Starcraft 2 requires it too. Yes, it's annoying and idiotic. Mind you, I never was into Diablo anyway.
So reading the article, I have to ask. How does ANY of that actually explain why it can't be played offline? That "explanation" just notes new features. That those features need online access is clear, but that doesn't explain why they can't let you play offline, even though it would clearly disable those features.
No, Starcraft 2 has DRM that makes you be online when you boot it up, but doesn't require you to keep your online connection going for the whole time you play. This is a different, and much worse, kind of thing.
Quote:So reading the article, I have to ask. How does ANY of that actually explain why it can't be played offline? That "explanation" just notes new features. That those features need online access is clear, but that doesn't explain why they can't let you play offline, even though it would clearly disable those features.
Because the only actual reason they do this kind of thing is to slow down pirates for a bit longer, that's why.
I'm having a hard time believing that Activision isn't sticking their thumb in Blizzard's pie here. Why did Blizzard merge with them anyway? It's not like they were hurting for money at the time.
That is, Vivendi was interested in selling its gaming wing (Blizzard and the now-dead Sierra, who had gone through all of those same corporate owners at least from CUC on), and Activision wanted to buy. So they did.
On that note, Activision are the ones who finally shut down the last shreds of Sierra, so we can blame them for that too.
And yes, if I had to guess, I would guess that this something Activision is forcing on Blizzard, for sure.
They're supposed to be separate entities within the overall framework, but I'm sure it's not quite so simple.
They didn't "shut down" Sierra, they euthenized the remains. It was a mercy killing.
Starcraft II does work offline! Well, it was a trick to get it working. After you said that ABF I went online to figure out why I couldn't. Turns out I need to go into "guest mode" at least once after creating an account, and that act "activates" the game for offline play (though oddly it isn't as one of those guest accounts, but as my own, so it begs the question as to why I need that extra step). Well, at least there's that. I still can't play on a local connection or use locally saved maps...
And for more Diablo III news, there is an auction house in the game where players can sell things for real money. Yeah.
I read about Ubisoft forcing always-on-internet DRM for people who buy the new Driver and PC gamers collectively menstruate all over the internet.
I read about Blizzard doing something which is, at the very least, just as restrictive and impractical--and most people are cool with it or shrug it off because it's Diablo 3, goddammit. We probably won't even want to play it offline, so what's the big deal?
PC developers are going to see how gamers shrug off Blizzard's DRM and unleash such a wave of fucking you with DRM that it'd be hilarious if the precedent wasn't so horrifying.
Ubisoft has been doing that for a while and most people really hate it.
Yeah, I only hope that Blizzard doesn't get a free pass here just because they're Blizzard... they don't deserve one, and this kind of DRM can NOT be allowed to stand and become more common.
A Black Falcon Wrote:And for more Diablo III news, there is an auction house in the game where players can sell things for real money. Yeah.
Let's be fair. The auction house for real money exists separately and along side another auction house using the in-game currency. Further, they aren't selling gold or items directly, the pricing of items will be entirely determined by the in-game economy. Supposedly Blizz will scoop a little off the top like most auction houses. Fair enough. Blizz has yet to reveal how this money gets back into the seller's bank account. It might involve Paypal I suppose.
That's all well and good, but even this version has one big issue. Fact is, who is going to sell something on the fake money auction house when they can sell it on the real money auction house? Sure, there's going to be some overflow, but for the most part just about anything with any real demand is going to end up for sale for actual cash, including the fake money. As a result, the in-game economy is going to unfairly favor real life rich people over poor. People play games to ESCAPE that reality (that particular part more than any other). Maybe I'll be wrong. Maybe the fake money economy will be perfectly fine, but my experience says otherwise.
The new argument about the DRM is this is about stopping cheating online. That's a noble cause. Too bad that has nothing to do with offline play. Here's the solution. Make offline characters unable to be uploaded and used on the server. That's how some games already do it. While a little frustrating, that would be a completely defensible move that would maintain the same level of security that this heavy handed method claims to be about. If I can just use an offline character roster for LAN and solo play, problem pretty much solved.
Great Rumbler Wrote:Ubisoft has been doing that for a while and most people really hate it.
Capcom has recently dipped their toes into it. It really annoyed a lot of players. Their worst offense was dragging it into the console world when their new Bionic Commando game required online access to play, even though it's an entirely solo experience. I haven't heard if they undid that, but they did for the PC version of Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (Really Capcom? This again? In the age of major content patches and DLC, selling the same game over and over with minor additions just isn't excusable). In SSF4A, it started out with that ridiculous restriction, but Capcom listened to complaints (eventually) and released a patch removing that restriction. Good for them.
Ubisoft also removed that requirement from SOME games, but they are now claiming that it is making a "real difference in pirating". (How? Those games were patched on day one. Prove it Ubisoft because we aren't going to take your work for it.) In other words, expect them to be even more adamant about this method.
Ugh.
Oh, here's my favorite quote.
"I want to play Diablo 3 on my laptop in a plane, but, well, there are other games to play for times like that."
So, are you heartily recommending I just buy Torchlight 2 instead of your game then? Because, unless you have NO idea what you sound like, that seems like a recommendation of a competitor's product.
It makes a real difference in pirating in that for the day or two it takes to crack the DRM maybe they make a few more sales... yeah, it's a pretty sketchy point to be sure. It doesn't seem likely to be worth the outcry it causes, but with how often it's being tried now publishers at least seem to think that it will for some reason. I doubt it very much as well.
And on that note, here's a new quote from Runic Games, on Torchlight II:
Quote:"It's always been our goal to provide exceptional value for the price," Max Schaefer, CEO of Runic Games, said in a statement. "Everyone who wants to play Torchlight II will be able to comfortably afford to do so, and they'll be able to play with their friend online or via a LAN, or play single player offline, all with no further purchases."
Heh, I wonder why he was being so specific there about where you could play it...
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/torchlight-ii/1190909p1.html
Oh, and Torchlight II is launching this year, probably, and is going to be just $20.
With no particular attachment to previous Diablo games, I'm pretty sure that's where my money will be headed.
Seriously, I don't see what the hell the big deal is.. Unless of course you guys are planning on stealing the game?
Really, it's not a problem, who now a days isn't connected to the internet 24/7/365? I have alarms that go off if I loose internet (mostly because of my web server). But even if I wasn't hosting web sites, If I loose Internet for even a millisecond I'm on the phone with my IP provider and I'm not to happy.
I think this is more about some patriotic don't tread on my right to make illegal copies of games bullshit.
Nope.
I'm not a pirate.
And you're wrong. Your web server puts you in a privileged position. Sometimes, work happens on the outside lines, and when that happens you're offline. Sometimes, the connection will just drop for a split second, and this sort of game will quit on you if that happens.
However, even if I knew my net connection was reliable 100% of the time, there's still one obvious issue. I can't just play it whenever I want OUTSIDE my home. The "city wide wireless" turned out to be a pipe dream years ago, with one city after another cancelling their projects. Tulsa never even considered it. I should not be in a position where I have to buy a smart phone and pay tethering fees just to play a single player game. Heck, let's not forget visiting relatives or going on vacations.
It's downright idiotic to expect someone to be online constantly no matter where they are 100% of the time. It's naive.
More to the point, I BOUGHT the game and have the right to play it whenever I want. Yes, there IS a principle here, not a "I have a right to steal" principle, so much as a "I have a right to my own purchased product".
Let's make this clear etoven, this has nothing to do with piracy. Pirates will hack out the online restriction on day 1. If we were pirates, we wouldn't even be complaining because of that singular fact.
This is the kind of shit which makes people who would normally not download pirated versions of games do so, because the 'legitimate' copy punishes you for being a paying customer by assuming you aren't one.
I don't care how allegedly innocuous it is, it's horse shit that I should have to prove that I paid for my game every single second I'm playing it. I gave you my fucking money so let me do what I want with what I bought.
There's also one other matter I should mention.
What happens should Blizzard go bankrupt? Do we depend on hacks to keep playing? Blizzard, like Valve, may promise a patch in that situation, but let's face facts. That sort of thing is the last thing they'll be thinking about.