The only real excuse for digital only is DRM free

And cheapness. Steam has always gotten away with this because it’s just plain cheap. Their distribution costs are way, way less per game and it’s easier for them to pass on savings, which I think is a big part of how they can push games for so cheap compared to most phyical media sources.

Using faschist terminology like this waters it down

Or takes the piss out of it. Just depends on your point of view.

No, it’s worse. Currently, if anything were to happen to my data, I could redownload it freely. If anything happens to your data with physical media, like the disc getting scratched and damaged, lost, or stolen, you’re just SOL.

Sure, if GOG goes belly up that goes away, but that’s what you’re stuck with in physical media the second you walk out the door with the disc.

GOG has managed to put out DRM free games though on a digital distribution platform. I can have my entire library backed up and it isn’t possible for them to nuke it in any way, as far as I know. It really isn’t a problem inherent to digital downloads, only the way some are trying to do it.

Valve gets away with it because you can get games for dirt cheap there.

I suspect if we were looking at the same image as above except buying Dead Space for $6 like you can on Steam, we’d be seeing a lot less pushback. Part of the excuse they had was physical media having a way bigger distribution cost compared to digital. They’re kind of trying to have their cake and eat it too, here.

And yeah, GOG is DRM free so that’s a pretty big difference.

I’m still a couch and controller gamer primarily, I just use a PC to do it lol. Honestly, with Steam, it’s really easy to just change Steam Big Picture mode as the default shell for Windows, so even if you don’t want to install SteamOS, you can still have the console experience of just turning the machine on and booting right into your games menu.

Text based CLI browsers also seem to get around it often. I’ve used w3m to good effect, but there’s still a few that just won’t even talk to you without js enabled…

Hungary. We order our groceries online and the app lets you tip right as you order. For prepared hot food, we often don’t order through one of the major services… we in fact try to order direct from the restaurant whenever we can so they don’t lose on a commission to a service we really don’t need, and in this case we always tip the delivery person. In restaurants, at a minimum you’re pretty much expected to at least round the bill up the nearest 1k forint for a nice sit-down meal, more is common. Some places have mandatory service charge similar to what some places in the US do. Again, we aren’t talking the expected 15-20% of the US, but tipping is certainly expected for some services here. Cabs, barbers, lots of services.

The bigger point to me is that Europeans, rightly, get upset when American tourists refuse to comply with cultural norms they don’t agree with… it’s just as pig headed when European tourists to the US refuse to do the same in my opinion. It’s being a bad guest.

Way too many people in here speaking for “Europe”. I live in Europe as well, and here tipping at a restaurant or a delivery driver is 100% expected. It isn’t usually as much as the US, but tipping exists here as well.

Also, when in Rome… plenty of people here get upset at Americans for not following cultural norms, seems fair to get upset at people visiting America for not doing the same.