Paying to Win, Progress, and Level Up: The Road to Industry Suicide?

From top left to bottom right: Candy Crush Saga, Farmville, Dungeon Keeper Mobile, Call of Duty: WWII, Assassin's Creed: Origins, and NBA 2K18. These games contain in-game currency that allows players to purchase extra lives, faster progression, and increased chances of getting desired items via randomized loot boxes.

In an age long since past, video games were an avenue of pure adventurous escapism in the eyes of those sitting on the floor or couch across from the TV in their living rooms or bedrooms with a controller in hand, being close to their computers with their fingers flying across the keyboard, or hanging around with friends at a local arcade. The moment we ran our PCs and consoles or insert our quarters into the arcade machines, gamers of my generation, myself included, were transported into various worlds uncovering treasures, slaying monsters, uncovering secrets, going through stories rivaling those of other media, feeling like badasses, and experiencing the thrill of getting a high score to show off our skills. These times were what we would call the Golden and Silver Ages of gaming. But since the latter half of the 7th generation video game era, we have entered what a lot of us would probably call the Dark Ages.

Buying Video Games: Should You Get a Physical Copy or Download a Digital Version

In a time before the Internet as we now know it even existed, video games were mainly bought from brick and motor stores just like everything else. I was a boy who was introduced to video games via the PC, arcades,  and the third and fourth generation consoles around that time. It was also in those days that my older brother who, with support from our father, would buy and install games the PC and rent Sega Genesis games from a nearby Blockbuster rental store before I even understood the fundamentals of shopping. Now that I'm a more active gamer, I would occasionally order games via Amazon (if I find the price right) and purchase them via the PlayStation Network Store, Xbox Live, and the Wii Shop Channel as downloadable titles on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii in addition to shopping at a local Gamestop. Since I keep an eye out for games of the best quality and have a limited budget, I make a mental list as to which games to buy based on their reputation since their original release, the uniqueness of the game mechanics, and, of course, the asking price. Sometimes I ask myself: do I go for a physical copy or a digital copy?