You know how the industry keeps labeling people "entitled" whenever they take any issue whatsoever with what it's doing? Well this form of always on DRM that Sim City is using - you know, the reason why many who bought the game can't play it at this moment - is an example of why people take umbrage.
Everyone understands that companies have the right to, and a need to, protect their property as well as do the best they can to ensure sales. That's normal, expected, and accepted. But when you pay for a game, you ARE "entitled" to be allowed to play said game. Especially when their own people not 24 hours earlier go into interviews and talk about how the servers have been stress tested and are ready for launch. Those interviews aren't just innocent, excusable interactions with fans and media personnel. They're ADVERTISING.
When you advertise that your servers are ready for launch, and people pay for the game partially on the basis of that advertisement, they ARE "entitled" to get what they think they paid for. This is why always-on DRM gets such a bad rap, and why people don't understand and don't accept being called "entitled whiners" by the industry they love and want to support in exchange for gaming experiences they desire.
Meanwhile, pirates manage to crack these forms of DRM in short order. So it doesn't do a lot to deter piracy, and only really causes an inconvenience for paying customers. If it's not going to deter piracy more than an activation key, then why not take a hint from companies like Stardock, and just use activation keys? Stardock's philosophy seems to be that more intrusive forms of DRM don't protect them more than activation keys do, and they *shock and gasp* would rather not INCONVENIENCE THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS. I know. What a radical concept, right?
That's why they get the kind of loyalty that ensures that many will ride out buggy launches like Elemental, and still be around when they finally fix the game and release something like Elemental: Fallen Enchantress. And they are only one example of companies who treat their customers right and get their loyalty in return. EA: please take note.
Maybe! But at least I'm happy ... well ... when it's not loading or crashing. Hmmm ... let me rethink this.
A region is up to 16 cities, and is more analogous to a real city. You're not limited to one city in a region.
Hey $60 for several years of fun (assuming they're correct) or I could go to the movies and spend $10+ for two hours....
Yeah, I'll take the $60 too. I've already played far more than twelve hours, so...
Or for less than 20 bucks, get Sim City 4 and never worry about any of Sim City 5 problems. And yes, you can play any time you want to, with out an on-line connection...
I'm glad you enjoy Simcity V--seriously. If you like the new direction the brand is taking, and can make allowances for the recent server implementation issues, then that's great.
At the same time, many of us preferred the old design with far larger cities, the ability to mod, and the ability to play completely offline. EA and its subsidiary, Maxis, have decided to change the game design in several important respects. As it seems all of a part with several remarks made by EA's high level management in recent years, I take it this is the way they want their future games to go. Myself, I plan to drop my money elsewhere.
To anyone else: I can only urge what I've written many times before: get under the PR, and find out the details about a game (or for that matter, anything in life) before you emotionally invest in it. You'll end up a lot less disappointed.
Best Amazon review ever:
"I was looking for something new for my computer, when I stumbled upon this game on Amazon and decided, what the heck, lets give it a shot!
I have to say it far exceeds my expectations.
Thankfully, the game never actually loads. I was looking for a program where I could zone out, and stare at my computer screen in a meditative state for hours on end with no interuptions.
There's no actual gameplay, sound effects, or graphics to distract you from your meditation.
You may be forced to run the same "Tutorial" over and over again, but don't worry about that minor problem, because as soon as you exit the tutorial you'll be returned to a program that blissfully crashes or just, never logs onto any server succesfully, once again giving you peace and quiet.
Incredible job EA, will there be a sequel?"
Anyone who says trolling is bad for society should read the 5 star amazon reviews for SimCity....they are hilarious....
The server issues are practically over. There's still some minor glitching but the new servers perform amazingly and the old ones were being taken offline to update them, I assume that already happened.
I'm sure they'll be improving the code even further from here on out but not being able to play is a thing of the past.
I actually agree that the game is well designed. A friend of mine has it and - when it works - it looks like a beautifully designed game. Engrossing, fun, and deep. I may or may not have found the cities-in-a-region dynamic a bit constraining, but I'd have to play to know personally. Some people love it, some people seem to think it's too limiting, even with 16 cities.
I'd like to find out myself. Unfortunately, unless they ever release a demo (or I go to my friend's house instead of just watching her videos,) I will never play this game because on principle I reject the always-online model. That said, I'm glad those who have no problem with that model seem to be finding it enjoyable.
Hence, the recent server implementation issues, I referred to above.
I missed that one, truly hilarious...
I wasn't just talking to you. I just didn't feel like quoting everyone in the thread
I find all these people yelling 'vote with your wallet!' at the top of their lungs pretty funny...cause that's exactly what people are doing when they buy it
Well, enough don't buy it--as I'm not going to--then yes, it might have an effect on EA. But honestly? Probably not. They're not aiming for the audience I represent anymore, and they're going to be well-fed and sleek. I don't hold any anger against them. I'm just not going to buy their product, and will buy those that do cater to my interests.
Again, I can only suggest: always get all the facts before buying, and either completely avoid, and deeply analyze the PR. Never buy emotionally into PR for anything, from games, to cars, to political candidates. It was rot your brain.
That's kind of my point. If people who weren't in your target audience to begin with don't buy your game, it's not a loss. I suspect sales beat expectations on this one, which is why the capacity issues.
Not taking sides but people kinda have it out for EA and DRM. Spore got over 2200 negative reviews until Amazon pulled them and reposted it. I've played the new Sim City and the game is awesome...provided you can get online, which will change.
Fantastic game by the way. Personally I couldn't care less about any "always ON stuff".....
Interesting piece from Kotaku about playing the game offline. Apparently they were able to play the game offline for nineteen minutes with no discernible loss of gameplay or performance. Some of the user comments under the piece suggest that claims that a great many essential calculations are handled server-side may not be entirely truthful, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to support that assertion personally. Interesting nonetheless. http://kotaku.com/5990165/my-simcity-city-thrived-offline-for-19-minutes?tag=simcity
I could continue to lay down roads. I added a recycling plant. I upgraded it. Five minutes into being offline, I got a notification about a neighboring city.
Fifteen minutes into being offline, I was notified that my garbage trucks had successfully serviced a neighboring city and made some money off it.
The buildings in NLC seemed to be rising and falling just fine without the network.
In potentially related news, RPS claims a Maxis insider (who they claim they know for a fact works for Maxis; obviously we have no way to confirm this,) has informed them that the server-side calculations only pertain to cloud storage for saves and server functionality like communication between other players' cities. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/12/simcity-server-not-necessary/
“The servers are not handling any of the computation done to simulate the city you are playing. They are still acting as servers, doing some amount of computation to route messages of various types between both players and cities. As well, they’re doing cloud storage of save games, interfacing with Origin, and all of that. But for the game itself? No, they’re not doing anything. I have no idea why they’re claiming otherwise. It’s possible that Bradshaw misunderstood or was misinformed, but otherwise I’m clueless.”
I think you all don't understand the present trends. Simcity V is a new, fresh wave of cloud gaming. If you are a corporate executive, you know what I talk about. Clouds are the epitome of success. Clouds.... clouds... can't stop thinking about them. Give your customer nothing but a thin client, so that he cannot steal your precious binaries and run them in violation of your sacred licence. Keep your secrets safe, in your precious cloud. Dictate when, by whom, and how your product is used, and punish those who violate your rules by casting them out of the Cloud.
Clouds.... how beautiful they are.
Have their been claims otherwise? I ask, because I'm curious. What I have seen a lot of complaints about is that if you go offline for an unspecified period of time, you risk loss of data when you quit and resume.
Yes, Lucy Bradshaw, Maxis GM, essentially stated that the game would require an inordinate amount of additional engineering to get it to work offline. What Kotaku and RPS (and users who have done their own experimenting) are arguing/suggesting is that this is not the case.
Hmm, after reading both articles at Kotaku and Rock, paper, shotgun. I'm calling shenanigans on EA and Maxis...
This game has broken my ever shrinking gaming heart. I loved simcity as and played them all till wee hours in the morning. I still boot up simcity 4 once an a while and revel in all the extra content there is for it on simtropolis. Unfortunately, reading all the reviews, watching all the bugs videos online, and seeing the screen shots have left a scar on a beloved franchise untarnished past. I cant and I wont buy it. I feel simcity 5 is that hot chick at the bar that i used to pick up on, but if I try and pick up on her now its just going to leave a rash or something worse and taint the fond memories I had of those college days. I'm better off just looking at and remembering what it used to be like then picking it up. Also i hear that new guy EA shes been dating has been around and he has something that's killing off all the great gals. I dont want to catch it.
I have to admit that I'm not thrilled about all the bugs, and I was hesitant about picking it up so soon after release.
That said, played it non-stop since Tuesday. There are some improvements over SC4, like police/fire station/clinic coverage that make it worthwhile. There's the ability to turn services on and off at will instead of demolishing. High density cities are quite easy to make but they're actually challenging (for now anyway) to run.
My last city that I worked on, I went for a grid layout and although it makes it easy to squeeze buildings in, the crush of fifty thousand residents means that traffic jams are quite common. By the way, avoid the temptation to squeeze a humongous amount of taxes from them, they won't like it.
Anyway, I learned that denser is not necessarily better. You can make more taxes out of more residents, but if your city is inadequate to the task of handling them, it's going to be hell.
Exactly, I bought Supreme Commander Gold through Impulse simply because it wasn't a Steam version. Then, about a year ago it was changed to a Steam version, and now I no longer have access to what I paid for.
Personally I've given up the cause and am now happily playing Tropico 4. Definitely scratches the "every sim is followable and has needs and desires" itch (as did the old Tropicos.) But if and when the price of Sim City comes down to the sub twenty dollar range and if their servers are still up (and functional,) and especially if they ever implement an offline play patch, I would very reluctantly consider giving it a try. I'm not going to support a practice I have ethical qualms with by buying it at full price, though.
For the moment, my indignant frustration has subsided to be replaced with depressive resignation to the fact that the industry is largely leaving people like myself behind... and is fine with that (and more profitable than ever as a consequence.)
Called it...!!!!
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