After reading the D3 review thingie by Seamus, I was inspired to ask how often you guys really do use pausing.
Don't get me wrong, I think not including pausing in a solely single player portion of the game is just weird. Why wouldn't you? It seems so simple to implement.
However, I'm also seeing a lot of people that are now flat out refusing to purchase the game because of fairly trivial matters such as the pause example. Kind of reminds me when they announced Starcraft 2 wouldn't have LAN, yet it still ended up being one of the best games ever made (In my opinion) whose merits shined so brightly, the little things were more or less buried. (No online replay sharing, crappy chat rooms, custom game lobby system that sucks balls, etc. etc.)
So now with this Diablo 3 thing, I'm inclined to ask a few questions about the whole matter. Why do they do this? My main assumption is that they want to minimize pirating. An always-on DRM system is generally considered MUCH harder to crack than any other single player non-pirating tool, and what comes with that is an inability to pause at your leisure, because... well I don't know the finer details but I'm sure it stems from that.
And now that this is established, we can see that pretty much any other issue people have with D3 stem mostly from this draconian, (among other things)DRM system. The auction house is there to maximize profits, because hey, they are a company, and anything else people have to complain about are there to maximize player base, therefore sales numbers, therefore, profits.
With all that covered lightly, I guess it simply boils down to whether or not you, as the customer, are willing to accept these changes. Nobody can deny Blizzard has a right to make a profit, but many people question where the line is drawn between corporate profit and pleasing the customers. Blizzard gets away with this mostly because their games are so good, you just kind of overlook the little things and accept the game for what it is.
Is that acceptance a sign of weakness? Do the customers have a right to dictate what goes on and what doesn't? As an example, personally, I accept these requirements with little qualm. I loved D2, will most likely love D3, have a stable internet connection that is always on, and have learned that sometimes, it is more important to attend to matters than pause. I played a TON of Heroes of Newerth, a team game where each member of the team is valuable and necessary, with a fairly nonexistent pause feature. I learned that at the end of the day, it's a video game, and dying or being inconvenienced because of real life situations is something you just have to accept. I lost many a game having to let my dog out or pull the bacon out of the oven, and I learned not to care so much.
Just some observations I made. Typing things up and repeating them to myself help solidify my thoughts, so if you want to discuss, discuss (Is that acceptance a sign of weakness? Do the customers have a right to dictate what goes on and what doesn't?) the gist of that statement I guess.
TL
R - There is no TLR
Don't get me wrong, I think not including pausing in a solely single player portion of the game is just weird. Why wouldn't you? It seems so simple to implement.
However, I'm also seeing a lot of people that are now flat out refusing to purchase the game because of fairly trivial matters such as the pause example. Kind of reminds me when they announced Starcraft 2 wouldn't have LAN, yet it still ended up being one of the best games ever made (In my opinion) whose merits shined so brightly, the little things were more or less buried. (No online replay sharing, crappy chat rooms, custom game lobby system that sucks balls, etc. etc.)
So now with this Diablo 3 thing, I'm inclined to ask a few questions about the whole matter. Why do they do this? My main assumption is that they want to minimize pirating. An always-on DRM system is generally considered MUCH harder to crack than any other single player non-pirating tool, and what comes with that is an inability to pause at your leisure, because... well I don't know the finer details but I'm sure it stems from that.
And now that this is established, we can see that pretty much any other issue people have with D3 stem mostly from this draconian, (among other things)DRM system. The auction house is there to maximize profits, because hey, they are a company, and anything else people have to complain about are there to maximize player base, therefore sales numbers, therefore, profits.
With all that covered lightly, I guess it simply boils down to whether or not you, as the customer, are willing to accept these changes. Nobody can deny Blizzard has a right to make a profit, but many people question where the line is drawn between corporate profit and pleasing the customers. Blizzard gets away with this mostly because their games are so good, you just kind of overlook the little things and accept the game for what it is.
Is that acceptance a sign of weakness? Do the customers have a right to dictate what goes on and what doesn't? As an example, personally, I accept these requirements with little qualm. I loved D2, will most likely love D3, have a stable internet connection that is always on, and have learned that sometimes, it is more important to attend to matters than pause. I played a TON of Heroes of Newerth, a team game where each member of the team is valuable and necessary, with a fairly nonexistent pause feature. I learned that at the end of the day, it's a video game, and dying or being inconvenienced because of real life situations is something you just have to accept. I lost many a game having to let my dog out or pull the bacon out of the oven, and I learned not to care so much.
Just some observations I made. Typing things up and repeating them to myself help solidify my thoughts, so if you want to discuss, discuss (Is that acceptance a sign of weakness? Do the customers have a right to dictate what goes on and what doesn't?) the gist of that statement I guess.
TL
R - There is no TLR
