Why is the concept of Virtual Game Cards so difficult for people to grasp?
Since Nintendo announced Virtual Game Cards there have been constant posts everywhere online with people being deeply confused by them and not understanding how they work.
It's simple: A Virtual Game Card acts like a physical game. It can only be "inserted" in one system at a time. That's it, that's the whole concept.
What about this is so difficult for people to grasp? Are Virtual Game Cards really that complicated?
by razorbeamz
17 Comments
The concept of who can use you VGC is the complicated thing.
You’re overestimating people’s bare understanding of how anything works. GKC (game key cards) just require a download to start, and then the function as a cartridge will. You can sell it and everything, so it’s already better than a digital code
The concept of your game residing on a server, where you won’t be able to access t in perpetuity, is bs.
To be fair when the Virtual Game Cards first came in, there was an issue sometimes where you couldn’t download previously purchased games, even when never using your account on multiple systems, because an option in the settings had to be changed first. Happened to me.
I have virtual game cards setup on my *only* switch and still have to put the game card in to play it.
Core concept
It’s kind of complicated… like, in the past, when you bought a game, it went straight to the game list. Now, when you buy a game, it gets listed on the Game Card list, waiting for you to “insert” it. Maybe it is not so easy as the old method. I believe it is a matter of habit.
I’m from the era of console gaming where you have a cartridge or disk, you put it in the system, turn it on, and play. No downloading no installing no updating no transferring no offloading no deleting (unless it’s save data). No DLCs no internet.
Sometimes my brain takes a minute to catch up.
The fact that there’s already people here confusing virtual game card with game key cards gives you an answer.
People thought some wouldn’t understand the Switch TWO is a different system that the first I’m not even joking
r/iamverysmart
I think people confuse Virtual Game Cards with Game Key Cards.
They are more nuanced then you are giving them credit for since they are limited to who you can pass them to, and Nintendo’s interface for them is confusing and really thrown in your face.
More people would rather just not be told about them.
I do think virtual game cards are just a plain upgrade over regular digital purchases.
It would be nice, just for cute fun UI purposes, if they made a virtual shelf with virtual boxes.
Nintendo has had a habit recently of laboriously over-explaining how their features work, and ironically that has the effect of making people understand them less. It’s like how physical Switch 2 Edition games have to have that boilerplate text explaining that you’re getting the game and upgrade in the same package and thereby ruin the box art, or like how Game-Key Cards also have their own box art template. By trying to explain how the systems work, people think they’re more complicated than they are, and also that Nintendo are the only ones doing it, because you don’t get that sort of clarity on PS5 or Xbox games.
Virtual Game Cards are not that difficult to understand, but if you’re not necessarily plugged into Nintendo updates and communication, the fact that they explain how the system works as soon as you purchase a game might make you think there’s more to it. “They wouldn’t need to explain it unless it’s complicated”, basically.
Not to mention, the core benefit of Virtual Game Cards only really makes sense if you’re already familiar with how modern video games and digital rights management work to begin with. If you’re someone who doesn’t play video games but you buy Minecraft on the eShop for your kid, you’re greeted with a weird analogy where they tell you that the game you’ve just bought has been loaded onto the system as a virtual representation of a thing you might not even own any physical examples of, and all it seems to tell you afterwards is how you can give your purchase away to other people. You can’t blame people for double-checking that they bought the right thing if they’re not familiar with how it works.
>It’s simple: A Virtual Game Card acts like a physical game. It can only be “inserted” in one system at a time. That’s it, that’s the whole concept.
It’s confusing because that’s not exactly what Virtual Game Cards are. When you “insert” a VGC, you aren’t “inserting” the game, you’re only “inserting” the license and DRM permission to play that game offline. It has nothing to do with the actual game files.
That lack of clarity is problematic because most people have no idea what DRM is, and Nintendo’s cute little VGC system does not do a good job at explaining precisely what a VGC is. The way Nintendo describes and animates VGCs makes it seem VGC = the game.
Plus, the old system was by default way more intuitive for most people. Your main system has the right to play the digital purchases offline, and any other system does not have the right. Simple. A bit less functional, true. But easy to understand.
IMO, the decision to make DRM look like a game cartridge physically entering the system in those cute little animations is an inherently confusing message to the average person. “Inserting” the VGC for DK Bananza is NOT the same thing as physically inserting a DK Bananza card.
If I have to guess, some people are obsessed with the concept of ‘physical ownership’ to the point that even ‘half-solutions’ like Game Key Cards or Virtual Game Cards won’t cut it. The game still works, shouldn’t people be more grateful about that?