Thousands Sign Petition Demanding Removal of SimCity DRM

[schmulki]

Yea, I don't get it. I kinda wanted to play the game, but saw the mess they were getting into with always-on drm on a game I would never want to play multiplayer, and just didn't buy it. What did people think was going to happen?

I mean granted, I can't imagine anyone was thinking, "ask for a refund = ban" but they couldn't have thought it was going to lead to anything good.

 

[SonicWaffle]

This won't work, it relies on the massive assumption that EA cares about what their customers think.

Customers = money

A massive petition showing the dissatisfaction with the current DRM model will at least cause some people to conclude that in future, such a model will result in more lost sales than would result from simple pirating.

I'm not saying it'll happen anytime soon, but eventually someone is going to get the message.

 

[schmulki]

Oh, and yea, to what everyone else is saying about the game being unplayable offline without a complete overhaul, yes, that's true. If you want to see it in action, have a look at some of the vids from Diablo 3 when it was still in beta. Some people had hacked "servers" but those servers just allowed them to manually spawn enemies who then just stood there, do some leveling, and item drops just to see what things looked like. Anything AI-controlled had to either be done manually or just did not work without back-end AI.

 

[Andy Shandy]

If they were that annoyed about this, why buy the game and then petition?

Now that EA have their money, they won't give two shits about some petition, I would think.

 

[Aeshi]

I doubt that's even possible by this point (and even if it was, since when was the last time anyone gave a crap about petitions?)

 

[schmulki]

As much as I don't like the always-on DRM, I highly doubt it would even be possible to remove it at this point. It seems like they've made it so that it actually relies on their servers for calculations. I Don't see them completely redesigning how their game works.

However this petition is still important. If it can get a hundred thousand or maybe even more signatures, it dispels the myth that the people who are unhappy with this sort of thing are just a vocal minority. Perhaps it might kill this business model entirely. One can only hope.

The problem is that the cities are stored on the server... This is like saying 'make an MMO work offline'.

It's not a case of removing a check in a launch program, it's a redevelopment of the game. So i don't think this is going to happen. It would be good if it did, but i doubt it will.

What they're asking for is simply impossible, the Always On Element is built into the game at every level.

Buyer Beware.

I cant believe so many people are so ignorant.

They said the exact same thing about Diablo 3. "Cant make it offline, too much relies on the server!"

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/02/26/diablo-iii-will-play-offline-on-ps3-and-ps4/

oops, that was a lie, just like Sim City.

And...once again, it took a complete redesign. So....yea.

 

[JoshuaMadoc]

Knowing EA, they'd probably just take some guy to look at the petitioner list, sniff them out, then deliver mass-Origin-wide banning.

Come on, guys, are you seriously expecting EA to listen?

 

[Genocidicles]

(and even if it was, since when was the last time anyone gave a crap about petitions?)

Kick up enough of a fuss and they'll have to do something about it, just like with Mass Effect.

 

[CriticalMiss]

This won't work, it relies on the massive assumption that EA cares about what their customers think.

Customers = money

A massive petition showing the dissatisfaction with the current DRM model will at least cause some people to conclude that in future, such a model will result in more lost sales than would result from simple pirating.

I'm not saying it'll happen anytime soon, but eventually someone is going to get the message.

But you are using logic, something that eludes EA executives. Always online DRM isn't new, people have been saying how much they dislike it for a while. It's no secret. And happy customers = more money.

 

[Aeshi]

I cant believe so many people are so ignorant.

They said the exact same thing about Diablo 3. "Cant make it offline, too much relies on the server!"

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/02/26/diablo-iii-will-play-offline-on-ps3-and-ps4/

oops, that was a lie, just like Sim City.

I'm pretty sure they're basically rebuilding the entire game from the ground up for the PS3 version (especially since the PS3 has far less in common with a PC than say, a 360, does), or are you suggesting EA should spend god-knows how many millions/years to re-develop one feature at the behest of a tiny fraction of the people who bought it?[footnote]a good number of whom are probably either mass petitioners, only bitching about it to be cool or trying to blame the fact that they were too stupid to read the system requirements on somebody that isn't them.[/footnote]

 

[SonicWaffle]

This won't work, it relies on the massive assumption that EA cares about what their customers think.

Customers = money

A massive petition showing the dissatisfaction with the current DRM model will at least cause some people to conclude that in future, such a model will result in more lost sales than would result from simple pirating.

I'm not saying it'll happen anytime soon, but eventually someone is going to get the message.

But you are using logic, something that eludes EA executives. Always online DRM isn't new, people have been saying how much they dislike it for a while. It's no secret. And happy customers = more money.

No, but this sort of thing is cumulative. There have been complaints before, there are complaints now, there will be complaints in the future. Like I said, don't look for there to be a change soon, but eventually there has to be a change. Most people who whine about this stuff will simply kick up a fuss and then forget it, but some will swear off buying future releases. With each new incident, more people make that choice. We will, in the fullness of time, reach a point where EA actually notices and is forced to take action.

 

[Scars Unseen]

As much as I don't like the always-on DRM, I highly doubt it would even be possible to remove it at this point. It seems like they've made it so that it actually relies on their servers for calculations. I Don't see them completely redesigning how their game works.

However this petition is still important. If it can get a hundred thousand or maybe even more signatures, it dispels the myth that the people who are unhappy with this sort of thing are just a vocal minority. Perhaps it might kill this business model entirely. One can only hope.

The problem is that the cities are stored on the server... This is like saying 'make an MMO work offline'.

It's not a case of removing a check in a launch program, it's a redevelopment of the game. So i don't think this is going to happen. It would be good if it did, but i doubt it will.

What they're asking for is simply impossible, the Always On Element is built into the game at every level.

Buyer Beware.

I cant believe so many people are so ignorant.

They said the exact same thing about Diablo 3. "Cant make it offline, too much relies on the server!"

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/02/26/diablo-iii-will-play-offline-on-ps3-and-ps4/

oops, that was a lie, just like Sim City.

And...once again, it took a complete redesign. So....yea.

You mean like Squeenix did with FF14 due to extreme customer dissatisfaction?

 

[Candidus]

You know what works? Not buying Simcity.

No matter how much you like SimC games, no matter how badly it tempts you.

No buts. Just fucking don't.

EA told you ahead of time that it had always on DRM. It was no secret. So, if you bought it and have since become super-mad due to circumstances so foreseeable that they couldn't possibly have been missed by anyone, I hope you're just mad at yourself. Because that's where the blame for this debacle belongs.

Don't weep on a petition after the fact. Just don't buy these games!

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I wonder if Maxis is in a position to sue EA for breach of contract on this...

-- Steve

 

[Weaver]

What they're asking for is simply impossible, the Always On Element is built into the game at every level.

Buyer Beware.

There's a difference between impossibility and a lot of work.
It wouldn't be EASY to move all calculations to the client, but it's far from impossible.

 

[Absolutionis]

Holy fucking shit. Thousands of fucking idiots. Fucking SimCity5 is a multiplayer game. This is very clearly a case of CUSTOMER ENTITLEMENT. You bought a fucking multiplayer game, it's only your fucking fault that you didn't pay attention to that. It's not a fucking single player game fucking morons.

I agree. However, replace "multiplayer" with "EA" and it's even more correct.

"Holy fucking shit. Thousands of fucking idiots. Fucking SimCity5 is an EA game. This is very clearly a case of IGNORNACE. You bought a fucking EA game, it's only your fucking fault that you didn't pay attention to that. It's not a fucking company that cares about you."

At this point in time, if you buy a game made by EA, it's really hard to sympathize with you. It's victim-blaming in a way, but these people really need to break from this abusive relationship. They bought the game and gave EA exactly what they wanted; what leverage do the customers have now that they put out? None.

Stop with the petitions. Stop with the post-incident complaining. Stop hoping things will get better. It won't. Get out of this relationship as soon as you possibly can and warn others to never buy an EA game again. EA does not care about your feelings; it only cares that you gave them money for the game. You're used up and done.

 

[INVALIDUSERNAME]

EA ANNOUNCES SimCity WILL REQUIRE ALWAYS ONLINE CONNECTION!

"Oh, I don't like that but, I'mma gonna go ahead and buyyy it anyways. Maybe it'll be okay."

SIMCITY LAUNCH A DISASTER!

"Well you know, I bought this game but STILL, I'm pretty pissed that I still can't play it singleplayer!"

You buy a game that says it has an Always Online DRM and you decide it's a good idea to still get mad over it anyways. Don't buy the fucking game and THEN make the petition. Yeah, the DRM sucks balls but what were you expecting? For them to drop the DRM for the singleplayer over the course of a week?