I bought my copy here just to support the devs. The retail copy is a lot cheaper here in Poland then the GOG one.
If you care about the box (i can understand why) you can always buy the game twice. Here and from amazon.

Honestly? Not so much. My purchase is often limited by:

(*). The game price. If it costs an arm and a leg, chances are I won't buy it until it is in the bargain bin.

(*). Whether I can run the games on my old gaming laptop.

(*). The availability, which is actually related to publishers, not developers. Sometimes games I like are not available locally. Even if they are, chances are they are pirated copies here, not the original/retail copies. Not really supporting the developers by buying those copies, right?

With buying the games I feel like supporting the developers. However, if the developers are really good and nice, I might buy their next game too (even directly after release). This and spreading the word for reaaaaaaaaaally good games.

Enough to buy the games I want newly released when I can. Can't do it with all of them since $50-$60 with all the games I want adds up to A LOT. I do not give much thought to where I buy them for the most part. Besides even if not all the money is going to the developers, the publishers decide the future of a franchise so supporting both isn't so bad.

I saw in another thread that you didn't want to put half a foot in the all digital realm. I can understand this issue/OCD, I had it with DVDs, video games, and all kinds of other stuff. I can say, after you move your crap enough times the appeal of having crap wears off. Most of this crap, digitally, takes up so little room, I could carry all my crap on like 3 hard drives.

Still, I'm not like alia, I couldn't toss all my stuff, but the appeal of getting new physical stuff is dead for me (unless I can avoid DRM by doing it or I'm going to do game swapping with buddies, 360 games are like this, I'm getting to the point where I'll be selling all but the best ones once and for all, though).

I'm still in a state of transition and assessing my values on this one, honestly. I'll probably have made compromises that I don't even understand just now by the time I'm settled on a path. However being on the path of getting rid of physical stuff doesn't bother me. Generally I can still find art books, physically, which are nice and don't take up too much room relatively, I'm a sucker for art books.

I'd say just take the plunge for a year. I'd bet you won't have blown too much cash if you want to go back and physically collect some of it. You don't resell your games, you said, so going digital really is nothing to lose except a few feelies that in reality you won't care about nearly so much as you think you do (I bet).

It's more than just bad/sucks:

- if the game shows obvious signs of pandering to consoles (bad mouse behaviour, badly constructed menus, simplified UI, smaller locations, less depth, etc.)

- if a game uses heavy DRM to prevent piracy which translates into: pirates have a crack within days while customers have to jump through DRM hoops for years

- if they let the publisher determine the game's content which often means making the game's appeal broader ergo appeal to the casual gamer as well which is rarely a good thing.

- if the publisher or developer has stated facts that pissed me off = Epic blaming piracy when their shitty games don't sell.

- if a publisher releases a game on console first and then waits half a year to release a PC version that is basically the same without the improvements a PC game could use (GTA IV)

- if a game has a lot of DLC that should have been part of the game and without which the game is actually rather plain

- if they charge for stuff that should be free to begin with for obvious reasons (map pack for CoD - it splits up the community and should have been free - especially considering CoD MW2 cost $10 more than regular games)

etc. etc.

Long enough list for you ? :p