More on EA/Maxis regarding the game always having to be online for the simulation to work properly.

[Charizard 284]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/12/simcity-server-not-necessary/

 

I knew the servers didn't calculate that much for singleplayer mode when people were able to play the game for 30 minutes without an Internet connection before the game booted them. But this just seals the coffin door shut. I don't know why Lucy Bradshaw would just lie to our faces like that, but I hope they didn't think this was not going to somehow get leaked.

  Edited March 13, 2013 by CaptCity  
We are not going to have inflammatory titles.

[arcology 224]

Thank you for posting this. 

 

Over 66,000+ signatures to date on petition for offline mode, at change.org:  https://www.change.org/petitions/electronic-arts-inc-remove-always-online-drm-from-simcity-and-future-games

[Jokurr 175]

I wish I could say I was surprised.

[Hamish 1,370]

They have said this time and time again that if your internet connection goes down, you will be able to continue playing for a while. But, you will be kicked eventually if the connection does not come back up because the cities need to sync with the servers in order to save, and there are apparently some server side simulation that is run too, I would imagine that this involves inter-regional city simulation along with simcity world and other features. 

Its not a lie, your connection can drop, for what looks to be up to 30 minutes, but eventually you will be kicked because there is some server side services that the city can't function without.

[el.lopan 54]

They have said this time and time again that if your internet connection goes down, you will be able to continue playing for a while. But, you will be kicked eventually if the connection does not come back up because the cities need to sync with the servers in order to save, and there are apparently some server side simulation that is run too, I would imagine that this involves inter-regional city simulation along with simcity world and other features. 

Its not a lie, your connection can drop, for what looks to be up to 30 minutes, but eventually you will be kicked because there is some server side services that the city can't function without.

 

Yes, but she (and many from Maxis) said that our client computers weren't "powerful enough" to handle all the simulation, so many calculations were made in the server because of that, which is obviously a lie. According to the source, only the social aspects are handled by the servers, the core gameplay is entirely done locally. Also, she said that it'd take "significant engineering" to make it SP, which, according to the source is a lie too.

[rodent1989 9]

What I wouldn't give for a Minecraft-like setup where I could host my own server if I wanted to. In fact, what I wouldn't give for all sorts of Minecraft-like things...

 

I like SimCity, but I don't love it, and I just can't see myself playing it for as long or loving it as much as SC4.

[macvirt 361]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/12/simcity-server-not-necessary/

 

I knew the servers didn't calculate that much for singleplayer mode when people were able to play the game for 30 minutes without an Internet connection before the game booted them. But this just seals the coffin door shut. I don't know why Lucy Bradshaw would just lie to our faces like that, but I hope they didn't think this was not going to somehow get leaked.

 

Because EA considers customers as nothing more than resources.

 

Because EA considers its subsiduaries as nothing more than resources.

Thank you for posting this. 

 

Over 66,000+ signatures to date on petition for offline mode, at change.org:  https://www.change.org/petitions/electronic-arts-inc-remove-always-online-drm-from-simcity-and-future-games

 

People with such petitions out should probably update the information available on such pages with that link.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Yup, yet another ugly truth unveiled - not too surprisingly, I might add.

 

Clearly an offline game that included a single-player simulation of the region system derived from multiplayer would be more challenging to develop, but our source assured us that it was far from impossible.

I remember musing about this topic as well; I thought it should be possible to simulate a regional economy based on some key inputs and a certain amount of randomness. This text snippet confirms my thoughts.

[macvirt 361]

EA is not going to give in though, they have far too much riding on these policy stepping stones. Besides, let's be honest, the game is well tailored to the volume markets of casual and leisure play gaming. For every person having an issue, there's a fair few thousand who simply buy without thinking things through. For EA that means that all the "fuss" is largely irrelevant. For Maxis it is an entirely different issue, but Maxis is just a studio, and studios are just as expendable and locked in as their employees. Besides, the studio has far too much riding in terms of job prospects depending on keeping the noses pointing the same way and continuity prospects dependant on DLC and release maintenance. 

[Charizard 284]

EA is not going to give in though, they have far too much riding on these policy stepping stones. Besides, let's be honest, the game is well tailored to the volume markets of casual and leisure play gaming. For every person having an issue, there's a fair few thousand who simply buy without thinking things through. For EA that means that all the "fuss" is largely irrelevant. For Maxis it is an entirely different issue, but Maxis is just a studio, and studios are just as expendable and locked in as their employees. Besides, the studio has far too much riding in terms of job prospects depending on keeping the noses pointing the same way and continuity prospects dependant on DLC and release maintenance. 

 

Well the thing is Lucy Bradshaw (one of the project leads at Maxis) herself said that the game needs to always be online because a lot of the simulation is done on the servers. So at this point EA and Maxis are one and the same to me honestly. Maxis lost all of its credibility by releasing this game.

[macvirt 361]

Lucy Bradshaw is just a marketing plug. 

 

If there is one thing, regardless of personal preferences or enjoyment or dissatisfaction, for people to take with them from this experience, it should be the lesson that no consumer can ever believe any messaging from our industry. The consumer can only really make his or her own verdict by trying out the actual title.

 

Problem is, this is one of the reasons why we mix up concepts like beta and demo, and remove traditional trial concepts, and remove refund constructs.

 

Add to that the commercial relationships (direct and/or indirect - for example through necessity or dependancies) between publishers and reviewing media and you see the problem for Joe the Consumer.

 

Any and all information and communication from developers, marketeers, executives and even the intern at the copying machine only serve one thing: sales. 

 

And that is where community sites come in. Or at least, there is a gap right there for community sites to step in to. But only if they can consistantly avoid the traps that the general media fell for along the way. Because these places are one of the remaining few for consumers to exchange and examine experiences. The golden rule here is that community leads in interaction with our industry have to be like journalists, and not mere reporters (or worse, fanboys or even just enthusiasts).

 

Community sites who take such an approach of journalism can fill the gap, more importantly they can thus be a force that can apply a hell of a lot of pressure on our industry to move away from the current "greed is a good investment so lets ensure that function follows form for volume" approach dictated by the executives on a quest for bonuses and quick getaways. Something that will also greatly stabilise the prospects for those who work in the industry. And perhaps even bring back the justification of pride and awe of working in this industry.

 

I'm not saying this is easy. But I do think it is a bitter necessity. Ofcourse, this is something which is easier for niche franchises (e.g. the sim genre, as opposed to - for example - the fps genre), because there are less community pillars for such niche franchises. Unfortunately, marketing is designed to get the better of the best of us.

[nats 99]

Yes trust is rapidly going out of the window regarding this EA/Maxis outfit. If ever there was perfect evidence that Maxis are now just another branch off the EA ragweed...

[macvirt 361]

Well, let's say there are some signs of - so to speak - a few differences in perspective between the staff at what people call Maxis and those at EA itself. Suffice to say that there is at least a potential for effort from the Maxis side in understanding of certain necessities. Given enough exposure of issue trending that will aid quite well in mitigating the current issues. 

 

Never underestimate professionalism and pride of those who work in the trenches. Whether it all succeeds is obviously an ongoing question, but baby steps are still steps.

[Rob86 34]

anyone tried to check how long do you need to be online to sync after going offline for 19 mins?

 

imagine if it was only 30s  ..lol

[City Planner 121]

Maybe somebody could explain...

 

On the test server it's been reported that the service vehicle AI has been improved, so does this mean that the server is actually taking care of the vehicle AI in some fashion?

 

When going back to the regular servers the vehicle AI is as terrible as it's been since day one.

They have said this time and time again that if your internet connection goes down, you will be able to continue playing for a while. But, you will be kicked eventually if the connection does not come back up because the cities need to sync with the servers in order to save, and there are apparently some server side simulation that is run too, I would imagine that this involves inter-regional city simulation along with simcity world and other features. 

Its not a lie, your connection can drop, for what looks to be up to 30 minutes, but eventually you will be kicked because there is some server side services that the city can't function without.

I believe that somebody just yesterday managed to find out that inside of the game  there is a way to disable a 20 minute timer that kicks you if you are not connected to the servers and so you can go on playing as long as you feel like it without having any problems.

 

This tells me simply that Maxis has implemented a 20 minute timer to make sure that people are kicked to maintain the guise that we need the servers more than we actually do.  Don't get me wrong, it's obvious that we need them for some functions, but I think it also obvious that many things that Maxis said would be simulated on the servers is actually being simulated on our PC.

[macvirt 361]

May want to read this, City Planner. It appears it is possible to play offline, though the ability to save locally was removed from an earlier dev state of the game. So still only server side saves. Still, increasingly EA's marketing and strategy is having an interesting time keeping its pants up.