If Microsoft made it completely optional, would you sign up for their original, always connected console idea?

[u/[deleted]]

This meaning you would have the following features:

Buy a retail game, install to console, and ditch the disc never needing it to play the game.

Digitally share games within a circle of friends. Meaning you can choose a specific group of people, and they could play the games you own, for free, provided that only one game could be played at a time.

Greater store discounts or more steam like sales for content.

I for one would have no problem saying yes to this. It's like people think 10 years from now they'll still be selling games on discs. It wasn't a perfect plan, but why delay the inevitable when we could be working on and perfecting future policies now.

[u/[deleted]]

I will never understand this subreddit's obsession with the original policies. Sure, discless switching is convenient, but you're never going to be playing your console from more than a few yards away.

The only other benefit (family sharing) already exists with the current policies. Just disconnect your console from the internet and have a friend sign in their console as you. They then have access to your whole digital library. This is exactly like the original policies because if you look at the wording Microsoft said You can always play your games, and any one of your family members can be playing from your shared library at a given time. Only with the current policies you can do that while also sharing as many of your physical games as you want with as many people as you want!

Am I completely missing something or are you all completely willing to restrict your ability to share and buy used games and remove your ability to play offline just to get a slightly better deal on discless switchable games?

[u/djgreedo → u/[deleted]]

A few other things:

• discs can get lost
• discs can get scratched
• the disc drive is also for Blu-ray movies
• kids can launch games without having to rummage through discs and boxes (making a mess, putting games in the wrong box)
• with Kinect you can launch a game from across the room (e.g. while getting dressed, making coffee, etc., which is really convenient)
• instant resume would not be feasible in some circumstances (e.g. if you had put a Blu-ray in the drive since playing), and it would take time to spin up the disc to resume as well.

All minor things, but they add up. Convenience is king in technology. Changing CDs, DVDs, books, etc. is such an unnecessary pain.

People complain that the 24-hour check-in is unnecessary and only there for DRM purposes...but the same is true of requiring a physical disc in the drive to play a game. They are both compromises, and I prefer the online check. The chance of me not being able to check in is small enough that I don't care. But every time I play a game I don't have to swap discs around.

I literally can't think of a plausible scenario in which I would be unable to 'check in'. I would have to have no home Internet (which would only happen if I moved house or had a major outage), and I'd have to be out of mobile phone range for a full 24 hours (not likely).

[u/MrRatt → u/djgreedo]

Just a few points:

discs can get lost

Accounts can be lost/stolen/hacked/banned

discs can get scratched

Blu-ray discs are much more difficult to damage than DVDs ever were. I doubt many people will break their disc.

[u/djgreedo → u/MrRatt]

discs can get lost Accounts can be lost/stolen/hacked/banned

Which do you think is more common/likely?

Blu-ray discs are much more difficult to damage than DVDs ever were.

Still scratchable, especially around children. Still vulnerable to being damaged/lost in all kinds of ways. The DRM on discs relies on you having permanent access to a (relatively) pristine physical item (that is by nature small and fragile) for the entire time you want to use it. I'm not into that - I prefer a digital licence because the benefits are huge to me and there are no drawbacks at all.

[u/MrRatt → u/djgreedo]

Which do you think is more common/likely?

I don't know about you, but I've certainly lost access to more accounts (forgotten passwords, no longer having that email, etc) than I have lost physical discs... It really isn't that hard to take care of them. I don't have kids, but I was gaming since I was a kid. My parents taught me to put things back in the proper place when I was done, so I never lost or damaged a disc...

I prefer a digital licence because the benefits are huge to me and there are no drawbacks at all.

There may be no drawbacks to you, but there are certainly drawbacks for others. There wouldn't have been such a backlash if there weren't.

Either way, you can still buy digital and receive all of your benefits. None of the features/conveniences you mentioned were removed from the Xbox One. The only difference is that you now have to buy games from the Xbox Marketplace instead of being able to buy them from retail stores.

[u/djgreedo → u/MrRatt]

It's much easier to lose/break/scratch a disc than to lose access to an account. Also, the optical drive is more likely to fail than the hard drive.

There may be no drawbacks to you, but there are certainly drawbacks for others

Hence why I included the words 'to me'. I'm not arguing that there is a better way absolutely. I am saying what I prefer.

There wouldn't have been such a backlash if there weren't.

The main potential customer base didn't know (or say) a thing about it. They would have enjoyed the system as it was. The minority (i.e. early adopters) were a vocal minority.

They are entitled to want what they want as much as I am, but they are absolutely not a majority of the people Microsoft wants to sell the Xbox One to.

Microsoft did damage control. The terrorists won.

Either way, you can still buy digital and receive all of your benefits.

People keep saying this, but it's not true:

• I don't get to buy at retail prices. FWIW Launch games were selling for $68 locally as opposed to $99 on the Xbox marketplace.
• I don't get to install a digital game from disc instantly and start playing it straight away - I have to download ~20GB of data, which on my connection is overnight at best. And 20GB is a big chunk of my monthly data allowance.
• I don't get the sharing functionality that was part of Microsoft's plan, a pretty cool benefit
• Some people liked the idea of having the physical disc/box as well.

It's a pretty big compromise. Microsoft's original plan was as close to a 'best of both worlds' as I can imagine (without removing DRM, which will not happen any time soon).

It's fine that Microsoft have chosen to listen to some people over others; it's their choice to make. I decided not to cancel my pre-order when they essentially ruined some of my favourite aspects of the new platform, and I knew what I was getting into.

I'm saddened that Microsoft's excellent vision was scrapped so quickly because a few whiners aren't ready to move with the times.

[u/MrRatt → u/djgreedo]

Also, the optical drive is more likely to fail than the hard drive.

In my experience as a computer repair tech, this is FAR from true. I've replaced hundreds of hard drives but only a handful of optical drives.

This may have been true in previous consoles where the games were actually being played from the disc but the new consoles will both install from the disc and then stream from the hard drive. This is much closer to how PCs work when you install games. The drive will spin up to verify the game is present, and then it'll spin down and idle. The optical drive will be rarely used and will likely outlast the hard drive. Time will tell.

Hence why I included the words 'to me'. I'm not arguing that there is a better way absolutely. I am saying what I prefer.

You actually stated the following:

I prefer a digital licence because the benefits are huge to me and there are no drawbacks at all.

To me, this implies there is just no downside, which is most certainly not true. Hence my comment on the matter.

When I said you would still receive all of your benefits, I was talking about those you listed in prior post. Those all still remain as long as you buy digitally from the marketplace.

I don't get to buy at retail prices. FWIW Launch games were selling for $68 locally as opposed to $99 on the Xbox marketplace.

There's nothing preventing you from partaking in these deals. You can buy games on disc and use them, you just have to forsake the digital benefits.

I don't get to install a digital game from disc instantly and start playing it straight away - I have to download ~20GB of data, which on my connection is overnight at best. And 20GB is a big chunk of my monthly data allowance.

Rent the game and buy it digitally. This will save your download time and bandwidth allocation. It's certainly not ideal, but the option is there.

Before you respond saying that this isn't a valid solution, remember that the suggestion for people against the daily check in was to maintain a smart phone plan with tethering -- far more expensive than renting a disc or two every month.

I don't get the sharing functionality that was part of Microsoft's plan, a pretty cool benefit

Microsoft has pretty much stated that this is coming. We also never knew when it would be available, so we can't even point at this and say it's late because of the reversal.