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Box design isn't part of the game. The game is data. That's it. I'm not saying that a pretty manual and cool little keychains and such are worthless--but they're still not part of the game.
That's not the way we mean it. When you buy a game, you make a purchase. The box and the keychains are part of that purchase. That's what we mean.
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I'm not saying box design is unimportant, necessarily. It can help you decide whether to buy a game or not by telling you about the game. But I'm sure most people here order b-games online, meaning the box design doesn't serve any informational function. You buy a game to play it--not to look at the box. If, however, people put the boxes on prominent display to show to people and look at themselves...then perhaps I'm mistaken.
Is it that hard to understand...
The box is part of the product we buy. We also buy the box when we buy the game. We want a product finished and packaged with care.
This is actually the same kind of arguement of outer appearance versus inner beauty, to some extent. Outer appearance remains important, because the first thing you see of a person is his outer appearance, not his inner beauty. What I mean is that when you pick up your game after purchase, you will see the box, and we prefer to look at something pretty than something ugly.
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But my real point was that I don't understand how someone can argue that elaborate box design was important, while really good graphics are not (because okay graphics serve just as well). Graphics are part of the game experience, while box design is not. I don't get it...
Graphics and box design are important... to some extent. A game with ugly graphics will be hard to play and enjoy, most of the time.
A box should be pretty, but if it isn't, it's not a factor that you have to keep in mind when deciding to buy the game.
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Well, I don't see him denying that he would buy/not buy a game based on the packaging, if there was no other alternative.
Just like I clarified in the line before this quote, the box design shouldn't affect my decision of buying the game or not.
The point is that with the Player's Choice range, I have a choice: buy the original or the Player's Choice version. Since I have the choice, I'll choose what I find the prettiest.