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NaomiL

Things About Digital Game Downloads That Annoy Me

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I’m old-fashioned. I’d much rather buy a video game on a disk. But then I’m also impatient so sometimes I’d rather just buy the digital copy of a game then wait for the disk to come by mail. Since downloading my first digital copy of a game (Left 4 Dead) I have had many struggles with various digital gaming platforms. I’ve had many a struggles with Steam attempting to get it to work or open or update. I get annoyed every time I have to create an account in order to be allowed to play something I’ve just spent forty dollars on. Which is why I’m about to vent over the parts of digital game downloads that annoy me the most.

Steam
Now that I’ve got a good internet connection Steam doesn’t annoy me half as much as it used to as it no longer takes fifteen minutes to open Steam itself…usually. There’s still the occasional time when it seems to get stuck on log in and then stops responding. I also still find it annoying to be told I have to download updates before I can play a game single player and I object when there’s a game that doesn’t offer offline mode, especially when it’s a game that doesn’t even have multiplayer to begin with so I don’t understand why I shouldn’t be able to play it whenever I want, with or without internet. That being said it is useful to have all my Steam games in one handy location, and Steam offers lot of handy little pluses, such as a screenshot gallery, and their weekly deals can be pretty fantastic sometimes.

Having To Log On To Some Place Else To Play
Having to join an online social group annoys me beyond anything. For example LA Noir I bought through Steam. So I have to open Steam up to start the game and then the game makes me log onto the game’s social community. Then there’s Games for Windows Live for PC, the first time I created an account (in order to play Fable III) I had to go through about five different steps to update absolutely everything so I could be finally allowed to play a game I didn’t want the Windows Live options for anyways. Or there’s Diablo III’s version that requires you to log on to an online server so you can play the game.

Amazon Digital Downloads
I don’t mind Amazon to much when all I have to do is download the game’s downloader, that’s fine. It’s when I feel like I’m being sent on a scavenger hunt I can get a bit annoyed. For instance when I download a folder from Amazon, open it and all I find within is a link to a page then I have to go to the page and am given the product code to go unlock the game on Origins. I find it all very pointless. If I had known that was going to be the final step I could have just bought the game on Origins to begin with and saved fifteen minutes.

Downloadable Content
Digital Game Downloads seems to have facilitated the whole DL content phase. I know a lot of people have different feelings about DL content then I do, but personally, I dislike it. I’m just not going pay for extra content. And honestly, I do believe that DL is almost always at the expense of players of the basic version of the game. Story resolution is removed from Dragonage Origins in an attempt to convince players to buy new stories. Mass Effect 3 had DL released on the day the game went on sale included a new teammate that introduced some interesting insight into an extinct race that had been repeatedly mentioned since the game’s release.

I know it’s probably just me, after all I’m the type of person that prefers a book to an ebook, but digital downloads cause so many problems for me that I find the whole process frustrating.
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  1. Kegen's Avatar
    **Cries tears of joy**
    Sooo much win in this post!

    Personally, I've come to terms with the digital download AS LONG as I can make a physical backup.
    Last game I bought on Disk was Dragon Age: Origins because I was CERTAIN it would be an excellent game - never finished it because the giant bow models BLOCKED the characters in the cut scenes which were EVERYWHERE!
    ....Sorry, that wound is still a little raw.


    Anyway, all I really wanted to say was I agree with you wholeheartedly, and now feel compelled to ask... **gets down on one knee, pulls out a Diamond crusted miniDisc** .... will you digitally marry me.

    ... What's that, you've suddenly decided to date only women? ... oh, ok, I understand....

    :-P