I
ishkamiel
Guest
The advantage of a boxed copy is that I get a manual to read, and I'll always have a copy of the game at hand. I like having a printed manual to read on the couch or elsewhere, and I enjoy knowing that my game discs are safe and I'll be able to install the software whenever I want and I don't have to fuss with backups, physical or otherwise. And I don't see the point in a non-physical back-up, external HD or not. I do not trust technology enough for that!
It's quite true that one shouldn't trust technology too much, especially the local/network backup hard drives (which I myself use to a fault). But what I can't understand is how that retail CD/DVD somehow were more trustworty. There are no guaranties about the lifetime of a disc, nor are there guaranties that the latest hardware/software are compatible with some old copy protection system.
Sure, there will always be 'fixes' for faulty copy protection schemes, but when it comes down to that I'm pretty sure there will be a fix for steam activation the moment valve declares the servers are going down for good (either by valve or by some third party (legal or not)). And as previously said, you can take local backups (and burn them to a CD/DVD if you like).
Lastly, about modding, I have my steam bought Deus Ex (unreal opengl engine update and high def textures) and Vampire: Bloodlines (unofficial patch) modded/patched, haven't had any problems (Steam updates will overwrite these, but you can tell steam not to auto update if you like). This of course is just steam and the games I have tried/moded/patched, ain't really familiar with other download thingies...
And for the record, I have long been a collector kinda guy meself, until the misc stuff, even manuals started to disappear from the packages, and after several hours of trying to get my freshly bought copy of some game to work, until finally having to use a fix (NWN2 and C&C3 comes to mind).
Still do prefer the boxed version if it acctually includes something other than a ten page manual and a disc, like a nice cloth map for example...