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> patching the game so it does not require a server. Making GaaS are single player games, and are online-only as a form of DRM. Do you have a single example of
by nerdjon 3y ago
> patching the game so it does not require a server. Making GaaS are single player games, and are online-only as a form of DRM.
Do you have a single example of this? The Crew does not seem like an example of this since it is a multplayer game. I agree with always on DRM being a bad thing, but online features is not the same as online drm.
> release a closed source binary of the server so that people can run it themselves.
That requires that it was ever a single binary in the first place and not multiple systems. Also would require that the parts that are specific to them, like auth, would need to be able to be toggled or removed before releasing it.
> release documentation so people can implement their own backend.
> release the server as open source
Sure, that's an alternative but it still takes time for them to do it.
> be legally required to put a large sticker on the box saying "THIS GAME WILL EXPIRE. BUYER BEWARE."
There is something to be said about as a consumer understanding that an "online game" will eventually shut down. This should be well understood.
Your proposals are all implying that just doing all of this is just free and one day they can just flip a switch and here is everything for the community but that isn't the reality and it is severely flawed.
- adamzochowski 3y ago> The Crew does not seem like an example of this since it is a multplayer game. One can play The Crew single player, it has a whole campaign. There have been tons of games that are single player with multiplayer elements. This is same as GTA5 or The Division or any other game which is single player and multiplayer > That requires that it was ever a single binary in the first place Or release all binaries / source code. The whole docker swarm config, or the terraform or whatever was used to run the stuff. Not sure if server side is two binaries out of a sudden it is impossible. > Sure, that's an alternative but it still takes time for them to do it. Why? release all the docs+source code as you have them, and call it a day. > There is something to be said about as a consumer understanding that an "online game" will eventually shut down. This should be well understood. Why? I had played tons of online games that were not shut down. Dooms, quakes, warsaw, etc. This is a relatively new thing that companies are both, not allowing single player run without a server, and shutting down the server part. I think in the past we had similar thing when GameSpy was shutdown, and recently Games For Windows Live which microsoft stopped supporting. However, these are mostly DRM cases with some bypass possible. I want to add, I suspect Blizzard has complex architecture, but people managed to reverse engineer the server to run custom diablo/starcraft/wow servers. Now blizzard as they have not shutdown their services has been actively fighting these efforts of custom servers. All the ask is that companies that do shutdown their services do the opposite. Help community run the games longer. In case of The Crew, the shut down was a deliberate push to get people to buy The Crew 2.
- crtasm 3y agoHere's an example of a single player game, we wanted to play this just today: https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/off-the-grid-tron-evolution-and-drm-authentication/ https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/off-the-grid-tron-evolutio...
- Jach 3y agoOnline DRM is prevalent. I'll add another example, Project Diva won't even launch if you're offline. It's a single player rhythm game. (In this case it's a property of Denuvo, a popular DRM software for lots of games. I think technically if you launch online it counts as an activation (which you can't do too frequently or else) and you're ok for a couple weeks.)