How to Navigate (and Pushback against) a digital-only console world as a Physical Media Advocate

This is a repost from an article I originally wrote on my website. Suppose you would like to read it from there. Follow the link below.
https://studdedzombiesvault.wordpress.com/2026/07/08/how-to-navigate-and-pushback-against-a-digital-only-console-world-as-a-physical-media-advocate/

July 1, 2026, will be a day that will live in infamy in the history of video games. For shareholders and some detractors, it will feel like a necessary transition. For many of us, however, it will mark the beginning of the end. A turning point that many, including me, will argue is for the worse. A landmark that a big collective of people didn’t ask for.

Enough with all the fancy words now. As I am referring to this.

On July 1, 2026, Sony announced that it will stop producing physical video games, effective January 2028. With this news came the realization of what’s to come, along with some very welcome backlash and Pushback across the internet. Content creators, collectors, and customers of all walks of life all took to social media. Voicing their disapproval and condemning Sony for making a decision that still affects millions of consumers. Regardless of what statistics will show and sometimes ignore.

For many of us, this wasn’t just “my physical games will be no more”. This was the first major step towards an industry where corporations will control everything. This is the death of consumer rights and ownership. It’s as if Sony was telling us..

“Your entertainment belongs to us now. You will own nothing and be happy about it”

Now, with all of this being said. My experience interacting with people has been resoundingly negative. However, a small fraction of those are not only okay with this news but also very happy about it. Some have said that this is long overdue and they haven't bought a physical game in over seven years.

To those individuals, I say: pat yourselves on the back. Buy yourself a cookie and a beer while you’re at it. Me, I’ve consistently bought games in both Digital and Physical formats, and I continue to do so. It’s not just games either. When it comes to music, movies, comics, and novels, I do the same. It’s been a consistent thing. So you could say that I understand both sides here. However, my sympathies gravitate towards the physical crowd, along with prioritizing individual independence over corporate greed and Preservation over convenience.

This extensive article isn’t meant to pander to the people who are happy about this decision. This is meant to be a helpful guide to the people who are losing their chance to own something tangible.

It is also meant to illustrate why this decision is detrimental to the industry’s future.

I will guide you through this process, topic by topic.

Starting with…

Why jumping to PC is the most logical step (and no one should call you hypocritical for it)

Yes, yes, I can already hear you pro-digital people screaming and jumping.

“BRO! Steam and PC have been digital only since 2003 dawg. You’re going to get on Sony’s issue about going digital-only and then encourage people to go to another digital platform?? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”

Sure, at first, it sounds incredibly hypocritical. Why would I get angry at Sony and then endorse a digital-only platform?

Once you actually break it down. There are several reasons.

Let’s start with when Steam was introduced, how it became the PC standard for many, and how its customer service will remain unmatched by Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

I started with the platform after acquiring my PC from Cyberpower circa 2011. At that time, Steam was a regular thing on all systems, yet you could still buy physical PC games at your local Best Buy or Target. However, Steam was gaining traction for game purchases. What is different about Steam compared to anything at the time? The games I bought on the platform, I still have to this day.

In my library are the same Steam games I had at that time, and they can still be installed. My Steam library has been transferred between at least three PC’s since then, and it remains largely unchanged. I say “largely” because I bought games since then, but that’s neither here nor there.

So Steam has been consistent like that. The same can’t be said for my Wii digital library or for any Nintendo console that followed. PlayStation? Same situation: my PS3 digital games could never transfer to PS4 or PS5. Admittedly, I never bought an Xbox system after the 360. However, I know from other owners that certain games wouldn’t make it over to the One, let alone the Series X.

So with that being said. Steam has been consistent, same with every other PC game client I have used. I think it’s wishful thinking to expect Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo to follow the same pattern. As they have demonstrated before that they won’t.

But of course, this still doesn’t help my beloved Physical collectors.

“Look, that’s nice, but I just have to have my games physical. I like being able to touch it and throw it up on a shelf. Plus, I love playing with a controller above anything.”

No judgment from me whatsoever. I totally get your stance. Not everyone plays both PC and Console. Some have remained on home consoles since their first experience with gaming.

The one thing I will point out, and it may be archaic to do so, is that you’ve been able to plug in and play a controller without any modifications since I started using Steam in 2011. A vast majority of games recognize the controller from the jump. In today’s world, you can use either a PS5 or an Xbox controller without modifications. Some companies make controllers specifically for the PC. And to the Nintendo fans out there… well, you’re already situated, for the time being. Point is, you can get anything working with no effort.

In other words, you have more options than you do with a console.

Now to get into how you can potentially back up your games on platforms like Steam and GOG.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/wvLTTS4QTO8?si=lwVhfdcAyo7XsgOo

Okay, I don’t know if that link will show up as a video to play, but it provides a guide for backing up your PC games.

People have started doing this, especially recently. Hence why that tutorial isn’t terribly old; they take the games they have on clients like Steam and GOG (Good Old Games) Galaxy. Then burn them to a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray. Download or create special graphics to work as covers. Then proudly display them in their home, game room, or office.

Essentially, what you are doing here is taking the Steam game file and your saves to preserve them in a disc format. There’s also the option of flash drives, if you’re worried about scratching disks or want to be unique. It’s all good; I’m not here to judge. Actually, I think it’s pretty rad to try a new physical game format. I wonder why the companies wouldn’t try it. Corporate greed, maybe?

Now, here’s another thing I recently discovered, thanks to a random YouTube comment. Apparently, there is a way to play old floppy disks on modern machines. With the advent of the DOSBox emulator and a USB Floppy Disk Drive. It’s possible to collect something physical on a PC again. Getting started will barely cost you anything. The only problem is finding the games themselves. However, if you are a retro game collector, you already know the venture.

Or you can go one step further and join the growing retro PC gaming community. People are building their own retro PCs to play those classic discs. When I say building a retro system, I mean that they are literally looking for the best graphics card, motherboard, RAM, and processor of 2000. They are going to great lengths for that authentic experience. Well, okay, maybe not the exact components, but as close as possible. They are definitely installing that classic Windows or Linux OS we all remember from when we were kids. I can hear the overwhelming Windows 98 startup right now, feel it too. I’m scared all over again.

Now I have not tried to do any of this. But I have to say, as someone who prioritizes this. It’s one h ll of a way to attempt to preserve media.

Ah, Preservation, leading us into our next topic.

Preservation is one of the real issues with this, and it affects us all

Above all other reasons, I am against consoles going all-digital because it makes preserving games and media nearly impossible. Which is exactly how the companies want it.

See, I mentioned in my previous topic how someone can back up and create a physical copy of something from Steam or GOG. Well, bringing up these two clients creates a clear distinction between them.

Steam is considered the standard among many. GOG Galaxy is considered the leading platform for preserving history.

GOG’s Preservation initiative is something the platform doubles down on, and I thank them for it. They have come out and practically made it their mission statement. To find and add all games to their client, with earnest hopes of keeping them there for all time. It’s not just PC or Mac either. Certain console games are making their way onto the platform. It’s truly a beautiful thing to see that a popular platform is prioritizing the Preservation of art like this. It rarely happens outside of nonprofit organizations. Everyone who plays video games, let alone PC games, needs to have a GOG account, in my opinion. It’s also completely DRM-free, unlike Steam and most other clients. Created by people for the love of the game.

Let’s say from a completely hypothetical standpoint here. Say that G G, Steam, Epic, and every other client goes away. Which, in my eyes, would be a sign of living in an anti-art dystopia. Where could these PC game files go? Who’s going to take the reins of preserving them? Well, same with many other nonprofit organizations that preserve art, documents, and history in general. Allow me to introduce you to some beneficial websites.

https://www.myabandonware.com

Allowing the masses to download and experience games ranging from 1965 (PC games existed then, apparently) to 2015. My Abandonware is a nonprofit, donation-only website created entirely to let anyone experience PC and console games lost to time. If you can’t find a game on Steam, if GOG hasn’t preserved it, you will find it on their website. Let me say this: once you learn how easy it is to get some of the games working. You will be stretched in the best possible way. That door is wide open now.

https://www.homeoftheunderdogs.net/

Although it is a more niche site than the others, Home of the Underdogs aims to educate people on forgotten and underrated games from yesteryear. Because a huge part of Preservation is teaching, what better way to do this than to dedicate your website to the obscure? Upon first discovering this site back in 2009, I had no idea really how many games were released on the PC. Let alone some of the crazy concepts people came up with. It’s enough for someone to get inspired when writing a story or coming up with a game on their own. Maybe they will become a fan of a forgotten game and resurrect it to create a new fan community.

https://archive.org

Most people will push back on a site like Internet Archive. It is a site that doesn’t solely focus on games. You’re right, it doesn’t prioritize it. It prioritizes Preservation of internet media in general. One of those things is games. Not just retro games, but Flash too. A platform that has ceased to exist for years now. As a result, many games have been lost to time. Unless they get hold of it and provides it to the world, as someone who deeply cares about preserving history and media. The fact that this site was in danger of shutting down at one point shakes me to my core.

An extension of the site is the Wayback Machine. Something that allows people to search websites completely lost to time. It’s pretty damn extensive too. To test whether it worked. I had recently rediscovered a Silent Hill fan site from 2000.

So, the PC platform is already tailor-made for Preservation. Individuals who share my care for history have the means to do so, even as people take their Steam files and transfer them to CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, or Flash Drives. They are preserving a file for platforms like this to ensure it is secure.

This is not the same thing I can say about the big three at all, which is why their decision to go fully digital is terrible.


CONSOLE DEVELOPERS HAVE DONE A BAD JOB AT PRESERVING HISTORY

Why don’t we start with Microsoft? The least of the worst, but still bad.

Backward Compatibility is a feature that people have wanted with consoles for the longest time. Especially when buying a new system and still being able to play their games from the previous system. Microsoft, admittedly, has done one hell of a job at this, despite not everything being playable.

One enticing feature is how the Series X handles it. Not only can you play games from the OG Xbox, 360, and One. If you own any international games, those can be played too. At one point, if it was an international version of something released here. Xbox will translate the game automatically. With all of your games, you keep the save files to boot. They really did nail it.

Until the rumor came around that Project Helix, ala the next system, won’t have a disc drive. Hence why Microsoft is encouraging people to upload all their games to their system while they have their Series X or One; trust me, fanboys: if Sony goes all-digital, Microsoft will want to compete and do the same thing.

It also goes without saying that Microsoft has delisted games itself. Who here remembers Xbox Live Arcade? Great memories, right? Yeah, some of those games are lost to history after Microsoft shut down the 360 store. They were released digitally on the Xbox 360 only.

See the issue yet?

Holy Monopoly Batman!

Never mind the fact that Microsoft has shut down a multitude of gaming studios and continues to lay off thousands each year. It’s finally, as of today, that they decided to sell off four developers rather than shut them down.

A win is a win, but you should never have bought up so many to begin with. Corporate greed is a bitch.

There’s also the fact that Microsoft is accelerating us toward an all-Cloud-Based gaming future. Ever used Xbox Gamepass? Convient, right? Well, how would you like to use that for gaming and never have the option to do anything else? Don’t think it’ll happen? Oh, don’t worry, we will touch on that later in this piece.

So yeah, Microsoft did well with their backward Compatibility for the most part. However, many of their efforts and decisions are ushering us into an industry that is worse for us.

And now it’s time for the one company where the fans will come after me the most.

What about Nintendo’s efforts? Haven’t they done a better job than the other two? To that question, I have a return one. What preservation efforts?

Beloved Nintendo, the company that’s been known to go far and wide to shut down ROM sites. Websites that exist solely for Preservation. Like a pack of Vikings, they go to these sites to pillage and destroy their efforts. What’s the reason, you ask? Copyrights and protecting developers. Let me emphasize that second one; they intend to protect developers.

What better way to protect defunct developers than to destroy any trace of their work and make it unavailable? Such pioneers when it comes to this thing.

Now, it’s one thing if they go after Switch 2 emulator sites. Some may argue legal reasons, but they’d use the same for their retro games. However, there is also a tangible reason as to why they were around. Let me shoot it to you for a moment.

Say I own a Nintendo Switch and a copy of Metroid Prime Remaster. Something happens to my system, such as the battery gets busted (which actually happened), and it’s beyond my control even. How will I be able to play that game while I wait for Nintendo to repair my system? The emulator existed for that. Without those emulators, there’s no way to play the games I paid for out of my own pocket. Which is also how going fully digital will kill the used-game market.

I know fans are going to be screaming this at me.

“Nintendo has them when you pay for their online service. They preserved the games themselves. IN YOUR FACE INCEL!!!”

I actually had a Nintendo fanboy tweet me something like this and call me that term, with no evidence. But alright, let’s see how Nintendo’s efforts have been.

Here is the number of games Nintendo has released on its online service as of July 6, 2026.

NES: 95
SNES: 85

Gameboy: 30
Game Boy Color: 15
N64: 45
Genesis: 51
GBA: 30
GameCube: 9
Virtual Boy: 15

Not bad, huh? Seems like a solid amount for $50 a year, no? It seems like they are genuinely trying to preserve their games.

Until you look at the list of the total number of games released on each system.

NES: 1,370
SNES: around 3,200 games worldwide
Game Boy: 1,043
Game Boy Color: 660
N64: 338 worldwide
Genesis/MD: 880
GBA: 1,538 globally
GameCube: 651
Virtual Boy: 22

See the difference?

Those are some pretty sizable gaps, right?

Are you kidding me here?

Now I know what you’ll follow up with.

“Nintendo can’t put everything on their service at once. Plus they don’t own the rights to everything.”

Say that second part again, but slowly.

You are correct; Nintendo doesn’t own the rights to everything, and a majority of those games don’t belong to them.

SO THEY HAVE NO REASON TO SHUT DOWN THESE ROM SITES!!!

The argument will continue to live so long as Nintendo decides to meddle in things they have no business meddling in.

And now for the main event. The company that single-handedly got me to write this piece. The only company that has sent people into a spiral. The one you’ve been waiting for.

Sony, you have no idea how much this teardown hurts, but it’s a reminder of why I should never be a fanboy of any company.

To think that, at one point, my biggest issue with you was that your CEO made the idiotic claim that you didn’t have enough franchises or IPs to revisit.

Never mind the fact that I pay over $160 a year for your “premium” online service. One where you have shown your effort in preserving your classic libraries. The result of that is…

Well, it’s here, but what are the numbers?

PSX: 56
PS2: 376 (this is across PS3, PS4, and PS5)
PS3: 18 (outside of compilations)

I don’t even want to touch upon this too much. I’ll say that the PS2 number is large if you play on Sony’s premium online service. It’s significantly less than that. Like, crumbs compared to a full cake.

Considering the amount you pay for their online service to access these. Yes, you do have to pay. They offer significantly less than Nintendo. In other words, Sony is doing a worse job of preserving their legacy than Nintendo.

And their attempt at a classic console didn’t help this either. Providing us with a measly 20 games when Nintendo will give us at least 50.

At least they aren’t purging ROM sites…. yet.

Now it wasn’t always like this. Hell, upon its release, the PS3 was backward compatible with both the PS2 and the PS1. Fully compatible too! That’s adding well over 5,000 games to play outside of the PS3’s library. Gradually, that went away with each new PS3 model they introduced.

Actually, I’m going to stop with Sony for now. Because right as I am writing all of this. Sony has demonstrated how much they really don’t care about the consumer.

See, since Sony made that announcement. They went rogue on Social Media for about four days. Knowing the kind of backlash the news would generate. Truthfully, I thought they would stay quiet for longer, at least a week or two. Nope, at the end of those four days, this comes.

Nice! I love me a great fight stick, man. I play a good number of bullet-hell shooters, beat-em-ups, and fighting games. If this is a good price…

Wait, hold the controller here. Are we just going to forget about what was announced last week? The people replying won’t.

The replies keep going. Plus, you know you made a bad business decision when the UK Domino’s branch is throwing shade at you.

Oh, about that Arcade Stick? It was used in conjunction with advertising an upcoming fighting game exclusive to PlayStation 5. Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, a game I was sure hyped for at one point. Along with many others out there. Until you learn some info.

Really Sony? What the hell is after this?

So yeah, to close out this section. My point is that we cannot rely on these corporations to care about Preservation. Let alone the actual product. Not only do they want your money. They want to control what you consume and what you don’t.

And now it’s time for the biggest reason why this piece is being written.

Why Preservation and Physical Media are important

Some people won’t need to know the reasons why. There are plenty of people who argue that this is an issue of ownership more so than Preservation. Truthfully, that is a huge issue with all of this. However, there are plenty of people who don’t see why Preservation of all art and media is important. I’ve spoken to them personally, and I find their reasoning… upsetting. When talking with them, it usually goes down like this.

“If something is bad, I don’t want it preserved. This shit sucks! No one wants to remember something terrible.”

“That form of media is offensive, and I want it erased from history.”

“It’s just for fun, bro. It’s not that deep. The cheeseburger I had the other day was bomb; I’m not going to preserve the wrapper.”

This has been itching at me for a long time now. I have tried to explain it multiple times through TikTok videos and conversations. Yet the message doesn’t resonate. I’m here to cement it into the consciousness once and for all. My declaration to the masses, if you will. I’ll address each statement I listed above. As they are the most common arguments I hear.

1. Bad things don’t need to be preserved.

Suppose something is poorly made, broken, unpleasant, or otherwise unsatisfactory; it doesn’t need to live on, nor be reminded of it.

Okay, we’ll just let someone else make the same mistake in the future. Possibly make worse things.

Or what if it's a video game? The game made in the past is terrible; it doesn’t function well at all, and it failed to stick the landing. However, perhaps that game had a great idea. Maybe the story or concept had potential, but the execution was terrible. So it’s preserved in history. Someone would discover it. They notice the concept or the ideas it had, then decide to make a better version of it. Or they are inspired to make something that will live on, both in its influence and in its quality. This has happened before, and it will continue to do so in history. It’s not just video games; it extends to all forms of art and media. Be it movies, television, books, comics, manga, animation, paintings, poems, or anything else you can picture. Nothing is made in a vacuum, but innovation takes many forms.

No matter the quality, it must be preserved, regardless of whether it’s a reminder or an opportunity to improve. It needs to remain. It's offensive or represents the wrong side of history

I sympathize with this argument the most of the three, because I do understand where people are coming from. It’s entirely based on the worst parts of history not being resurrected. Or inspire new forms of terrible things. I shouldn’t have to illustrate what I mean by this. Anything bigoted, intolerant, deplorable, or just downright morally wrong.

Which is exactly why education is one of the most important things in existence. It’s the most essential thing we can do to ensure these ideas are never revisited.

There are moments of the story that are downright ugly. Representing all of these things I’ve mentioned. However, when it comes to an article surrounding arts and entertainment.

I’ll give you two examples of media that fit these criteria. Let’s start with Birth of a Nation. A film created to showcase the Ku Klux Klan, a historical group known for racism, as American heroes. It is considered the most controversial film of all time and the most racist. But it doesn’t end with that. The film also shows repeated sexism. Make no mistake here, this is not a film to be remembered fondly.

Erasing it from hiswouldn'tldn’t automatically remove these issues. We’ve had other films embracing these elements. Along with comic books, novels, paintings, and things I’m probably not aware of. Removing all of this from hiswouldn'tldn’t remove the ideas because someone else will come up with them and inspire millions. That someone wouldn’t have a difficult time doing so if there are no examples to showcase why he is wrong. Here’s another example of this. Only it’s a PC game. Right now, if you search for a title called Sad Satan, you will find one of the most disgusting and offensive games ever created. Something that I truly believe no one should ever play. I’m not advocating for its Preservation. For the sole purpose of educating people about how depraved individuals can be. How it shouldn’t be made, let alone played, anything even remotely like it. So this would be a prime example of educating people about the product.

https://www. outube-nocookie.com/embed/-9fMBvk6PDY?si=i2FCnBRbAG97SB 8

Parts of history, especially in the media, serve as reminders of what is right or wrong. It serves as mirrors to our own moral compass. Education is essential for a better world. As one teacher said on social media at one point, and it lives rent-free in my head: Education is Elevation.It's just entertainment; it’s make-believe; it’s not that serious.

Oh, you’re completely right here. A story from anything has never inspired anyone. No one has ever bonded over a form of entertainment or art. Nobody has ever felt connected to anything that’s ever been made from inspiration. We live in a world where we sleep, eat, work, and talk to our family members about those things I just mentioned. Because nothing ever written or created has had any impact at all.

Hold up now! Who wrote that?? Well, it was me projecting your thought process back at you. That is, if you think under these terms.

Saying that any form of art is entertainment and not meant to be taken seriously. If we got rid of them, nobody would miss them. I can’t punch down on this mindset hard enough. Have movies never inspired anything? Have literature and poetry never done anything for society? Doesn’t need to exist at all, really? Sculptures, whether in a building, a statue, or a theme park ride, have never created a feeling in anyone?

Oh, I’m sure someone read that and immediately clap back with

“Video games aren’t even close to any of the things you mentioned”

Video games have stories, creations, vision, and music. The stories are considered among the best out there, with games like Silent Hill 2, The Last of Us, Chrono Trigger, and countless others. They contain world-building elements and ideas that people carry over to other forms of creation. People have fallen in love, formed friendships, inspired styles, and led others to follow their artistic passions.

What video games have done, and will continue to do, is inspire. They captivate, entertain, and enrich countless lives, as they should continue to do.

The same has occurred with movies, even more so. Books have inspired films, teachers, and culture. Paintings are landmarks themselves. Television is a medium for literary creativity and has inspired people as much as it reflects. I know no one would make this argument about music as a whole. Something that has existed in life since we humans could speak.

Anything regarding art, no matter how serious or silly it is, should be preserved.

“Now why is it our job to preserve this stuff? It belongs mostly to these companies. What the hell are we supposed to do? They are going to do things regardless. We have no power.”

First off, don’t own all art or media, but also we DO have the power. They need us to exist as they desire our money.

Corporations themselves have one interest and only that. Milk you for all the currency they can. Granted, they know they have to keep you loyal and engaged in what they’re doing. So they will do nice tricks to keep you like that, but they aren’t interested in history. At least not as much as we are. Remember when I pointed out how Nintendo is purging ROM sites? Do you honestly think it ends with that? Nope!

Now you may think that erasing physical won’t remove property rights. You’ll still be able to buy anything you want and have it on your hard drives.

Some have told me that even a few delisted things are still downloadable for them.

https://steam-tracker.com

So that link right there is a comprehensive list of the games that have been either removed from purchase or completely delisted. When something is removed from purchase, it remains in your library. When something is delisted, it’s removed from both purchase and access in your library. Completely gone as Thanos snapped it out of existence; there’s no finger move to bring it back.

This here is essentially the corporations controlling culture.

Controlling what you own and interact with in an all-digital future could happen in an instant. Provided you can’t save the files of the things they bought. Which is why having things in physical form is a very effective way to preserve them.

But if you still think that it isn’t a problem and you take the ownership of media as something no different than food. Meaning you consumed a video game or movie once and don’t care to revisit it after that. Well then, get ready for the next bad thing—an all-cloud-based future. Where purchasing doesn’t exist; you pay the company a monthly fee and consume exactly what they want, and how they want you to.

See, that is a future where you only have streaming services and rental equipment. You’ll pay the company a lifetime of monthly fees to have a system in your house and have stuff to play.

This cloud-based future is closer to reality than most people realize. As someone who originally thought physical media would stick around for at least the next ten years, I'm now thinking differently. Now, with Streaming Services gaining popularity by the year. We could find ourselves in this future as soon as 2030.

And with these in place. How does that affect people? Companies can decide within an instant to remove something for any reason whatsoever. Industries and jobs will die off just as quickly as AI kills them. The voice of the people will cease to exist more and more; we won’t have a say in anything, and we will fall in line.

As much as you think that you own your stuff. This all-digital future will quickly manifest as a cloud-based future; it won’t be like Star Trek, either. Not even remotely. We’re looking more at stuff like Blade Runner, 1984, Brave New World, and Cyberpunk without the super-abilities.

Throwing in the towel by thinking stuff "like “this is inevitable, there’s nothing we can do about it”. Well, I’m sure you’ll be alright with a Wall-E version of the future. Are you ready to be obese, sit in a floating chair, and have tech run everything for you? Would you want that kind of future for your children? Or your children's children’s future?

You might say that I am fear-mongering? I beg to differ. I look at the trajectory of everything, but I also see a world of people that have a much more powerful voice than they realize.

Suppose you look at any historical moment. Most of us weren’t done with people who were "complacent "cent” or just living by what was convenient for them. People got uncomfortable and rose.

Now, for anyone who wants to argue that doesn’t matter as much as those events in that link, like movies, video games, and aren’t the same as civil rights workers’ rights. Let me give you this food for thought.

Picture a world where you don’t have the following. There are no books, poems, plays, music, movies, television, sports, video games, or anything remotely similar. Storytelling doesn’t exist at all. How do you think a world like that would look?

No, really, think on that for a moment. Then read on.

Still having a hard time picturing it? Or you think it would be impossible?

Essentially, a world like that would consist of us just waking up, eating, doing labor for the government or a deity of some kid, eating, and then sleeping. Love can’t be pictured because there’s no way to articulate our feelings. Inspiration? The government condemns it. Feelings, in general, are outlawed or hard to identify. Iaren’t created because pearen’t allowed to feel, or don’t know how to interpret them. Science is tangible, but no one can work with it because the higherwon'twon’t allow it. Any experiment isn’t allowed.

Okay, I know this may sound preachy, but I care deeply about culture and community. I care about art and culture because it gives life meaning. That universal answer for"the"“why” question lies in emotion and connection.

I can’t tell you how to think, and some would argue that I shouldn’t. All I am doing is sharing my vision and concerns about where the world is headed based on this. You decide what you want to think in the end.

Now, with all that said, it’s time to bring this home.

What can you do to support Preservation? You’ve made it thus far in this extensive written piece. I thank you tremendously for that. Really, I do. If you are wondering what can be done to help preserve and create ownership. Here are five things you can do. Even if you only do two of these, that’s enough.

• Buy physical media while it exists. Make a point of doing it even if you purchase digital, too.

• Donate to nonprofit organizations that specialize in preserving art, and it’s essential, above all else, that they stick around.

• Back up digital files any way you can. Once"you"“buy” something digital. Find a way to save the file for later.

• Support non-corporate projects like indie games, independent movies, music not on major labels, and small businesses. People drive these.

• Stop being a consumer and start being a customer. If you don’t like what a company or business is doing, speak out about it. Encourage others to speak out as well. The companies want and need your money. You have a say in whether they get it.

Now that everything has been covered. It’s important to stress that there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to buying digital vs. physical, as an individual who has bought games, music, comics, and movies in both formats. I get the stance of someone who prefers an all-digital future for convenience. However, it’s important to educate them on why having options matters, why Preservation is seriously important for the future. And the biggest thing of all. Why we, as people, have power in the end.

Conclusion

People will say that the future is inevitable. Perhaps they are right. But what history will always show, provided we preserve it, is that the people hold the power over anything else. That is something that should never change.