GameSetWatch - Opinion: Inside Digital Game Download Hell

[In this thought-provoking opinion piece, game designer/author Ian Bogost takes a look at his experience downloading PlayStation Network game titles to make the argument that "people think that digital download makes content more accessible, but that's not always, or perhaps not often the case".]

Recently, David Edery wrote a nice feature on Gamasutra about how to make trial versions of downloadable software sell more games. He has some good points, including observations about how a trial shouldn't just be the beginning of the game nor should it give away enough that a purchase is unnecessary.

But there's something missing from Edery's analysis, and that's the larger process we go through to try or buy games provided through digital download. Often people think that digital download makes content more accessible, but that's not always, or perhaps not often the case. Here's some anecdotal evidence, albeit from a different digital distribution service than Edery's Xbox Live.

I've been traveling or working nonstop on deadlines or both since early December, so I haven't really had time to play console videogames at home. Last night I decided to have a go. I wanted to get Pain (pictured) and Everyday Shooter on the PlayStation Network Store, and then spend a little while with each. I had just finished some work and allocated a half hour or so before bed.

I turn on the PS3.

My component video switcher is on the wrong setting, so I get up, walk over and press the correct one. I hear the PS3's symphonic start up sound.

I hadn't set up my Logitech remote to turn off the cable box when I choose PS3 from its menu, so the two optical sources are mixing. I switch it off while I'm over at the television.

The PS3 is set to autorun games, so it boots up The Simpsons Game, which was in the drive already.

Splash screen loads, I pull up the menu to quit The Simpsons Game. The PS3 reboots.

My controller has a low battery, so the PS3 tells me to plug it in. I do so. Now I'm sitting a foot from the screen.

I try to access the PSN Store from the system menu.

The PS3 tells me I have to install a System Update before I can do this.

Back to the menu. I access the System Update and it starts downloading.

Progress bar. I wait five minutes.

Ok, it's done. The PS3 reboots.

Now it's ready to install. It reboots again first for some reason.

Ok, really ready to install. Another progress bar. Five more minutes.

The update finishes installing. PS3 reboots once more.

Now I can acccess the PSN Store. I find the games and add them to my cart. This takes a while because I have no idea what category either game would be in. I guess wrong a few times and then just use the alphabetical lookup.

I'm ready to check out. But, I have no PSN credits. I have to add some.

The service has stored my credit card so a couple screens later I've got enough in my account to check out.

Back to the checkout screen. Sale completed, great.

The PS3 prompts me to start downloading. I start the Pain download (200MB).

I navigate back out to the main system screen to look around while I'm waiting. Hmm, I should have queued Everyday Shooter too so it will download after Pain is done. Back to the PSN Store.

I need to access my game downloads. Where is that again? I'm one foot from the screen still so I crane my neck around. Right, top corner there's a link. I access that and start the second download (30MB).

230MB is enough that this is going to take a while. I wander back out and play Calling All Cars for five minutes or so. I suck at Calling All Cars. What a frustrating game. I think about David's article and how a trial download would have meant I wouldn't have bought it at all. Maybe $10 to experiment isn't so bad.

The download manager notifies me that the downloads are done. I quit Calling All Cars.

I look for the games in the proper section of the PS3 menu but I can't find them. Where are they? Ah, they're up above. I access Pain.

The game needs to install. Another progress bar, but only for a couple minutes.

At this point, I figure I might as welll install Everyday Shooter too. Much smaller game, so it installs faster.

Now I'm finally ready to play Pain. Luckily I've been sitting at the console for 20 minutes by now and my controller is charged enough to allow me to retire to the couch.

It's 12:30am, I'm pretty exhausted. Bleary-eyed, I start up Pain.

Pain checks for saved data. It finds none, as this is the first time I ran the game. It tells me it will create a save file. It will save automatically for me, ok? Ok, I tell it.

Now I have to go through the tutorial before I can play. Ok, no problem.

I'm five minutes in. The game seemed simple at first but now it's feeling pretty nuanced (for a game about breaking things with a human slingshot anyway). There are combo hits. There are drifts and ooches. I'm still not even done with the tutorial.

Yawning, I decide to stop and turn in for the night.

I quit Pain, it autosaves for me.

I press the PS3 button. Turn off console. Yes, really turn off console.

Television off, receiver off, lights out. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

I've picked on PlayStation here but the Xbox and Wii versions aren't really any better. It's true that downloadable games don't suffer from the cost basis, shelf-space, and individual marketing problems of physical media.

But when I buy a DVD movie or game, I just pop it in and start playing. No system updates. No reboots. No fuss. How can these download services ever hope to top that?

Comments

I get your point, but this is obviously a worst case scenario. Quite a bit of it will be avoided on your next go, simply because you will have presumably learned to turn off auto-play, click the 'download in background' button, etc.

Although it is undeniable that Sony's marketplace layout and organization makes absolutely no sense and is a bear to navigate.

Posted by: Joe | January 27, 2008 8:27 AM

Two comments:

1. That looks like a pretty PS3-specific experience; is it really true that the xbox and wii content downloads "aren't really any better"? I haven't done wii downloads but xbox skips at least three of the steps you mention (system updates are downloaded and applied with one reboot (not three), it auto installs demos after download, and you don't need MS points to get demos)

2. It's a pretty degenerate case; is it really fair to get annoyed at downloadable content for the fact that your controller is out of batteries and your video input switcher wasn't set up right? Your point seems to be that this is a typical use case that sets an unreasonably high usability bar (vs popping in a store-bought game) but it seems like many of the obstacles would be the same for store-bought and others are specific to your "power user" setup. Nicht wahr?

Posted by: eric sorenson | January 27, 2008 8:33 AM

eric says: "It's a pretty degenerate case"

Bingo. It's commentary about inconvenience using the hardware dressed up to look like it has something to do with online distribution.

At least one part about purchasing the game requires a comment: you can directly purchase games in the PS Store by not adding them to the cart and selecting "Buy Now" (or whatever the button says). With one button press it automatically adds the necessary money, purchases the game for you, and then sends you directly to the download screen. Sort of like Amazon one-click...

Posted by: jvm | January 27, 2008 11:06 AM

Ian Wrote: "But when I buy a DVD movie or game, I just pop it in and start playing."

You obviously don't have a PSP then. It seems like every time I buy a new PSP game I have to let the PSP sit on a shelf for 30 minutes while the battery charges enough so that I can upgrade the firmware so that I can play a game.

While your experience above seems to happen to me every time I've purchased a PS3 PSN game (you should try to switch your credit card info next time too), I have less problems with the Wii, and hardly any with the 360. In fact, I feel that the 360 should be the de facto example for how game downloads should be handled.

Posted by: Matthew Williamson | January 27, 2008 12:13 PM

The biggest problem I have with the Wii isn't that there are multiple selection/confirmation screens to buy each game. It's that on each screen, there are "no" and "yes" buttons (or "cancel" and "confirm" equivalents) in that order--until the final screen, when they are inexplicably switched. Almost every time I try to buy more Wii points with my credit card, I enter in all the information (since the Wii won't store it) and then end up hitting "Cancel" on the last screen, bringing me right back to square one. It's a usability nightmare.

Posted by: Nich | January 27, 2008 3:33 PM

"But when I buy a DVD movie or game, I just pop it in and start playing. No system updates. No reboots. No fuss. How can these download services ever hope to top that?"

man, you better don't buy assassins creed oder devil may cry 4 for ps3. dmc 4 will need a 35minute install that uses about 6gb of your memory.

and don't forget many games on the 360 as well as on the ps3 will come up with an update eventually...

so the good old "pop it in an play" experience is declining anyway no matter which way you get your games. so on the long run the inconveniences with the downloadable stuff won't bother you as much as it does now because you just get used to it...

Posted by: makuu | January 27, 2008 10:01 PM

The experience is a little different on the 360. For the 360, if you've got it set properly, it auto-downloads all of the XBLA demos. So the process is, if it's any time after the day it shipped:

1. Turn on the 360
2. Go to list of downloaded games
3. Play demo.

Posted by: Skip | January 28, 2008 7:03 AM

Not sure why it had to reboot so many times, but yeah, this is a worst case scenario if I ever heard one.

I probably do more downloadables than the average console owner and I've never had anything like this happen. That said, PlayStation Store needs a complete overhaul. The web-interface is inelegant for the dual-stick controller. The layout and text are hard to read. Wii's better, but not much. Xbox360 has the most mature downloadable content delivery system, but it still feels clunky when trying to get Rock Band songs/packs.

Posted by: Ed S | January 28, 2008 9:56 AM

Indeed, after reading the process it seems that half of your complaints could have been entirely avoided if you were a little more prepared.

I downloaded the DMC4 demo from Xbox Live yesterday, guess what awful process I had to go through?

I had to switch to the marketplace blade, access the latest downloads and pick DMC4 from the demo category. Download complete, went to my Games blade and selected it, thrown knee-deep into demon-slaying fun.

Posted by: Mustafa Unal | January 29, 2008 1:43 AM

Posted by: amir | June 23, 2008 3:22 AM