I. Was. Devastated.
For the people who has not heard of DRM. Let me pull up the BBC news definition for it:
"is a class of technologies that allow rights owners to set and enforce terms by which people use their intellectual property. Rights owners are typically copyright-holding companies like music, film, book or software publishers. They use DRM to control how documents, entire software programs, or even e-mails are used. Most often media companies use DRM to curb piracy of their content by restricting users' ability to copy it, though it can also be used to create new business models like subscriptions to a large library of music."
Sounds like a move to protect itself against piracy right? In a way, that was basically the idea as to why it was started. But the problem is, it doesn't work. It requires players to constantly be online so that the game will contact the servers and start the game. But there lies the flaw, several games have been released with the DRM and in turn caused more problems than solve it.
Assassins Creed 2 was one of the games that I have first seen with DRM. And it was a memorable experience since as soon as that game was released. The servers went down. Leaving players unable to use or play the game since it requires contact with the server to run. Disconnection with the internet also causes the game to stop. So yeah, tell me why we need online connectivity to play single player games again? Worse part is, pirates are still able to go through this so called protection leaving it's legitimate users more headaches than it was worth.
DRM? Why Blizzard? Why?
So why continue on with DRM? Quite frankly, I don't know. Since it's appearance, the DRM is hated everywhere so I don't see the reason why companies even use it. It was even annoying to hear that it was "a success" since it delayed pirates from releasing the game online. Still, did it help the paying customers? The pirates version did not require any online connection to run the game. Why does this matter? Let me ask then, what will happen when they decide to pull out their online servers or if the company goes out of business. It is a worst case scenario, but there are companies that pull out server support for games. What will happen to those games then? Especially since Diablo 3 will be so exclusively online that Game saves are stored in their servers.
I still hold my Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 games. I don't really imagine Blizzard supporting these games online for that long, especially the first one. Oh. and here is what I just recently read on Gamespot's article about games with these kind of schemes:
"In August last year, Blizzard revealed that Diablo III would also require a constant Internet connection, even in single-player mode. At the time, the company said the decision wasn't as much to do with piracy as it was to do with offering persistent characters, enhanced security, and the ability to play multiplayer with in-game characters that can be stored online forever. When asked to justify Blizzard's decision, Diablo III producer Jay Wilson said that 99.9 percent of gamers have an Internet connection; the developer also added that while a player could die in-game if their connection drops out, the penalties for this would not be "harsh" (specifically a 10 percent decrease in durability for equipped weapons and items) unless the player is on hardcore mode, in which case he or she would lose the character permanently."
You read that right. Losing connection gives you a penalty of either durability and character loss. Even online games have a lighter punishment for this. This was actually the last straw for me and decided that I will not even get it. It's impressive that the guy even thinks that the internet is 100% secure and online all the time. I remember when Diablo was a single player game and not an MMO. Maybe they should have announced it that way and eased my pain.
So how does this even help? DRM is a greed driven idea that does not even think of the consumer or its players. It is an imperfect idea that requires extensive rework since it fails to even protect the product as it is intended. In the long run, what will happen to the product when the company or server disappears? As opposed to their older counterparts, a small program could enable you to play these games. But what of a DRM driven game? In the end, even legitimate players might resort to piracy just for the nostalgia.
Too bad, all the hype was gone as soon as I heard "constant Internet Connection". All those feedbacks, comments from the online community went out through the other ear it seems. It started with the "No LAN" Starcraft and now the Diablo's MMO-ish antics. Looks like some companies just want to protect and earn more without even caring for the players. Or it was always like that in the beginning.
BBC News: Q&A: What is DRM? - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6337781.stm
Gamespot : Why Always-Online Isn't Consumer-Friendly - http://asia.gamespot.com/features/why-always-online-isnt-consumer-friendly-6370099/?tag=Topslot%3BWhyAlwaysonlineIsn039tConsumerfriendly%3BWhyAlwaysonlineIsn03
