Digital download or just good plain ol' CD/DVD's?

[Landy]

Seeing where more and more moving away from CD/DVD's and rumor has it that they will be completely gone in 5 years or so, I'm curious to know what kind of method you prefer when purchasing a software or a game. Digital or getting a physical copy (CD/DVD)?

If i can, i prefer to get a physical copy of the game, just to have something to show off on my shelf. However, I've grown really fond of Steam and it's software over the last couple of years. My biggest "concern" is that for some reason Steam would go offline or end up bankrupt, so will my big list of Steam games disappear. Guess it's just me being paranoid :p

[MyNameDidntFit]

I prefer hard copies, but I simply don't have the money to get a retail version of a game the majority of the time. So I end up buying from Steam.

[Landy]

I remember a few years back, when all the games came in "Over the top over-sized" boxes. You'd have to have a pretty wide shelf too get your whole collection on it.

How times change.

[Konrad]

I used to be a retail man, but steam has taken over completely. Pricing is very stable here, so it's really only a matter of convenience when making the choice and I prefer Steam.

Within the recent months I remember fumbling about my room in search of:
1) Modern Warfare CDs
2) Modern Warfare CD key
3) Mass Effect CD key
4) Crysis CD

And thank god I have Jedi Academy on steam now, because I fear what would happen if I tried to locate the disks for that as well.

My main worry is getting my account hijacked. I know 99% of stolen accounts are because of user stupidity, but I still feel a little uncomfortable having that much money packed in one container. Especially since just this summer I helped my cousin fight off a keylogger who was fucking with us at the same time we were trying to change passwords desperately with an on-screen keyboard. He eventualy got his account back but he was devatated, and his account has a fourth of the games I own.

As for Steam going out of business, of course not officially, but they stated that should they cease being able to provide their services they will do make sure users will have a way of using their software anyway.

[Rob]

I'd go crazy trying to keep track of all the keys and physical media for my games. The convenience of starting any game with a few clicks and being able to install/delete as frequently as needed to free up space rocks. Now that I have a 12Mb/2Mb cable line that bursts twice as fast I have very little reason to choose DVD's when I purchase a game. Most games can be preloaded on steam which sweetens the deal even more. I save time/gas and HDD space.

I have bought Starcraft and the Diablo series at least 3-4 times each over the last 10 years. Most of that was due to moving around a lot. Blizzard has jumped on the digital dl bandwagon so now all my purchases from them are registered on Bnet. More companies need to follow suit.

[MyNameDidntFit]

As for Steam going out of business, of course not officially, but they stated that should they cease being able to provide their services they will do make sure users will have a way of using their software anyway.
I really doubt we have to worry about that. If Valve somehow managed to bankrupt themselves, there'd be no shortage of companies willing to buy Steam from them and continue the service -- it's simply such a massive, massive, massive, massive thing that it'd be snapped up the moment it was possible to be.