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No, see, you don't understand. The users needed to keep paying for the service in order for it to stay up. It's their fault that the service ended; Ubisoft is j

No, see, you don't understand. The users needed to keep paying for the service in order for it to stay up. It's their fault that the service ended; Ubisoft is just trying to run a business. /s Anyway, I kinda get the point of view even if I dislike it. People really do continue to buy the newest CoD and sport franchise games despite the predatory monetization. Those are the people who are predicted to "embrace" their business model. And Ubisoft may actually keep some services running, though I suspect it will be only after they've sufficiently perfected the ~gambling~ ~Skinner box[0]~ ~money-grabbing~ gaming experience. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber

josephg 3y ago
Yeah; maybe that is the point of "Subscription" gaming. Netflix frequently removes shows from their collection. Maybe they don't want us to pay for - and own - specific games. Maybe the idea is to convince us to pay $10/month for access to Ubisoft's "complete" collection of titles, with new games coming out regularly and old games being retired at a steady rate. That would surely mean, not paying sticker price for a new game, right Ubisoft? Riiight? Even with music I'm increasingly missing my old CD library. I miss knowing that I'll always be able to play my favorite songs even if some music lawyers have a fight, or my internet connection drops out. The subscription economy sure seems brittle.
em-bee 3y ago
when myst online was going to shut down, the players rallied together to fund the operation. i don't know the details, but from what i know the company listened and set up a donation meter to share the funding status of the server operation. the servers will keep running as long as there is enough funding to keep the people needed for that. if there is additional funding they may spend that on features and bugfixes. they also allow community contributions, and i think the first of those contributions have gone live not to long ago. in the end i think besides releasing the sources this kind of crowdfunding is the most likely way how an online game can be kept alive.

josephg 3y ago

Yeah; maybe that is the point of "Subscription" gaming. Netflix frequently removes shows from their collection. Maybe they don't want us to pay for - and own - specific games. Maybe the idea is to convince us to pay $10/month for access to Ubisoft's "complete" collection of titles, with new games coming out regularly and old games being retired at a steady rate. That would surely mean, not paying sticker price for a new game, right Ubisoft? Riiight? Even with music I'm increasingly missing my old CD library. I miss knowing that I'll always be able to play my favorite songs even if some music lawyers have a fight, or my internet connection drops out. The subscription economy sure seems brittle.

em-bee 3y ago

when myst online was going to shut down, the players rallied together to fund the operation. i don't know the details, but from what i know the company listened and set up a donation meter to share the funding status of the server operation. the servers will keep running as long as there is enough funding to keep the people needed for that. if there is additional funding they may spend that on features and bugfixes. they also allow community contributions, and i think the first of those contributions have gone live not to long ago. in the end i think besides releasing the sources this kind of crowdfunding is the most likely way how an online game can be kept alive.