I spend many times a week pondering this thought and I am interesting to see other people's opinions.

I struggle with the current markets we live in where everything is basically, "software as a service." While, I do use services such as Spotify, it is more to supplement finding new music and then purchasing the album on Bandcamp or physically.

The more time goes on, the less consumer control we currently have in our decisions. Albums and games used to be sold everywhere and now without some digging it's hard to find anything that does not come without some form of control attached. I personally, still buy albums on CD. I like the process of opening the packaging and it makes the purchase feel more mindful. GOG provides the closet thing to that experience in games for me.

I am in the minority, but I actually like GOG Galaxy as it compares to the main features that Steam provides, but also allows for consumer control. I think GOG Galaxy provides the best compromise between the old and the new, as with the amount games are patched now and still being able to provide offline backups.

That being said, its hard to feel like I am not missing out on some great games that do not come to GOG and probably never will. Part of me wants to play some of the latest releass, but another part of me wants to respect what I stand for.

So basically, I want to exert my rights as consumer and not subject myself to a life based on "services", but at the same time, am I just rejecting change? Is ownership really meaningless nowadays? (I understand that we do not truly "own" anything, but if someone wants to come to my house and take my collection of albums so be it.)

Looking forward to hearing fellow GOGer's thoughts.

Ownership is meaningless regardless. On top of that, you don't actually need any of this. We spend time and energy for the benefit of another, we get compensated in some form of currency that has imaginary value that reflects the time and energy spent, then we spend that currency on replenishing our energy but not our time.

Then we spend more of that currency on entertainment, while at the same time spending more of our precious time. We come, we go, we leave everything behind. We don't own anything.

Having said that, I'm more possessive with tools. My laptop is a tool, same as the software I use to create stuff. I spent a few spells giving away stuff like books and CDs in an attempt to rid myself of the "ownership" bug.

Based on the above, that does not mean I don't respect other people's claim on things. Even if I don't agree with it, that doesn't give me a free pass.

It's an example of the prisoners dilemma with technology like games or smartphones.

I'll be downrated for this, but for any media which doesn't have a DRM-free version, the closest you'll get to real ownership is pirating it and then backing it up on a secondary harddrive.

What's that, "consumer"? Is that the new word for "human"? And what are these "rights"? Are they universal? Do they work on Mars?

Don't do it man! Whatever you choose to do, just don't do it! Please! For the love of god!

Frankly, it is quite hard for me to decide for you how much you value your control over the media you consume. It is for you to decide, not me.

Regarding games, for me it is pretty easy decision at the moment because I feel I already have so many interesting (DRM-free) games that I could be playing them for the rest of my life. So I don't necessarily have to buy anything anymore. I don't consider any game as a "must-have" anymore, I merely see interesting and uninteresting games. So I don't really have to decide whether I will get some game even if it has draconian DRM, or it is only in a streaming service, or whatever.

So if I see some interesting game is somehow against my principles, then I can easily pass it, and decide to buy, or play, something else instead.

You may be different, so like said...

They say you can take it with you after death. With online services and digital gaming streaming that won't even be an issue. There won't be an 'IT' to take.

All this kind of reminds me of the early VHS days. Movie and tv studios popped a vein stressing over the idea that people would copy all their films and stop going to theaters or paying for cable. Obviously that didn't happen. Markets adapt, markets change, as do peoples' tastes and whims.

But we're talking about THINGS. The only problem I have is when people jack in and lose themselves. It's one thing to own or control a product, it's quite another to become the product. However, that's a topic for a different day within the matrix.

I make stands on principle when it comes to really important things to me like my faith and my family. If I make a principled stand for those things and it costs me something, then I have gained somthing greater than my loss.

I don't really bother standing on principle for things of comparatively lesser value like where I buy a digital game. Sticking to principles for that just causes me personal inconvenience and I do not feel that I get any commensurate gain.

Also, unlike you, I was very happy to be able to do away with opening the package and holding the disc in my hand, etc. I am so happy not to have to build furniture in my house in order to store physical copies of digital media that I will likely never play/watch again. Streaming was a godsend for me. So, I lose out on less than you do by moving away from physical copies.

I mostly play games once and watch movies once. Games a little different. But, the current standard arrangement of Steam and not "owning" the game, etc. still does not keep me from having played 400 hours of Oblivion over about 4 years. And if I never play Oblivion again, that's OK with me.

*Sorry about the snipping above, to start/btw....I do it to trim extra text and save space for my own replies/other reasons*

As for me: I usually buy more and more physical game copies(handhelds like DS/3DS and PSP, and older consoles/some newer ones...as well as some older disc based pc titles....on eBay/amazon/gamestop site/in a few brick and mortar stores/etc). If a game doesn't have any physical copies available/available at a decent prices(and not gouged by 'collectors"), or to save space, I go online. There I usually go for DRM-free sites like GOG.Gamersgate/some steam games, both to have backups I can keep for the future and because I hate having stuff tied to a client.

To be fair/honest, though, if a game cannot be obtained by the above methods(and ends up not being sold legally anywhere/in my country) I often get a *Gasp* cracked copy/torrent and play that way.....especially if the game looks promising or I remember it fondly from years back.

With regards to other tech/purchases, I often go for that(electronics/etc) which is cheapest AND has the features I want while also being known to last a good amount of time for the price asked. I also get most of my music from youtube downloads(I see it as no worse/no more "questionable" than taping off the radio or tv with cds/tapes/dvds/etc), or torrents.

In the end, one should stick to their guns/morals but be willing to be flexible as need be if the morals in question are depriving you of too much to keep upholding them(in whole or in part).I often go that route with newer titles just to demo them(when they have no actual demos).......to me I see this as no worse than buying a game without pirating it first in a steam/gog/etc sale.VHS died off(the blank ones) to a good degree because of tariffs(is that the right term?) and taxes placed on them/DVDs/CDs by the media companies lobbying to dissuade such legal copying/obtaining of media. It also died because some would rather have the better quality a DVD/CD made by the company provided(at the time) over home taping with such mediums.

Of course nowadays streaming makes it even more convenient(while retaining good enough quality) for some and the "plus" of having less clutter in one's home, so people flock to it like free pizza at a convention.

Well, we all must choose the "hills" we live/fight/die on.....some are more/less worth it than others(objectively/subjectively).

As for not minding losing physical copies as no big deal in general....try telling that to future generations when/if all remaining physical copies of a good piece of media fade into obscurity and companies shut down(or try to do so to) sites that host "illegal backups" of some older media.

Heck, cheapness and such caused us to lose some older seasons of classic british shows due to using the same tapes over and over....i'd hate for that to happen to some of my facvorite media pieces.

And there's the rub - these are not "things of lesser value". It's not "just a game" or "just a movie". It's our entertainment, our art, our culture, it's what shapes us as a people and what we leave for future generations. The world of streaming, that "godsend" of yours, is a world where all of it is 100% controlled by corporations and is more fragile than ever. It's a world where any and all of it can be altered or removed at the drop of a hat, where a legal dispute or a shitstorm on twitter can forever alter or obliterate a work of art, erase it entirely from existance. It's a world where whatever the future equivalent of unaltered, theatrical editions of Star Wars will be only a legend, lost forever. It's an Orwellian nightmare of any person who gives a flying fuck about culture.

This is a bit heavyhanded a reply, but I agree with the sentiment behind it. I wonder how people would feel if classical art(The Louvre/etc) could be censored(naughty bits/political & religious themes) or destroyed/memory holed by those who disliked it with a few clicks/some legal action? :\

True. And I am suggesting to the OP that they may be disappointed is they choose to die on the hill of refusing to buy digital games from a non DRM-free store.

Good points

The Library of Alexandria burned.
Classical art has been censored.
Art has been banned and burned.
Artists have painted over old canvases.

Not saying it's a good thing. Just saying it's happened to a lot better pieces of art than INXS's 3rd album or the Jack Keane video game.

It's really OK that not every piece of art is archived safely. Really. We'll make more.