If I'm playing anything in 20 years, I'll be happy.

If I like something so much that I'm happily playing it 20 years after launch, I would expect to be quite unhappy when I can't play it anymore!

Yeah, sure, but time is a mutha-shut-your-mouth, and we'll all play our last game of Destiny at some point. Worrying about 2034 isn't the best use of energy, IMHO. If a community exists that wants to play it, there will be a way, I bet, and if there isn't a community, you'll probably be attracted to whatever activity took everyone else away from it--lunar hiking or some such.

- No text -

Durandal also knew that you were Destiny.

;)

Right. I still play Halo 13 years later. Sure it's been ported twice to make it keep working, but nobody had to keep a server running. That said, I wonder if Destiny can be told to run in an offline mode when the day comes that it becomes necessary. Sure, you won't get fireteams or people wandering into you games, but you could still play...

Wow. Can't relate. If I'm playing anything in 20 years, I'll be happy. A wise man once said, "Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today."

Well, people still play Marathon after 20 years...

Hence, my optimism. It's a valid concern, but not one I can focus on right now.

Today, I'm just happy. My favorite game company is starting a new adventure in mere hours, and so are we. The sun will die someday, sure, but today I feel its warmth. Tuesday I'll visit other planets. Wow!

I haven't been this excited about a release date since the first Star Wars prequel. That didn't turn out well. I've got a good feeling about this one.

Wow. Can't relate. If I'm playing anything in 20 years, I'll be happy. A wise man once said, "Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today."

Well, people still play Marathon after 20 years. The question is not entirely without merit.

You are playing a weird ass version of it with funny graphics and an inauthentic HUD. It is possible to play M1 with everything exactly the way it was on release with Aleph One?

Short of Emulation, a lot of the time it's not exactly the real thing.

I respectfully disagree. Games have been "growing" for years and, yes, they will continue to do so, but there is no tipping point that necessitates them all becoming online-only and changing from goods (like a Blu-ray disc) to services (like a movie ticket). There's still room for games that can be played offline. Also, MMOs aren't anything new. They have been around since at least the time of EverQuest (though Neverwinter Nights could be considered an MMO precursor), but those games are PC games, and theoretically there could be player-hosted servers to keep these games running indefinitely. But Destiny is neither a "true" MMO nor is it a PC game. Much of Destiny could still function and be entirely playable and enjoyable without an online connection, but with the game being entirely dependent on the servers owned by Bungie and services ran by Sony and MS, there's no chance that it will survive the inevitable shutdown of support for eighth-gen consoles unless it's given some kind of update prior to shutdown that allows it to be played offline.

Destiny is the first and likely also the last online-only game that I will ever buy. I'm making a one-time exception for it because it's a Bungie title. But I also want to keep enjoying it for the rest of my life, and as I'm still relatively young I hope to have at least another 50 good years in me. My older games will still in principle be able to be enjoyed until then, and even the rest of my PS4 games will be as well. Destiny shouldn't be any different.

I submit that you'll have to have a certain population playing for Destiny to be Destiny. Also, I suspect Bungie will be making changes on the fly in the game. I'm not saying that all games will be this way or need to be this way, but I suspect Destiny does. The trade-off for these dependencies is that we'll have a different experience than we had playing Halo solo. It's a different paradigm from how we think about the single-player games on your shelf. More reason to savor the coming years.

I respectfully disagree. Games have been "growing" for years and, yes, they will continue to do so, but there is no tipping point that necessitates them all becoming online-only and changing from goods (like a Blu-ray disc) to services (like a movie ticket). There's still room for games that can be played offline. Also, MMOs aren't anything new. They have been around since at least the time of EverQuest (though Neverwinter Nights could be considered an MMO precursor), but those games are PC games, and theoretically there could be player-hosted servers to keep these games running indefinitely. But Destiny is neither a "true" MMO nor is it a PC game. Much of Destiny could still function and be entirely playable and enjoyable without an online connection, but with the game being entirely dependent on the servers owned by Bungie and services ran by Sony and MS, there's no chance that it will survive the inevitable shutdown of support for eighth-gen consoles unless it's given some kind of update prior to shutdown that allows it to be played offline.

Fair enough, but my point is that they're "growing" not that they're changing. There are still going to be tons of offline games. Heck people still make text adventures! I'm saying this is a new type of game and from what Bungie has said, the point of it is this event like nature of it. This is clearly communicated in the messaging surrounding their decision to not have early access for reviewers.

Destiny is the first and likely also the last online-only game that I will ever buy. I'm making a one-time exception for it because it's a Bungie title. But I also want to keep enjoying it for the rest of my life, and as I'm still relatively young I hope to have at least another 50 good years in me. My older games will still in principle be able to be enjoyed until then, and even the rest of my PS4 games will be as well. Destiny shouldn't be any different.

Yeah cool, I won't limit what games I purchase/play based off of constraints like that. If I want to play it, I'll buy it and play it. A game is not some kind of long term investment for me.