Online Connection Required: A Non-PC Gamer's Guide to Understanding the Rage

GP Editor, Marshall Henderson writes, "When I heard about Diablo III's need for a persistent connection, I was annoyed. I mean, this wasn't undiscovered territory, as Ubisoft had been pulling shenanigans like this for a while, but this was the first time it affected anything I actually wanted to play anyway.

Most PC gamers responded similarly: Lots of profanity, claiming the games were developed by Satan, and swearing to the skies and the seas that nothing in the world could persuade me to buy this game. For non-PC gamers, though, there was a somewhat different response. Instead of outrage, it seemed to be more in the, 'What's it matter?' family."

[ATi_Elite]

Get over it!! actually it's no big deal in this day and age.

0. Never take advice from a non PC Gamer!

1. If your a PC Gamer with a $1000 PC and you do not have the Internet well my friend your priorities are in the wrong place. Get The Internet by any means necessary.

2. Only cry about Online connection DRM if the game is solely a SP experience which now a days 99% of all QUALITY PC titles (dam them console ports) have a well made MP part to them.

3. I can't see too many people playing Diablo 3 without taking part in the wonderful MP experience it has to offer.

4. Your a PC Gamer which means your $1000 rig is online and downloading something 24/7/365 anyway.

5. For laptop PC Gamers, unless you live on Mars, scratch that cause Mars has Internet too, unless you live on Neptune then Cellular Broadband or WiFi is available.

6. My personal favorite to stop the madness....we all know a Crack will be available. I haven't seen a DRM yet that wasn't bypassed.

So take it from a real PC gamer this is really no big deal to most of us unless a drunk driver hits a pole but then you have no electricity anyway and that SLi of CFx set-up is gonna suck your UPS dry in in 2 minutes unless your second parallel connection piggy backs Wirelessly off of a companies hardened T1 line and use an Optima battery like me....you can cut my electricity and cut my Internet but I'm still gaming online for about 8 hours (or until said companies IT guy figures it out).

That's real PC Gamer shite right there! Enjoy!

[MHenderson]

Hm... Well, there are a lot of different types of gamers who want a lot of different types of things when they play games. Also, there are a lot of circumstances where you could want to play your game (i.e. you just moved and your cable person hasn't shown up, you want to take your laptop to a friend's house who doesn't have wifi, etc.). Aside from that, internet connections vary from place to place, so a lot of people may not have a guaranteed connection all the time. I don't want to imply that you didn't read the article, but the main point isn't even about whether you'll be online all the time or not, it's about the consequences of having to have that connection.

Either way, thanks for commenting anyway. :D

[Redempteur]

is this sarcasm ???

If not you're in the wrong ..

The rage consist in the way that you can't play even "on the go" or if you have connexion issues . last time the only game with that problem were MMOs and that was understandable due to their natures as permanent universes. IN diablo 3 case , the problem is that their architecture ( to fight cheating and piracy ) is client -server based and you can't play if you can't get your character from Bliz servers .

Nothing about your 1000$ pc you're talking about .. ..nor crack since your character isn't on your computer ..this isn't the shoddy work of ubisoft DRM

[ATi_Elite]

Bottom line for the Nay sayers and those who have no clue.......

Just read point number 6. Every game has been Cracked! so whatever corny scenarios you clowns dream up there is a way to still play your games. Blizzard, Steam, Ubisoft, hell I can even run OSX on my PC and play the Mac version of Steam games and PC versions so there are ways around everything.

But if you wanna Cry, whine, and troll for whatever reason then go ahead and be a corporate whipping boy but for me i can play every game i ever bought on or offline just fine and if i wanna play Diablo 3 OFFLINE i'm sure there will be a way to do that too.

It only takes a little brains....but then again that's the problem with some of you as your totally unable to think outside the box and are better off just playing on consoles!!!!!

Please donate your PC's to someone else and go buy a console!!!

[Redempteur]

this isn't about a crack Since your character And progress ISN'T on your computer ..

Have fun with your game were ou can't save nor can't trade . AND NO ths isn't like the offline version of Starcraft 2 . Totally different system

[BeastlyRig]

I don't think most game are like this. Mostly Ubisoft games I think.

[MHenderson]

Yeah, mostly Ubisoft does this. Diablo III also has this, so hopefully it doesn't spread any more than that.

[GamePodunk]

StarCraft II had always-online DRM as well.

Technically there was an option to play it offline, but ironically you had to be online to turn that option on.

[ATi_Elite]

There is a way to play SC2 offline without ever being online.

also people play pirated versions of WoW and SC2 online all day long. I do not condone this behavior but all DRM can be bypassed.

I personally crack every game i buy cause i play on private servers anyway plus i pay for the game and not your crappy DRM!

some PC Gamers need to grow up! if they can't bypass DRM then go back to playing on consoles!

[tdrules]

To the people crying about always online for Diablo III opt out of the beta k thx

[blackhammer]

There is still no reason to not give players options to make Single-player ONLY options (when it comes to Diablo III)

And Ubisoft... one could barf a little in their mouth speaking that name.

[madjedi]

How lovely the my internet is always stable, never goes down so your overacting over nothing narrow minded viewpoint.

Well geniuses not everyone else in the world has constant internet connection on every device, why don't you idiots save the attitude till 10-20 yrs from now when internet access is cheap blazingly, fast and always rock solid.

Not every lives in a surburb or metropolitan area, or has the spare finances to pay monthly cable bill, plus they paid their $60 if they want to play in offline mode why would it bother you so much.

If your going to get it regardless fine, but don't be an ass to people who this does present a problem to.

90-99% of my diablo 1&2 time was offline, never saw the thrill of joining some random idiots game just to walk into a portal surrounded by mobs several lvls above what i can kill. Or to get attacked and die because the host wants to pvp, when i want to kill mobs.