id Software Praises "Always On" in Diablo 3

[cikame]

Stuns me how people completely miss the reason why veteran pc users hate drm or copy protection.

Remember Starforce?
Remember idiotic little stupid pieces of software which made you have to buy new cd/dvd drives?

We don't hate drm, we hate forced violent drm, this is nothing like that.

 

[Something Amyss]

Also, this comes to mind:

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

As amusing as that is, it's easy for their servers to go down and even easier for your connection to be lost. This was a problem with Ubisoft and probably will be a bigger problem with Diablo.

That being said, D2 bored me, so I won't buy it, but not in protest.

With my internet connection, though, being only broadband in the most technical sense, ifthis becomes the norm, all it will "force me to" do is not buy games I can't play because my ISP would rather waste my time on tech support calls than actually lay cable younger than your average Charlie Chaplain fan.

Am I the norm? Almost certainly not. But I do wonder how many people will get screwed by it. Even the ones who are "always online." XD

 

[blindthrall]

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

What a noble stand, and right under a post pointing out how Canadians can't even rely on persistent connections. Way to think about anybody that isn't American. I fail to see how it doesn't hurt a majority of people, especially since the majority of people on this thread are against it, and those it it really hurts can't very well get online to express their disapproval now can they? Do you pay for your internet? Lots of ISPs are moving toward bandwidth caps, that will charge you extra or disconnect you if you go over. How much bandwidth do you think Blizzard's spyware will consume?

I'm amazed anyone heard this announcement over the sound of LulzSec sharpening their knives.

 

[malkavianmadman]

I was going to buy Diablo 3. I liked D2 and thought D3 would be equally fun. Now I aint gonna go near the damn thing. This isnt because i want to pirate it or anything. I just think this sort of measure is a 'dick move' like many have pointed out your just making everyone feel like a crim for wanting to play the game. Also who cares what some Id software person says, i usually forget Id even exists. In the end people looking at D3 will do one of three things.
1- They will buy the game and put up with Dickmove DRM
2- They wont buy the game.
3- They wont buy the game they will pirate it.

Personally im going to be in camp 2.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I will probably get this game, once an offline crack is out in the wild. Just to say "Screw you Blizzard and your forced socialism!"

 

[chuckman1]

I refuse to buy a game with always online drm especially sine my internet is terrible.

 

[AlternatePFG]

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 100%. I really thought people made a big enough stink when Ubisoft pulled this crap to deter any other developers, but since it's Blizzard this time, people will buy it anyway. If this is really how some games are going to go, I don't really think I'm going to keep buying them.

 

[LorienvArden]

"If you have a juggernaut, you can make change. I'm all for that. If we could force people to always be connected when you play the game, and then have that be acceptable, awesome."

HELLO ? Is this person really sane ? Can we get him checked by a doctor AT ONCE ?

Are you SERIOUSLY telling your customers how they should feel about your product ?
Are you suggesting that your customers should just change the infrastructure of their country so that they CAN get an 100% stable internet connection so they can play a game in singleplayer mode ?
How about forcing us to buy your games weither we like them or not next ? Sure, if 100% of your market buys your games because they don't have any choice would be awesome as well..

Sure, it would be awesome to have a steady income with no effort, but guess what - thats NOT acceptable.

If somebody out there can disable this piece of DRM, do so. A game that is not played online should never ever force you to maintain a connection to big brother.

Also: Here is a suggestion I call "project 5 friends" Get on twitter and facebook and all the other hip social networks you youngsters adore and get 5 of your friends to cancel their pre-order and NOT pick up the game in the first month. Convince them that the DRM madness can only be stopped by not beeing one of the blind sheeps that put up with that crap.
Tell them to be vocal about their choice and that they too should convince 5 of their friends not to pick it up, at LEAST for a month, better yet, not until they back down.
And so on, and so on.

Get the sNOwball rolling. If all those readers here on the escapist get vocal and convincing, we can draw a crowd. It's not even much effort involved. Just get about 5 of your friends to speak up and say no.

At the end of the day, if half a million of units aren't sold because WE said 'no sir - not with that attitude'
Blizzard WILL back down.
THEY depend on US, not WE on THEM.

 

[Signa]

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?

Funny you should mention that. Even though I never got around to putting any real play time into it, one of the first games I installed before going on a long, internet-less journey was Diablo II. Guess which game won't be joining that roster in the future.

 

[Inkidu]

"If you have a juggernaut, you can make change. I'm all for that. If we could force people to always be connected when you play the game, and then have that be acceptable, awesome."

HELLO ? Is this person really sane ? Can we get him checked by a doctor AT ONCE ?

Are you SERIOUSLY telling your customers how they should feel about your product ?
Are you suggesting that your customers should just change the infrastructure of their country so that they CAN get an 100% stable internet connection so they can play a game in singleplayer mode ?
How about forcing us to buy your games weither we like them or not next ? Sure, if 100% of your market buys your games because they don't have any choice would be awesome as well..

Sure, it would be awesome to have a steady income with no effort, but guess what - thats NOT acceptable.

If somebody out there can disable this piece of DRM, do so. A game that is not played online should never ever force you to maintain a connection to big brother.

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 100%. I really thought people made a big enough stink when Ubisoft pulled this crap to deter any other developers, but since it's Blizzard this time, people will buy it anyway. If this is really how some games are going to go, I don't really think I'm going to keep buying them.

I honestly hope it's a fucking bucket of cold water to their collective nards, but I gave up on a just and fair world a while ago.

 

[Alcamonic]

I wonder if Torchlight 2 will get more buyers due to the recent news about Diablo 3.
I still love first Torchlight game to bits because of the modding capability.

So that my comment becomes a bit more on topic. I think Blizzard should be very careful with how they approach things like this, because it will without a doubt cause massive effects for the whole industry. The forced online play will personally not hurt me that badly because my internet is usually stable. But forcing it for a game that is mainly a single player game with added multi player seems like taking it in a step towards something that most people are not ready for or want.

And yes, I agree with quite a few people on their opinions of the id guy. Seems like he is desperately trying to find others that agree with him. "See! Because others do it as well means it's okay!".

 

[blindthrall]

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)

Vanilla New Vegas? Ugh, that sucks! I've patched it entirely and my Laser Commando game still freezes every time I try to save outside, because of all the little piles of ash everywhere. Having said that, I would still rather play a bug-riddled game like this than Diablo 3. Because Obsidian isn't fucking me over on purpose.

 

[poppabaggins]

Now that he said that, here's a guess the id is planning a game that requires an always-on connection.

Also, unrelated, how do you pronounce id? Each letter individually like you'd show an officer your I.D., or id like id, ego, superego?

as in id, ego, superego

OT: John Carmack is great, but it sounds like id has some douche canoes in high places

 

[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)

Vanilla New Vegas? Ugh, that sucks! I've patched it entirely and my Laser Commando game still freezes every time I try to save outside, because of all the little piles of ash everywhere. Having said that, I would still rather play a bug-riddled game like this than Diablo 3. Because Obsidian isn't fucking me over on purpose.

Besides, unlike Diablo 3.0 New Vegas is still fun. You just kind have to know how to talk to it.

 

[MrMrAwesom]

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

stole the words out of my mouth (that happens a lot)

on the side if they do have always on, the only game I will get this year will be Battlefield 3

 

[NLS]

Is it really that big of a deal?
1. If you're playing multi-player, this won't affect you at all.
2. If you're playing single-player it likely won't affect you either, unless:
1. You're out in the forest, in which case case you shouldn't be playing games in the first place, and even if you NEED to play something, don't you have other games, or do you NEED to play Diablo3 every damn time you're out in the forest?
2. You don't have internet AT ALL, so why are you on the internet now complaining about it?
3. You have glitchy internet? Blizzard will likely implement safety measures to keep your game safe for you should you happen to have the worst possible internet connection ever.
4. Blizzard server downtime, probably won't happen. These guys have been running Battle.net for over 12 years and the most popular MMO for over 7 years. They probably know what they're doing by now.
5. Shit happens. If you for some reason can't play the game for 5 minutes, then go do something else, there's probably more interesting offline single-player games out there. Really.

 

[tetron]

Always on DRM is the wave of the future, and it is a future that has been a long time coming.

I tried to fight the changes that were taking away the essence of gaming that I grew up with for so long. Now the game industry is going to do whatever they want and they're going to get away with it without any trouble. There's no sense in fighting things like this anymore because we've already lost.

The funny thing is that we brought this on ourselves. Long ago we fought for a future of gaming, this future, and now we pay for our shortsightedness.

 

[GameMaNiAC]

"If we could force people to always be connected when you play the game..."

Hold on. Force people? Wouldn't that cause hate?

 

[BaronUberstein]

My only issues with "always online" are two things:
1. What if you live in an area with horrible internet access?

2. What if you still want to play single player long after the company has abandoned the game? I still play the original Homeworld, and I doubt Relic still has the multiplayer servers up for it. What if I still want to play the game after the company has deemed keeping the online connection up as unprofitable?

I wasn't going to buy this game anyway, was never a fan of the series (more of a CoD fanboy myself), but with our current level of internet infrastructure it's not the best idea as far as I'm concerned.

Then again, if more game companies do this, it could lead to increased demand for better internet infrastructure and coverage.

 

[orangeban]

Is it really that big of a deal?
1. If you're playing multi-player, this won't affect you at all.
2. If you're playing single-player it likely won't affect you either, unless:
1. You're out in the forest, in which case case you shouldn't be playing games in the first place, and even if you NEED to play something, don't you have other games, or do you NEED to play Diablo3 every damn time you're out in the forest?
2. You don't have internet AT ALL, so why are you on the internet now complaining about it?
3. You have glitchy internet? Blizzard will likely implement safety measures to keep your game safe for you should you happen to have the worst possible internet connection ever.
4. Blizzard server downtime, probably won't happen. These guys have been running Battle.net for over 12 years and the most popular MMO for over 7 years. They probably know what they're doing by now.
5. Shit happens. If you for some reason can't play the game for 5 minutes, then go do something else, there's probably more interesting offline single-player games out there. Really.

Dude, I bought a game and it should be mine, but Blizzard has restricted what I can and can't do with *my* product. That's the issue here. Also, my internet totally goes when a storm occurs, and during that time I should be able to continue doing something that doesn't strictly need the internet anyway.