I wanted to look at where our games come from. Who makes them, physically, and under what conditions? How do they get to the store? How much oil is burned up getting them to the warehouse? Are disks even a sustainable format, even for the next 20-30 years?

For those of you just tuning in, yes, in this article, I will appear to reverse everything I said in my last front-page discussion of physical media. But it won't really be a reversal, more like a render at a different angle, or one of those scenes where the villain and hero appear to agree over something as fundamental as the ideal consistency of butter, just before the hero says something like "I'm NOTHING like you!" Hopefully, I will leave you confused, bewildered into soup of lightly braised uncertainty, and then I will spoon you up into a bowl with a chilled tomato puree, like some kind of deadly gaspacho of fear.



Because, you see, while I staunchly support the rights of the consumer to actually own what they purchase, and will continue to argue that the way digital downloads are currently handled by the big gaming companies, the disk is actually on the way out, and unlike many people who take consumer rights seriously, I think that's a good thing.

But how can it even be possible to be pro-ownership and anti-disk?

Disks don't come from nowhere. And no, saying "plastic" isn't enough. There is entire relationship of ships, planes, factories, refineries and mines at work here, a complex and expensive pathway that gamers like you and I rarely think about. Maybe it's time we did.

The Enviro-Social Costs of Production

DVDs and Blu-Ray discs start with a layer of 1mm thick polycarbonate, stamped with miniscule indentations which are read as data by your drive. The narrower and more numerous the indentations the more "blue" you need the laser to read it, thus HDDVD and Blu-Ray lasers are toward the blue spectrum while traditional disks (such as what plays on the Wii) use a warmer laser along the red. These plastic plates are layered with a reflective coating, usually aluminum, and then covered with a protective lacquer. Disks are then dyed, wrapped in plastic, put in a case inside a box which itself wrapped in plastic.



This process is by no means benign, since numerous toxic glues are involved and factory production itself contributes to smog and CO2 emissions, but there's a lot more to the process than this.

Components for these disks, such as the polycarbonate centre are derived from fossil fuels, oil drilled in the environmentally fragile Albertan oil sands, or in countries like Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. Oil is then shipped to refineries, and flown to processing plants. These plants are often toxic environments for the lower-class workers, and have low environmental standards, poisoning not only the global atmosphere, but local water tables and food supplies. On top of this, local water is often depleted in order to cool raw materials during the production phase.

While it isn't easy to track down the exact costs of all these carbon exchanges, I had some success using the Futurama "Bender's Big Score" release as a sample. The producers behind the new Futurama movie made a pledge to make BBS "Carbon Neutral" and in doing so, captured a lot of decent data on the amount of emissions they produced.



Now, trying to be Carbon Neutral is a good goal, but it isn't a solution. The resources are still being spent, and the waste is very real. But "Carbon Neutral" is about as good as companies get, these days and is based on countering as much of the effects of their production as possible, if only through somewhat questionable donations. It's a good first step, anyway. But I'm not interested in whether its good enough or not, only the data.

The execs at Fox used Clear Carbon Consulting and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to estimate how much carbon dioxide they used in their production. Although Bender's Big Score is multi-disk, I think the rates would be relatively comparable between most AAA games and this major DVD release. If anything, I'd wager the BBS estimate would be a bit undershot, to help companies look a bit better. They estimate 222.9 tons of CO2 waste went into the production end of their first run. Outsourced production, transportation and material gathering they estimate at about 218 tons. The majority in third-world countries.

With today's gaming and movie market, the need for petro-chemical based polycarbonate has only grown as well. Plastics Europe estimate that the Global Market for polycarbonate grew three times between 1990 and 2000, from 600 000 to 1 8000 000 tonnes. That's more than just greenhouse gasses as a result, but various toxic chemicals to leech into the soil, underpaid factory workers taking in toxic fumes, and plenty of oil depleted from more and more scant sources. Not to mention the transport and refinement costs.



Yes, okay, disks pollute a lot, but hey, Global Warming is a big myth right? And anyway, all that stuff gets recycled right?

Well, I can't prove the man-made contribution to global warming here, or make you care about the political and personal effects of creating cheap toxic products in poorer countries (besides, they do at least get JOBS right?), and I don't intend to. Disks have many other downsides, which I mean to look at below. First, a little more of the effects post-production.

Disposal, Recycling and Green Alternatives: Not As Easy As They Sound

To start in reverse order, there are "Green" alternatives to the polycarbonate disk. Environmentalists and industry spokespeople have pushed the idea of re-claimed polycarbonate sourced from carbon waste to the top of google search. You look up polycarbonate, this is one of the first schemes you see.



Unfortunately, these theorists offer little evidence that their greener polycarbonate would be environmentally sound to synthesize, cheap to produce, or would even have a significant effect on the negative effects of polycarbonate disks. According to the BBC (quoted on an Acronym Required article), the actual numbers are not being discussed, and given other issues, could be exceptionally minor.

Disk recycling is also not as effective as one might be led to think. Most disks, like most electronics equipment only yields cheap plastic rods and other parts, not new CDs/DVDs. The components are hard to reclaim and often bonded with toxic glues. Often the detritus is actually sent to dumps or scavenger companies again in the third world, and taken apart for the few valuable components, again by underpaid workers, again with lots of hidden costs in terms of airplane fuel and truck emissions. Recycling sometimes helps, but sometimes actually contributes to greater environmental damage and risk. It all depends on the company and the specific situation.

Waste is a major problem for these disks. Of course, disk cases are made of paper, which means clear-cuts, usually on unceded native land in North/Central/South America. But the plastic waste, when not recycled, sits in the landfill and leeches chemicals (like Bisphenol A) for decades, if not hundreds of years. In China, more than 42 Million DVDs were recently shredded in one memorable moment. Plastic waste kills fish, contributes to toxicity in our oceans and unless you re-use at home as a coaster or other decoration, immediately contributes to the growing global landfill crisis (despite what Penn and Teller argue in their unscientific rants).



And even the cool coasters and frisbees you made will eventually be thrown out or used to strangle your cat.

Does that mean I hate games and will never own a disk? No. I love games, and despite what I see to be major problems I buy disks anyway, because I know I can't be perfect. I reduce my consumption where I can, but I can't solve the whole problem on my own. So what are some solutions that actually might help gamers still have fun?

The Advantages of Digital Distribution



What if we moved toward digital downloads without abandoning the awesome that is to be had with the occasional printing of a special edition disk or some other commemerative item? Let's say we restructured digital downloads to allow gamers to hold ownership of their games and not lose their rights?

Digital downloads are simply more convenient than disks. You don't even have to get off your glandularly malformed posterior to go to Sears or steal a copy from 7-11. You can get digital downloads at home, on your own computer, where no one can judge you.

Digital downloads are cheaper. Cheaper to produce and therefore could be made cheaper to acquire for poorer families. Cheaper production could also allow for more interesting games. We've certainly seen that with the original content coming out for XBox Live, Playstation Network, and WiiWare. Easier to distribute means better opportunities for indie developers.

A digital download system for larger games would need a lot of infrastructure, something like a legal paid torrent structure to overcome size and download speed issues, or closer to how Steam operates now. However, if handled well, and very differently than it is now by the major companies, the slow shift from disk-based sales to a Steam-like or other download-based structure could create all kinds of opportunities for developers and consumers. That's us! Hyuck!



The Compromise and the Problems We Face

Of course, as I've already pointed out, game companies aren't necessarily interested in using downloadable content to improve our rights as gamers. That's not to say they're malicious or evil, just that like all companies, they must do what is in the interests of their shareholders above all else.

Digital downloads can be abused, yes, and can open the door to piracy. But then, that door is already pretty wide, and it's only going to get wider. The solution lies not in disks, which are already openly copied, but in making piracy no easier than purchasing, and making games less expensive. That isn't a solution, obviously, but many analysts argue that it would help, at least in as far as anything would.

Digital distribution radically changes how we interact with games. I mean, many people already do this, but as a whole system, an alternative to the disk, it would mean a drastic change in the gaming economy. But as long as gamers protect their rights to something similar to Steam or other future services, the future could be very bright for gamers and developers, diversifying the source of our favourite art/hobby.



I don't hate disks. I still use them. But looking at the hidden costs they represent, I am more certain than ever we need a change in the way games are distributed, and to re-examine the role of digital distribution.


Some of my sources:

http://www.newscorp.com/energy/futurama.html

http://www.plasticseurope.org/Content/Default.asp?PageID=1225

http://acronymrequired.com/2008/04/green-cds-and-plastic-trees-po.html

http://www.cdrecyclingcenter.com/information/about_recycling

http://plasticsareforever.org/plasticsinks_complete.html

http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/245/1/DVD-and-CD-Recycling.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21880761/

http://plasticfree.blogspot.com/2007/02/plastic-free-dvds.html

http://www.physorg.com/news126884135.html

http://blue.imation.com/intotheblue//

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1481

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_are_CDs_made

http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:VbDolON-2T4J:www.groovehouse.com/assets/pdfs/How_CDs_are_Made11.pdf+what+are+cd%27s+made+of%3F&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca

Also, this: