Maxis Developer Denies Need For Single-Player SimCity Servers

[Phrozenflame500]

A quick google search reveals the game has (presumably, I'm not planning on testing it since I have no interest in playing the game) already been cracked. In the war between major entertainment companies and anonymous internet pirates, the pirates are winning. Nice work EA, that massive drop in sales due to the always online DRM? Clearly worth it.

I hope this convinces EA to cut it out with the shitty DRM, it would be nice for them to know that the consumers aren't willing to put up with their bullshit.

 

[Deshin]

I think this is less to do with DRM and more to do with them wanting to test out how well they can integrate the social aspect into a typically single player game. That's been a thing they've wanted to do for a while now right? If this worked out well they'd have probably had the next Dragon Age with "keeps and holds controlled by your friends" or a Mass Effect spinoff with "every spacecraft in the fleet is captained by people you know!" Basically turning all future games into facebook-esque forced social aspects...

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Someone's gonna lose their job over this........

Seriously, they're gonna find the guy who leaked this and there are going to ritually sacrifice him on a pagan altar with a stone dagger.

Also, I'm not surprised by this news in the SLIGHTEST. Not one bit.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

I'm not surprised at all - when I first heard the comments about a bunch of the simulation stuff being done on the servers I thought it sounded ludicrous.

Now I don't work on games at all, but I am a software developer and the thought of actually running any significant part of the game on a server sounded like terrible design choice to me. For this kind of setup you'd really want to minimize the amount of data that has to be passed back and forth between the client and the server, and the amount of work that the server actually has to do.

Otherwise you're just over taxing your server - I mean that kind of design would violate pretty much every instinct I have as a developer. I mean you'd be using the server's processor to run the simulation of the city - then have to send back literally all of the data generated by the simulation in real time back to the client? That's completely ass-backwards!

You'd want to run the simulation on the client then just send whatever data is necessary for the region-based stuff as necessary, then have the server just dole that information out to other clients in the region as needed. I mean its not like this is an MMO where you have multiple players interacting with the same game-world in real time.

But is good to know just how honest we can expect Maxis/EA to be regarding the situation.

 

[Dryk]

Two things to take from this:

Number one. They thought they could get away with straight up lying to people about something as easy to check as network traffic.

Number two. They will get away with it.

 

[Bvenged]

I might get the game and run some network scans and packet sniffing myself, see what I can turn up. But that means buying the game, and I have no intentions whatsoever to support shitty business practices. Shame really as I'd have bought it day-1 had it had no DRM. They CAN take it offline for those with computers that could take it, and they should give such an option to their customers.

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

This is starting to remind me of Bioware.

Someone's gonna lose their job over this........

Seriously, they're gonna find the guy who leaked this and there are going to ritually sacrifice him on a pagan altar with a stone dagger.

Also, I'm not surprised by this news in the SLIGHTEST. Not one bit.

Reading between the lines it sounds to me like he left the project before it was completed.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I can't wait for EA to crash and burn. It would teach other publishers not to fuck with their customers.

 

[Johnson McGee]

This claim was absurd from the start. For them to even allocate $20 worth of computer equipment per person for handling calculations would significantly eat into their bottom line. Even so, if EA can manage to buy enough computing power for less than $20 to crunch a 'significant portion' of the data that my $600 mid range pc can't do alone then I want to know what wizard / mobster they're buying their servers from.

 

[Kmadden2004]

I don't know what's more depressing, that EA might do this, or that very few people here would be genuinely shocked if these turn of events turned out to be true...

 

[snekadid]

We already knew this. I mean EA might not know this but PC guys. They are kinda PC savy. All you had to do was manage to track packages, you'd notice SimCity only sent out a tiny amount of packages, most of em in 10 minute intervals. You can also do a disconnect test, at which point you time the amount you can play the game for before it gets disconnected. With SimCity that is 10 minutes. A nice coincidence hu?

Basically ever 10 minutes the game authenticates itself. That is all that happens. If massive amounts of data were really being handled by the servers you would not even be able to play SimCity for 10 seconds without an internet connection let alone 10 minutes.

It's basically EA barging into your study every 10 minutes demanding to see your passport to check if you really for really reals paid for the game. What is even worse though is that EA managed to fuck up Authentication servers.... Authentication was to much to handle for their servers. They simply did not give A FUCK!

Sim City will now basically be a pirate magnet. Every cracker out there is working on this game for one of two reasons. They bought the game and are pissed at EA or they saw EA's bullshit justification for the DRM and want to crack down on them. Either way can't wait for the patch/crack.

Meanwhile I'll keep building my region of Twasbetteroffline.

I'm looking forward to the Spore-esque news report that Simcity was the most pirated game of all time, because its just proof that EA does not learn, they just keep their hand on the burner wondering why they smell cooked meat.

The tighter you squeeze, the more sand leaks out and its the same with DRM, the more crippling it is, the more people will fight against it, causing more piracy then they would of ever had to worry about and actually raising support for the piracy movement. Just so freaking stupid.

 

[Nurb]

They basically confirmed what everyone else already knew; EA is full of shit.

"He explained that the servers allow players to share maps and resources and ensure that nobody is cheating"
It's the customer's game! They can cheat if they want.

"It could be something a whole lot shadier too, but I have a hard time imagining a major game publisher - yes, even Electronic Arts - flat-out lying about this sort of thing. That's the sort of maneuver that's bound to be caught out, and to bring some mighty ugly fallout when it does."
You give EA and all big publishers too much credit. Anyone who hasn't learned their lesson in the last 10 years not to give them money deserves a bit of frustration to help remind them

 

[FoolKiller]

I can't wait until the offline patch shows up. If this is true then it won't be long till we get one.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The sad thing is, they could have avoided all the controversy and launch day failure if they only allowed the people who PAYED FOR THE GAME to actually play it offline.

 

[theultimateend]

When are people going to decide enough is enough?
Oh right, never. Because every idiot is entitled to their opinion and standards

I dunno.

This particular idiot could get the game for 10 bucks but I've chosen not to. I think that says something about the sheer devaluing nature of their decisions.

Had it had offline single player I'd have pre-ordered their most expensive edition :x...

 

[CriticalMiss]

Ahahaha! HAHAAA! Oh this just keeps getting better each day. Tomorrow we will find out that the SimCity servers are powered by burning bunnies.