New SimCity To Require Constant Internet Connection

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New SimCity To Require Constant Internet Connection

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday March 28, 2012 @08:12AM from the unnatural-disasters-turned-on dept.

eldavojohn writes "According to Lead designer Stone Librande, it has been confirmed that the next installment of SimCity will require a constant internet connection. Perhaps as a form of DRM, the 2013 edition looks like it will be the first to include online play but will also require you to constantly be connected to Origin to play — even if that wasn't your point of purchase. Add SimCity to the growing list." Update: 03/29 02:09 GMT by S : An online connection will be needed to start the game, but you won't be kicked out if your connection dies.

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Console games to follow by crazyjj · 2012-03-28 08:12 · Score: 5, Interesting

Publishers have already managed to kill the used market for PC games with stuff like this. Console games are next. A lot of new console games are already requiring online activation for certain features (like Mass Effect 3). It's only a matter of time before they require online activation to work at all, and then ultimately require an online verification check each time the game is started.
A requiem for the days when consumers actually owned videogames, and could still play them just fine, even ten years later, using just the original game discs/cartridges.

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1. Re:Console games to follow by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-28 08:15 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  They're killing the new market for PC games too.
2. Re:Console games to follow by mhajicek · 2012-03-28 08:23 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Agreed. I will not buy games which require connection like this. No Starcraft 2, no Diablo 3, no SimCity 2013. The only way to keep this stuff from continuing is to show the game companies that they won't make money with it.
3. Re:Console games to follow by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-28 08:26 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Concern is that the mass public aren't even aware of this and won't be UNTIL they go to try it in few years and realise they cannot play.
  Then, eventually there will just by simply acceptance that this is normal.
  Boils my p1$$.
4. Re:Console games to follow by ZeroSumHappiness · 2012-03-28 08:29 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Right, because every pirated game is a lost sale. Know what I remember? When games had demos. Demos that were playable. Demos that got you invested in the game.
  Know what I hate? When I buy a game like BF3 then realize the DRM makes it unplayable on my computer. Sorry, no returns when buying through Origin.
5. Re:Console games to follow by spire3661 · 2012-03-28 08:37 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  The war is over. either accept or go without. constant on DRM is here to stay. Jsut look at the shit Sony pulled yesterday with removing PSP games from PSN because they could be used to sploit the PS Vita. This means that people that bought and own the game can't redownload it. Its jsut gone.
  
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  Good-bye
6. Re:Console games to follow by Barbara,+not+Barbie · 2012-03-28 08:40 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Considering that I bought Simcity 2000, Simcity 3000 Unlimited (for both the PC and the Nintendo Wii), and Simcity 4 + Rush Hour pack, they've just lost a loyal customer.
  
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  Let's call it what it is, Anti-Social Media.
7. Re:Console games to follow by mhajicek · 2012-03-28 08:42 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Amazon Kindle anyone? They did "unsell" certain books retroactively, and actively erased them from people's Kindle's remotely.
8. Re:Console games to follow by Charliemopps · 2012-03-28 08:53 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Not really, the pirated versions of all these games work just fine without an internet connection. The only people suffering are the paying customers, and who really cares about them?
9. Re:Console games to follow by Darinbob · 2012-03-28 09:02 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I am going without. It helps that there are so few decent games anymore anyway and that the used classics I have are more fun. My purchase of new games has significantly declined in the last 5 years, I'm probably getting less than 10% of the games I used to. I just won't buy this stuff, and I absolutely resent the ridiculous attitude that I'll buy the stuff anyway no matter what they do.
  I also resent the idea that I should just accept this like a sheep! The war is NOT over! I will continue to tell people to boycott this sort of stuff.
10. Re:Console games to follow by Githaron · 2012-03-28 09:03 · Score: 3
  
  They will most likely blame the latter. Otherwise, they have to admit that their game sucked.
11. Re:Console games to follow by Cute+Fuzzy+Bunny · 2012-03-28 09:28 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  We'll see how well the 'killing of the used game market' runs. I think its going to show a lot of signs of unintended consequences.
  For example, I can buy a new release game for $35-50 when it comes out. I know I can play that (or my son will) for a month or two off and on and when I'm done, I can get $20-25 for it used. Now if the game is missing content for a used buyer or requires buying a $5-10 code to make everything work, then the used game is worth $10-20, which means I'm not particularly interested in spending $50 on it.
  I also bought MANY used games, liked a franchise and bought the 2nd, 3rd or 4th game new.
  At this point, I've been jabbed by 4-5 used games I bought in the last quarter of 2011, which required a code to fully operate. As a result of my disappointment, I wont be buying any games produced by those manufacturers. While I would have bought several games a month in Jan, Feb and Mar, I havent bought any. Likely to continue since this 'strategy' is being widely deployed.
  So I wish the game manufacturers luck, they may find that they're going to need it. Because right now my plan is to buy 2 or 3 year old games new when they drop under $25 and never buy a release game again unless its free of codes and anti-resale tactics. The good news is there are dozens of awesome games for all of the platforms that are old, cheap and we havent played yet.
  These shenanigans will also do a number on the game rental places, since none of those games will be fully operational without the code.
12. Re:Console games to follow by Kelbear · 2012-03-28 10:24 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  What's even worse is that this DRM only affects paying customers.
  Pirates don't care about DRM, it's already been bypassed so it has no effect on them. Years from now when they take down their online authentication servers, the paying customers can't play anymore, only the pirates can.
  Also, when they split out on-disc DLC and try to wring more money from the customer after release day, the pirates still get all of that on release day. The pirates even get early access to a lot of games before the official street dates.
  To cut down on piracy they should take initiatives to reward those that pay instead. Give them all of the advantages listed above that pirates get to enjoy to start with. Then focus energies on finding ways they can reward customers over what pirates enjoy. Like multiplayer rewards for ongoing customers, added online privileges, sharing loot between friends. Small perks with little value individually, but they can add up to form an advantage for paying. The "stick" clearly isn't working, so try some "carrot". These aren't even good ideas, I'm sure they could come up with much better possibilities if they focus their creative energies in this direction instead.
13. Re:Console games to follow by dririan · 2012-03-28 10:31 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Steam has an offline mode. As long as you've played the game once online, Steam > Go Offline... will let you play without an Internet connection.
14. Re:Console games to follow by SuperTechnoNerd · 2012-03-28 10:43 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Or their servers get hacked and forced off line for days or weeks.. :)
15. Re:Console games to follow by Lotana · 2012-03-28 10:57 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  When they finally get the message that all the DRM in the world won't stop the pirates, the pirates will just view it as a chance to show off their skills, they may stop investing in DRM solutions.
  I don't think you understand their view of the DRM solution.
  Every single deployer of DRM systems is 100% aware that it will be cracked. If you see any presentations of them talking about it, they say it upfront: DRM's purpose is not to stop the pirates, it is there to delay them.
  Looking at the profit projections, majority of sales happen at the game release before rapidly dropping off into the long tail. If for this first two weeks there is no easily accessible pirated version available, buyers will get the official version. After that the company doesn't give a shit if there are thousands of unlocked copies out there: They made the most they can out of the product already.
  Imagine that they release the game without any protection: the very first purchaser will make an image and post it on Pirate Bay. Thus all the others that want a copy of the game will have a free alternative to get it within minutes of the game release. Why would they pay money (There is VERY little appreciatioin or loyalty to the game developers/publishers in the real world) when they can get the perfect copy for free? Thus DRM is there just to make the initial amazing-cracker buyer spend this precious intitial release time cracking the system rather than making the game available.
  And the crackers are amazing. The protection schemes are broken within days. The battle is to make the DRM last as long as possible before the inevitable crack. Thus it becomes more and more invasive, bothersome and draconian. Legitimate loyal customers are discarded as collateral damage, since the very profits are on the line.
  Game development costs a LOT of money with huge risks. There is a real possibility that the game won't be liked even if there is zero piracy (Look at the commercial lack of success of Planescape Torment, Freespace 2, Phychonauts, Arcanum, Arx Fatalis. Awesome games, but completely failed to sell). On top of that it is software, thus easily copied and distributed without the developers seeing a dime for all their work, with the pirates doing this with pride and not giving a single thought to the people that made the product possible. Even Humble Bundle got pirated straight away even though you could pay only a single penny to get the package! With such a cutthroat environment it is hard not to see the method behind their madness.
  I hate the situation, but honestly do not know the solution to the industry's plight. One thing is to lower the cost of the product (New games in Australia cost 89 dollars with our exchange rate higher than american dollar). Sadly, seeng the piracy of Humble Bundle I am cynical. Apperently people pirate out of some spite rather than cost. It would be good to hear some opinions on how to ensure that developers/publishers see the full profits of their labours as well as respecting the customer.
16. Re:Console games to follow by another_twilight · 2012-03-28 12:01 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  People who pirate your game are not your customers. The number of people who, in the absence of an easily available pirated copy will instead purchase the game is vanishingly small.
  
  A number of games have been released with no DRM. They have been pirated, heavily. Some have even been available for free. Piracy is not tied to the existence of DRM or even the ease/availability of the original. Piracy exists as a social phenomenon independently (or perhaps, intertwined with) the material being copied.
  
  Finally, many games that have been released DRM free and/or at significant discounts to their launch price have shown an increase in sales - massive increases in some cases. From this, it seems to me that the key to piracy, the cost of development, DRM and customers is to recognise that chasing/preventing piracy is a cost with almost no return; that if you want to increase revenue by increasing customer base, then the largest group of potential customers are those who are currently not purchasing based on price.
  
  Will this save a non-selling but technically or artistically excellent game? Maybe. But increasing DRM on the same game most certainly will not.
17. Re:Console games to follow by Sowelu · 2012-03-28 13:33 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  The answer is almost always "because the payment system is too onerous". Go put your game on Steam or something and people will be climbing over each other to buy it. Seriously, the difference between selling something yourself and putting it on Steam is like the difference between selling your book on Amazon and selling your book from your front porch twenty miles from nowhere.
18. Re:Console games to follow by Nugoo · 2012-03-28 14:56 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Imagine that they release the game without any protection: the very first purchaser will make an image and post it on Pirate Bay. Thus all the others that want a copy of the game will have a free alternative to get it within minutes of the game release. Why would they pay money (There is VERY little appreciatioin or loyalty to the game developers/publishers in the real world) when they can get the perfect copy for free? Thus DRM is there just to make the initial amazing-cracker buyer spend this precious intitial release time cracking the system rather than making the game available.
  Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations 2 both sold very well with zero DRM, not to mention GOG appears to be doing pretty well. As for loyalty, Tim Schafer raised over 3 million dollars with just the promise of a new game. Gamers are disloyal to companies that don't respect us.
  
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19. Re:Console games to follow by L4t3r4lu5 · 2012-03-28 22:05 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Concern is that the mass public aren't even aware of this and won't be UNTIL they go to try it in few years and realise they cannot play.
  
  Then, eventually there will just by simply acceptance that this is normal.
  Oh they're aware. Steam gamers are very aware.
  
  Currently, the only way to access Steam games offline is to go into "Offline Mode" while you're online, which caches your auth token or something. If you don't do this, your games are inaccessible when offline.
  
  This is the third time I've posted this, but it's important. If your connection goes down, Steam servers are on the fritz, your network card / router / modem dies etc. your Steam games are inaccessible. This applies to any and all online authentication DRM (some Games for Windows, Origin, many EA titles, to name some of them). After being burned by this issue for 3 days when BT "upgraded" my home connection, I don't buy any games on Steam, not even on sale, and I've told Valve as much. I'm also creating an archive of downloaded installation images and cracks for the games I've bought through Steam. I thoroughly encourage anyone else who values the products they've bought to do the same.
  
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20. Re:Console games to follow by Digital+Vomit · 2012-03-28 23:59 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Tim Schafer raised over 3 million dollars with just the promise of a new game. Gamers are disloyal to companies that don't respect us.
  Brian Fargo also got a million and a half dollars in less than two days from fans in order to make a sequel to Wasteland (the predecessor to the first two Fallout games).
  There is *far* more developer loyalty and appreciation among fans than the OP thinks. The publishers made the same mistake in their thinking. For a decade they refused to help Brian Fargo get a Wasteland 2 game made, thinking it would not make money. Then someone gave Fargo the idea of raising money via Kickstarter and *boom*.
  The *publishers* deserve the little to no appreciation or loyalty they get. They only get in the way of the gamers and game makers who want to make each other happy. They are the ones who insist on ridiculous DRM schemes, DLC scams, and such.
  
  --
  Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
Limited use by guspasho · 2012-03-28 08:14 · Score: 5, Insightful

Can I get my money back when the service is inevitably cancelled?
1. Re:Limited use by Quiet_Desperation · 2012-03-28 08:31 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Or people could use the patch that eliminates the online requirement which will be released five minutes after the game. :)
2. Re:Limited use by Petron · 2012-03-28 08:34 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Except for the fact that leaded gasoline cars could run unleaded gas with lead-replacement additives put into the fuel.
  
  A lot of DRM would be much more acceptable if the publisher guaranteed to put out a patch X months (or even years) after release to allow off-line play. In a game's life-cycle, the first few months of release are the most profitable. Trying to prevent copy-right infringement at that point is the most productive. If a company, say after 6-9 months would release a patch that removed the DRM, it wouldn't bother me enough to prevent me from buying the game.
  
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3. Re:Limited use by Nemesisghost · 2012-03-28 08:40 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  A lot of DRM would be much more acceptable if the publisher guaranteed to put out a patch X months (or even years) after release to allow off-line play. In a game's life-cycle, the first few months of release are the most profitable. Trying to prevent copy-right infringement at that point is the most productive. If a company, say after 6-9 months would release a patch that removed the DRM, it wouldn't bother me enough to prevent me from buying the game.
  No it wouldn't. The problem here is that you assume that if you purchase a copy after the DRM removal patch is out that your "new" copy won't have the DRM. Most likely, the DRM will still be apart of the retail copy and years down the road after they've stopped supporting the game you won't be able to find the patch that removes the DRM. A patch you need every time you need/decide to reinstall something you own.
What about old games in general? by MrEricSir · 2012-03-28 08:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

The other day I re-installed the original C&C Red Alert and had a fun time playing it.
Somehow, I doubt we'll be able to do the same with the new Sim City -- and many other new games -- seventeen years after their release. It's a sad future for old games.

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Re:You know what else you need? by Xugumad · 2012-03-28 08:21 · Score: 4, Insightful

I've had over a week's Internet downtime in the last year, and absolutely no power outage. You can understand if perhaps I'm more concerned about one than the other, then?
EA! Yeeeeeaaaahhhh! by Quiet_Desperation · 2012-03-28 08:28 · Score: 5, Funny

I hear this SimCity has an actual ending. Vishnu shows up in the form of Justin Beiber, and kicks your city into the sea. But you get to choose which sea.
Requires Constant Internet Connection by need4mospd · 2012-03-28 08:29 · Score: 5, Funny

No it won't.
-pirates
Pic sums up what heppens to developers with EA by mykos · 2012-03-28 08:29 · Score: 5, Funny

http://i43.tinypic.com/1pghep.jpg
The Sim City franchise jumped the shark by DJ+Jones · 2012-03-28 08:31 · Score: 5, Insightful

Sim City destroyed their brand with Sim City 3000. Like many simulation games, they focused too much on graphics and 3D imagery and compromised usability and basic game play. Sim City 2000 is still their best version and it was built in 1993. IMO they should return to a basic tile-based game engine and start over.
Re:Well if you stopped pirating your software. by CAIMLAS · 2012-03-28 08:36 · Score: 3, Insightful

I also want to add: I'm more likely to buy a game if I don't have to deal with the DRM. I can install it anywhere, just like I can read a book anywhere. Software has enough limitations as it is, I don't need the added restrictions of DRM to restrict my use of the game after a certain poorly defined point.

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Re:You people crack me up by Shompol · 2012-03-28 08:37 · Score: 5, Insightful

If you are that angry about it, don't buy the game.
Unfortunately, even if all slashdotters stopped buying, the effect on video-game market would be almost zero. On the other hand, if we raise stink about it and manage to educate a significant portion of buyers managements will think twice before crippling their offerings. And that is exactly what we are doing here.

If most of their market is ok with this deal
Most of their market does not realize/give it a thought that their acquisition will kick the bucket as soon as it is not profitable to maintain those DRM servers, which could happen after a few years or as soon as tomorrow. And at that point they will need to go to the grey market looking for hacked version and punch themselves for shelling money for it in the first place. If the DRM locks the game to hardware, they are out of luck with the next hardware upgrade as well. Meanwhile those who have a hacked version can enjoy a DRM-free experience for years to come. This is called "defective by design". Look it up.
Works For Me by Rie+Beam · 2012-03-28 08:40 · Score: 3, Insightful

Fine by me -- interacting with other people's cities has been something I've been looking forward to in the series for a long time. I imagine a world where one country's low industrial taxes suck away all of the factory jobs from your online neighbors, but everyone lives in another region and takes that neighbor's super-fast rail to world, while yet another neighbor develops a coastal resort for this population of transit workers to relax at on their days off, all the while a struggling farm community sits on its hands with a "World's Largest Llama" display...
Count me baited. DRM or not, I'm on board, assuming this enhancement is at least somewhat more than a simple statistical one.
Well, that'll be another game I don't buy then by Sycraft-fu · 2012-03-28 08:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

I am not a zealot, I'll meet publishers half way on DRM. I'm ok so long as it doesn't mess with my gameplay experience. Steam is fine, activation on install is fine. I prefer no DRM but I'm not going to be an absolutist dick.
However I will not accept always connected DRM for single player games. Part of the reason I have single player games is for when I don't have net access like when I'm on a plane, or when my Internet dies (and please let's not pretend like that never happens) and so on. That means they'd better work without it.
As such I've not bought Settlers 7, Assassin's Creed 2, or Heroes of Might and Magic 6. All games I wanted, all which I was willing to pay for, none that I have because of the always on DRM.
Thing is, it really isn't a big deal. There are SO MANY good games these days. Not just big studio titles, but indy as well, and digital distribution lets me get them easy. I have a backlog of games that I've bought, and haven't even installed. Time is my limiting factor, not games to play.
As such I can give some titles a miss, and will. I encourage others to do the same. Don't pirate, just don't buy. If they want always on DRM, just give it a miss and get something else. There's tons and tons out there. You can't be a zealot about it and demand NO DRM EVAR! If you do that you'll find your selection fairly limited, however if you meet them half way and say "Only DRM that doesn't mess with my ability to play," you find a whole lot of games.
Yep, and not hard to do either by Sycraft-fu · 2012-03-28 08:47 · Score: 4, Informative

There are tons and tons of games out there with new ones coming out all the time. So long as you are willing to be pragmatic and meet publishers half way and accept DRM that doesn't interfere, you can find a shitload of games. None of my games do always-connected DRM except for maybe the multiplayer ones in which case I'd never know since I have to be connected to play them (actually they don't bother, just saying) and I have a bunch of them. Many do have DRM, but it is DRM that isn't a big deal.
Steam would be an example. I do have to be online to get the game, of course, since it is a download. However I can run it offline just fine. So my net goes down, no problem I can play my game. Another would be some of the activation based systems. I install game, it activates, and then never checks again.
Companies are testing the waters with this and the easy way to put a stop to it is to not buy. If they sell Title X with always on DRM and they do 20,000 sales and sell Title Y with regular DRM and do 2,000,000 sales they'll learn quick enough.
Even Ubisoft who has talked shit like this up and was the first big on to do it is highly schizophrenic about it. They have done releases without it, even from the same series (AC2 has always on DRM, AC Brotherhood does not).
Just don't buy, or pirate, shit that has it, stick to the many, many other titles and there you go.
1. Re:Yep, and not hard to do either by nedlohs · 2012-03-28 09:14 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  And unsurprisingly a lot of people are fine with that. They don't have a fundamentalist attitude of "all DRM is evil". As long as it doesn't actually inconveniance them they're fine with it.
  It's just a theshold there's no encouragement for even more outrageous limitations. My threshold is somewhere before "can't play when offline", yours might be "has any DRM at all", other people's might be "doesn't come with source code", some people might use "doesn't come with copylefted source code". Your line is magically the universal truth.
2. Re:Yep, and not hard to do either by Darinbob · 2012-03-28 09:38 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  True, there are different thresholds. It's not really a fundamentalist opposition to DRM per se, just a fundamentalist opposition to voluntarily giving up my rights granted to me by law. The threshold for me is in not being able to give a game away for free by handing over the box to someone else (Steam disallows) and in the game becoming absolutely useless if Steam goes out of business or being bought out. Give up some rights and you've opened the door to losing more rights.
  I can replay Arena today, or Morrowind, or Oblivion. If I buy Skyrim what guarantee do I have that I can play it in ten years or more from today? My threshold now is that a steam game must be under $10 before I buy it, which is what I'm willing to RENT a game instead of owning it.
3. Re:Yep, and not hard to do either by Martin+Blank · 2012-03-28 11:08 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Valve has said that they would like to be able to resell games, but their license agreements generally prohibit it, so they've not implemented it. They have talked about it, though, in such a way as Steam, the publisher, and the original buyer all get a cut (with the largest going to the original buyer). It's not perfect, but the idea does open up the possibility of resale.
  
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4. Re:Yep, and not hard to do either by geminidomino · 2012-03-28 15:56 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  If I buy Skyrim what guarantee do I have that I can play it in ten years or more from today?
  SKIDROW's got you covered, of course.
5. Re:Yep, and not hard to do either by L4t3r4lu5 · 2012-03-28 22:12 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Steam would be an example. I do have to be online to get the game, of course, since it is a download. However I can run it offline just fine. So my net goes down, no problem I can play my game.
  
  Utter bullshit.
  
  I'm not having a go at you; It's a statement of fact. Simulate a connection loss while Steam is online i.e. pull out your network cable (real world scenario here; consumer grade connections drop all the time) and reboot your PC. That's a common fix for connection loss, right? Now try and play your Steam games.
  
  Oh look! You try and launch Steam in Offline Mode, but you get an error and Steam exits! What's that? Your games are inaccessible now? This is exactly what would happen if Steam folded tomorrow, or the servers were DDoS'd, or your connection went down for real?
  
  Offline Mode is for when you plan to be offline, e.g. You take your laptop on holiday. You set Offline Mode, you reboot Steam, you can use it as normal. Unexpected loss of connectivity, though, results in total lockout. It's utterly, utterly abhorrent, and I have no further part in it. Current Steam games I play, but I won't buy any more of them. I encourage you to do the same, and let Valve know about it.
  
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it isn just't games by Colin+Smith · 2012-03-28 08:49 · Score: 5, Insightful

This is what "the cloud" is all about. Why let people pay you once to own something when they can pay you forever to rent it?

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Re:You people crack me up by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2012-03-28 08:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

If you are that angry about it, don't buy the game.
Or, you could do something effectual, and not buy the game AND tell them why... just like 'whining' on a forum like Slashdot is accomplishing.
Millions of people don't buy games, just a little over a thousand got EA to change its DRM policy. Look up Spore.

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Re:Don't like it, don't play it by dgatwood · 2012-03-28 09:28 · Score: 3, Informative
True, and that's a very good reason to not buy this game, if you feel that's a risk
A risk? It's practically guaranteed. The only thing that isn't guaranteed is the timeframe. It's like buying a computer knowing that it has a timebomb inside that will destroy the CPU after a random period of time. It might go off after a week, or it might go off after three or four years, but it will go off.
Let's look at the history of DRM for a moment.
- DIVX
- Amazon PDF and LIT ebooks
- Yahoo! Music Unlimited
- Microsoft Plays for Sure/MSN Music
- Rhapsody RAX
- Ubisoft (multiple game titles)
- Fictionwise / Overdrive
- Adobe DRMed PDF files from Adobe Content Server 3
- Adobe Ad-supported PDF files
- Harper Collins ebook store
- CyberRead ebook store
These are just a few of the types of content that have become inaccessible or are expected to soon become inaccessible because of the shutdown of DRM-related servers. In some cases, the content still functions on the original devices, but for most of the above list, it does not.
Buying games that will stop working if they can't contact a server isn't taking a risk. It's throwing money away. Taking a risk is buying products that require activation on new machines; at least the continued operation of your own equipment is, to an extent, under your control.
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My alternative to DRM frustration by MDillenbeck · 2012-03-28 14:36 · Score: 4, Informative

After leaving the tabletop gaming market for the electronics game market, I find myself slowly returning to the tabletop gaming. Sure, there aren't as many good solo games (Lord of the Rings "living card game", Arkham Horror, etc). Sure, the cost is about the same - $50 to $100 plus $25 to $60 per expansion - and many of them are designed to only work in multiplayer mode. However, I don't have to activate over the internet each time I start the game, I never have to worry about a service going down for a month and preventing me from even opening my game, and I never have to worry about servers shutting down and causing my game to become non-functional. True, sometimes when I buy a used game there are components that are missing that can render it non-functional, so I have to be careful and check that the game is complete. Still, the best part is being able to play my game when my power is out. (Wish I had gotten back into the tabletop gaming before Heroscape got cancelled - that one looked fun, but its pricey to buy it used.)
Seriously, I was looking forward to a real sequel to SimCity, but this DRM scheme is something I want to avoid. At this point I think I'd rather head down to my local game shop during game night and have several hours of fun that way. With game companies also churning out the boardgames with great visuals (plastic figures, sometimes painted figures, colorful map tiles, tons of chipboard markers, higher quality art work, etc), the lack of DRM in tabletop games is a welcome relief from the electronic game lockdown. Heck, as fun as video games are, nothing beats a nice tense game of Pandemic + Over the Brink with my wife - best coop play I've ever seen in tabletop or electronic gaming!