Quote:
Originally Posted by JU_88
Wow I dont think even the mighty EA has stooped this low before.
Talk about sidesteping a few pot holes only to fall off a bridge...
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holy crap! where in the world did you find a bridge high enough to even compare with the chasm that ubisoft's brain has taken a plunge into?
On topic though - it's not about the annoyance or wether or not it works. It's a question of principle.
The game is a product - like an tomato. Once i buy it, it's mine. I can make a sandwich, or some soup. I can forget about i until it rots, or give it to my guinea pig (brushie loves tomatoes for some reason and makes a hell of a ruckus at 7 am until he gets his tomato). None of the seller's buisness.
It's the seller's buisness to make sure i don't walk off with the tomato without paying, and in case of games, which are data (and unlike tomatoes can be copied), that people who haven't paid for the game can't play their own copy (i still see nothing wrong with lending my game to my cousins). Enter cd-keys etcetera.
But as i said, games are a product. A product is, by definition, finished, and CANNOT require any additional commitments. Now multiplayer modes, patches - that's not a product. That's a service. A service like access to the gaming network might (and is expected to) have some additional requirements - from an internet connection, through an account to a subscription fee. But in this case - we are required to have an internet connection in exchange for some additional funcionality.
Take closed battlenet in diablo2 for example. The character you create there is only available via internet. From any computer, but that's like taking a flash drive copy of the save file with you - merely a convenience resulting from the fect, that you cannot, in fact, make a flash drive copy of the save. And you have to keep actively playing the game, or the character gets deleted - it's blizzard server space you're using. But in return for this, you get to play the character online (also possible with the regular single player char), with a guarantee of very few (if any) cheaters around. That's the service closed BN is providing.
To that end - even World of Wrcraft, which is an MMORPG, does nor REQUIRE internet. You can install it just fine, even run it. You won't be able to play ofcourse, because access to the server is a service, but Blizz claims no right to the discs i have bought.
It is quite logical, that the games have technical requirements - if you want nice colors, you should have a color monitor (duh!), and if you want to play over the internet, you must have internet (surprise!). But in the case of SHV, internet does not provide any additional funcionality - the single player game has nothing to do with internet - there are no other player-controlled subs to run into, no multiplayer aspect, so why the hell should i stay online? To keep telling you that i have a legal copy? I did that once already, when i installed the game and entered the cd-key.
Seriously Ubisoft - thank god you don't sell condoms...