Why do people get real world items when they exist digitally?

[Naer]

Recently my housemate bought a booster pack of magic the gathering cards. I told him, "you do realize they offer a magic the gathering app on steam?

I mean, save the trees. Pixels on a screen are 10 times more cost effective than printing with ink

If we aren't using our computer devices to their full potential, then what are we really doing?

Real world is cold and dark. The digital world is warm and cozy if you want it to be

A computer device is the most minimalistic item you own and minimalism could potentially bring world peace. It is the chemo to the cancer

 

[sandorski]

Like a Woman?

 

[Ichinisan]

My copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 still has resale value.

 

[ImpulsE69]

When none of us can afford electricity provided to us by the Global Energy and Behavior Modification LLC, you'll be glad you still have chalk to draw on the rocks to pass the time between scouring dumpsters behind the rendering plants.

 

[Pulsar]

I refuse to buy online-only game, or any other online-only product I can avoid. Why? Because I still enjoy playing Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, and Diablo with my kids. Had those games been online only, they'd be shut down by now and the money I paid would be gone, see-ya, bub-bye.

NO thanks. Giving companies control of my stuff ain't cool. I still buy hard copy books too for the same reason.

 

[Rumpltzer]

I've stopped buying music media. I also prefer to buy digital copies of games for the XBOX for a couple of reasons that involve two consoles in two houses on two different continents and also not having to insert disks into the game console. Most of the books that I have read in the past five years have been on my Kindle (or the Kindle app on my phone). It's compact and I tear through a lot of books while on vacation, so one Kindle is more convenient than many books.

Magazines, I prefer paper. Technical papers, I prefer to print them out rather than read them on a screen. I like to write on paper, make notes and corrections, etc. When I write technical papers, it's generally hand-written in pen on the back of scrap paper. Both of my theses were written in the same manner; back of scrap paper and then typed into the computer... then potentially printed out and corrected on paper before corrections were re-typed. I concentrate better on paper, and I prefer magazine pics on paper when I'm reading magazine articles (I subscribe to technical magazines).

As for "why?", it's probably an age thing. When I was in high school, the 486 processor was top of the line, and people used dial-up services like Prodigy, AOL, and Compuserve. I didn't have a computer in high school (or in undergrad!). I typed my college applications and resumes on a typewriter... on paper! Web browsers came into being when I was an undergrad, Yahoo was the premier search engine at the time, and Netscape dominated Mosaic. So basically, high school and undergrad were paper worlds. I guess it stuck.

The argument about "saving trees" is completely stupid, and I'm guessing that it comes from people who don't come from the South. In north Florida, Alabama, and I imagine many parts of the country, there are miles and miles and miles of tall, scrawny trees planted in rows. They're tree farms. No one is cutting down the goddam rain forests to make 2x4s, plywood, or paper. It's farmed trees that spent their life next to the interstate, and they get replanted as soon as they're cut down.

 

[Mike64]

NO thanks. Giving companies control of my stuff ain't cool. I still buy hard copy books too for the same reason.

Yep, even though I was more or less an adult before computers became at all widespread except among enthusiast or technical users (born 1964), I'm a big fan of ebooks for casual reading, or really, any primarily text material. I still like really old ("antique") print books for various reasons, but when I just need to read something, I'll take the convenience and portability of an ebook every time. Thanks to e-library books, though, I haven't actually bought any book for personal use in a long time except for occasionally massively discounted reference book. In any event, though, I wouldn't even consider paying real money for a DRMed ebook, or for that matter, any DRMed media except movies on disc. Being able to borrow ebooks from my local public library systems, which have huge ebook collections, on the other hand, is amazingly cool. (And that alone pays for the cost of tablets many times over...)

As for "why?", it's probably an age thing. When I was in high school, the 486 processor was top of the line

Heh. The 486 didn't come out until I'd been out of college for 3 years, but I'm not sure I'd have made it through college as a history major (certainly not with my sanity even remotely intact) but for a pirated copy of WordStar used on any of the scarce PCs around campus that I could scrounge. (The business school's "econ lab" was technically off-limits for non-B-school use, but usually a safe bet, at least late at night.) I still had to actually type the final copies because...9-pin dot matrix printers, but that was way better than having to do all the writing longhand...

 

[Red Squirrel]

Playing a card or board game online is just not the same.

I barely know how to play Magic but I got a pack somewhere.

There are some things that are just better to have physically in your hands. Then of course there is the whole DRM thing. I much rather pay money for a physical book than a digital one that I don't really own. Now if it was a PDF I can download then I might.

 

[Rubycon]

Careful what you wish for.
It will come back and byte your digital ass!

 

[dullard]

Permanency, control, and flexibility.

1) Permanency: A physical book / movie / CD / game is highly unlikely to ever be confiscated. Can you imagine some company trying to recover all copies of a book that may have been printed a million times? They'd need a million court orders, police raids, etc. Or Amazon can send a kill command and delete all Kindle books in an instant (or at least when they are next connected to the internet). Same with Apple and iTunes, all your money and songs could theoretically be gone in an instant.

Online games can and are killed with the press of a button. For example, I used to play Dominion online then one day the online license to the game expired and it vanished. Weeks later a new company came online with a similar game, but it is far inferior.

Heck, a more common frustration is if Netflix decides to no longer have a movie that you want. You pay hundreds/thousands of dollars to Netflix and tomorrow your favorite movie may be gone forever. I pay $10 for a DVD and have it for life.

2) Control: A physical item usually has no restrictions. I can sell / lend a DVD to someone else. That is very difficult or illegal with digital items. For example, you can't readily let me borrow your Windows license when you are sleeping, but I could read one of your books while you sleep. You can't sell your Pandora subscription when you are tired of it; I can sell my CDs. If Apple decides that it no longer wants explicit lyrics, say goodbye to many of your iTunes songs. But I'll still have my CDs forever. The difference between a lease of a digital item and a purchase of a physical item is massive.

3) Flexibility: A physical item usually gives you the most flexibility. For example, a physical book can be read when there is no power (I've been through a week long power outage before where most electronic items will have ran out of battery life). A physical book can be read just about anywhere (electronic items were just recently banned on a good chunk of international flights). A physical movie can be watched when there is no internet access for streaming. Etc.

 

[Yakk]

THIS is why people need their digital Virtual Reality!

Having a silicon based digital reality is a lot more efficient than a carbon based so-called "real" reality.

You don't own your own digital reality, corporations do. However it is much more fun, convenient, and produces much less waste byproducts.

 

[dullard]

That said, a digital copy of the physical item is the best of both. I'll buy a CD or DVD and make MP3s or MKVs of it so I can play it forever and play it anywhere on any device as I want.

 

[IronWing]

Let me know when purchased music downloads consistently come with the liner notes. It such a freaking easy and obvious thing to provide yet, nope.

 

[Mike64]

Careful what you wish for.
It will come back and byte your digital ass!

Priceless!

 

[pontifex]

the Magic video game is way different than the real card game.

 

[sdifox]

What am I supposed to with a digital Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich?

 

[feralkid]

Ouch, that minimalism is fucking up the groundwater in impoverished countries to which we send our obsolete shit to be "recycled".

Leads to massive increases in Cancer.

Pulp trees grow back, it's called "sustainable agriculture".

Not Ouch.

.

 

[Malogeek]

My 17-year old daughter prefers CD's for some reason, which I haven't bought in a long time. All my music I purchase through Google Play. I moved to Kindle a few years back and prefer the convenience of it.

I much prefer digital only media but I don't like streaming. Firstly the quality is ass, but secondly for the exact reasons above, you're paying only for the right to stream it if it's available, not to own it. Which is why I have a massive music, TV and movie collection on my NAS.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

My 17-year old daughter prefers CD's for some reason, which I haven't bought in a long time. All my music I purchase through Google Play. I moved to Kindle a few years back and prefer the convenience of it.

I much prefer digital only media but I don't like streaming. Firstly the quality is ass, but secondly for the exact reasons above, you're paying only for the right to stream it if it's available, not to own it. Which is why I have a massive music, TV and movie collection on my NAS.

You need to make that NAS a Virtual NAS. Then you can abide by your philosophy of this thread.

 

[IronWing]

You need to make that NAS a Virtual NAS. Then you can abide by your philosophy of this thread.

The problem with the cloud is that if the provider hits a dry spell the cloud evaporates.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The problem with the cloud is that if the provider hits a dry spell the cloud evaporates.

I was being facetious.

 

[DigDog]

a Black Lotus card is now worth about $30k.

 

[ImpulsE69]

time to dig out my magic collection.....

 

[Red Squirrel]

The only way I prefer stuff digital is if I fully own it, ex: a file that is on a server I fully control with no DRM or other BS. Then it's the best of both worlds, it does not take up physical space, and I have control over it.

 

[MrSquished]

I way prefer online medium vs physical medium. For music I am confident that Google Play music is going to be around for a long time. Same with where I buy my games, which has become considerably rare. But for Magic the Gathering, I'd want the cards, not just digital renditions of them. For software, movies, books and music I go digital all the way.