To your first point about the game being less of a physical product and more of an experience, I have to disagree. You could make that argument for [i]any[/i] product or service. For example, next to me is a Nerf blaster I paid full retail for. One could argue that the $40 I spent for that Nerf blaster wasn't so I could own the physical blaster and darts that came in the box I got a Fred Meyer, but instead that $40 went toward the [i]experience[/i] of being able to better play in a game of Humans Vs. Zombies on my university campus. And so long as I take good care of it and keep it in good condition, it should be able to deliver that experience... right? But obviously it won't. As time goes on, even if I do keep it in new condition, better blasters and darts will come out, which reduces the value of the experience my particular blaster can offer, because no product has a fixed value that never changes. [quote]But does the passage of time make the experience of the game measurably lower in quality compared to its quality on release?[/quote]Yes, I believe it does become lower in quality compared to its quality on release. You can't tell me that the experience Halo: Combat Evolved offered is exactly the same today as it was when it first came out. Because a lot of the value of Halo: Combat Evolved when it first came out was in how fresh it was. It was the latest thing back then, not just fresh for people that played it for the first time, it was also graphically advanced for its time and one of the few decent First Person Shooters on a console. But today, the market of console FPS titles is over-saturated with options, and many of them have better graphics, better features, and provide better experiences than Halo: Combat Evolved. [quote]You're online playing with friends all the time anyway. It's not going to inconvenience or affect your life in any way that it isn't already.[/quote]Nope. Just last night, I had the ability to play PlanetSide 2 with friends online. Instead, I opted to play Half-Life 2... because I [i]wanted[/i] to. I was connected to the internet while I played Half-Life 2, but I certainly did not [i]need[/i] to be. I've played Half-Life 2 on my laptop while riding public transit before... there was no way for me to connect to the internet there, but I was still able to play the game I'd paid for. Requiring an online connection in order to play a game is for many games an arbitrary requirement. It's like requiring we sit while playing a game. A huge number of us are sitting down while playing a game, the same way many of us are connected to the internet while we're playing a game. But why would you require someone to sit while they play a game? Why would you design a console to shut off the moment the player decides to stand? To me, it doesn't make sense, and it is for these exact reasons that I will not be buying Microsoft's Xbox One console.