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Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

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Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

#111

Post by littlegiantcap »

spartango wrote: post #81

Can we talk about this more clearly? This isn't strictly "evil DRM" as people are highlighting. Unlike some other games, it's not like SimCity is just phoning home to figure out if it is licensed or not, and preventing unlicensed copies. SimCity depends on EA/Maxis' server infrastructure for a great deal of storage and computation related to the macro-scale components of each game. Not only is city state synced there…

I'd like to second what you're saying. The ability to play with my friends in our own private regions is an awesome one, and one I'm glad they included. Frankly, I would have no problem with anything they're doing if it just worked. The big mistake here, imho,is that EA is a huge company, they should have set aside the resources to make this experience great.

Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

#113

Post by dragondilesh »

anon1385 wrote: post #96

When a game requires an internet connection to work we call it DRM and slam it. When a text editor or spreadsheet requires an internet connection to run we call it innovation.

The situation isn't as simple as you put it. This time, there is single player game that shouldn't need forced interactivity with an internet connection. Compared to a text editor where the internet connection allowed multiple users to operate on it at the same time.

Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

#114

Post by [deleted] »

anon1385 wrote: post #99
kevinalexbrown wrote: post #42

I feel bad for the game devs who got to see their hard work turn into something they don't intend. I suppose this is a great advertising technique for small firms, startups, indie shops, etc. "Don't want this[ http://amazon-pulls-sim-city ] to happen? Work for our small team. We won't destroy your work." I know it's standard to say "you get a part in the decisionmaking process!" That's part of it. But a lot of people…

>I suppose this is a great advertising technique for small firms, startups, indie shops You mean like all those small valley startups creating Rails web apps that only work when the user has an internet connection? I don't see the difference.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

#115

Post by cnlwsu »

mortenjorck wrote: post #37

EA needs to pivot this game, fast. Even in the best case scenario, where the servers all get fixed this evening and the game works flawlessly for everyone for a month straight, the damage to the game's name has been done. The meme is hatched: SimCity 2013 has a highly brittle dependency on poorly-planned cloud infrastructure. There's a private region mode in the game (that you nonetheless can't use offline in the cur…

Diablo 3 was pretty horrible at first too for the same reason. I don't know if you will call that a success or failure though.

Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

#116

Post by Alex3917 »

kevinalexbrown wrote: post #42

I feel bad for the game devs who got to see their hard work turn into something they don't intend. I suppose this is a great advertising technique for small firms, startups, indie shops, etc. "Don't want this[ http://amazon-pulls-sim-city ] to happen? Work for our small team. We won't destroy your work." I know it's standard to say "you get a part in the decisionmaking process!" That's part of it. But a lot of people…

"I feel bad for the game devs who got to see their hard work turn into something they don't intend."

On the contrary, this is by far the most realistic simulation of working for government that's ever been created.

Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

#117

Post by treeface »

lost_name wrote: post #20
KevinEldon wrote: post #4

The title of the 5-star review Amazon highlighted as the helpful is delightful: "Got me off my video game addiction!" If there isn't some kind of anti-DRM movement surrounding these review this game might break some kind of record for worst reviews. As of now there are 737 1-star reviews.

Spore (the last Big Game released by Maxis through EA) is currently holding that record, I believe. By September 14, 2008 (ten days after the game's initial Australian release), 2,016 of 2,216 ratings on Amazon.com gave the game one out of five stars, most citing EA's implementation of DRM for the low ratings. [1] Spore's DRM issues were different, however. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_(2008_video_game)#DR…

I actually legitimately hated Spore for its gameplay. So much promise and hype...such poor execution.

Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

#118

Post by damncabbage »

lost_name wrote: post #20
KevinEldon wrote: post #4

The title of the 5-star review Amazon highlighted as the helpful is delightful: "Got me off my video game addiction!" If there isn't some kind of anti-DRM movement surrounding these review this game might break some kind of record for worst reviews. As of now there are 737 1-star reviews.

Spore (the last Big Game released by Maxis through EA) is currently holding that record, I believe. By September 14, 2008 (ten days after the game's initial Australian release), 2,016 of 2,216 ratings on Amazon.com gave the game one out of five stars, most citing EA's implementation of DRM for the low ratings. [1] Spore's DRM issues were different, however. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_(2008_video_game)#DR…

Clearly EA suffered dearly for it, and have made sure never to repeat the mistake. :(

Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

#119

Post by morsch »

spartango wrote: post #81

Can we talk about this more clearly? This isn't strictly "evil DRM" as people are highlighting. Unlike some other games, it's not like SimCity is just phoning home to figure out if it is licensed or not, and preventing unlicensed copies. SimCity depends on EA/Maxis' server infrastructure for a great deal of storage and computation related to the macro-scale components of each game. Not only is city state synced there…

You make a lot of good points. But I've argued this before: it seems highly unlikely that EA is doing any kind of expensive calculation server-side that couldn't be equally done offline in a single player mode.

It's possible for providers to install hardware where each player gets computational resources that rival their own -- OnLive does it. But OnLive also charges a monthly fee for it. And the offloading is only significant compared to, essentially, thin clients, not gaming PCs.

So the simulation offloading argument is just bogus. But of course it's consistent to argue that SimCity is a multiplayer game, full stop, that a single player version, while feasible, would simply be so unattractive that they aren't going to support it; just like Actiblizzard doesn't offer offline WOW. But I assume lots of people are in fact playing essentially single player in a private region, and of course SimCity was a solitary experience in the past.

Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues

#120

Post by AlexDanger »

mortenjorck wrote: post #37

EA needs to pivot this game, fast. Even in the best case scenario, where the servers all get fixed this evening and the game works flawlessly for everyone for a month straight, the damage to the game's name has been done. The meme is hatched: SimCity 2013 has a highly brittle dependency on poorly-planned cloud infrastructure. There's a private region mode in the game (that you nonetheless can't use offline in the cur…

Remember EA is a business, not an offshoot of Reddit/HN. Imagine you're the SimCity product manager and the choice was between a massive refactor or provisioning a bunch of new servers. Which would you choose?

I'd love to agree with you, but I just dont think its plausible.

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