Why are people freaking out over the "Always Online" aspect of Diablo 3?

[SecondSince]

Also, gamers like to complain!

If there wouldn't be an uproar over this, it would be over something else. It's just tiring...

 

[Giantpanda602]

But online and offline character progression is nothing new, game devs have been doing it for bloody ages, so why have Blizzard suddenly decided against it? Yeah, they need it to enable this Cash Auction bollocks, but doesn't that demonstrate perfectly that they're willing to f*ck over the normal player just for £££s? There are plenty of places in the world without broadband access you know, and Blizzard are excluding all of those potential customers just so that they can sell +3 Foam Domes and Flaming Longswords of Spiffyness to people with more money than sense.

Blizzard is also using this to make sure that nobody pirates the game. If the game is always online, then they can find out if you are playing a pirated copy.

 

[Jandau]

*snip*

The point is that crying about Always Online is pointless since you're complaining about the wrong thing. It's only a consequence of the Cash Auction House.

Blizzard is also using this to make sure that nobody pirates the game. If the game is always online, then they can find out if you are playing a pirated copy.

I'm pretty sure D3 will be cracked, just as EVERY other Always Online DRM scheme was.

 

[jobu59749]

"Here's the pulse.....and this is your finger, far from the pulse, jammed straight up ass. Would anyone like a chocolate covered pretzel?"

The reality that gamers are adamant about not wanting to face with the shift in real world technology is this. We're coming up to the edge of cloud gaming, this is where it will start. Cloud gaming is going to be the way of the future whether any of us want to admit it. Believe me, I understand that having the physical disk, the saves on your own system, etc. are the thing we don't want to let go because of it's physical existence. This mechanic goes for the current "always online."

If people are bitching because they don't have internet, i'm surprised at that statement. Internet, just internet, for just 1.5 mbps is pretty damn cheap. That's not really a viable argument in todays technological advances, it's not. If it is, then you probably should be spending your much needed money on games in the first place.

The CAH is an experiment and a risk. If it works, and it works well, it will potentially change the face of online play. If it doesn't, then we end up going right back to what we currently know.

I understand that our ability to play relies heavily on the company servers not going down, but that's exactly how cloud gaming is going to work when it takes over the mainstream. It's going to happen. People don't like to embrace change because it's outside of their comfort zone, but for fuck sake...if you can't play the game, grow up. Put your big boy undies (or big girl panties) on, read a book, or crawl out of your cave and experience the world outside of gaming. It's ok, I promise...I do it from time to time and i've yet to ignite via the sun and have actually managed some social interactions that didn't make my head explode.

As long as companies push the "different", the whole of gamers will have something to ***** about. If companies didn't try new things, we would still be playing the atari or less.

 

[Pyro Paul]

basic problem...
'always online' programs really sap the computer and screw with your bandwidth usage and lead to confusion as to what is a virus and what is a critical file to be used by the game you enjoy to play.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

But online and offline character progression is nothing new, game devs have been doing it for bloody ages, so why have Blizzard suddenly decided against it? Yeah, they need it to enable this Cash Auction bollocks, but doesn't that demonstrate perfectly that they're willing to f*ck over the normal player just for £££s? There are plenty of places in the world without broadband access you know, and Blizzard are excluding all of those potential customers just so that they can sell +3 Foam Domes and Flaming Longswords of Spiffyness to people with more money than sense.

Blizzard is also using this to make sure that nobody pirates the game. If the game is always online, then they can find out if you are playing a pirated copy.

I'm sorry but I just don't buy that arguement at all. If Blizzard wanted to put some kind of online product registration in the game they could've done so without the need for constant access. How many games these days do you have to register online after installation? Nearly all of them. How many games require constant online access? Nearly none of them. I think the 'Piracy' line from Blizzard was merely a way to try and justify the online aspect of the game after the fact, rather than being the root cause of the decision.

 

[DaxStrife]

It was the lack of a single-player mode that made decide not to buy this game. The always-on DRM was just the icing on the turd.
Sure, I enjoy multiplayer but I've never been in to the Diablo multiplayer; I played D2 purely for the single-player. Add to that the fact that my Internet connection is sometimes shaky and beyond my control, and that adds up to a non-purchase.

 

[Battenbergcake]

You loose your connection for whatever reason and you own game you cannot play, it's that simple for some.

 

[Neonsilver]

"Here's the pulse.....and this is your finger, far from the pulse, jammed straight up ass. Would anyone like a chocolate covered pretzel?"

The reality that gamers are adamant about not wanting to face with the shift in real world technology is this. We're coming up to the edge of cloud gaming, this is where it will start. Cloud gaming is going to be the way of the future whether any of us want to admit it. Believe me, I understand that having the physical disk, the saves on your own system, etc. are the thing we don't want to let go because of it's physical existence. This mechanic goes for the current "always online."

If people are bitching because they don't have internet, i'm surprised at that statement. Internet, just internet, for just 1.5 mbps is pretty damn cheap. That's not really a viable argument in todays technological advances, it's not. If it is, then you probably should be spending your much needed money on games in the first place.

A decent internet connection is not everywhere available, a friend of me couldn't get internet for years and no it's not because he couldn't afford it. I have not met him for some time, so I don't know if that is still the case.

The CAH is an experiment and a risk. If it works, and it works well, it will potentially change the face of online play. If it doesn't, then we end up going right back to what we currently know.

It's not realy an experiment and it's not a question if they can make a huge amount of money with it, the only question is how high the pile of money will be. They only legalize something that is being done for years, so that they can get money out of it.

I understand that our ability to play relies heavily on the company servers not going down, but that's exactly how cloud gaming is going to work when it takes over the mainstream. It's going to happen. People don't like to embrace change because it's outside of their comfort zone, but for fuck sake...if you can't play the game, grow up. Put your big boy undies (or big girl panties) on, read a book, or crawl out of your cave and experience the world outside of gaming. It's ok, I promise...I do it from time to time and i've yet to ignite via the sun and have actually managed some social interactions that didn't make my head explode.

As long as companies push the "different", the whole of gamers will have something to ***** about. If companies didn't try new things, we would still be playing the atari or less.

Cloud gaming may take over sooner or later, but there is at the moment no reason to force the players to use it.

Edit: About cloud gaming, the way I understood cloud computing means the application is online available and can be used without installing it. The google chromebook is a perfect example how I understand cloud computing.

 

[XDravond]

It is simple:
I wan't to be able to play the game i bought (for real money...) when-ever, where-ever. I travel sometimes and like to play games during that travel time and I also visit places with no wifi and mobile broadband does not work everywhere I go(and is expensive as hell...)

But I can see how this "cash auction house" might be a problem if your not online, a solution though could be to make it impossible to access without internet.. not sure how it will work but I really think they would be able to make an "offline mode"

plus I really would like to know what would happen if a company goes bankrupt and shuts downs its DRM (and other needed) servers...
I though I bought a physical product not just a license but I know now days you buy licenses to games not the games

 

[jobu59749]

Cloud gaming may take over sooner or later, but there is at the moment no reason to force the players to use it.

When is the right moment, and this isn't forcing it on us whole hog, this can really be looked at as a push in that direction.

It's coming soon whether we like it or not. I understand that some people live in areas where internet support is not provided, but in business, that's a small percentage. Such people, I've been there, will do one of two things. Move to a bigger city with more opportunities, jobs, etc. or stay where they are and ***** about this. Yea, it's shitty, but as far as the amount of profits lost to those, very small and not important to big companies.

 

[Worgen]

Oh boy! We sure haven't seen these threads before!

And oh boy! The first comment is a penny arcade strip. Must be the new mindless cliche.

OP, two main reasons.

1) You can't play wherever and whenever you want.
2) Hardly anybody has an actually stable connection.

That's it. If it doesn't get through to your thick head to the point of having to make these threads because you can't figure it out from the hundreds of comments made in other ones, there is no hope for you.

you forgot that in a number of countries the ip doesnt give you unlimited net use, they only give so much a month, always on drm bleeds that, I doubt it uses much but it still uses it

 

[Worgen]

Well congratulations Blizzard. Diablo 3 confirmed for massive amounts of piracy. It would be naive and stupid to think that your DRM can't be cracked. I guess this goes back to something that Gabe said, about how Piracy was more about accessibility and convenience than "hey, free shit."

When the product pirates peddle is more alluring than what you put out to some people, your going to have a problem.

Don't quote me on this, but Guild Wars uses a similar constant online system and it's never been cracked.

If someone can explain the Guild Wars system with more clarity than my half-assed observation, that'd be appreciated.

the thing is though, guild wars is actually an mmo kind of game, diablo should be fully single player

 

[chunkeymonke]

While I fully sympathize with those of you who have crappy internet connections (I was in your shoes once and I remember all too well the amount of rage I had at the games I could not play due to a bad internet connection), I saw this coming. After WoW being merged with Battle.net and SC2 being run through the same, I did not think for one second that Blizzard would not do the same with D3.

I'm not stressing out about it because frankly, if I'm playing single-player (and that is my primary interest in it) then I won't have to worry about it stuttering every so often. You don't see such stuttering in SC2's single-player campaign after all.

And if SC2's multi-player doesn't have that sort of stuttering, I doubt D3's multi-player will either. Besides, why would you play multi-player if you knew your connection sucked?

I consider it a form of DRM, but I'm okay with it at this stage because (if SC2 is of any indication) it's not like my single-player game will be interrupted at all if my connection temporarily goes bust. As far as I'm aware anyway.

You do understand you can play SC2 in offline mode with only singleplayer right?