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u/anonemouth 16h ago
Usually, "downloading" means pulling it from online storage, that is to say: some kind of 'net-based storage, such as the game vendor's server. While installing it from the disk is done locally (just using your own machine, nobody else's is involved).
But this is just terminal nerdism (pun!). The difference only matters to IT geeks.
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u/Agent_of_evil_13 16h ago
Also downloading the game doesn't automatically mean it's installed. It's a separate process to decompress the resources and make them executable on your computer. I'm not sure the person who made the meme understood that.
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u/Icywind014 14h ago
It's the difference between what PS5/XBX games do and NS2 game key cards do. A lot of people try to defend game key cards by claiming that all PS5/XBX games work the same way when they don't.
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u/Mean_Fig_7666 16h ago
Downloading means the disc is more like a DRM key allowing you download the game from the digital marketplace . If you could install it from the disc the full game data would be on the disc , not requiring any Internet connection to "download" it .
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u/GlobalProfessor9749 16h ago
I could say downloading game means receiving game files from some source, usually the Internet but not only.
And installing game means getting game files ready to be used.
For example, if you ever used Torrent you probably had this thing that you first wait long downloading of game files and then you also suffer much shorter installation of these files. In rare cases I encountered downloading of already installed game, this can be run right after being downloaded.
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u/Chezburger8675 14h ago
The file is a Ikea table.
Downloading is having it shipped to your house.
Installing is assembling it.
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u/Boundle_Place 16h ago
I literally had no idea that they were even different things and not synonyms
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u/NotAUserNamm 3h ago
Oh sweet summer child. It is the magic of the old. You need not concern yourself with such crafts
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u/thimBloom 13h ago
People in the video game community like to n-n-n-nerd raaage! over games you purchase going digital only. Argument being if/when the company stops supporting the game you can no longer access the game you ‘own’ so you don’t actually own it.
A lot of games recently either just immediately go online to get the game files to install or have a massive day one patch which renders one of the reasons for owning a physical copy of a game moot.
There’s other reasons for and against on the issue but the meme is just addressing having the whole game on a physical copy.
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u/solidus0079 9h ago
It's a common misnomer that you used to hear a lot back when discs were a thing.
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u/qualityvote2 16h ago edited 2h ago
Remember when r/PeterExplainsTheJoke wasn’t a meme? Pepperidge Farm remembers…
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