Susan Arendt said:
uppitycracker said:
Sure, quite a few PC gamers are aware of some form of DRM. But I wouldn't say that most are aware it exists, or are even aware just what games it comes packaged in. You can't necessarily blame the consumer, some people very likely buy these games and have no knowledge of what DRM is, exactly. In any case, it's no excuse to shift the blame from Ubisoft, as regardless of what platform we wish to enjoy our games on, they are the ones shoving this bullshit down our throats. That's like saying it's the victims fault for getting shot for being in the store when it got robbed.
I think Andy was fairly clear that he's not talking to those folks who genuinely got blindsided by this, which, undoubtedly, many people did. He's specifically referencing those who went into the situation knowing the inherent risks, then shouted to the heavens when the servers went down.
Also, it's not about shifting blame, but rather than owning up to one's share of it. I don't think anyone is arguing that Ubisoft's DRM is anything other than onerous.
What would you have them do instead? Sure, there are soccer moms who bought AC2 for their kids not knowing the included Clusterfuck? DRM, but those are the minority. Many gamers also bought AC2 because they like it, and wanted to play with it, and yes, they were probably aware of DRM, but what other choice they had? Either buy it, DRM and all, or pirate the shit out of it.
You
can't blame the honest customers for a failure on the publisher's part. Most of them bought AC2 and other Clusterfuck?-ed games very well aware of they are getting into, but what else could they do? Either put up with it, or not play (or pirate it, yes, but that's not the point here). This entire shitstorm is Ubisoft's fault, for putting a shitty DRM on their games AND the failure to live up to their promises of maintaining server availability. Shit got hacked, so what, it's not the customer's fault, it's Ubi's fault, they should go and fix it, the players had no share in that whatsoever. So, no, I disagree with sharing the responsibility of Ubi's mistakes, it's their shit, and no one else's. The players who bought the game and were totally unable to play it because of Ubi's failure have
every right to be angry, they payed fucking money for the right to play and now it's taken from them without any tangible reason whatsoever. Of course they are angry and I don't blame them.