And the troubles with DRM are not limited to reducing access in bits and pieces — it can extend to disabling content altogether. When the company running the authentication server decides the maintenance costs are too high, it can flick a switch and render the content useless. This isn't hypothetical, either: Google, for example, killed its video offerings after buying YouTube, making previously purchased videos unplayable. Electronic Arts itself regularly announces which games it will be turning off for legitimate users.
While DRM software is busy keeping you from freely using all the content you legitimately bought, the worst kept secret in the industry is that it always gets broken. And of course, once it is broken even once, DRM-free copies become available for unauthorized download.
So in order to give this ineffective software some legal teeth, the content industry pushed for a law that became section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act DMCA. Section regulates the circumvention of "access control measures" like DRM.
Never mind that there is already law that covers actual infringement; because of section , bypassing DRM systems even for noninfringing fair uses might get you targeted for a lawsuit.
This is the same law that might affect cell phone unlocking , a rule that the Obama administration has said is out of line with common sense. Congress knew an outright ban on circumvention tools wasn't workable, so it included a process for the Librarian of Congress to establish some temporary exemptions.
EFF has worked to put some important exemptions in place, but those must be renewed every three years. The process is time-consuming and difficult, and as we explained before the rulemaking, " fundamentally broken.
No wonder, then, that there's a growing movement to fix this part of the DMCA. Video game players frustrated with the DRM situation can vote with their thumbs, sending a message by rejecting games that come tangled up with anti-consumer software. The success of sales platforms like Humble Bundle — which sells collections of DRM-free games and supports EFF with a user-determined portion of the proceeds, and is offering a new bundle now — demonstrates that companies can have success and respect their users at the same time.
If there is a legitimate technical need for all players to be online while playing SimCity, I might recommend to EA that they offer fans a visual or more detailed explanation of that system.
The question I have for Maxis is the same one I had for Blizzard prior to the launch of Diablo 3: if hacking, mods, unregulated user content, or similar concerns are part of the reason you're integrating an always-online requirement, why not allow players to opt into a single-player-only mode that permanently isolates their game save?
Why can't we simply log in upon booting the game, and not require us to be online every moment? After an era spent publishing reviews, news, and cover features, he now oversees editorial operations for PC Gamer worldwide, including setting policy, training, and editing stories written by the wider team. So, they employ DRM. The real problem with DRM is when it is poorly implemented, not that it exists. You know how much you love Steam? Aside from a digital distribution front with extensive community hubs, Steam is DRM.
Those require an always-on connection. Do you get mad at World of Warcraft for requiring you to be online to play? DRM is a problem when it is implemented in a way that hurts legitimate customers, but the core concept of DRM is fair.
Maxis head Lucy Bradshaw's blog post seemed to only stir the pot, but EA Labels president Frank Gibeau now insists that DRM had absolutely nothing to do with the game's design whatsoever. DRM was never even brought up once. You don't build an MMO because you're thinking of DRM - you're building a massively multiplayer experience, that's what you're building. Not only was DRM not a topic of internal discussion at EA, Gibeau said, but the executive also made it very clear that DRM is simply not an option for publishers anymore.
It was the creative people on the team that thought it was best to create a multiplayer collaborative experience". So what we tried to do creatively is build an online service in the SimCity universe and that's what we sought to achieve.
For the folks who have conspiracy theories about evil suits at EA forcing DRM down the throats of Maxis, that's not the case at all," he said with a laugh. We had built a bunch of these and you could've gone deeper and deeper into your plumbing and managing toilets and electrical posts, but we felt there was a bigger story to tell and a bigger opportunity to chase with an always-on connected experience built around that concept.
That's what we set out to design and that's what Maxis created and brought forward into the marketplace," Gibeau explained. It was the creative people on the team that thought it was best to create a multiplayer collaborative experience and when you're building entertainment You have to innovate and try new things and surprise people and in this particular case that's what we sought to achieve.
If you play an MMO, you don't demand an offline mode, you just don't. Gibeau acknowledged that EA probably should have done a better job in its messaging with the community, making sure that they understand the MMO nature of the title and the need to be always connected.
I'm disappointed that we had a rough first couple of days in terms of underestimating how people were going to play the game and how the server infrastructure was going to hold up, but we responded the best we could, we got people to fix it as fast as we could," he said. It has to be an online experience like an MMO where you bring out new events, new kits, new places to go, and that's more the vision for where SimCity is going.
Even with its problems, however, the game did quite well, selling over 1. We did the best we could in order to respond to that and made adjustments to the service but the game is continuing to sell through at a much higher expectation than we thought. The servers are now at percent and there's plenty of capacity Common sense should prevail, but there's more to the FIFA game series than the brand. It was the creative people on the team that thought it was best to create a multiplayer collaborative experience" Frank Gibeau "DRM is a failed dead-end strategy; it's not a viable strategy for the gaming business.
Enter your email address. The problem is transparency. EA has confirmed that you will not be kicked out if your connection is interrupted.
Moving on. This makes it look like the always-online aspect was not part of the original vision. Perhaps Gamespy didn't do a hard enough job of investigating this, and it was always meant to be online-only. But perhaps not. More transparency on EA's part would certainly have ensured the consumer knew what they were getting into. Puts his foot firmly in mouth with "DRM is a failed dead-end strategy Andrew Goodchild Studying development, Train2Game 8 years ago.
Ok, if I may leave aside specific problems with SimCity, and focus on the "felt like an mmo" bits. Recently, EA released "The Old Republic", which was supposed to be a big Warcraft contender, and instead had underwhelming commercial results which their recent CEO departure has at least been attributed to. Prior to that they had Warhammer online, that was supposed to be a big Warcraft contender, but burst least didn't lead to a CEO departure. We both know the tragedies that followed them.
And they released Secret World, I believe. Still going, but not having the planned impact. Maybe build an MMO bomb shelter for instance? They seem to be cursed with regard to them. Marty Greenwell Senior Software Developer 8 years ago. Gareth Eckley Commercial Analyst 8 years ago. How many of the people who bought those 1.
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