I always believed that by purchasing physical media that I'd avoid these issues however that isn't always the case...especially when you have to register your product (I'm thinking about Far Cry 3 which I bought on PC DVD, Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, etc. that needed registration via a digital platform such as uplay, steam, etc.) before it'll allow you to play it. Thankfully owning the physical copy still allows you to play most games (well for the single player content and with some clever 'patches' out there) even if the online service were to just drop off the face of the earth yet at the same time not being able to just hand over a disc (or digital copy of something that I've bought on Steam) over to a family member, buddy, etc. when I'm no longer playing the game is also a bit sad especially when I know they'd probably never buy it otherwise.
It's odd I guess because with my physical library on PS3 I've traded games with my bro on many occasion and we've both scored out of the deal...sadly I can't easily just swop him a copy of some of my PC games (well we share some steam games via completely separate Steam accounts but it isn't ideal).
Then again the sales come along and offer some really great games that you wouldn't be able to easily pick up for the same price on physical media so it does sometimes balance things out a bit...just not for new releases though that I'd like to play through and then 'give away' sorta thing.
