It Seems Complaining Does Help At Times

[609_Avatar]

Rise of Flight, a WWI flight sim, has a similar DRM as to what UBI is planning. Many people have complained over the months since its' release and announcement of this type of DRM and it appears to have not fallen on deaf ears, and I quote:

We've been tracking all of our users' wishes and desires. You helped us out immensely by answering questions in our dispatches, voting in forum polls and generally expressing your opinions. We've also been checking out network stats and market trends. As a result, we came to the conclusion that you all needed the ability to fly without a permanent internet connection (in some game modes). A network connection will still be necessary for new user account and profile creation. And, of course, multiplayer and a few other game modes still rely on internet access. But now, if your provider is down, you have insufficient funds, or you just plain hate to log into games all the time, you will be able to fly internet-free in single player mode or in the new 'Quick Mission' mode. We hope that this modification will ease your minds about personal intrusion and internet provider costs. After all, we developed Rise Of Flight to help you escape those every-day, mundane worries and just let you fly carefree!
To make 'login offline' mode available, all you'll need to do is download the upcoming update. After that, you will be able to fly offline, but only with the last activated online pilot profile. The system will gather statistics of your progress and keep it till your next connection to the server. At that time, all gathered data will be transferred to affect your rating and overall statistics. And of course, connection will be needed for additional content purchase and game updating.
But everything else is in your hands!
We are completely aware that this change will simplify further creation of illegal copies, thus jeopardizing our potential income. But the creation of highly-realistic aviation simulators in our commercial world is impossible without an optimistic point of view. And right now, we are feeling pretty optimistic. I'm sure that the number of legit pilots, happy with this decision, will outnumber the illegal copies. So spread the word to all of your friends that balked at the login requirement and didn't purchase RoF. Now, there is no excuse not to give it a try!
Original announcement: http://riseofflight.com/Blogs/default.aspx


So keep the opinions coming and keep them constructive and polite and it will be heard.


Side note, I've been unable to access this forum for over two hours and it has taken close to 20 min. to get this post posted. I sure hope UBI's servers are a little better. No offense Neal, your site is just too popular for your own good! ;)

[TH0R]

That is good news. Thanks for posting this. I might actually buy this game now that DRM is out of the equasion. :)


Side note, I've been unable to access this forum for over two hours and it has taken close to 20 min. to get this post posted. I sure hope UBI's servers are a little better. No offense Neal, your site is just too popular for your own good! ;)

Same here. Just opened for me.

[Brag]

I hope the Ubi suits are aware of this.

Indeed, if customers refuse to buy, the producer must adjust. Ubi suits seem to be either arrogant idiots or blind.

[Turbografx]

Interesting, now I just need a PC that can run RoF!

[JScones]

What? We need an internet connection for multiplayer? What are they thinking! Whatever happened to simple LAN cabling? Those were the days.

:D

I like the pragmatic last paragraph though. They certainly have me, a paying buyer, now interested...pending reading some positive reviews of course (with the DRM I haven't even bothered following the game, so I have some catchup reading to do!).

[longam]

I've been playing the demo with no problem, but the older planes with lack of HP is just not cutting it for me. You end up in a 2D furball every time.

[SubSim Skipper]

Awesome I have so been wanting to play this game since it came out!!! Now I will.:woot:

After all I have been needing a new game to play, since it can't be SH5 this will be more than adequate!

[FIREWALL]

If this happens RoF just found a new customer. :yep:

[THE_MASK]

Yep , ROF for me too .

[TwistedFemur]

Tis true. No internet needed for single player mode. starting with patch 1.11

Hopefully loading times will decrease from 5 minutes to under 1

[Highbury]

Just read some reviews first... many people still find it quite lacking in single player content, although that has improved alot. You do get the best flight sim engine for WWI planes, but there is no dynamic campaign at all. I know what a sore spot that will be with this crowd.

I love ROF and I think flight sim enthusiasts will too, I just think going in blindly will leave some people unhappy. Read up before you buy. This is not IL-2 in WWI.

Tis true. No internet needed for single player mode. starting with patch 1.11

Hopefully loading times will decrease from 5 minutes to under 1

It will have no effect. It will still be loading up an average of 1.5gb of info on your HD. Missions themselves were never transferred over the internet with RoF. Unlike Ubi's OSP, neoqb's DRM only required dial up to send small packets.

[XLjedi]

I can maybe buy it now...

Although in one sentence they talk about putting minds at rest about personal intrusion (being connected) and in the next sentence they say your stats and gaming info are still gonna be tracked online.

It's a step in the right direction I s'pose. :hmmm:

[Highbury]

I can maybe buy it now...

Although in one sentence they talk about putting minds at rest about personal intrusion (being connected) and in the next sentence they say your stats and gaming info are still gonna be tracked online.

It's a step in the right direction I s'pose. :hmmm:

Yeah you will still need to connect from time to time, upload your stats etc. How often I have no idea. You just will not have to connect every time you want to play. It is not so much getting out of jail as just being let out on probation... still have to check in with the PO from time to time.

[Adriatico]

You just will not have to connect every time you want to play.

Great news... at least playable:up:

[Powerthighs]

Although in one sentence they talk about putting minds at rest about personal intrusion (being connected) and in the next sentence they say your stats and gaming info are still gonna be tracked online.

One thing I should point out as someone who works in the software industry: the notion of applications storing info in "the cloud" is ever growing and absolutely inescapable. It's happening.

I'm not talking about DRM, online or otherwise. I understand concerns about that. But you will be seeing more and more files for games, media, and all kinds of other stuff stored off your own computer. The scenarios that that opens up, especially with the explosion of mobile computing (i.e. iPhones), make it inevitable. Consumers overwhelmingly want it since it's one less thing for them to think about. All major software companies are currently making huge investments in making that a reality.

The only way to avoid it will be not to use software that does it. But as time goes on that will become a rare thing indeed.

[Task Force]

Id love to buy rise of flight, but the fact is that from what i understand is that it only covers the later years of the war, and only has 2 or 4 planes in the origional game... and that I have to buy more... err no thanks drm or not... things add up...

but to stay on topic,

[Highbury]

It does start with end of war planes, 4 of them are flyable with the game purchase. The others are in your game (after patching) even if you don't pay to unlock them. That way you can still fly against them online (and offline with AI) without "I don't have that plane" issues.

That is the main reason why it starts at the end of the war, so if you chose not to purchase add on planes you still have 4 that are very capable and you won't ever get "owned" because you didn't buy more planes. It is a better solution then starting in 1914 and leaving everyone with only an Eindecker and a Moraine unless they buy more....

Yes they can get expensive to get them all. In the usual Flight Sim crowd this is nothing new, you can find single planes for FSX that cost as much as the whole set for RoF. It is just in "Combat" flight sims/games where people are taken aback by this. I don't believe it has been done since LucasArts SWOTL in the early 90's. I still remember buying those single planes, one at a time for $15 each on 5.25" floppy disks!

[Richard G]

I have it. Missions stink, online stinks, campaign stinks.

They're dropping their online requirement because sales are down, and nobody is buying new planes. But it isn't because ya have to be online, its because the game play is crap right now. And they're in no hurry (or are incapable) of making it better.

[Letum]

Id love to buy rise of flight, but the fact is that from what i understand is that it only covers the later years of the war, and only has 2 or 4 planes in the origional game... and that I have to buy more... err no thanks drm or not... things add up...

but to stay on topic,


The mid war is hard to cover because there was no air combat; just scouting and occasional improvised weapons.
Early war is impossible to cover dut to the almost total lack of aircraft.

[gimpy117]

well neoqb did unlock some features. if you don't have a connection you can only play as the last profile you played as in game.

it's not perfect, but better, but you better hope it's ur profile with ur planes and not your buddies with just the spad and fokker :)

[Safe-Keeper]

I have it. Missions stink, online stinks, campaign stinks.

They're dropping their online requirement because sales are down, and nobody is buying new planes. But it isn't because ya have to be online, its because the game play is crap right now. And they're in no hurry (or are incapable) of making it better.I was wondering if there couldn't be some alternative explanation other than "see? We were right!!111". Either way, there is a very simple, probably highly effective way to make intrusive anti-piracy measures go away. I'll repeat it here, in bold letters and really slowly, so that everyone gets it:
Stop. Pirating. Games.
I'm wondering if the true reason people want this DRM thing gone is that they want to download and play SH5 for free, but fear that the DRM will make it impossible to do so.

[urfisch]

interesting, thanks!

[Mikhayl]

I'm wondering if the true reason people want this DRM thing gone is that they want to download and play SH5 for free, but fear that the DRM will make it impossible to do so.

Since when does DRM stop pirates? Oh yeah.

[Adriatico]

Stop. Pirating. Games.
I'm wondering if the true reason people want this DRM thing gone is that they want to download and play SH5 for free, but fear that the DRM will make it impossible to do so.

Don't know what do you mean by "people"... but I hope that you didn't have intention to insult great part of this community.
:hmmm:

[Webster]

I was wondering if there couldn't be some alternative explanation other than "see? We were right!!111". Either way, there is a very simple, probably highly effective way to make intrusive anti-piracy measures go away. I'll repeat it here, in bold letters and really slowly, so that everyone gets it:
Stop. Pirating. Games.
I'm wondering if the true reason people want this DRM thing gone is that they want to download and play SH5 for free, but fear that the DRM will make it impossible to do so.

i caution you against making blanket statements like this which could be interpreted as you accusing all members here who oppose DRM/OSP of being pirates.

game pirates will have this DRM thing bypassed before we have time to finish the first missions and only honest customers will be bothered by online restrictions.

a pirate or anyone willing to use piracy has no reason to complain since this DRM/OSP does nothing to stop piracy. go look at some of those places the pirates post comments and you will see they arent bothered by DRM and in fact they think its funny.

I am wondering if you stopped to consider how insulting your comments are to the other members here at this site.