id Software Praises "Always On" in Diablo 3

[Danz D Man]

My solution: buy the game, play a pirated copy.

 

[RA92]

Pay attention to the usage of the word 'force' here.

 

[Eggbert]

But it's also hard to argue that Willits isn't right.

Actually, it's remarkably easy to argue that he's being spectacularly stupid. Observe: I just lost the following rant because my internet died. No, wait, sorry, internet's a constant, especially outside the US, I must have imagined it.

I live in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. If you haven't heard of it, I forgive you. We lose the internet to every, say, second or third thunderstorm to roll through. For the last two months, we've had great chances of thunderstorms, and excellent actual thunderstorms, fairly regularly. We've lost internet frequently. What do I do during these outages? Why, I play games. Duh. Some Sacrifice, VVVVVV, TF2, that sort of- wait. TF2's multiplayer only. Except, oh wait, it's got a bot match in case you're offline. Huh. The multiplayer only game supports a single player? Who's offline? While the game with a single player story mode doesn't support offline? And requires that I be streaming the game content? On Saskatchewan's internet? Pff-hahahaha ha ha ha haaaa... ha. Wait. You're not kidding? You, you're aware that Canada actually doesn't have anyone offering unlimited internet use at reasonable speeds, right? You're aware Canada has great internet compared to other parts of the world, right? You're aware that the US isn't the only. Damn. Country. In. The. World.

Right?

...

...

Hate. I hate this. Hate it with an unholy passion. Hate all who would support it. Hate, hate, hate, hate.


Sorry if this little bundle of hatred got incoherent or hard to read. Not particularly sorry if you got pissed or depressed because of it, though.

 

[Whateveralot]

Finally, some people that actually think about things share their opinions on the matter.

Like Blizzard, I didn't expect "always online" to be a problem any more. We're always connected to the internet anyway. The only real reason to not want this is because you're afraid hackers won't come up with a solution so they might actually have to buy the game instead of pirating it.

Or it may be a matter of principle.

I, as a legitimate paying customer, should not have to be treated like a criminal.
It has nothing at all to do with me wanting to pirate Diablo 3, or any other game, as you for some reason seem to believe.

Principles are only there to take down any disciussion before there is a point. With this always-online strategy you're being treated as a criminal as much as when you walk across the street, where CCTV-camera's are watching you.

You're not a criminal, but those camera's are there for the ones that are. Same with this, I don't assume you or anyone else specifically pirates. I'm just saying that because people pirate, Blizzard is forced to take such a measure. This grants them my full understanding as I couldn't come up with a better, less agonizing (but equaly viable) solution.

Again; I'm always online anyway. It doesn't hurt me (nor the majority of the people).

 

[thepyrethatburns]

I'm more concerned with what this will mean for the next 2 Starcraft 2 installments.

 

[tzimize]

If your paying $60 for a game, you should have the choice to play it however the fuck you want.

If this is the future, then I may have to stop playing games. Not because I want to stop, but because the publishers/developers will not let me play the games I buy.

And the reason for it is just fucking stupid. They doing it just because it lets them update automatically? What's wrong with simply having the launchers have a "check for updates" button? Why can't I decide what the game does on my system? The last thing I want are programs updating themselves without my knowledge.

But Blizzard will get away with it. Diablo 3 will sell like hot-cakes, just like all of Blizzard's other games. Sure people will complain, but chances are they'll just buy it anyway.

I agree. I hate it. But I will buy Diablo 3. I am too weak. I simply cant imagine a world where I wont play diablo 3. :|

 

[orangeban]

But it's also hard to argue that Willits isn't right.

Actually, it's remarkably easy to argue that he's being spectacularly stupid. Observe: I just lost the following rant because my internet died. No, wait, sorry, internet's a constant, especially outside the US, I must have imagined it.

I live in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. If you haven't heard of it, I forgive you. We lose the internet to every, say, second or third thunderstorm to roll through. For the last two months, we've had great chances of thunderstorms, and excellent actual thunderstorms, fairly regularly. We've lost internet frequently. What do I do during these outages? Why, I play games. Duh. Some Sacrifice, VVVVVV, TF2, that sort of- wait. TF2's multiplayer only. Except, oh wait, it's got a bot match in case you're offline. Huh. The multiplayer only game supports a single player? Who's offline? While the game with a single player story mode doesn't support offline? And requires that I be streaming the game content? On Saskatchewan's internet? Pff-hahahaha ha ha ha haaaa... ha. Wait. You're not kidding? You, you're aware that Canada actually doesn't have anyone offering unlimited internet use at reasonable speeds, right? You're aware Canada has great internet compared to other parts of the world, right? You're aware that the US isn't the only. Damn. Country. In. The. World.

Right?

...

...

Hate. I hate this. Hate it with an unholy passion. Hate all who would support it. Hate, hate, hate, hate.


Sorry if this little bundle of hatred got incoherent or hard to read. Not particularly sorry if you got pissed or depressed because of it, though.

Yeah, I used to live in a house in Scotland (not particularly remote even, just in the country side) where firstly, fuckin' BT didn't connect the internet for 4 months (but still charged us for the internet) and even when it was connected, heavy rain would take us off the grid. So yeah, I understand your troubles.

 

[CopperBoom]

Ah, Penny Arcade. Always missing the point (yet again someone forgets that the servers you have to connect to can go down) and always not funny. Why do people read these things?

The PA has NOTHING to do with those things you mentioned yes, but it also does not PRECLUDE what you are talking about either so that is not the point. You may not think it is funny but I do.

That is why people read it, because they enjoy it; as I do; just as you do not.

 

[thehorror2]

I'm sure these guys don't all have perfect internet connections at home, and I'm sure a few of them even like gaming on laptops on journeys. What the fuck is wrong with these people?

"Imagine picking up a game and it's automatically updated."

Gee, I wonder if there'S anoThEr service thAt does this but still has an offline Mode and doesn't boot you out of a game if your connection drops.

A bit off topic (and really, I can't stay on topic. Everything I was going to say has already been said, except maybe "IS THIS REALLY WHERE PC GAMING IS HEADED?! ARE WE AS A DEMOGRAPHIC REALLY THAT SHEEPLIKE?!") but I couldn't help reading that last line in the G-Man voice. "Wake UP, Missster Carmack..."

 

[blindthrall]

Probably. But, and I've said this a lot, that future is inevitable. Personally, I would much prefer to ride the wave of destruction that to stand against it and be demolished.

Isn't that what the French said?

As far as Blizzard, I've known I'm not their target market since Warcraft 3's shitty campaign. But id? Man they've got some balls, haven't made a decent game without Raven in a long time. I now have no moral objection to piracy of id games. Not that I'm going to do it, just like I'm not going to play Rage (racing sections? WTF id!), but I'm not going to look down on those who do.

If this is the future, Onlive's not looking bad.

 

[Username Redacted]

So, here's the conditions under which I'd be OK with 'always connected' DRM:

-Publisher can guarantee that bar world ending level calamity that server service will be uninterrupted on their end.

-Publisher agrees to release a patch removing DRM if/when they decide to shut the games servers down.

-If player had a connection when they started playing (offline modes, obviously if you're online and your connection drops you're fucked anyways) and it was interrupted then the DRM does not stop the gameplay.

So, how about it publishers. That seems like a set of demands that are at least as, if not more so, reasonable as yours.

 

[znix]

Arr mateys, there be other solutions to this here conundrum

The most obvious and penny pinching method aside, there are plenty of other great games coming out in the near future.

I think I'll have my hands full with Skyrim, Reckoning, Guild Wars 2, Rage, Bioshock 2, to name but a few. No single player game should need to be online. It serves absolutely no purpose what-so-ever, aside from trying to push more players into the auction house.

Anyway, let's see what happens once a couple of hacker collectives decide this kind of excrement action is annoying and they bring down blizzard's data center. Will everyone still think having to be online in order to enjoy their single player game is great?

Those who argue that requiring single player to be online is ok, by saying most will be multiplayer anyway, really should realize how incredibly dumb they sound. It also underscores why so many people DON'T go online - namely to avoid those same oblivious idiots.

 

[antipunt]

Also, this comes to mind:

I probably wasn't going to get this game in the first place.

Pretty much my thoughts. 'Tis la vie'. Life goes on, Blizzard wins. Inevitable.

 

[Antari]

If your paying $60 for a game, you should have the choice to play it however the fuck you want.

If this is the future, then I may have to stop playing games. Not because I want to stop, but because the publishers/developers will not let me play the games I buy.

And the reason for it is just fucking stupid. They doing it just because it lets them update automatically? What's wrong with simply having the launchers have a "check for updates" button? Why can't I decide what the game does on my system? The last thing I want are programs updating themselves without my knowledge.

But Blizzard will get away with it. Diablo 3 will sell like hot-cakes, just like all of Blizzard's other games. Sure people will complain, but chances are they'll just buy it anyway.

Hey your starting to sound like me! Keep it up! Ya this plan is pretty much forcing me into a new hobby. If this is the way games are going ... than whoever is willing to pay for that sort of treatment is welcome to it.

 

[devotedsniper]

I was never planning on getting this anyway but always online games suck, now my internet is stable the majority of the time but then theres times were it completely screws up or goes down for maintenance...oh i know i'll kill time by playing a game...oh wait!...ahhhhhh i can't play any of my games cause Ubi and Blizzard forced us into always being online.

And i know i'm not the only one where the internet drops out randomly on occasion and i know for a fact all ISP's go down for maintenance at times (or at least they do in the UK).

 

[leady129]

I don't know "force" was necessarily the right word to use here. Perhaps "ease people into it" may have been slightly better wording. I've already asked about dial-up and got answers which were, not brilliant, but acceptable so I'm gonna take this on a game by game basis. Ubisoft's system all but completely destroyed my experience playing Splinter Cell 5 as I spent more time staring at a box saying "Connection lost" than I did actually stalking people. Perhaps Blizzard will have a better system.

 

[ryo02]

as Wrex would say "dont piss in my ear and tell me its raining"

 

[robert01]

Who says it will be crackable? How much information comes on the disc/download compared to what is fed to the client via their servers. The could simply leave the important data on their servers that you need to play. MMOs do this same tactic, this is the reason why finding stable private servers that have all the same features as the official ones is really hard. I won't be buying the game to find out anyways.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

If this is the future, my future is rampant piracy.

Go fuck yourself, buddy.

Edit: and I give full moral support to any hacker collectives who decide to fuck with Blizzard at this point. You can say "hey, just don't buy it", but companies like Blizzard have enough muscle to change my favorite hobby - in this case, for the fucking worse. I wish them nothing but ill will for that, and I don't think it's remotely unreasonable for me to do so.

Morbidly curious to see just how far consumer rights will inevitably slide in a world run entirely by corporations.

 

[Inkidu]

Pardon my French, but fuck you Ted Willis! That has got to be the most idiotic thing I've ever read from a video gaming professional, and you should be damned ashamed of yourself. What magical world do you live in where everyone has perfect high-speed internet. I don't, I can't get online, I can't get Xbox Live, I still play vanilla New Vegas for God's sake, and I don't complain. I still buy games I want new even though I should wait (because I can't use the ten-dollar DLC that most come with) and buy them used.

You know why? Because I believe in supporting the art form, the entertainment, and the industry. I've put up with your DRM, your trying to defeat used game. However, I will not have you say that always online is a good God-damned idea. You know why? Because it's not fair, and in the long run people who want to play your game are left out because they're not the Ethernet elite.

I'm seriously thinking about not getting Rage for my 360 until I find a used copy now. (I'm going to still get it because they're not punishing the 360 owners, but I feel for those with crappy internet)