Oi! Blizzard! I have a bone to pick with you! For the most part I didn't follow your two-year-long Diablo III production cycle and subsequent hype on account of the fact that I didn't give a flying fuck. But now that the game is out and it's probably the biggest PC release this quarter (if not this year), I thought I'd read up on a few details. Let me ask this:
Did you seriously think locking the SINGLE PLAYER campaign in your OWN servers was a GOOD idea? REALLY?
For those like me who hadn't been following the news, this is how Diablo III works: you sign up with Battle.net, you get the downloader, you load SOME of the game, you log in and you play. It sounds pretty standard procedure these days, but here's the punchline: you download maps and models and music and textures and whatever, but things like scripts and triggers to actually progress in the game are stored away in Blizzard's servers. In other words, you can't play this SINGLE PLAYER game if you're not online 24/7. Logging out means your game can't find the script needed to, say, complete X quest and so you're stuck.
It's like an MMO, only each player has their own instance. A SINGLE PLAYER GAME no longer allows that SINGLE player that buys it to play it in their own terms. The publisher has to control everything. It's like cloud networking isn't supposed to store application data, but instead player data.
YOU ARE THE CLOUD.
You know guys, I'm used to companies thinking they lead the future all the while screwing their clientele. Rentals, a necessary alternative for some of us, are becoming increasingly harder to find. I haven't been able to find a PC game for rent in a long time, because everyone these days expects their online verification-type DRM.
Besides my hissy-fit, it's a practice I never could understand. Publishers can scream all they want that rentals cheat them out of money, but much like bare-bones piracy, it's the only outlet for a part (however big or small) of the audience to experience their work. We aren't talking about verified customers that just change their minds because they find a cheaper alternative, we are talking about people who would otherwise not give a rat's ass. How is that a BAD thing for anyone involved in creative work? Ever heard of the term "exposure"? How high up your own ass do you need to be to really believe you no longer need that?
Fuck me, the game had TWO MILLION PRE-ORDERS. PRE-ORDERS! Do you really think these would drop to one million if your stupid game wasn't server-based?
Here is the biggest question of all, the same question that always pops up whenever a product like this becomes available: what the hell happens when the servers are down? When they collapse for months? When Battle.net is hacked? When the servers are hacked? When the service goes offline for whatever reason indefinitely? Are customers supposed to trust that the all-mighty Blizzard (a company that ranks pretty low on the Sinister Publishers list but still sells all the expansion for World of Warcraft at ridiculous prices while maintaining the monthly subscription) has contingency plans for all of the above?
Is the customer required to trust the company, when the company doesn't trust the customer?
Until now, we were just renting the "license" to use a game (that's what buying a game really means; look it up). Now we're just begging to be part of some arbitrary high club carrying a heavy name.
In related news, just so nobody calls me a black-hearted little bastard (which I totally am), Blizzard did at least foot the bill for Australian players who had pre-ordered from retailer GAME and never received their copies. They'll all receive the games they paid for and the company will pick up the tab. It's a public relations move, make no mistake. But it's fortunate they at least care enough to still partake on those, as opposed to certain other publishers *COUGH*EA*COUGH*.
Did you seriously think locking the SINGLE PLAYER campaign in your OWN servers was a GOOD idea? REALLY?
For those like me who hadn't been following the news, this is how Diablo III works: you sign up with Battle.net, you get the downloader, you load SOME of the game, you log in and you play. It sounds pretty standard procedure these days, but here's the punchline: you download maps and models and music and textures and whatever, but things like scripts and triggers to actually progress in the game are stored away in Blizzard's servers. In other words, you can't play this SINGLE PLAYER game if you're not online 24/7. Logging out means your game can't find the script needed to, say, complete X quest and so you're stuck.
It's like an MMO, only each player has their own instance. A SINGLE PLAYER GAME no longer allows that SINGLE player that buys it to play it in their own terms. The publisher has to control everything. It's like cloud networking isn't supposed to store application data, but instead player data.
YOU ARE THE CLOUD.
You know guys, I'm used to companies thinking they lead the future all the while screwing their clientele. Rentals, a necessary alternative for some of us, are becoming increasingly harder to find. I haven't been able to find a PC game for rent in a long time, because everyone these days expects their online verification-type DRM.
Besides my hissy-fit, it's a practice I never could understand. Publishers can scream all they want that rentals cheat them out of money, but much like bare-bones piracy, it's the only outlet for a part (however big or small) of the audience to experience their work. We aren't talking about verified customers that just change their minds because they find a cheaper alternative, we are talking about people who would otherwise not give a rat's ass. How is that a BAD thing for anyone involved in creative work? Ever heard of the term "exposure"? How high up your own ass do you need to be to really believe you no longer need that?
Fuck me, the game had TWO MILLION PRE-ORDERS. PRE-ORDERS! Do you really think these would drop to one million if your stupid game wasn't server-based?
Here is the biggest question of all, the same question that always pops up whenever a product like this becomes available: what the hell happens when the servers are down? When they collapse for months? When Battle.net is hacked? When the servers are hacked? When the service goes offline for whatever reason indefinitely? Are customers supposed to trust that the all-mighty Blizzard (a company that ranks pretty low on the Sinister Publishers list but still sells all the expansion for World of Warcraft at ridiculous prices while maintaining the monthly subscription) has contingency plans for all of the above?
Is the customer required to trust the company, when the company doesn't trust the customer?
Until now, we were just renting the "license" to use a game (that's what buying a game really means; look it up). Now we're just begging to be part of some arbitrary high club carrying a heavy name.
In related news, just so nobody calls me a black-hearted little bastard (which I totally am), Blizzard did at least foot the bill for Australian players who had pre-ordered from retailer GAME and never received their copies. They'll all receive the games they paid for and the company will pick up the tab. It's a public relations move, make no mistake. But it's fortunate they at least care enough to still partake on those, as opposed to certain other publishers *COUGH*EA*COUGH*.
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