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Post by Scarybooster on May 16, 2012 8:15:00 GMT -5
After debating about Diablo DRM all day yesterday and realizing we all don't play a game for some reason at some time (Ordon Scott Card can lick my Firefall balls), I understood why people won't play Diablo. The odd thing is, all of my real life gamers could give a shit less about all these debates. All of them are not blog hoppers or forum readers so they are a bit ignorant when it comes to information. I'm starting to think this is the way to go. All of them loved Diablo because it was FUN. I asked them about their thoughts on DRM and the single player game being online. Every single one of them didn't give a shit. Then I talked about only being able to play online. Again, they loved it because they could easily group with their friends and it removed cheating. Something that plagued D2. They were enjoying the game for being a game and they weren't burdened by the politics that come with games. Thinking back to my DRM chats and how much people hate it I just wish I didn't know about it. People like me ignore great games because they have a beef with DRM or asshats like Orson. I chose to quit Firefall over a childish thing. Ok Orson is a dick, but he is not a rapist, killer, pedophile, or some unspeakable monster, he is a guy like me with his morals. Blizzard is a company, but they have morals too. They want to make money. They want to keep players online for DRM and they want to make sure people don't cheat soviet isn't fun for everybody. The majority. We are the minority. I'm not going to miss out on a great game because Failcom made it or a developer wears a white hood on Sunday. That is just ruining my life experience. We nitpick at games to find reasons not to play them, but why can't we say "I don't want to because their morals conflict with mine." We can't because we are caught up in the politics of gaming. It is our passion and when we are passionate about something, we want all of our friends to side with us and agree with us. It's our nature to feel like we are part of a family. Some might say being ignorant is the problem with the games that are made today. Companies charge $150 for a CE because the fans will buy it. Companies make a single player game only online because it holds the players accountable for integrity when they really just are covering up the DRM needs. Companies push beta quality games out in hopes the hype will pay their bills before players find out they bought crap. Companies make games for people to have fun, but its really just a job to put food on their plate. Companies... On and on we can go with how evil companies are, but in the end we are just hurting ourselves. We are becoming jaded and hateful towards something we loved. We see the ignorant sitting around enjoying a game we despise because we know a homophobic made it. We are the problem not the ignorant that are willing to throw money at an "evil" company. I wish I was ignorant of all this crap, then maybe I could enjoy the games more without worrying about THAT problem. This is going on my blog too but I wanted my online friends that might not visit my blog read it to. I wanted the attention I guess to feel part of a family
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Slurm
Nightwalker
Wimmy Wam Wam Wazzle!
Posts: 5,065
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Post by Slurm on May 16, 2012 8:32:38 GMT -5
ha!
Somewhat in a similar vain, I just wrote this during my break (for the blog):
There’s no denying that I’m no lover of Diablo. I don’t have anything against the game itself or of Blizzard, mind you; it’s just not my cup of pixels. I mentioned on the podcast that I’ve never felt immersed in that series. Between the never-ending rain of loot that lessens in excitement with every drop to the boredom inducing click-fest. It is (to me) the equivalent of factory work - the unskilled labor of gaming, if you will.
Something that really bugs me with Diablo 3 though, is how Blizzard has tied everyone who wants to play their game to an unnecessary online component. While I understand that they’ve done this for many reasons including piracy, client-side exploitation, their desire to get everyone using the auction house, and possibly other reasons I’m forgetting, those are all pointless when it doesn’t work. I could honestly care less about Diablo 3 itself, or of Blizzards reasoning for an always on connection in an ostensibly single player game. Our collective love of games should be more powerful than our individual disdain of specific companies or their products.
To the point: It pisses me off that you people can’t play the game you paid for. I know from experience how much it sucks to look forward to a game that you put down hard earned cash towards and have it not work when you get it. As a gamer, it’s one of the most aggravating things in the world to experience. It’s like taking all day to wash and wax your car just to have a flock of migrating birds go overhead and collectively dump all over it.
I hope that Blizzard learns a lesson with all this, but I think they’re too invested in this idea to have everyone connected to simply abandon it. More than that, I just hope the problems desist and you all get to play your game.
...but more in a response to your post Scary; I don't want to be ignorant towards this stuff. I try my best to not dwell on it, because if I do I go a bit crazy, but I also don't want to be a fool to what happens.
I could easily write more things on our blog that would get hits and be comment heavy (like the article I sent you the other day and chose not to post) but I don't want to polarize. I just want to have fun. These are games for crying out loud....but i still want to be educated on this stuff.
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Post by Scarybooster on May 16, 2012 8:54:27 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I personally like to know, but my "off line" friends have more fun in games. They play a game longer and they play games without debating over other games, companies, or what they would do to make the world a better place. They just play and have fun. I'm not saying I don't have fun and I skip a couple games know I would've wasted money on if I didn't know, but they seem like a young kid eating a candy bar for the first time every time they play.
You don't play Diablo because you don't like it and that is the best answer always. I'm silly to say I don't want to play a game because Orson gates my sister because she like pussy. He doesn't hate her, he is just jealous she gets more than him. I do feel for people like Victor Stillwater that couldn't play Fiablo but really wanted to, but the lag was horrible for him. That sucks for a potential single player game. Then it playing it because it has DRM and you loved all past Diablos... Mmmm, not feeling that as a good excuse.
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Maeve
Rampager
Posts: 2,389
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Post by Maeve on May 16, 2012 10:18:47 GMT -5
Most of the people around here switch games more because they are more informed about games. Meaning, they are reading about games, reading tweets about games, and so forth. So the temptation is there to move on to the next "shiny".. that is probably why your friends who don't read up about games manage to stick around to games longer. Less temptation. Or they are less lemming-like. In general, politics don't affect me once I'm playing a game. If I like it, I like it and will keep playing. I do not frequent forums where negativity abounds. Politics and such may keep me from playing a game to start with though. I avoided the original Mass Effect on PC for a long time because of EA's DRM policies, along with several other EA games. When it fell to like 5 bucks on a Steam sale, I finally got it. But once I started playing it and fell in love with the story, I disregarded the Origin fuss and did buy ME3. I don't play Diablo either. But it's for the same reason as Steve. I don't like the series. I do think it sucks that people weren't able to play a single player game. At the least, they should give you an "off-line" option to play. You can do that with almost all Steam games I believe. I am not against companies being able to protect their goods. They've spent lots of time and money making these products. I do dislike policies though that restrict legitimate consumers. Such is life these days with laws and all, but that is a totally different topic that I won't delve into lest a political debate break out. Good posts, btw.
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Winin
Deathbringer
01/2004 DAoC
[insert witicism here]
Posts: 6,045
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Post by Winin on May 16, 2012 10:22:29 GMT -5
By doing their online thing, they are basically giving the single player game the same pains that MMOs have on opening week. But for Diablo fans like your friend, that won't be a problem. Opening week problems are really only a problem for people who aren't in for the long haul. If you know you are going to be moving on to a new game in a month, then a bad week is a huge (25% of your play time) problem. If you play the game for a year before your next game comes out, then a bad week is nothing (<1%).
In our sphere, people play games for a month or two, then move on. Sometimes they come back or something sticks, but mostly we are short timers. Regular gamers play one game for a long time before changing.
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Post by Rer on May 16, 2012 11:50:39 GMT -5
"Ignorance is bliss"
But I'd rather see the Matrix instead of having the wool perpetually pulled over my eyes.
Rer out <mic drop>
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Vejuz
Harpy Archer
Not all who Wander are Lost
Posts: 1,296
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Post by Vejuz on May 16, 2012 11:57:37 GMT -5
Considering they're probably sitting on one of the best selling games of the year, I can safely say they probably did learn a lesson - just not the one you wanted them to. As far as D3's always on the internet approach to things, I don't really think of it as DRM, TBH. It's more like playing Guild Wars 1. It's an online game that's 100% instanced. Not a single player game DRMed with online keys. I am certainly aggravated when it doesn't work, and I'm certain I'll be aggravated when my net drops, but so far forcing people to play online creates a much richer experience overall with the AH, playing with all of you lovely people and chatting about things as I play. I honestly think people only think of D3s status as an online game as DRM becuase it was functionality in D2. I think (and my comparison to GW1 bears this out), that if it was a new series without the baggage no one would have batted an eye. But even if you do think of it as DRM, it is DRM in the Steam sense: Both the publisher and the customer get added value for it's existence. Blizz gets security and no piracy, and customers get excellent online functionality and fantastic MP. Contrast with, say, Ubisoft's online-always-DRM which adds no functionality and exists only as a "Fuck you" to the paying customer. As far as game politics go in general, I take Slurm's approach - it's good to know the lay of the land, and I might plant my flag somewhere from time to time, but in general I'll play what is fun and weigh the bad stuff against that fun.
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Post by pandalishus on May 16, 2012 12:14:59 GMT -5
Excellent debate. I'll throw in my $0.03 (yes, I'm better, so I get more): I think the balance is to be aware of the politics without letting them rule (this was said above, of course). The Firefall and D3 examples are excellent examples.
We should be aware enough of Red5's consultants to know that orson Scott Card is a homophobic dick, and we should pressure Red5 to distance themselves from that. Fire him? Perhaps not, as we know he'll bring a good story and we'll benefit from it. Further marginalize such irrational (and I say irrational not because it's anti-gay but because it's, well, just irrationally argued) viewpoints? Absolutely. We pay our money, so we get a say. We should use that say and tell Red 5 "I like the game, but that Orson Scott Card guy is an ass. Keep that in mind going forward." Hopefully, the developers strike the balance, we benefit from a great game, and society benefits a bit more by hearing that "Red5 distances themselves from homophobic consultant."
As for Diablo III's launch, we should be up in arms about the online issues, and we should be angry that we suffer because there are dupers out there. It may not benefit society in the way that the Firefall example does, but it at least lets the developers know we're not sheep. In my opinion, the worst comments on the D3 forums yesterday were not the ones that cursed Blizzard to Hell and back. Rather, they were the ones that just explained the troubles away and said "if you don't like it, return he game." No. "If you don't lik it, raise some Hell so that future games remember the 'Great Diablo III Fiasco of 2012' and keep working on better ways to strike a balance between developer and consumer needs." OK, so maybe it does benefit society after all.
In the end, knowing about politics and being somewhat proactive is important. Maybe one even gives up some fun to take a stand. That's important too! However, if all one does is take stands and never have fun, he or she becomes just another dick head who's just as bad as the greedy corporations, only with some sort of warped moral chip on their shoulders. It's the "Occupy" movement redux (apologies if anyone's OWS). The best stance (at least, in my opinion) is usually the one that can strike the balance between the two sides, because God forbid we ever fall prey to the "extremists," regardless of which side they're on.
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