It was fun, but it cannot go on like this. I'm breaking up with you.

[Defenestra]

Blizzard. Activision. Blizzactivision. Activizzard.

I'm sorry, but it's over. I wish it weren't. We had so much fun, back in the day. I was happy to spend time and money with you, buying battle chests for Warcraft 2 and 3, for Diablo(the one with 2 and its expansion), and the Starcraft one twice so I could give one as a gift.

I even hung out with you for a year on WoW, and that was where we had our first breakup. We got together again easily enough afterward for Prorotype and had a blast throwing cars at helicopters, and I eagerly snapped up Starcraft 2 when it came out. And it's good, very good. I enjoy it thoroughly. But it is also where the problem lies.

I feel like you don't trust me, Activision. I feel like you're peeking over my shoulder every time the game synchs up with the servers between single-player levels. I feel like you're grilling me whenever you ask me to sign in to play the campaign.

I have been faithful to you for all this time, Blizzard. I've purchased each one of these games, in some cases after being given illegitimate copies by a former friend with truly convoluted ethics. And still you do not trust me. Every time your software fulfills its paranoid urge to check in with your servers is a slap in the face, and it taints whatever fun I have with the game. I can't take it anymore. not like this.

So that's it. I'm not buying any more of them. The world is full of games, and many of them have eyeball-twitch inducing measures taken in an effort to dissuade the making of illegitimate copies that serve primarily to insult and inconvenience those of us who get legitimate ones. I may still buy some of those, if they look very, very good and review well, but for the most part, it's over.

I want to play with someone who will trust me, and not demand a background check every time we meet. If you can ever become that someone, Blizzactivision, then maybe we can get together again.

Goodbye.

 

[BirdKiller]

What background check? Seems like an exaggerated response of having to connect to Battle.Net at all times.

 

[l0ckd0wn]

Good for you! Toxic relationships need to be terminated, and like EA, Blizzardvision seems to have become more worried about the dollar signs than the end all industry goal of actually creating solid, replayable games that don't revolve around money. Thank you indie and small development studios, oh and Valve for beating the curve and creating the best option currently available for both digital distribution and license management! <3

 

[Johnny Impact]

Here's your new bestie: http://www.stardock.com/games/#

Stardock's philosophy in a nutshell is to treat customers the way they themselves would want to be treated: no DRM, no connection required, etc. And the games are even good! Sins isn't a masterpiece but I had a lot of fun with it.

Online-required turns my stomach but I still prefer it to intrustive, system-breaking DRM. The version of SecuROM some jackoff smeared all over BioShock like digital feces messed up my computer so bad I had to reinstall Windows to get rid of it all. It would crash the machine, refuse to run the game with the legitimate disc, refuse to allow any other disc to run, refuse to run if my antivirus was active in the background, and so forth.

Imagine if your favorite television program were to spray human waste out of your screen every time you watched it. I'm not coming back for season two, thanks.

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

So your going to stop playing Blizzard games because they ask you to sign into battle.net to play, which is actually only true for Diablo 3 since you can actually play Starcraft 2 offline. Oh well, as long as they keep producing quality games I'll keep buying them, but you're certainly entitled to your opinion, even if it's a bit silly.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

What background check? Seems like an exaggerated response of having to connect to Battle.Net at all times.

That's what I was thinking.

If DRM like that isn't your thing, fair enough, but it doesn't do a background check at all. It just updates your game and you have to be online to log in and play multiplayer.

Here's your new bestie: http://www.stardock.com/games/#

Stardock's philosophy in a nutshell is to treat customers the way they themselves would want to be treated: no DRM, no connection required, etc. And the games are even good! Sins isn't a masterpiece but I had a lot of fun with it.

Online-required turns my stomach but I still prefer it to intrustive, system-breaking DRM. The version of SecuROM some jackoff smeared all over BioShock like digital feces messed up my computer so bad I had to reinstall Windows to get rid of it all. It would crash the machine, refuse to run the game with the legitimate disc, refuse to allow any other disc to run, refuse to run if my antivirus was active in the background, and so forth.

Imagine if your favorite television program were to spray human waste out of your screen every time you watched it. I'm not coming back for season two, thanks.

Same reason I like CDProjekt Red, guys who made the Witcher. Treat the customers well etc.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Hope you have plenty of cloths in your drawers. Those little tags on cloths int eh store, there designed to prevent shoplifting, clothing stores don't trust you either. As a matter of fact, any store with a cash register doesn't trust you since they are designed to prevent you from taking money.

I will never understand why people think 'but they treat me like a criminal' or 'they don't trust me' or similar arguments make any sense. Nobody trusts you on the internet because nobody knows who you are. They never have.

 

[Defenestra]

... Must not grammar nitpick...


SC2 synchs with servers every time you enter a new campaign level. It also does not allow you to play without first logging in to Battle.net. It's like it keeps asking 'Am I stolen yet? How about now? Now?'

And frankly, it's insulting. It's not like clothing tags, which come off after you purchase the item. It's not like a cash register, which contains things which I have no claim to.

It's like buying something, and having to prove it's not stolen every boon-fogging time you use it. It's like you buy the pants, and you need to prove they belong to you every time you wish to put them on, or unbutton them for any reason.

It's like having to present licence and registration every time your car reaches an intersection.

"That's correct, officer, my vehicle did not become stolen in the fifteen seconds it took it took to get from Huxley Avenue to Orwell Drive."

It's not even like having someone check your receipt when you leave the store with your cart full of things. It's like having to prove your identity and ownership of the cheese, lettuce and sodas within just to open your effing fridge.

 

[Overusedname]

I hope Steam doesn't head down an evil path. I reeeally want Valve to set a good standard to counter what these groups do.

Given who is more financially successful...I dunno. People need to realize that you VOTE with your money.

 

[BirdKiller]

... Must not grammar nitpick...


SC2 synchs with servers every time you enter a new campaign level. It also does not allow you to play without first logging in to Battle.net. It's like it keeps asking 'Am I stolen yet? How about now? Now?'

And frankly, it's insulting. It's not like clothing tags, which come off after you purchase the item. It's not like a cash register, which contains things which I have no claim to.

It's like buying something, and having to prove it's not stolen every boon-fogging time you use it. It's like you buy the pants, and you need to prove they belong to you every time you wish to put them on, or unbutton them for any reason.

It's like having to present licence and registration every time your car reaches an intersection.

"That's correct, officer, my vehicle did not become stolen in the fifteen seconds it took it took to get from Huxley Avenue to Orwell Drive."

It's not even like having someone check your receipt when you leave the store with your cart full of things. It's like having to prove your identity and ownership of the cheese, lettuce and sodas within just to open your effing fridge.

Only in Starcraft 2, the game does it on its own rather than you have to do anything. If you're being insulted over something the game does for you, I'd be interested to see how you function in public.

Unless it takes you 5 seconds or more to wait for the game to synch up with Battle.Net, it's hard to be sympathetic. For me, I don't even notice it like how I don't even notice that my Steam games are synched up with Steam online.

It's also hard to take this seriously considering that Starcraft 2 was first released 2 years ago. Really what were you doing all this time then? Or did you just get the game now?

 

[The Wykydtron]

I'm not surpised. I haven't been following the whole Diablo 3 thing that closely but even I know it was a disaster followed by a couple of travesties and a catastrophy and a load of people have just gotten the fuck out.

So much shit went wrong server-wise, horrible business practices, horrible business practices that causing server problems indirectly, hackers, online only for no good reason and probably more i'm forgetting.

I've been 100% apathetic about Blizzard in general since I have no interest in any of their games and even i'm a little bit annoyed about their business practices.

 

[Pearwood]

I'm not surpised. I haven't been following the whole Diablo 3 thing that closely but even I know it was a disaster followed by a couple of travesties and a catastrophy and a load of people have just gotten the fuck out.

To be honest a lot of that is overreaction. It's annoying to be connected to battle.net to play but I have to say given the option I'd probably play online anyway and so would a massive proportion of other people going by D2's system. Auction house makes it stupidly easy to munchkin but eh without it people would just use the ingame chat for the exact same thing and if people want to march indestructibly through the game let them.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

... Must not grammar nitpick...


SC2 synchs with servers every time you enter a new campaign level. It also does not allow you to play without first logging in to Battle.net. It's like it keeps asking 'Am I stolen yet? How about now? Now?'

You can play singleplayer offline...

I don't think starcraft's DRM is that bad, considering it's a primarily a multi player game.

But Diablo III's DRM is just insane, I don't want to lose all my progress because my net gave out of a second, thanks. Especially since I heard the australian servers are really bad, and my internet often cuts out for small periods of time. That's just too far >.>

 

[black_knight1337]

I don't want to lose all my progress because my net gave out of a second, thanks. Especially since I heard the australian servers are really bad, and my internet often cuts out for small periods of time. That's just too far >.>

The servers are actually really good. It's one of the best connections I get without the server being within a few km and that's with my crappy net (averages around 10KB/s). The progress thing isn't true either. The only way you could lose a decent amount of time from your net cutting out is if you've been going in circles for hours. Through regular play the most your likely to lose is 15-20 minutes which isn't that much really.

 

[Russirishican]

I hope Steam doesn't head down an evil path. I reeeally want Valve to set a good standard to counter what these groups do.

Given who is more financially successful...I dunno. People need to realize that you VOTE with your money.

I really hope for the same. I feel like Valve is teetering on the edge of a screw up but they're heading back in the right direction. Voting with your money is something that gamers really need to learn how to do.

 

[WaysideMaze]

Hope you have plenty of cloths in your drawers. Those little tags on cloths int eh store, there designed to prevent shoplifting, clothing stores don't trust you either. As a matter of fact, any store with a cash register doesn't trust you since they are designed to prevent you from taking money.

I will never understand why people think 'but they treat me like a criminal' or 'they don't trust me' or similar arguments make any sense. Nobody trusts you on the internet because nobody knows who you are. They never have.

I can see where you are coming from, but you're kind of missing the point.

The companies aren't treating all of their customers like thieves, they are merely putting measures in place to prevent any potential thieves out there.

The OP is referring to DRM, a system which actively punishes paying customers, yet does nothing to prevent piracy, and in fact leaves pirates with a superior product.

Lets take your clothes tag example. If someone steals a shirt with a tag on, and doesn't have the tools to remove it properly, they may damage the shirt, meaning the paying customer who has had the tag removed properly is left with a superior product.

You think pirates had to put up with problems like [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115298-PC-Upgrades-Trigger-Ubisoft-Activation-Limits] this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115375-Ubisoft-Defends-Then-Changes-Anno-DRM]?

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

So Blizzard/Activision have to be abandoned because they're too invasive of people's privacy, EA have to be abandoned because they actually admit to being in it for the money, Valve are frankly taking the piss with Steam and Half Life (so I hear, I didn't like them before) Bethesda just make glitchy knock off crap, Capcom churn out cookie cutter sequels year after year while Konami have done nothing but casual games for the DS and XBLA for the last few years and...

Hang on a minute, I'm running out of game developers who I'm allowed to like. Maybe I should just go by whether I want to get a game or not and ignore the publisher/developer.

 

[Epona]

That's how I feel about this site and it's why I post here less and less. Every poster has to prove that they aren't a bot a few times every hour. It never ends and instead of giving you the benefit of the doubt (ie, you are not a bot until given a reason to think you are), we are all constantly tested.

Yes, I have had it with being treated like a criminal by game companies too.

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

Yeah, my ex said that to me when she... oh, wait, this is Gaming Discussion, and your abandoning Actiblizzard. Whoops.

Ok, restart...

Yeah, I said that to EA when I broke up with 'em. They ruined Bad Company, then I learned that they were hiding the bodies of Westwood and Bullfrog in their basement, so I told 'em that if I'm buying anything that has their damn name on it it's going to be bought used. *ramblerambleramble*

 

[MetalMagpie]

Maybe I should just go by whether I want to get a game or not and ignore the publisher/developer.

Hear hear! Free choice of video games for everyone! *waves banner*