Thousands Sign Petition Demanding Removal of SimCity DRM

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
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Thousands Sign Petition Demanding Removal of SimCity DRM


As the SimCity Gong Show stumbles ever onward, a petition demanding the withdrawal of always-on DRM is burning its way to the top of Change.org.

You may have heard rumblings that not all is entirely well with the launch of SimCity. The game is actually quite good when it works, by all reports, but the trouble is that it often doesn't work because - you guessed it - it relies on full-time connections to remote servers. And, as has happened with pretty much every other server-dependent game release in history, it was, and is, a disaster.

And with all the predictability of the launch mess itself comes - you guessed it! - an outraged petition demanding the end of always-on DRM. "When I, And millions of other people, buy a game that has a single-player experience. We expect it to work regardless of our connectivity to the internet, or quality of our connection. EA has made this impossible, so many people with an unstable connection will not even be able to play the game in the first place, let alone anyone who wants to play on the go/with no internet connection," it says. And then, the simple demand: "Remove 'Always Online' DRM from SimCity and future games."

Internet petitions are a dime a dozen, but this one is attracting an awful lot of attention. Just one day after going public, it has already pulled in more than 34,000 signatures, and that number just keeps on climbing. Whether it's driven by the particular ugliness of this specific launch or the cumulative effect of one always-on circus after another, SimCity fans, and presumably gamers in general, are speaking up in numbers. It won't change a thing, of course, but it might make people feel a little while they wait for the servers to unclog.

Source: Change.org [https://www.change.org/petitions/electronic-arts-inc-remove-always-online-drm-from-simcity-and-future-games]


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Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
7,190
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Nonsense. Gamers are embracing not being able to play their game and the always-on DRM that causes it to happen.
 

Ilikemilkshake

New member
Jun 7, 2010
1,982
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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.
 

Samurai Rabbit

New member
Apr 2, 2011
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I thought all of the important data is stored server-side to force the player to be connected to play. If that is the case then it will be impossible remove it as it is an integral part of the game.

Still a shitty thing to do, and the only people who have been hurt by the DRM are the people who have shown brand loyalty with day one purchases and pre-orders.

Speaking of Sim City, I might re-install Sim City 4 actually!
 

TheComfyChair

New member
Sep 17, 2010
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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.
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
14,415
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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Well its too late for simcity but hopefully this will make EA think twice next time, probably not but we can hope.
 

CriticalMiss

New member
Jan 18, 2013
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This won't work, it relies on the massive assumption that EA cares about what their customers think.
 

VanQ

Casual Plebeian
Oct 23, 2009
2,729
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Legion said:
Nonsense. Gamers are embracing not being able to play their game and the always-on DRM that causes it to happen.
I know, right? This is a fantastic game worth every penny!
 

Mirrorknight

New member
Jul 23, 2009
223
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EA has their money now, the foolish fools. Too bad people didn't see this coming, or just had such blind loyality toward a game series that they ignored history. So, there's only one recourse. Make such a big stink that it becomes a PR nightmare for EA. To the point where normal news sites are covering it.

Hey, it worked for Mass Effect 3, to a degree.
 

Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
1,064
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Legion said:
Nonsense. Gamers are embracing not being able to play their game and the always-on DRM that causes it to happen.
I see what you did there.

OT: I signed this petition even though I didn't buy Sim City and will not buy any game that depends on Origin, because I agree strongly in the principle behind the petition and I want this shady practice to stop.
 

VanQ

Casual Plebeian
Oct 23, 2009
2,729
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DVS BSTrD said:
VanQ said:
Legion said:
Nonsense. Gamers are embracing not being able to play their game and the always-on DRM that causes it to happen.
I know, right? This is a fantastic game worth every penny!
If only it had a real money auction house.
They do! But you require a $10 day one DLC and a digital key only available if you buy the game new and not preowned to access it!
 

lancar

New member
Aug 11, 2009
428
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DVS BSTrD said:
VanQ said:
Legion said:
Nonsense. Gamers are embracing not being able to play their game and the always-on DRM that causes it to happen.
I know, right? This is a fantastic game worth every penny!
If only it had a real money auction house.
ah! I KNEW there was something missing! Let's face it, without a Real Money? auction house a game just isn't complete.
 

Ickabod

New member
May 29, 2008
389
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It's debatable how much of an effect all of this disaster is going to have on EA or DRM in general, but at least it's well publicized so maybe this will be on people's minds the next time a game comes out with what people feel to be intrusive DRM.

Personally I don't care about the always on or the DRM, but I do care about being able to actually play the game. Generally speaking if I'm going to buy a game I'm going to buy it right when it comes out because I'm excited to play it. Now if I have to temper my excitement and wait an extra week to buy a game so that the publisher can work out their play-ability issues before I plop down my money, I may just mentally move on from the product and decide not to buy it after all. There have been several games in the past that I was going to get, but something came up and I put it off, and still haven't purchased.

Point is, I'm an eager customer looking to throw money at the computer so that I can download games the instant they come out, but burn me enough times and I'll stop wanting to get burned. SimCity has instilled it in my mind that if the game is being published by EA, there will be issues, it doesn't mean I won't buy games from them, but I will think about it more. Which is not a good thing when you have an irrational motivation to spend money.
 

Fasckira

Dice Tart
Oct 22, 2009
1,678
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Thing is, DRM isn't really at fault here, its the shoddy unprepared server infrastructure they set up which is failing. Im not really that fussed with DRM and while I can see the arguments against having it in predominately a single player game, I also respect the need to try and protect the games from piracy.

Had the infrastructure been better organised (and, you know, perhaps listened to the issues raised during the beta), people might have been a bit more accepting of the DRM in this instance.
 

TsunamiWombat

New member
Sep 6, 2008
5,870
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What they're asking for is simply impossible, the Always On Element is built into the game at every level.

Buyer Beware.
 

Sporky111

Digital Wizard
Dec 17, 2008
4,009
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If these people are so pissed off about it, why did they buy it? It's not like DRM is something new and confusing, we've been dealing with this for years. If you don't like it, don't buy it. They'll notice poor sales before they notice a petition.
 

The Artificially Prolonged

Random Semi-Frequent Poster
Jul 15, 2008
2,755
0
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Judging by what we know about how Sim City handles its processes I'd say it is impossible to remove the DRM without a complete redesign of most of the game. It is a shame such a promising addition to the series has been spoiled by the DRM scheme. Hopefully publishers will start listening to customer concerns before they release traditionally single player games with always on schemes.