This topic is an interesting one. Glad to see it being discussed like adults unlike the jaguar scene, as a great example. Anyway, the questions and hypothesis being posed here are quite interesting. The idea of a society of new gamers not caring about original copies or such, it's already here. Want proof of it? Go into any Gamestop and look at the walls and walls of loose discs without case artwork or instructions. Check the scratched and such on said discs as well. I don't know how many times I have bough something from there and been in a hurry and didn't check the disc...
That alone is another reason these little punks like Download only stuff, you don't need to take care of it like I do with my games, Records and Laserdiscs. These things you have to really take care of or they are ruined...why would anyone want to do that, right? I went into my Sons room once and there it was, the Leaning Tower of Pisa made out of CD's stacked on top of each other recklessly. In the years since, he has outgrown that habit, but he learned a hard lesson. I refused to replace anything that git scratched. He had to learn. Most kids nowadays just don't give a rat's ass. And one might argue about semantics like some kid wouldn't play this game, it's too mature for them...yeah, keep thinking that.
In the end, I am a "Collector" in the fact that I have a bunch of games and such, but I like to play them. I like to flip through the books and I actually like to know my stuff is real. I won't lie and say I have never bought a repro, and to a degree, I think there is a market for it. I collect Comic Books and enjoy 2nd and 3rd printings when the 1st prints are too expensive because I want to read the stories. The sad thing I see are Pirates making illegal copies and ass-raping the gaming community. That is where I get upset. There's just no need for this crap. Hell, truth be told, take something like Beyond Shadowgate for example, taking the legalities out of it...there is a big enough demand for the game in people's collection that you could, theoretically make a pretty nice repro of it on a burnt CD with a case and instructions and everything else and sell it for let's say a fair amount of $40.00 and make money off of it. Is that what would happen? hell no. It would get sold for $200.00 plus or even be copied to the "T" and sold as a legit copy on evilbay for a stupid amount of money. It's sad. Thank God they can't fake something like magical Chase easily yet. When that happens, the floodgates are open, and I fear we are VERY close to that day.
