6 ms·

The frustrating thing about this DRM is that RDR2 requires an internet connection in order to play the single-player game. At one point my internet was down and

by lacker 6y ago

The frustrating thing about this DRM is that RDR2 requires an internet connection in order to play the single-player game. At one point my internet was down and I couldn't play it. Obviously not the biggest problem in the world, but still an annoyance.

drmcometru 6y ago
The biggest concern for me is, what happens when you want to play the game again in 10 years time, when the DRM servers are offline? When you buy DRM'ed media, you are merely renting it for an unspecified duration.
- joshschreuder 6y ago
  A lot of companies are at least removing the more aggressive DRMs (eg. Denuvo) some time after the prime sales window has passed, at which point they would either have minimal DRM like Steam, or be fully cracked.
- dudus 6y ago
  In 10 years you're better off just playing the 8K remaster on PS6 or maybe just playing red dead redemption 3 which is pretty much the same game but with better graphics and combat.
  - progman32 6y ago
    Perhaps in 20 years I'll be able to play HL3 instead of HL2 :)
  - arc-in-space 6y ago
    Yes, the remaster, on a locked-down hardware platform, both of which I will have to pay for again. Hopefully by then I will also be too old to remember what 'anti-consumer' means.
  - selfhoster11 6y ago
    * If you get a remaster at all * If the current IP owner didn't make a mess of the remastering process (in an aesthetic or technical sense) * If the remaster is free of defects that make the game unplayable for seasoned users of that game * If you have the target platfrom of choice that the remaster targets. In other words, you would have to be very lucky.
- alkonaut 6y ago
  Yes. That goes for all media and all software. This whole process gets much easier once you accept that this is actually what you pay for, and anything beyond a short rent, is just a bonus. Being able to play a game in 10 years, play it offline, or sell it would always be surprising to me. So I wouldn't assume those things to be possible when I buy it. That obviously makes fewer products worth buying, which saves me money. But quite often both for games and othewr media I come to the conclusion "Yes, I'm happy to pay $60 to play this for 2 weeks even if I never play it again". So long as that's the calculation, there is rarely any disappointment.
  - selfhoster11 6y ago
    I cannot get over this mindset. Are you saying that you are OK with the risk of never getting to re-experience the media that had a formative contribution to your personality during your childhood or early adulthood/teenage years? Your favourite music that brings back memories? There is no guarantee that a particular album or movie will be re-released on a new format. The franchise may never receive a remake, a reboot or a sequel, and there is certainly no guarantee that you will like the creative direction after so many of the original artists/writers have moved on. 10 years passing in the real world shouldn't mean anything to a medium that's frozen in time (like all fiction is). It's still possible to play N64 cartridges, watch VHS tapes, read books. Until they fall apart, that's how long you've got to enjoy them, but they won't do so quickly if you take great care of them. You will be able to pass them on as heirlooms or co-experience them with your descendants. It's a treasured, very human activity. If we don't have memories AND something to care for in the present, what do we even live for? It's not enough to live in the present, we must remain in touch with our heritage.
    - alkonaut 6y ago
      > Are you saying that you are OK with the risk of never getting to re-experience the media that had a formative contribution to your personality during your childhood or early adulthood/teenage years? No, I mean I think that's a shame - but I just factor it into the equation. I'm not describing what's acceptable, I'm describing what I think I'm getting for my money, which can be a factor in whether I decide to purchase something at all, or whether I'm happy/disappointed with it. So if I buy a AAA game now for $80 I'll be happy if I can run it at all for 5 years. If that isn't enough for me to buy it, I won't. There of course is a secondary question here too: should I buy these games even though I'm then contributing to this poor state of affairs when I buy DRM games rather than voting with my wallet? I don't consider that (Although I'd avoid e.g. buying the Oculus heeadset because of the Facebook thing, but that's a whole different level of evil and also affects me personally more). > It's still possible to play N64 cartridges, watch VHS tapes, read book And there are probably tons of things from the period after those (2000-2020) that are forever lost because their DRM servers are dead etc. And tbh. it doesn't make me even a little bit sad.
dotdi 6y ago
It's a big fucking problem, if you ask me. You pay $60 for a single-player game that you cannot play on your laptop on vacation because of crappy WiFi, or just because your ISP sucks? What-the-actual-fuck.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
  Does this actually happen though? I mean, I acknowledge the theoretical possibility. Is it a commonplace occurrence? It's never happened to me, personally. If it did I'd likely be frustrated but I'd just play something else for a few days.
  - arkitaip 6y ago
    It happens regularly with Ubisoft's Uplay. Like the launcher can't access the Internet so you can't access your games.
    - xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
      I bought two copies of Anno 1404 because I thought I could play with my wife. Big mistake. Uplay is completely busted and I've never been able to get multiplayer working. Wish I could refund that garbage.
  - speeder 6y ago
    I am from Brazil and because of that I never get online-only singleplayer games. For example I never played Diablo 3, not even in a friend house or a demo (if there is one, I never checked). Ditto for Sim City 5, despite me being a huge fan of Sim City 4.
    - paledot 6y ago
      You did yourself a huge favour by not playing SimCity 5. The sequel to SimCity 4 came out, and it was called Cities: Skylines.
      - 6y ago
ragnese 6y ago
I find that extremely offensive, honestly. I'm not allowed to play a god-damned game that I purchased offline when nothing about the actual game requires network access? That's ridiculous!
gkop 6y ago
Not under all circumstances, no. I was in no way blocked from playing it on a brand new PS4 that was never connected to internet. However I pretty reliably experienced, after leaving the PS4 to sleep for longer than 1-2 days, a severe input glitch when I resumed the game. To fix the glitch I had to restart the PS4 and game, which takes more than 5 minutes. Later I plugged in the internet and the glitch never happened again. I never made the connection between the glitch and DRM, but it seems likely to me now that they are related. I had assumed the glitch was a known bug that the developers were disincentivized to fix because they want the internet connected for telemetry.
pfranz 6y ago
Within the last 5 years I know some other studios were focusing on single-player experience at ship time knowing people may only have the disk to play, for exmaple service members serving overseas.

by lacker 6y ago

drmcometru 6y ago

The biggest concern for me is, what happens when you want to play the game again in 10 years time, when the DRM servers are offline? When you buy DRM'ed media, you are merely renting it for an unspecified duration.

joshschreuder 6y ago
A lot of companies are at least removing the more aggressive DRMs (eg. Denuvo) some time after the prime sales window has passed, at which point they would either have minimal DRM like Steam, or be fully cracked.
dudus 6y ago
In 10 years you're better off just playing the 8K remaster on PS6 or maybe just playing red dead redemption 3 which is pretty much the same game but with better graphics and combat.
- progman32 6y ago
  Perhaps in 20 years I'll be able to play HL3 instead of HL2 :)
- arc-in-space 6y ago
  Yes, the remaster, on a locked-down hardware platform, both of which I will have to pay for again. Hopefully by then I will also be too old to remember what 'anti-consumer' means.
- selfhoster11 6y ago
  * If you get a remaster at all * If the current IP owner didn't make a mess of the remastering process (in an aesthetic or technical sense) * If the remaster is free of defects that make the game unplayable for seasoned users of that game * If you have the target platfrom of choice that the remaster targets. In other words, you would have to be very lucky.
alkonaut 6y ago
Yes. That goes for all media and all software. This whole process gets much easier once you accept that this is actually what you pay for, and anything beyond a short rent, is just a bonus. Being able to play a game in 10 years, play it offline, or sell it would always be surprising to me. So I wouldn't assume those things to be possible when I buy it. That obviously makes fewer products worth buying, which saves me money. But quite often both for games and othewr media I come to the conclusion "Yes, I'm happy to pay $60 to play this for 2 weeks even if I never play it again". So long as that's the calculation, there is rarely any disappointment.
- selfhoster11 6y ago
  I cannot get over this mindset. Are you saying that you are OK with the risk of never getting to re-experience the media that had a formative contribution to your personality during your childhood or early adulthood/teenage years? Your favourite music that brings back memories? There is no guarantee that a particular album or movie will be re-released on a new format. The franchise may never receive a remake, a reboot or a sequel, and there is certainly no guarantee that you will like the creative direction after so many of the original artists/writers have moved on. 10 years passing in the real world shouldn't mean anything to a medium that's frozen in time (like all fiction is). It's still possible to play N64 cartridges, watch VHS tapes, read books. Until they fall apart, that's how long you've got to enjoy them, but they won't do so quickly if you take great care of them. You will be able to pass them on as heirlooms or co-experience them with your descendants. It's a treasured, very human activity. If we don't have memories AND something to care for in the present, what do we even live for? It's not enough to live in the present, we must remain in touch with our heritage.
  - alkonaut 6y ago
    > Are you saying that you are OK with the risk of never getting to re-experience the media that had a formative contribution to your personality during your childhood or early adulthood/teenage years? No, I mean I think that's a shame - but I just factor it into the equation. I'm not describing what's acceptable, I'm describing what I think I'm getting for my money, which can be a factor in whether I decide to purchase something at all, or whether I'm happy/disappointed with it. So if I buy a AAA game now for $80 I'll be happy if I can run it at all for 5 years. If that isn't enough for me to buy it, I won't. There of course is a secondary question here too: should I buy these games even though I'm then contributing to this poor state of affairs when I buy DRM games rather than voting with my wallet? I don't consider that (Although I'd avoid e.g. buying the Oculus heeadset because of the Facebook thing, but that's a whole different level of evil and also affects me personally more). > It's still possible to play N64 cartridges, watch VHS tapes, read book And there are probably tons of things from the period after those (2000-2020) that are forever lost because their DRM servers are dead etc. And tbh. it doesn't make me even a little bit sad.

dotdi 6y ago

It's a big fucking problem, if you ask me. You pay $60 for a single-player game that you cannot play on your laptop on vacation because of crappy WiFi, or just because your ISP sucks? What-the-actual-fuck.

asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
Does this actually happen though? I mean, I acknowledge the theoretical possibility. Is it a commonplace occurrence? It's never happened to me, personally. If it did I'd likely be frustrated but I'd just play something else for a few days.
- arkitaip 6y ago
  It happens regularly with Ubisoft's Uplay. Like the launcher can't access the Internet so you can't access your games.
  - xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
    I bought two copies of Anno 1404 because I thought I could play with my wife. Big mistake. Uplay is completely busted and I've never been able to get multiplayer working. Wish I could refund that garbage.
- speeder 6y ago
  I am from Brazil and because of that I never get online-only singleplayer games. For example I never played Diablo 3, not even in a friend house or a demo (if there is one, I never checked). Ditto for Sim City 5, despite me being a huge fan of Sim City 4.
  - paledot 6y ago
    You did yourself a huge favour by not playing SimCity 5. The sequel to SimCity 4 came out, and it was called Cities: Skylines.
    - 6y ago

ragnese 6y ago

I find that extremely offensive, honestly. I'm not allowed to play a god-damned game that I purchased offline when nothing about the actual game requires network access? That's ridiculous!

gkop 6y ago

Not under all circumstances, no. I was in no way blocked from playing it on a brand new PS4 that was never connected to internet. However I pretty reliably experienced, after leaving the PS4 to sleep for longer than 1-2 days, a severe input glitch when I resumed the game. To fix the glitch I had to restart the PS4 and game, which takes more than 5 minutes. Later I plugged in the internet and the glitch never happened again. I never made the connection between the glitch and DRM, but it seems likely to me now that they are related. I had assumed the glitch was a known bug that the developers were disincentivized to fix because they want the internet connected for telemetry.

pfranz 6y ago

Within the last 5 years I know some other studios were focusing on single-player experience at ship time knowing people may only have the disk to play, for exmaple service members serving overseas.