It's proof people complain just for the sake of complaining. The always-on DRM complaints are the stupidest. It was abundantly clear that the game required to you to be online to play, if you hated that idea, why would you have pre-ordered? :whiste:
I didn't preorder, nor have I bought after the fact. And, for precisely for that reason. I actually do believe in voting with my wallet, and did so.
Of course, I also haven't gone onto any message board and complained about it either, until this post.
You see, I don't believe that adding social media into my single player game adds value. Not do I wish for some random person to be able to wreck my single player experience. I don't want server problems, latency, or other random people to affect me when I'm trying to enjoy a single player game (I understand that all the above are part of the experience in multiplayer games).
I can't think of 1 good reason for me to subject myself to any of that. Of course, I can think of why a developer/publisher would want to make use of it (drm). And, as long as people keep buying games that have this as a requirement, then publishers will continue to use it.
I had hoped, when I leared that Diablo 3 would have an always on requirement, that a majority of people would do as I did, and not buy the game. That hope was unfounded, as millions around the world bought it. Some complained after the fact, but that didn't do much to correct the fact that they bought the game in the first place.
I kept some faint hope afterwards, that people would have learned their lesson from D3, and not bought this game. It was a pipe dream, however, as this game sold, what, more than 1.5 million copies, if that report was to be believed?
So, I've now learned what the term "hopes dashed" truly means. I've learned that the majority of gamers are 1 of 2 types. The first type is the ones that either want games to go in the direction it's going now, or at the very least, don't mind it.
The second type is the kind that doesn't like it....but pays the money anyway. It doesn't really matter that they go and complain to the world about their experiences later. It only matters that they spent the money in the first place. Publishers only care that they ship units. You can complain all you like, but if you continue to spent money on this knowingly, and continue to spend money on this in the future, then you might as well be in the first group, for all the good you are doing.
Then, of course, there is the minority of gamers out there, who don't want this to happen, and wont pay for it. Thats the category I'm in. We no longer matter, as our number has dwindled into insignificance. We can now be safely ignored, without consequence. There are so few of us now, apparently, that us not spending money doesn't affect anything.
Whats my point? I guess I don't really have one. Well, other that this serviing as any early epitath to the type of gaming I once knew. Sure, there is still is some life to it. There will continue to be some games released without this requirement...in the short term. But, as more companies realize that gamers will continue to purchase games no matter what they are put through (or who actually like where gaming is heading), there will be fewer companies willing to release games without these requirements.
Then, I'll either have to learn to love it along side everyone else, or get out altogether.