Discussion about Always-On Connection to Origin

[macscfan 117]

To be brutally honest, it's time to look at it from the angle of EA's strategic business development. What this is, really is nothing more than a clear affirmation of the desire to cut off and not serve those market segments which do not serve EA's strategic goals, and an affirmation of venture development focus through the investment format on those projects that target strictly what is know as the accessible volume markets of leisure and casual gameplay of interest for profiling and data mining. 

 

In simple terms, it makes clear beyond a doubt that EA is not willing to care about so called core user types of franchise markets existing. Fully willing to cut those off even from serving as enablement points. 

 

Incidentally, the statement "in many ways we built an MMO" is extremely interesting. Particularly for those people who still think that EA is going to lift any finger and expend resources to cater to those who prefer a single play format.

 

This seems appropriate, cross-posting it here:

 

 

This is a big concern with SimCity 2013 with me:

 

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-04-15-the-perils-of-whale-hunting

 

 

 

EA All Play senior vice president and general manager Nick Earl acknowledged that shutting down games can burn bridges with the diehard customer base, saying it was a natural result of having a live service business and moving resources from one project to another.  "The strategy that we tend to employ is moving these live services to lower cost centers, so the economic structure shifts in a way that you can support a game for much longer, even though the revenue line is not as strong as it was," Earl said. "So we've got a very strong group of studios in Hyderabad, in India, and it's a lower cost center and will be a lower cost center for the next few years. And to be completely honest here, there are times where you just have to sunset a game and there are fans still playing that game."

 

I loathe the idea of spending $60, then possibly more on DLC, spending a lot of time building cities, and then one day EA deciding they have to sunset it, and I lose everything.

 

I can still play SimCity 4 anytime I want, I can bring up cities I built from 5 years ago.   Because SimCity has now become a service instead of a self-contained game, I'll lose my cities if EA decides they don't want to maintain the servers any longer.

[Urban Cartographer 601]

Though late, the Toronto Star is now reporting on SimCity: http://www.thestar.com/life/technology/2013/04/19/alwaysonline_future_worrying_gamers.html

It says that EA has been twice voted as the worst company in the United States (often with the use of SimCity as an example).

 

Now Canada's most read daily newspaper is aware of the problems with Origin (and the future of video gaming).

[ihatehavingtologin 5]

The sad thing is, it seems always-online is now standard in all games, which is not OK for many reasons. This game had so much potential, and I was so hyped for it and the cool new features it was going to have but then I heard about the DRM scheme and got rid of my hopes. I was still sore from Diablo 3 and knew the same was going to happen to this game. That is why I joined, to get mods for SC4. I've even heard some people say the game isn't being cracked because it isn't even worth pirating.

 

And I'm sorry but I don't feel like trading with XxX_Snyper420_XxX for coal and oil, I'd like to build my own whole region by myself please, not a 40x40 square. /walloftext

[cirugo 1,889]

More about Maxis/EA's lies about the game needing to be online:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/22/the-power-of-silence-why-the-simcity-story-went-away/

[macvirt 361]

More about Maxis/EA's lies about the game needing to be online:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/22/the-power-of-silence-why-the-simcity-story-went-away/

 

Textbook case of Big Lie methodology. I'm surprised RPS has not figured out EA's use of it yet. Could be that they are still a bit hesitant because of popular connotations attached to that concept, but still, it is textbook step by step. 

[Gregorfp 15]

Hi Guys,

 

I've always been a constant reader of STs forum, but, as usual, always been to lazy to post something.

 

What I see, this time, a BIG, MASSIVE, dissapointment by Sc4 fans referring to this brand new game.

From MKT point of view, I've never seen such a failure in meet fan spectations in all aspects. The evolution of Simcity is quite a DOWNGRADE of the previous version.

 

But enough of this for now, back to the main discussion:

 

THIS always on connection is the DUMBEST thing I EVER seen. Is this to avoid piracy? Can't be: a six yeard old child now that it will always have a way to get around with it. Still, a 16 years old teen knows that, in many many many a lot so many of times, people who bought the game need to play offline sometimes, and a 26 years old average guy know that, the biggest the number of players (both genuine or not) the biggest the chance they would earn a lot of cash with online custom content.

So this is not the question at all.

 

And finally, I just wanted to say that, I am just one more fan feeling so stupid to buy this game and even can't play whenever I want.

I was fooled enough with this origin download crap but this online feature is even more irritating...

 

that's all folks

 

[cirugo 1,889]

Hi Guys,

 

I've always been a constant reader of STs forum, but, as usual, always been to lazy to post something.

 

What I see, this time, a BIG, MASSIVE, dissapointment by Sc4 fans referring to this brand new game.

From MKT point of view, I've never seen such a failure in meet fan spectations in all aspects. The evolution of Simcity is quite a DOWNGRADE of the previous version.

 

But enough of this for now, back to the main discussion:

 

THIS always on connection is the DUMBEST thing I EVER seen. Is this to avoid piracy? Can't be: a six yeard old child now that it will always have a way to get around with it. Still, a 16 years old teen knows that, in many many many a lot so many of times, people who bought the game need to play offline sometimes, and a 26 years old average guy know that, the biggest the number of players (both genuine or not) the biggest the chance they would earn a lot of cash with online custom content.

So this is not the question at all.

 

And finally, I just wanted to say that, I am just one more fan feeling so stupid to buy this game and even can't play whenever I want.

I was fooled enough with this origin download crap but this online feature is even more irritating...

 

that's all folks

anti-piracy is just the icing on the cake.  they are moving to making games into a service rather than a product.  they can monetize them, data-mine and sell your info, and sell you DLC much easier with this model of gaming.  That's what it's all about...not providing a good game.  Surprisingly enough, I don't object to any of that.  what I object to is not being able to play when and where I want.

[smadaluap 4]

At first I wasn't all that bothered by the 'always online' requirement to play the game (even though I would be happy if Origin had a 'work offline' mode like Steam does). That changed last night when my telephone line (and subsequently the internet connection) crapped out meaning I was unable to dive back into my cities for an hour or so before heading off to bed last night. Hopefully the engineer's sorting out the line now whilst I'm at work 

[Gregorfp 15]

 

Hi Guys,

 

I've always been a constant reader of STs forum, but, as usual, always been to lazy to post something.

 

What I see, this time, a BIG, MASSIVE, dissapointment by Sc4 fans referring to this brand new game.

From MKT point of view, I've never seen such a failure in meet fan spectations in all aspects. The evolution of Simcity is quite a DOWNGRADE of the previous version.

 

But enough of this for now, back to the main discussion:

 

THIS always on connection is the DUMBEST thing I EVER seen. Is this to avoid piracy? Can't be: a six yeard old child now that it will always have a way to get around with it. Still, a 16 years old teen knows that, in many many many a lot so many of times, people who bought the game need to play offline sometimes, and a 26 years old average guy know that, the biggest the number of players (both genuine or not) the biggest the chance they would earn a lot of cash with online custom content.

So this is not the question at all.

 

And finally, I just wanted to say that, I am just one more fan feeling so stupid to buy this game and even can't play whenever I want.

I was fooled enough with this origin download crap but this online feature is even more irritating...

 

that's all folks

anti-piracy is just the icing on the cake.  they are moving to making games into a service rather than a product.  they can monetize them, data-mine and sell your info, and sell you DLC much easier with this model of gaming.  That's what it's all about...not providing a good game.  Surprisingly enough, I don't object to any of that.  what I object to is not being able to play when and where I want.

 

You see, they are right in doing this, it is a good strategy. But the problem is not what they are doing, is HOW they are doing it. And the internet requirement is just a dumb thing, probably suggested by someone who doesn't have a clue of what costumers want...

You are right on that, i don't object to it neither. I just want to play the game I bought whenever I want.

From anti-piracy the point of view I guess it makes more sense to accept piracy (and all potential loss associated to it) and monetize what they really want to sell (the service) rather than avoid piracy by narrowing the target market.

[Gregorfp 15]

At first I wasn't all that bothered by the 'always online' requirement to play the game (even though I would be happy if Origin had a 'work offline' mode like Steam does). That changed last night when my telephone line (and subsequently the internet connection) crapped out meaning I was unable to dive back into my cities for an hour or so before heading off to bed last night. Hopefully the engineer's sorting out the line now whilst I'm at work 

 

yep, that happened to me. If they only knew that not all players live in US (I guess ppl at EA should try to develop games to sell around the world as well, just a suggestion ) ...

But besides infra structure problems in Brazil, what happens here is that some places simply don't even get internet access of any kind. The first time I got stuck to this always-online-bs I brought my laptop to my uncles country house hoping I could enjoy the game a little bit and guess what? ta-daaaa: not freeeking internet on the bushes (lol). Forgot completely. Thank god I had the revolutionary SC4 with me!!! 

[smadaluap 4]

 

At first I wasn't all that bothered by the 'always online' requirement to play the game (even though I would be happy if Origin had a 'work offline' mode like Steam does). That changed last night when my telephone line (and subsequently the internet connection) crapped out meaning I was unable to dive back into my cities for an hour or so before heading off to bed last night. Hopefully the engineer's sorting out the line now whilst I'm at work 

 

yep, that happened to me. If they only knew that not all players live in US (I guess ppl at EA should try to develop games to sell around the world as well, just a suggestion ) ...

But besides infra structure problems in Brazil, what happens here is that some places simply don't even get internet access of any kind. The first time I got stuck to this always-online-bs I brought my laptop to my uncles country house hoping I could enjoy the game a little bit and guess what? ta-daaaa: not freeeking internet on the bushes (lol). Forgot completely. Thank god I had the revolutionary SC4 with me!!! 

 

I'm seriously considering putting SC4 back in.   Either that, or play one of my other games that doesn't have an always-online requirement - which just happens to be most of them.   lol

[Gregorfp 15]

The servers are in stupid maintenance mode and I can't play the game I spent a lot of my simoleons on!!!

[wings7 0]

This is a great game, even with glitches and all, over time the glitches will be addressed. I hope EA will add the function of playing off-line in the future, it's up to all of us to let them know we want the option of playing off-line! Here is the evidence that EA does listen: The recent announcement of The Sims 4, EA stated that being on-line will not be necessary to play The Sims 4...so everybody let EA know!

 

Happy Simming!

Patrick 

[baertooth 330]

This is a great game, even with glitches and all, over time the glitches will be addressed. I hope EA will add the function of playing off-line in the future, it's up to all of us to let them know we want the option of playing off-line! Here is the evidence that EA does listen: The recent announcement of The Sims 4, EA stated that being on-line will not be necessary to play The Sims 4...so everybody let EA know!

 

Happy Simming!

Patrick 

 

 

 

Unfortunately they know we want offline mode but they have said it does not fit in with their vision of the game so they've decided against it.  My guess is there is no budget left to rework the game for single player so this is it.

[Mark O 9]

I HATE playing on-line games.  Slow/unreliable internet means it is just not an option.  Guess I'll stick to SC4.

 

If EA wakes up and sells a stand-alone version, I'll be happy to buy it, but in the mean-time, I'll keep my money.

[Gregorfp 15]

those idiots silliy don't have a clue what is like to live in a bric...

I mean, they are not idiots per say, they just don't have enough knowledge of what is going on outside US (the door)... lol

 

Those companies sometimes seems to not have a owner... how can they keep a market manager of such a briiiiliant mind on the job ...

[cirugo 1,889]

And now we see that Microsoft is paying for SimCity's (and Diablo 3 before it) sins with the reception to the XBox.

Note to game developers:  stop trying to put restrictions on your games and then trying to convince people that it's for "gameplay" and their "benefit."

[Urban Cartographer 601]

No doubt about that.

 

Microsoft is no different from EA or Blizzard when it comes to restrictive DRM.

[DumplingPod 0]

Here's my $0.02... + A lot lot lot lot more...

 

SC13 is a great game. Shortcomings aside, it's the best SimCity I've played. It has had the best performance of any SimCity game, it looks fantastic, and it's pretty fun. 

 

The Always-On DRM isn't a problem for me. I have loved the SimCity franchise ever since I've started playing it on the SNES. I'm always connected to the internet. My gaming PC cannot go onto a train or plane or spaceship. My laptop can "play" but it isn't as enjoyable. I'm perfectly fine with this DRM.

 

I try to be as neutral as possible. I am for and against this Always-On DRM, and I understand all the reasons for and against the argument. 

 

I realize I speak for a small chunk of the community, but the Always-On DRM isn't too big a deal. I feel that the technology is evolving. More devices these days are shipping with 4G LTE and 3G connectivity options. The Chrome Books that Google is shipping are basically completely useless without and internet connection. Of course you can type some documents offline, but you don't get the full power unless you're online. This is similar to SimCity and many new games. Even with a single player experience, I think some would like to see themselves contributing to a worldwide community, much like mayors today will do. 

 

Technology today is evolving and we are becoming more and more connected as we speak. Google is rolling out their Fiber service that is going to provide essentially Free internet in the United States. All our phones these days can act as mobile hotspots, which is definitely enough to get SimCity started. After that, feel free to disconnect and you're fine! Free wireless is available in coffee shops and McDonald's all across the world. AmTrak is providing Wi-Fi service to many popular trains and stations. The Keystone line, for example, which services my area, has WiFi now. A list can be found here: http://www.amtrak.com/journey-with-wi-fi-train-station. Airports all over have Wi-Fi now and even some flights have some sort of internet connection. United Airlines is working Wi-Fi into their planes. http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/inflight/wifi/default.aspx. 

 

It would be nice if SimCity had something similar to what Minecraft has today. An offline mode. You sign on once, the full client downloads, and you can play your single player worlds. Of course, you aren't signed in so you don't have your skin, and you don't have any sort of mutliplayer access. Minecraft even has this thing where if you lose your internet connection whilst playing a single player game, it retains the information and lets you keep playing until you log off. If you're playing multiplayer, tough luck. An offline mode would be nice especially if it was separate from what we are doing now. It would be nice to see if you could download your cities to your hard drive and play them completely separately from the online play. I honestly don't see a reason why that can't be. Of course, it would be like the sandbox mode where you can't contribute to it. If you want to compete with other cities, you have to play online. That makes a lot of sense to me. If you are going to be offline, plan ahead and start playing a region that you play solely offline. This plan, I believe, is fairly easy to implement. Just make online and offline play completely separate from each other. Offline play does not have any relation to online. Your cities are completely separate. It's like two different worlds. In offline mode, you can't play on leaderboards. In offline mode, achievements are completely separate. That would be really easy to implement because it doesn't require too much changing of the code. Completely separate play. 

 

The always-on DRM is not a problem for me. Everything works perfectly fine for me. If there's a power outage, my computer goes down and my internet goes down. I'm not going to be playing SimCity because there's no power for me to play it. My computer's battery isn't strong enough to keep a graphically intensive game running for more than 2 hours. If I'm on a plane or train or something, I will just play a different game. If I have internet, I will probably play something like SimCity. It's really that simple. It's always great to have some variety in life. I feel that the always-on DRM is, in a way, trying to change the gaming industry. It may seem all negative, but I feel that always-on DRM is pushing for the international access to internet that is funded by advertisements, much like Google and YouTube today. I feel that always-on DRM is pushing for a more connected and social gaming experience, even though some games might not fit it. I think SimCity wouldn't have been so successful if multiplayer wasn't introduced. There is a small fan base that will buy the game if it was completely single player, but what game these days doesn't have multiplayer? If you take a look at the top games on twitch.tv, games like League of Legends, Dota 2, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Diablo 3, RuneScape, these are all games that have multiplayer. A game without multiplayer, even if it doesn't necessarily fit the franchise, won't be as welcoming. Although reliable fans want one thing, sometimes, it's a risk companies like EA must take to try and get gamers that aren't necessarily involved with the franchise excited about the game. Otherwise, it's just another sandbox game that gets boring after a while. Multiplayer adds a bunch of new possibilities and new scenarios that would've never been able to be reproduced in single player. 

 

I honestly think... calm down about the DRM... Play the game for what it's worth now... and complain later... Enjoy it for what it is... Play SimCity 4 later...

 

SimCity is a different game... It's not like games where multiplayer is incredibly repetitive... SimCity is a game of infinite possibilities. It not like those stupid Facebook games that EA is shutting down... SimCity is more than just a game. SimCity is a hobby... The SimCity community might be small, but because SimCity is a sandbox game, shutting down the servers might be hard... especially if there are still lots of people playing the game. EA is not stupid... (Or at least, not completely) We're all hoping that they will listen to the community that has brought SimCity back, and they will hear us out. EA is losing lots of rep for this... Losing rep = losing money. Who knows... they might make this game completely offline before shutting down the servers. It only makes sense... EA hasn't released a sandbox game of this magnitude in a really long time. They have a (somewhat) dedicated programming staff and the lead developer seems to be much more in to the game. I think he wants to see SimCity in its former glory. Not an EA cash cow. 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

[wings7 0]

DumplingPod wrote: "EA hasn't released a sandbox game of this magnitude in a really long time."

 

That was a terrific post, I enjoyed reading it very much. As far as the quote, EA's The Sims series (The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims 3) is very much a sandbox game (there are some differences) and you don't need to be connected to the web to play. The upcoming Sims 4 release will also be the same, no need to connect to the web to play! Happy Simming everyone!

 

Patrick

[spartanlemur 0]

I do hope EA are eventually going to release an offline edition. I was planning on paying £45 (IIRC) at launch for the game and then changed my mind after hearing about the always online requirement. I still haven't bought the game as there are plenty of more consumer-friendly developers out there (indie developers seem to be in a golden age right now) who deserve the cash, plus I don't like the whole sign-in process surrounding always online games.

I'm not the only person who feels this way, and EA seem to be ignoring a silent mass of people who will buy this game the moment the company makes an official offline patch. The extra sales would more than pay for the work required to do this.

So until the design flaw is fixed (and it will be eventually I'm sure) we'll be sitting on the sidelines patiently waiting.

Perhaps one day EA will realise why they keep getting worst company awards. Microsoft did the same thing with the Xbone reveal, and publishers really ought to learn just how much the community hates always-online, and to what degree we enjoy total control and ownership over our games.

[cirugo 1,889]

I do hope EA are eventually going to release an offline edition. I was planning on paying £45 (IIRC) at launch for the game and then changed my mind after hearing about the always online requirement. I still haven't bought the game as there are plenty of more consumer-friendly developers out there (indie developers seem to be in a golden age right now) who deserve the cash, plus I don't like the whole sign-in process surrounding always online games.

I'm not the only person who feels this way, and EA seem to be ignoring a silent mass of people who will buy this game the moment the company makes an official offline patch. The extra sales would more than pay for the work required to do this.

So until the design flaw is fixed (and it will be eventually I'm sure) we'll be sitting on the sidelines patiently waiting.

Perhaps one day EA will realise why they keep getting worst company awards. Microsoft did the same thing with the Xbone reveal, and publishers really ought to learn just how much the community hates always-online, and to what degree we enjoy total control and ownership over our games.

If you ask me, people should refrain from buying even if they eventually DO give in and finally provide an offline mode.  Rather than take the ENORMOUS account of feedback about fundamentals of the game (like the required internet connection)  they've been conducting a steady campaign of trying to squelch that feedback.  A company that is so hostile to the wants of its customers does not deserve success.

[AndyGreen 0]

I would love to buy this game (as would two of my brothers) but because the majority of our play-time of this game would be offline (no access to internet), I cannot justify paying for a game that requires an always-on internet connection.

 

EA, add in an offline mode and you'll get 3x purchases from my siblings and I.

 

Additionally, what happens in 10 years from now when I want to play and the servers are down?

 

p.s. I still play SimCity4 and enjoy it. I just want to contribute my money to what I think is a well-made game (except for the always-on requirement)

 

Sincerely,

 

A dissappointed (long-time) fan of the MAXIS SimCity franchise.

[ChrilleT 2]

Tried to play some today but got an error message and could not start the game. Searched and found this on sim city´s homepage "We are aware of an issue currently preventing you from logging into origin."

It sucks when even singleplayer games these days needs connection to servers to work.

[PhilGrocholl 4]

It's about time that they give in to what the players want, Offline mode, and larger city sizes, and terraforming. But, it's too late. And they want to make it an "expansion pack"? So not only do you get to buy the original at its high price, then to get the features that everyone wants, you have to pay, what, like $30-$40 more? For basic features that should have been in the original game. No thanks EA, you blew your chance, and I've lost interest. I would love to give you a second chance, but this game has been desired for 10 years, and knowing what we have wanted for that long, you went ahead and did the opposite anyway. You do not deserve it now. As much as I would love to play it, I have Megapolis now, and it's replacing the Sim City desires nicely. And of course I still have Sim City 4. I'll wait till it hits the bargain bin before I jump on this ship.

[SoftcoreGamer 352]

Just checked in on Gamespot to see what's happening with this train wreck. Am very surprised by the lack of excitement here about the latest "offline SC5" consideration. A few July 5 speculative articles, on a leaked SimCity survey image, implied an offline mode is being considered. The leaked survey image contains a few dozens of typical core fan wants so deserve a thread of its own which I will start after this post.

 

In a later Gamespot July 24 article, SC5 is also mentioned alongside the confirmation of The Sims 4 being offline... excerpt:

 

In addition, the feedback EA received from gamers following SimCity's launch helped inspire the company to make 2014's The Sims 4 an offline game, Gibeau said.

"In the last few months, we have started making changes to the business practices that gamers clearly don't like," Gibeau said. "In the spring, we dropped our online pass program for consoles--both next-generation and current-generation. We listened to the feedback on SimCity and decided that The Sims 4 would be built as a single-player, offline experience."

 

In another June article titled EA Wants to Stop Being 'Hated', EA also recently retired its controversial Online Pass program saying the decision came about in part because of user feedback.

 

OMG they can hear!

 

What I'm really saying is, there may still be hope for a truly offline version of SC2013.

 

Of course, it must be no login required, 100% playable offline, save-able offline in user computer, to qualify as offline.

 

So let's see...

[About47Pandas 0]

I know I am a little late on this topic, but I was skimming through this forum and reading some of the posts.

 

People seem to forget what making a game is about. Sure everyone will say "They just want money" But lets scale this down a bit.

 

Hypothetically speaking, lets say you are an Indi game developer and you made 2 or 3 fantastic indi games that people love. It becomes a success, and you update it regularly that meets the standard of YOUR VISION OF THE GAME. Thus the people are happy, it is the first game of its kind so peoples expectations are not as high. They have a brand new game in front of them that they have not experienced before. So that first game is awesome. The first Simcity was like this. Then you create your second game, building on your first game and expanding it again it is a success, much like the next SimCity, and the one after that and so on. Sim City 4 was a great success as everyone keeps referring to it as if it is the bible itself.

 

Now your third game... you are thinking it up, brainstorming. You love the previous games you made and you made them in your vision, and thus, you are satisfied with them. Now you want something more unique something more... unique. You play your games and your friends play it. So your next game is a build of the previous, but with a new mechanic. It is essentially the same game yet you build it in your own vision. The one mechanic that you want in the game will of course go into the game. 

 

Now your game is released and the one mechanic that you wanted in the game... people do not like. People rage on forums and blogs about how the game is unplayable because of this new feature. That they will not buy it because of this garbage that is implemented in game. Could you remove this... this thing you wanted in your game. Of course. (Did EA/Maxis Lie about the ability to remove the always online, yes) The bottom line is "It is your game, you and your team made it" These people who are demanding that the game be changed to suit their wants do not have to buy it. While you read all these insulting posts about your new game, you are thinking to yourself "What game has this person made? Did they make a series of games that I loved? And If I did, did I scrutinize every detail of their game and demand it to be changed?

 

How many people complain that Call of Duty is a load of garbage yet continue to play it and how many of those people who say it is so bad will probably buy the next one?

 

How many people say that McDonalds is probably the worst thing you can put in your body yet walk in and shell out 5 bucks for a meal?

 

How many people complain their girlfriend doesnt do the dirty stuff and they cheat on them? (My bad... getting a little personal)

 

Bottom line is, EA and Maxis Had the set goal of creating what they think is an "MMO" Now, I personally disagree with their idea but if that is the premise of their game then there is nothing I can do about it.

 

Imagine people hearing about World of Warcraft before it was released. These fans of the RTS Warcraft games who played single player offline would be thinking "Wth? Always online? What if I wanted to quest on my own offline?"

 

Our Idea of an MMO is likely that of WoW or EQ or Starwars Galaxies *Before the revamp*. That MMO of course would be always Online.

 

Now EA and Maxis claim SimCity 5 is an MMO and is always online. Now I read the redit posts as to the Sim City servers only pushing updates from other cities in realtime if the other player was online etc thus making an offline mode VERY easy to accomplish. What if EA/Maxis wanted to build on this premise of their new Idea of an MMO and we do not know all their plans? Forget about DRM, DRM is here to stay now, and I hate it, but think of all those people who owned VCRs and Hundreds of VHS tapes? Pft DvD players? Dvds? You are telling me it is gonna be harder to copy my DVDs to another disk but... but... VHS only had the little tab I had to cover up and I could record it or--- DvDs are here to stay, Bluray is an update to DvDs just like there was a version previous to VHS. 8 Track tapes to cassette tapes. We live in an ever evolving tech world, and us Old school guys are not going to like it.

 

Lets take a look at the Acronym "MMO" Meaning Massively Multiplayer Online

Massively - large in scale, amount, or degree

Multiplayer - a mode of play involving more than one player at one time in a computer or video game

Online -  connected by computer to one or more other computers or networks, as through a commercial electronic information service or the Internet.

 

Now is does the new simcity meet these definitions in their game?

Yes, it is massive, collecting data from other players, recording them in a data base on a large scale, one server that people connects to.

Yes it is Multiplayer, Sharing a region with other players, interacting with their cities by means of trade, donating etc, Social functions.

Yes it is online, Viewing your own city and being able to view your neighboring cities while they are offline.

 

Putting all this together would be an MMO.

Now we could argue this. Games like Counterstrike is not an MMO right lets look,

No it is not massive, Different servers are run by individuals and do not share stats, and you can not interact with those players while offline

Yes it is multiplayer, Playing with 2 or more people

Yes Online, Connecting to any one individual server to play

 

Lets up it a little again. Call of duty black ops 2

No it is not massive. While Stats are shared you are still playing with others in game on a small server run by the client

Yes it is multiplayer, connecting to that one individual server to play with 2 or more people

Yes online, Connecting to redeem stats and connect to other players

 

Word of warcraft just for kicks

Yes it is massive, connecting to one server that records your characters and stats along with about 5000 other people at the same time

Yes Multiplayer, playing with up to 5000 people on one server

Yes online, connecting to that one server.

 

This simcity 5 is an MMO of a different style, while the other simcities are based just around your PC an no one else.

 

Can you play games like World of warcraft in a single player mode? Of course, There are Private servers. You could set up this server and run it just on your computer making it a single player game, could you do this with Simcity sure you can.

 

You do not see people crying that MMOs like WoW or EQ are not single player? why would you about this game? because it is your expectation? Well that sucks

 

 

Got shot down by some but I could see this coming, I'm afraid EA are a terrible publisher now-a-days. Obsessed with forcing DRM on people I won't be able to play this as I live in a village in England, my internet reliability is shocking.

Opinion - DRM is the new "CD Key" and it is something that we just have to deal with.

 

It's pretty simple. I will not buy this game, if it requires being always online.

Such a shame though.

Good, buy something else, I suggest getting into a new hobby other then gaming, the future of PC and console gaming will probably require being online. Look at Xbox One.

 

People seem to forget that EA can and does shut down game related servers at their leisure. Just a few weeks ago they shut down servers for 5 games. When the game has run it's course and it's costing them too much to run a server they'll pull it and now what good is your game?

Origin is stupid. It's a "me too" product to compete and take market share from the superior/gamer-friendly Steam. Online Always is a fail and a forced way for you to participate in SimCity's global economy.

That said, I'm super excited for the game and will buy day 1 (if not pre-order).

Stop crying about mod support. It will come. Think about how much better SC4 was with Rush Hour. No mod support is not a reason to buy the game.

Yes EA can and does shut down servers... it is their servers... Do you still eat a bag of chips after it is stale and hard? No (and if you do... gross) so why would you pour money into a server that is not producing enough income to RUN THAT SERVER?! People these days expect that these servers run off magic and should continue to run well after the game is basically dead. The MMO City of Heros was shut down because the server capacity was 5000 or so, and only 100-300 people played during peak hours and there was not enough accounts to support the game. Its kinda like the idea that you expect your car to run well after it ran out of gas.

 

It's become clear to me that EA isn't building a new sandbox simulation game for fans of SimCity 4, instead they are building a new game platform designed from the ground up to keep the DLC money rolling in.

I'm not buying into that.

DLC is the new expansion pack. I am not sure if you know this or not. Back in the day, DLC was free. Addons were free or user created. Then came a game called Halo 2, I am sure you are aware of that game. A map pack expansion came out for that game. now, earlier games before this, Battlefield 1942 had released maps for free (IE Coral Sea) Call of Duty 4 released some free maps, dozens of games did this.

 

Now this game halo 2, it came out with a map pack, you had to GO to gamestop, or GO to walmart and buy these 4 or 5 maps on disk. It didnt add to the story, It was the birth of what I like to call DC(Disk Content) that you bought, then matured landing it at DLC (Downloadable Content) DLC is here to stay just as DRM is. Expansion pack will be an obsolete phrase soon and will only just be DLC.

 

Which sucks, but hey, its the future.

EA are just greedy. This is going to far as I see it, why can't gaming go back into the state it was in the early 00's? This has really put me off now, as I dislike Origin and any of that other always online crap.

I agree. I remember when Steam first came out, it was a simple Valve tool to keep your Valve games online, and keep up with friends now its a store, I remember CS 1.5 before steam.

 

Look at any other gaming company, they are doing just the same thing. Look at Dead space 3... There is an IN GAME IMPLEMENTATION to merely monetize. You can buy things to make your robot mine faster, buy upgrades etc etc... In game...  

 

Simple and fast.

I bet that most of the community will not buy!

Opinion

 

I will not buy a game like this that is dependent on other people online for ANYTHING. The always online thing I despise but could live with...forcing me to participate in the global "marketplace" is an absolute game-killer.

Opinion

 

This always on internet connection business needs to stop,it does not
prevent illegal use & it prevents you from playing the game that you bought
& paid big money for offline especially since now your going to be paying
$60 for this new game.

It is unnecessary for an always on connection requirement as it provides no
real benefits to the user.

The game was not advertised to be offline... it was advertised as always online. So "you" bought and paid big money to play an always online game...offline? his always on internet connection will not stop, it will only grow. Explain how it is unnecessary? It is the way THEY want to make it... You cant tell an artist that his painting is wrong? It is his painting.... Game developers are indeed artists, while yes hundreds of people worked on this game, there are also hundreds of people that work on the same painting

 

If I have to have an internet connection to start the game, they will get no sale from me, totally unnecessary. It's exactly the type of game always know I can play when my internet is down.

I just knew EA would screw this up.

Well you can play SC4 and when your internet is up you can play SC5.

 

For over 20 years, most SimCity fans have been used to or prefer offline solo play. So to suddenly force everyone to go online is a huge risk. There must be an easier way to take-in this medicine.

No one is forcing anyone to go online? Where does it imply that? People who were HUGE Warcraft fans and played the RTS Didnt have to buy WoW.

 

 

All I really read was people complaining over and over and over. The game is exactly as advertised, if you do not like it make your own game. Its amazing that reading all this, you all feel justified in your words. There are 3 types of Gamers. Gamers that love their game and play it because they love it. Gamers that hate their game but play it because of a trend, or they are skilled at it, or because they are addicted. Then gamers that are casual, that play a game to have fun, and could careless semantics.

 

Most of you seem like Gamers that loved SC4 and expect EA and Maxis to Follow through with an exact clone with some cool new graphics but learned that they will probably be buying a game they hate, but will play it because of the addiction or trend etc.

[baertooth 330]

a lot of words

 

 

If you've read this thread then you've read counter arguments to everyone one of your points.

 

But in a nut shell I helped build that market share that EA/Maxis is using to sell their NEW GAME using my efforts to advance their business model.  Had EA/Maxis been paying attention during SCSocieties and Cities XL they would have learned a lot about what was wanted.  Which was a flexible tool to create cities.  Instead they are trying to sell a walled garden that you RENT RENT RENT RENT RENT RENT access to for the privilege to buy overpriced DLC of stuff modders provided for free in the past.

 

You're happy with online only?  Well too bad.  I'm not.  That's the one thing I really didn't want because look at what it did.  And regardless the game is still like only 70% there and I see signs EA/Maxis may fix a little more and may be moving on to DLC paid improvements only.

 

The real question now is did Mac sales bolster SC2013's active player base enough?  Or have most SC2013 players move on and the Mac #'s weren't as great as hoped for due to the incredibly bad PC launch and now crunching the #'s EA/Maxis is realizing they aren't going to be putting a lot of "free" work into this and instead will be satisfied selling all the improvements they think they can milk from you?

 

As in (I really hope not but) I'm going to really laugh if they charge for larger maps.

 

However I digress and I'm going to end with I know only one person out of all my gamer friends who owns this game.  He stopped playing a couple of weeks after launch due to shallowness and bugs.  He has since returned to play the Mac version he said it's less buggy but it's still just the same shallow game it was before.  Online only seems to have had a detrimental affect for at least some of the potential customers that EA/Maxis is trying to reach  such as me and him.  That's on them to fix, not on us as in they need to figure out what the customer wants, and not try pulling some amateur business maneuver like "it's our vision" as an excuse.  That's what you say after you're successful and not as an explanation when things are going wrong.  FYI, "it's our vision" closes business when their vision isn't the customers vision.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

Please remember, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Discussing them is fine, just make sure it remains constructive.

Thanks.

[CaptCity 4,915]

Clean up... Another reminder to keep this on topic. This "debate" over the practices of the gaming industry has gone on and on elsewhere and is not the topic of this thread.