Do you like being in an ecosystem?

[AtticGamer]

This is an issue that I've gone back and forth with for some time. Being an almost exclusive PC gamer now, I find myself divided between having my games on Steam and playing some of those same games DRM-Free.

 

I like Steam for what it is, though I fear for what it might become, as it's still technically DRM, and I've shrugged off my iPod back in the day because I couldn't be bothered to use iTunes, because I didn't find a use for it, and because I didn't like the idea of living in Apple's ecosystem. I have a Google account, but I use DropBox instead of Google Drive (though it's because one came first), the same way I use Windows and have a Hotmail account though I don't care for their extra offerings. I like to have my things separated but still interchangeable.

 

What I mean is, I don't feel very comfortable being in a place where all my stuff is dependent on one entity. I know that Valve has given the hint that if it all goes to hell, they will have measures in place (even if it's for their own games I suppose). GameSpy went down, Games for Windows Live is almost there, etc. The beauty of PC is, if you can't access the games you paid for, there's always an alternative, as shady as it might be. I have played PC since the late 90's, and overtime I became responsible to backup my save games and search for patches myself.

 

On the other hand, I do like having my games in one place and having a profile, even if I have zero interest for the community aspect. Having an application for games just like I have one for movies, photos and a browser makes sense, even if the stuff is tied somewhere else. Maybe GOG Galaxy will be the best of both worlds.

 

Maybe I'm secretly a hippie and don't like being tied to anything, but it's a double edged sword for me. What about you?

[Jinks]

Well 1.5 billion facebook users gave up there souls for "social networking".

Me no I hate internet stuff and online for that. But it dont matter. Big brother has enough samples to predict what I will do next.

[WestofHouse]

The only time it bothers me is when switching from one ecosystem to the next would be costly. I use both Google Drive and Dropbox. Switching between them is easy and free. I have multiple free email accounts, too. But if I were to switch from iPhone/iPad to Android or Windows devices I'd lose the money I invested in all my apps, and that bugs me.

[Flojomojo]

Maybe I'm secretly a hippie and don't like being tied to anything, but it's a double edged sword for me. What about you?

I resisted iTunes for a long time, until a few things happened:

1. The App Store for what became iOS came out, which was irresistible to me

2. iCloud got strong enough to let me trust Apple for backups and remote storage of stuff I bought

3. Apple got bigger than Exxon and shows no signs of going away

 

I share your concern about getting invested into something that might not be around. I think Amazon Kindle books are a safe bet, but I'm not touching Nook or Kobo. Microsoft has been less than great with supporting older software. Sony seems OK so long as you play by their rules. The threat of losing the free stuff if you don't pay subscription fees is pretty lousy all around. I think Google Play will be supported, but they're not great about taking care of the place. I like that Humble Bundle ties to Steam so you have everything in one place.

 

It's probably for this reason that Nintendo hasn't bothered to make a robust account system. Better for everyone to keep it simple by tying purchases to hardware. If something fails, you can buy it again. Win-win ... for them.

 

I trust Apple, Amazon, GoG, and Steam.

I tolerate PSN, XBL, Google Play, Origin, Desura, Nintendo eShop

I'm so tied up with these, I don't bother with or fully trust Green Man, Ouya, Onlive, Windows Store or whatever it's called now, etc.

[cimerians]

Doesn't bother me anymore. I used to be anti-Steam but finally gave in about 4 years ago. Glad I did. I realized what I have been missing. A community, an auto patching system with updates, forums and simply incredible deals. The only thing I hate is when publishers force their DRM on top of Steams. Steam already prompts you to login once in a while to verify your account but when publishers like Ubisoft add their own DRM in addition to that its very annoying to the point where I'll just buy the game on a console. Still, Steam is king for me...along with GOG.

 

With GOG your not tied to anyone. They give you the games to download and do what you will with them. Problem is some publishers don't want that so you won't see much current stuff on GOG.

 

So for me it's: Steam, GOG, Desura, Googleplay, Apple's appstore, PSN\Xboxlive, Amazon, Dropbox.

 

I also use the Humblestore, Indieroyale and sometimes Groupees for PC gaming as most of the games you get from there tie to your Steam or Desura account.

 

Sparingly use: eshop, googledrive.

[Lord Helmet]

I really don't care with modern stuff. I rarely replay anything new, so it's basically just a rental. In fact I use Gamefly for 95% of my modern gaming needs.

[Mord]

I resisted iTunes for a long time, until a few things happened:

1. The App Store for what became iOS came out, which was irresistible to me

2. iCloud got strong enough to let me trust Apple for backups and remote storage of stuff I bought

3. Apple got bigger than Exxon and shows no signs of going away

 

 

The first two points are certainly valid, but #3 is never a reason trust a drmed system, particularly if the drmed system isn't the only cash source for the company in question. We've had plenty of DRM systems launched by companies that later got rid of it all, not because it was unprofitable, but simply because it wasn't making enough money for the parent company. Consider Walmart and Micosoft as examples of this.

 

Steam is currently a fairly safe bet simply because online sales of digital games are their bread and butter. But if they were ever to get bought out by a larger company for some reason, one that has many other cash flows, then you run the risk of it being ended for the same reasons as above. Consider how Google routinely starts or buys companies/projects and then ditches them a few years down the road.

 

This is why I'm suddenly worried about the future of Minecraft now that it's no longer owned by an independant Mojang, but by a Microsoft-bought Mojang. Mojang got to where it is, and stayed there, because of Minecraft. They weren't going to screw with that. Microsoft on the other hand can afford to screw around with it, ultimately abandon it if it fails to live up to it's expectations, and still not go bankrupt.

 

 

Regarding Steam, I'm not 100% anti-steam like I use to be, but everything I buy on there is during the summer/holiday sales when things go 50-90% off. I don't ever see myself buying modern games on there or new releases at full price.

[warmachine]

Trust, Apple, and icloud in the same sentence.

Can I get some of what you're smoking?

I'm sure there are plenty of celebrities that would disagree with you right about now.

[Keatah]

--snip--snip--cut--

 

Being an almost exclusive PC gamer now..

..and because I didn't like the idea of living in Apple's ecosystem.

What I mean is, I don't feel very comfortable being in a place where all my stuff is dependent on one entity.

I have played PC since the late 90's, and overtime I became responsible to backup my save games and search for patches myself.

Maybe I'm secretly a hippie and don't like being tied to anything, but it's a double edged sword for me. What about you?

 

 

Hehe. That's right. I completely dislike being dependent for anything "online" and "cloud". Call me backwards, call me stubborn, a luddite, a retard.. whatever I don't care. But I'm totally "hippie" and independent when it comes to computing.

 

I have my own personal "ecosystem". And I take extraordinary effort to ensure that my ecosystem will function regardless of what the internet does. I do not rely on the internet for anything whatsoever either. It's a convenience tool, one of many, and if it goes away that's its problem, not mine. I will continue on just fine.

 

I don't trust anything cloud this or cloud that. Simply because a mistake or policy change or something unforeseen and unexpected can happen. Remember it is some other business or entity controlling the cloud, not you.

[AtticGamer]

I use Steam for playing my games but also buy some stuff from GOG, and the wonderful Humble Store that gives me a DRM Free version of almost every indie game out there along with a Steam key. That way I can play on Steam but have a backup I can put on an internetless computer or give it to a cousin or something. I plan or building a DRM Free archive of my own on my hard drive as well as DVDs so if something happens, I'll have those.

 

Not discounting the DRM Free games on Steam either like Bioshock, Doom, Doom 2, Quake (DOS version)...

 

I use DropBox as a bridge between systems when I don't have a cable with me or I just want to have something temporarily there. I would never use it as definitive storage.

 

It would be nice if GOG Galaxy caught on with AAA developers, but those seem too in love with DRM, but it's going to be a nice utility to organize DRM Free games without compromise, while keeping me in control still.

[Algus]

I actually like iTunes quite a bit. They are the only ones that have a video download sharing policy that I can stomach. I can copy the files, play them, whatever, move them around.

 

There is just one big problem. I have to be able to run iTunes to use them. That really sucks since I don't have a Macbook, and don't particularly care to spend $1000-$1400 to get a Macbook. Especially since my $300 chromebook does everything I need my laptop to do.

 

But I mean, I have an iPad, Mac Mini, Apple TV, and am soon to go iPhone 6 Plus so I guess getting a Macbook will be the inevitable next step. Then I won't have issues anymore.

 

Lately though, I've been using HandBrake and encoding my DVDs into an open video format so I can just use them on everything. The DVDs are cheaper half the time anyway.

[Bill Loguidice]

Frankly, there's a time for resistance and a time for acceptance. The time to resist the idea of individual and incompatible ecosystems is long gone. They're a fact of life now. Embrace the ones you want and enjoy yourself. From a gaming perspective, this is still the best time to be alive.

[HammR25]

Frankly, there's a time for resistance and a time for acceptance. The time to resist the idea of individual and incompatible ecosystems is long gone. They're a fact of life now. Embrace the ones you want and enjoy yourself. From a gaming perspective, this is still the best time to be alive.

 

I'm pretty sure it happened in June of 2013 when people were given a choice.

 

Otherwise, I'll buy game licenses however I can get them. If the terms of use get annoying I'll stop buying them. I refuse to buy games that force me to use Origin or Uplay. I've bought licenses to XBLA and PSN games because they were the smaller type games anyway. I have no problems buying licenses on Steam because the games I'm truly afraid I won't like I can just wait until they're 75 to 90% off the original price.

 

I don't collect games so I couldn't care less about not getting media to store.

[PFL]

I hate being forced into any of these 'ecosystems'. Paying someone hard cash to be held hostage to their whims? That's never a great way to start a relationship...

 

I have an iTunes account but a few years ago my iPhone crashed and I lost a lot of audio books but due to licensing conditions I couldn't re-download them and was expected to buy them again defeating the perceived benefit of buying into that particular ecosystem. I haven't bought anything at all since. It completely sickened me.

 

As far as gaming goes, I will not buy any modern console. I like to keep what I buy. Today it's almost treated like a rental situation. The Wii was the last console I bought and after a few years I've already lost a ton of functionality of the system and games... Never again.

[Mord]

Frankly, there's a time for resistance and a time for acceptance. The time to resist the idea of individual and incompatible ecosystems is long gone. They're a fact of life now. Embrace the ones you want and enjoy yourself. From a gaming perspective, this is still the best time to be alive.

 

Frankly, there's never a reason to give up resisting things you don't like.

[cybercylon]

I've pretty much stuck with Apple since that is what we started with many years ago. It would be a huge expense with both time and money to switch everything over. That said, I do have boot camp install to play steam games that are Windows only and one or two apps that don't have a counter part on the Mac. I have Crossover as well just to run Quicken.

[Keatah]

I hate being forced into any of these 'ecosystems'. Paying someone hard cash to be held hostage to their whims? That's never a great way to start a relationship...

 

I have an iTunes account but a few years ago my iPhone crashed and I lost a lot of audio books but due to licensing conditions I couldn't re-download them and was expected to buy them again defeating the perceived benefit of buying into that particular ecosystem. I haven't bought anything at all since. It completely sickened me.

 

As far as gaming goes, I will not buy any modern console. I like to keep what I buy. Today it's almost treated like a rental situation. The Wii was the last console I bought and after a few years I've already lost a ton of functionality of the system and games... Never again.

 

I cannot possible agree more with that sentiment!

 

I once bought a shareware program years ago. Some sort of audio or video converter. And they stopped supporting my specific version soon thereafter. They wanted more money to get me into the latest and greatest. Well back in the dark ages of the dot-com era things were changing pretty quick and the program quickly became outdated. And eventually useless because I couldn't reactivate it via whatever on-line scheme was in use at the time.

 

It also seems that with ecosystems built around online "philosophies" you are always having to learn new things. And that gets old real fast when you already knew how to do something. Annoying to say the least.

 

"Online" is warning that you'll be jumping through other people's hoops for their benefit, not yours.

 

"Online" is a keyword that comes to mean reduced-functionality-over-time. Planned obsolescence, marketing, financial issues, perceived "old-ness", updates and patches, all that is given new amplification when your game consoles are tethered to the network.

 

As soon as you dial-in a comfortable way of working, get your configuration just so, get your supporting utilities and drivers set up nicely.. Almost immediately some update comes along and fucks it all up. One change is made rendering hours upon hours of learning and configuration effort totally moot.

 

Let's take a modern-day simple example like Camera Roll in iOS 7. So I spend 15 minutes learning it, and an hour setting up a program and script to transfer pictures back and forth via USB. Then iOS 8 comes out and breaks all of that because SOME ASSHOLE thought it would be better to do things this way instead of that way and get rid of Camera Roll altogether. Bullshit! I had the iPad just a few weeks and already they're changing my work style. I've had this iPad about a month now, and so far it has seen 5 revisions to the OS. IOS 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0.0, 8.0.1, 8.0.2. Can't they get anything right?

 

I remember back in the day I had two major operating systems on my Apple II. DOS 3.3 and ProDOS. With 3.3 being the standard for almost 10 years. While there were many variants and versions like Hyper-DOS, Diversi-DOS, David-DOS, Pronto-DOS, etc.. They were done by 3rd parties and considered hack jobs that offered unique niche functionality.

 

Apple was consistent, and DOS 3.3 long-lived. With 3.3 only going away when they switched to a tree and folder/subfolder and "big-systems" architecture in ProDOS. But almost all the software worked across all the versions and compatibility was a given. Both forward and backward compatibility were awesome! While you could move +95% of your old stuff forward into ProDOS.. For obvious and logical reasons you couldn't move everything from ProDOS back to DOS 3.3. Everybody was ok with that because switching between the two was a snap.

 

And I was ok with this, too, because back then I was learning something that afforded new capabilities. Not re-learning how to do the same old task in a different way which isn't any better (and often more abstracted) than the old way. Catch my drift?

 

In complete contrast: When I use a DSLR I take the SD card out, put it in a reader, and manually copy the files into a manually created folder in Windows Explorer. In a location I have chosen. Then I manually delete them from the card. I can make the folder structure exactly like I want, names, dates, subject matter, all that. Arbitrary or pertinent. All customizable in a clear and concise list with branches and bifurcations. A list that resembles a mind map, a cognitive map. A form of numerical synesthesia.

 

This lowest common denominator method has worked for me since the Win95 days, and I applaud myself (and Microsoft) for making it still possible 20 years later. Had I "bought into" any one of umpteen million photo manager packages I would have been experiencing frustration and likely some data loss (knowing how I do things) every time I switched into whatever was popular at the time. In fairness this applies to all those packages that seemed popular at Big Box at the height of the dot-com craze. There are some pro-level things which have been consistent over the years, but I don't need all that. And the question of future cross platform migration comes into play.

 

Tech ecosystems are a house of cards. One little change and the whole thing falls apart. One change and your working style is flipped upside down. One forgotten skill and functionality goes to hell. Finally, tech ecosystems are more and more sweeping you up and controlling you. They get a hold of you and don't let you go, not without major inconveniences.

 

So as you can see. The best "ecosystems" are ones that let you work in the style you want without getting in your way. The best systems provide you with a nice framework that is solid, consistent, versatile. Not this over-caffeinated hypernervous twitch syndrome of change that is borne out of necessity to make something new for new's sake just to please the boss and create the illusion of creating. Fully 3/4ths the shit today isn't well thought out and is just busywork, toiling and twitching. Jerking you back and forth. Vibrating. Pulling you this way and that way. All.. for what??