That is one factor that made me avoid the 6th generation of gaming.

Any of my physical media I just take care of them. The cases basically look as good as the day I bought them. Same for the discs. I handle them with care.

Don’t step on them, put the cases on a shelf and the discs in the case when they aren’t in the console.

It's been years but...

Use an exploit to install freemcboot onto your memory card (or buy a memory card with freemcboot already on it), download your legitimately owned games as isos (perfectly legal if you own the game), prepare a USB drive with the isos, and use a usb loader app to play your games.

If you're really savvy you can even load the isos over network via SMB share.

Obviously this is broad strokes, and there's no way I'm posting links to things here. This is perfectly legal as long as you own physical copies of the games you download.

Can't wear out your discs and laser if you don't use them :)

Don’t spill pop on them either.

Yeah, that’s a good rule to follow too.

Spill all the pop you want on your controllers though, the crusty stickiness adds to the authenticity.