appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 06:21:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-08-29, 17:17:

allesclar wrote on 2026-08-29, 16:25:

I just can’t understand how blindly some people are willing to defend these sorts of practices, while still being perfectly happy to pay full price for something they don’t truly own.

Allegedly, some of these "digital defenders" on X/Twitter were exposed as bot accounts, but I'm sure there are people out there who actually think that way.

In any case, my suggestion to everyone is to vote with their wallets. How much impact that makes will be revealed during the PS6 generation. Should be interesting to compare the sales of that console to the PS4 and PS5.

Corporate apologists were a thing way before internet bots, people develop strange identities ties to corporations and start behaving like corporate interests somehow benefit them. Idiocy on an entirely inexplicable level tbh..

Baaaaaaaa comes to mind .. lots of sheep out there who are more than oblivious to the Wolf hiding amongst them.

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 06:24:

appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 06:21:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-08-29, 17:17:

Allegedly, some of these "digital defenders" on X/Twitter were exposed as bot accounts, but I'm sure there are people out there who actually think that way.

In any case, my suggestion to everyone is to vote with their wallets. How much impact that makes will be revealed during the PS6 generation. Should be interesting to compare the sales of that console to the PS4 and PS5.

Corporate apologists were a thing way before internet bots, people develop strange identities ties to corporations and start behaving like corporate interests somehow benefit them. Idiocy on an entirely inexplicable level tbh..

Baaaaaaaa comes to mind .. lots of sheep out there who are more than oblivious to the Wolf hiding amongst them.

This is worse, it is like sheep actually rooting for the wolf because they think they are "team wolf" and the fact that the wolf eats their own kind flies over their heads entirely: they think they are also a wolf, until it is their time to get eaten.

appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 06:28:

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 06:24:

appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 06:21:

Corporate apologists were a thing way before internet bots, people develop strange identities ties to corporations and start behaving like corporate interests somehow benefit them. Idiocy on an entirely inexplicable level tbh..

Baaaaaaaa comes to mind .. lots of sheep out there who are more than oblivious to the Wolf hiding amongst them.

This is worse, it is like sheep actually rooting for the wolf because they think they are "team wolf" and the fact that the wolf eats their own kind flies over their heads entirely: they think they are also a wolf, until it is their time to get eaten.

Its 6 of one and half dozen of the other, lots of oblivious sheep that are blissfully ignorant of both the wolf and the team wolf supporters, truth is they don't want to know and don't care too so long as they get their fix of the next "in thing".

Hubris and Appathy are what's going to kill humanity.

appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 06:21:

Corporate apologists were a thing way before internet bots, people develop strange identities ties to corporations and start behaving like corporate interests somehow benefit them. Idiocy on an entirely inexplicable level tbh..

I suppose it is the same mechanism that gets people to develop deep emotional ties to sports teams, or political parties.

allesclar wrote on 2026-08-29, 16:25:

I just can’t understand how blindly some people are willing to defend these sorts of practices, while still being perfectly happy to pay full price for something they don’t truly own.

Many people simply don't grasp the concept of managing money, and they don't dive deep enough to understand the meaning. They think only superficially - "Do I want to play this game now? Can I afford the price?" If the answer is "Yes" to both, they click "buy" and are happy with it.

Some of them might later be outraged when "their" game is taken away or disabled or crippled with a patch 5 years down the road, but you know what?
Most of them won't. Because they will have finished playing it and enjoying it and will have moved on to the next thing. This is 80% of the target audience, and that's why the corporations can get away with it.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-08-29, 17:17:

In any case, my suggestion to everyone is to vote with their wallets. How much impact that makes will be revealed during the PS6 generation. Should be interesting to compare the sales of that console to the PS4 and PS5.

There might be a dip because it's a new thing in the console world, but the reason digital ownership went big in the PC world is because gamers were getting something in return for their loss of control - and that is convenience, massive convenience - all your games are available to you on any PC at any time, just log into the account, patches and fixes are deployed automatically, and you don't have to worry about backup or keeping your physical collection of discs protected.

For tech-savvy users there are ways to "liberate" the games from their Steam DRM for backup/archival purposes. GOG just gives it to you for free - even better.

I like my collection of physical game boxes as much as the next person here, but among my friends (even peers who are my age), I'm a minority. Most just prefer to have their digital library.

dr_st wrote on Yesterday, 07:51:

There might be a dip because it's a new thing in the console world, but the reason digital ownership went big in the PC world is because gamers were getting something in return for their loss of control - and that is convenience, massive convenience - all your games are available to you on any PC at any time, just log into the account, patches and fixes are deployed automatically, and you don't have to worry about backup or keeping your physical collection of discs protected.

Personally, I wouldn't trade my physical discs for a bit of convenience if given the choice. But as you say, a lot of people are willing to do just that. Thing is, Sony is taking away that choice from us starting from 2028.

By the way, that convenience can easily be turned around, and become a big problem for the user in question. How? Well, all those digital games are tied to one's user account. And what happens if that account gets hacked or banned? The user loses access to all digital games tied to that account. And again, this isn't some hypothetical scenario, it has happened before.

In that particular case, the user eventually got his account back due to huge public backlash. But will that be the case every time something like that occurs? It's doubtful. Also, in this day and age, one's account can sadly get banned for a myriad of reasons. And if that happens, all digital games tied to it will be lost.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Today, 00:36:

Personally, I wouldn't trade my physical discs for a bit of convenience if given the choice. But as you say, a lot of people are willing to do just that. Thing is, Sony is taking away that choice from us starting from 2028.

After almost everyone already did that (PC, Switch). Surprised it took that long, honestly.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Today, 00:36:

By the way, that convenience can easily be turned around, and become a big problem for the user in question. How? Well, all those digital games are tied to one's user account. And what happens if that account gets hacked or banned? The user loses access to all digital games tied to that account. And again, this isn't some hypothetical scenario, it has happened before.

Yes, that's the other side of the coin. For convenience you give up control. Most users won't think about this scenario until it happens to them.