistake because all of the classics on streaming services are fucking remasters. God, I miss those days of music forums. My music discovery hasn't had half the same intensity or wonder since those years. Now what, Spotify playlists? Their shitty nerfed "radio" playlists? I miss music forums and trackers dearly. There's reddit but it's not quite the same.

nightski 6y ago

It's kind of amusing because if you have a good enough internet connection to stream, the "pain" you describe of download/install/updating games is virtually non-existant. It takes 2 clicks to install a game on steam or other platform and updates are automatic.

cloogshicer 6y ago
You're right, the automatic downloads have made things much easier. But it's still not anywhere near instant play. I have very fast internet at home but games can get tens of gigabytes big. If I have half an hour to play a quick game, that's a non-starter. And let's not even talk about selecting hardware for a pre-built PC or building a gaming PC from scratch. That's just too much to ask for, for most people. Don't get me wrong, I love all that stuff. But I think most people don't. That's the only way I can explain why anyone would pay the premium for the awful and expensive experience that are modern game consoles.
- nightski 6y ago
  Sure, if you are playing a new game. I suppose if you like to dabble in huge games that are 10s of gigs in size that might be a problem. It's a lot more common for me to have a handful of games I am interested in installed and ready to go whenever I have the urge to play.
  - disgruntledphd2 6y ago
    As long as you wait for them to stop patching, you'll be fine \s.
- whynaut 6y ago
  I don’t think it was the case on PS4/XB1, but on PS5 I can choose to play a game while it updates. Did last night with Sackboy.