Morality Police: Digital Movie Codes

[Spider-Dan]

I have to question why collect it if you doubt you will ever watch it? That feels different to me then.

I can answer this one:

Because one day you might want to watch it.  And you don't want to have to go try to track down this movie (or album, or game) at 10pm on a random Thursday night just because you decided you want to watch/listen to/play it.

So the easier option is just to collect and hoard, in preparation for the possibility that you might someday want to try it at some later date.

[Dave Gray]

I have to question why collect it if you doubt you will ever watch it? That feels different to me then. It feels like someone is buying your dinner and you ordered more than you knew you could eat just because it was available and free.

I don't think you have me pegged right here.

I'm being a little bit of my own therapist, but in your scenario, it sounds like greed.  I'm just not a greedy person.  To me, it's almost like a game.  But also, I'm almost certain that these digital codes are going to waste -- it's more like making art out of something you found in the trash.  They're expired and you have to jump through hoops to even redeem them.  Plus, I think a pretty small portion of the population even cashes these things in anyway, as evidenced by me having so much luck redeeming the codes to begin with.  So, maybe there's an element of resurrecting something that's perceived to be dead???

It's not like I don't think I'll ever watch any of these.  I'll probably literally watch one or two while I'm travelling or even more likely, since these are allowed to be downloaded to your device, I'll likely fill up my iPad with things leading into a hurricane.

I also think it plays into my quest for minimalism.  Since I can "own" these but not have to tote around something physical, it allows me to have the feeling of having movies available to watch without the burden of storing or maintaining them.

[Phishfan]

Besides, I'm never going to watch any of these movies in my life, most likely. 

Your exact words

[Dave Gray]

Your exact words

Yeah, I was being flippant.  Maybe I won't, but I will probably load them up to prepare for a hurricane and then not watch.

I'm definitely not going to watch them as a catalog of films, for sure.  I have TV and streaming services and some physical media as well.  I'm not likely to use this source.

[Pappy13]

I can answer this one:

Because one day you might want to watch it.  And you don't want to have to go try to track down this movie (or album, or game) at 10pm on a random Thursday night just because you decided you want to watch/listen to/play it.

So the easier option is just to collect and hoard, in preparation for the possibility that you might someday want to try it at some later date.

I would be ok with this if it wasn't to the detriment of someone else. Sure, there's no guarantee that the guy who actually buys the movie is ever gonna try to redeem the code and even if he did there's no guarantee it's still available, but it's still his option and simply taking it because you *might* want it someday is pretty cringeworthy. If you don't want it enough to purchase the movie then you don't need it, you're just taking it because nothing is really preventing you.

[Pappy13]

I'm being a little bit of my own therapist, but in your scenario, it sounds like greed.  I'm just not a greedy person.  To me, it's almost like a game.  But also, I'm almost certain that these digital codes are going to waste -- it's more like making art out of something you found in the trash.  They're expired and you have to jump through hoops to even redeem them.  Plus, I think a pretty small portion of the population even cashes these things in anyway, as evidenced by me having so much luck redeeming the codes to begin with.  So, maybe there's an element of resurrecting something that's perceived to be dead???

Sounds like a lot of rationalization to me. If you don't have a problem with it I'm not going to beat you up about it, but I wouldn't do it. And I don't think you're greedy at all. I do think you are cheap...perhaps to a fault. Thrifty is great, but what you're doing here in my opinion falls into the "cheap" category. You're not dumpster diving here, someone donated that movie to this thrift store. I wouldn't have a problem if you found the movie in a dumpster at all, that's fair game a thrift store isn't.

To me this sounds a lot similar to the question that was brought up before about leaving the shopping cart in the designated area or not. I certainly could rationalize it away a lot of different ways, but I choose not to.

[Phishfan]

I also don't consider this minimalistic.  You may not have physical items but you are unnecessarily collecting items you don't need and by admission don't necessarily want other than as a game to play on your own.  Maybe we consider minimalistic behavior differently but the way I see your description you are collecting items although not physical ones.

[Spider-Dan]

I think "minimalism" (in this context) normally refers to physical items.
I wouldn't reject someone as a "minimalist" because they've saved a bunch of public domain e-books on their tablet that they may never actually read, or memorized a bunch of recipes that they may never actually cook.

[Dave Gray]

I also don't consider this minimalistic.  You may not have physical items but you are unnecessarily collecting items you don't need and by admission don't necessarily want other than as a game to play on your own.  Maybe we consider minimalistic behavior differently but the way I see your description you are collecting items although not physical ones.

There are different branches of minimalism: digital, physical, visual, social, artistic

Basically:
Digital - electronic movies, games, photos, emails, desktop clutter, apps
Physical - stuff in your house
Visual - labels on bottles, advertising brand names on clothing, patterns, colors
Social - too many friends, too many obligations, too full a calendar
Artistic - simple, often geometric art or style

I would love to talk about all those and what they are, as they interest me, but I am a Physical minimalist mostly and occasionally visual, but I don't focus on digital or social....I try to be organized in those areas, but not a purger.