Sim City 5

[z06z33]

Though it won't make much difference to some, read this news release:

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_22760381/ea-apologizes-simcity-launch-woes

 

Those of you that are on the near edge of advocating piracy take note; if it goes any further you will run up against our ToS' and if you read them, you will see that the response from us will be rather "direct".

Though it won't make much difference to some, read this news release:

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_22760381/ea-apologizes-simcity-launch-woes

 

Those of you that are on the near edge of advocating piracy take note; if it goes any further you will run up against our ToS' and if you read them, you will see that the response from us will be rather "direct".

How am I advocating piracy I'm saying mod the game to fix Ea's mess up not steal the software

[Tom Allensworth]

 

How am I advocating piracy I'm saying mod the game to fix Ea's mess up not steal the software

 

I don't recall accusing you specifically. I made a general statement. If the shoe fits, and all that...

[z06z33]

 

I don't recall accusing you specifically. I made a general statement. If the shoe fits, and all that...

Sorry I didn't mean to jump at you but somone else accused me of advocating piracy which I wouldn't do and I didn't wanna get banned for trying to help folks get thier game running

[Kaboki]

 

As for piracy it is not something the entire industry fights. There are plenty of musicians and movie people that have no problem with it. They are all for the exposure it gives them.

 

And thats probably because they know that 80% off the population pays for stuff, and the last 20% steal so they just gets that little extra PR out to people that wouldn't pay for something any way but would still talk about them and come to their concerts, but if it where the other way around Im not so sure they would embrace piracy at all....

[nateanderson]

A company that cuts off the online servers to force customers to buy the new version is Intuit. My company uses Quickbooks and all online functions get cut off after three years. Then we get to spend $350 per copy for the new version . . .

 

Ben

[simmerhead]

Yeah, but at some point you would get tired off the classics, then you would want new stuff to be made. But if no one was making profit, it would not get made. It would offcourse never happen as there are always honest people out there, but if everyone pirated it would happen. We don't live in a utopia where everyting is free, people have families to feed and can't just give their hard work away. And pirating things is stealing other peoples work no matter how we try to justify it. Offcourse all the DRM stuff and anti piracy measures irritates me sometimes too, but I just have to live with it.

 

E.g would you stop locking your doors so burglars just can walk right in to your house and steal stuff? People set up alarms in their house etc to protect themselfes, Is that wrong? Would you just invite the burglar into your home and say, hey man just take everything you want for free while I starve?. Offcourse all the locks and alarms wouldn't stop a dedicated burglar but it would give you a more sense of securety and help you sleep better at nights.

 

Piracy is stealing no doubt, but like crime in general it can't be annihilated. I've been a musician and photographer for 20+ years, so don't tell me art wouldn't be made if people weren't in it for the money. I couldn't care less if the commercial side of art vansihed completely, but even with all the piracy in the world that ain't gonna happen. There is revenue to be made, even if the entertainment biz never sold a single copy of a DVD or CD anymore.

 

I detest piracy, but I detest even more those who make it my problem that they are suffering from it. The biz should quit whining and focus on making better products. As for the computer game industry many studios are entering an ethical grey area with all their DLC content aimed at young kids. Time for them to get off their high horse and stop stealing candy from babies.

 

As for your analogy I don't really see how it relates to selling bad products. There's protection and there's overprotection. I do lock the door, but I don't chain my snow showel to the house.

[EngineRoom]

Well I've been playing the game again today, it's still a lot of fun and I can log in absolutely fine on Europe West 6.

 

I've seen quite a lot of misinformation spewed forth about this game on the Internet - mostly by people who don't have the game. I've come to realise that for all the wondrous things the Internet is, it's also seems to be perhaps the greatest vehicle for the display of stupidity and ignorance in human history.

 

EA are the bogeyman of gaming at the moment. In the eyes of many they have gobbled up many smaller publishers over the years, acquired lots of very well known IPs and franchises, and subsequently ruined them. I think an awful lot of people were just waiting - wishing even - for this latest big EA release to fail. It's pretty much the vogue at the moment, just like bashing Microsoft, Apple, or in our own hobby Orbx. EA themselves have stated they are wanting to move all their big IPs to an online environment which has again drawn the ire of a lot of loud Internet denizens.

 

I see nobody has mentioned yet that EA are offering a free game to those who have activated their copy of Sim City 5 during the server problems. How that will work - will we get to pick a free game or will EA pick it for us I don't know. Still, it's at least an admission on their part they messed up and are trying to placate the unhappy customers.

 

Then let's consider another big triple A release that was also online only and had exactly the same sort of server issues just after release - Diablo 3. In the first 24 hours on sale it racked up 3.5 million sales, and that rose to 6.5 million sales after the first week. I believe it's still selling quite well. That's pretty good evidence that the online only requirement does not hurt sales in any meaningful way when you have such a valuable and well known franchise. 

 

Now then let's take a stroll over to TPB and have a look at how many people are torrenting the "cracked" Diablo 3 with server emulator.... 56 seeding and 94 leeching. Now let's take a look at the torrents available for the very recently released new Tomb Raider game - another big and well established franchise.... the top three torrents have a combined total of 14,952 seeders and 25,866 leechers. That's just the top three torrents. On one torrent tracker.

 

For all the I TRIED TO USE A PROFANITY HERE - AREN'T I STUPID!ing and moaning about the online only as a means of DRM the publishers see only one incontrovertible fact:

 

Big franchise release without online only DRM - massive piracy.

 

Big franchise release without online only DRM - massively reduced piracy.

 

 

To quote a rather famous meerkat:

 

Simples!

[Fox-Bat]

People like free stuff even if they can afford it and they will do anything to justify it, if so inclined. If you don't like DRM don't pay. I just bought Cities XL Platinum cause I didn't like the always online requirement. No one is forcing you to buy something. If you want something you like, learn to respect the wishes of the creator.

[Cessnaflyer]

 

To quote a rather famous meerkat:
 
Simples!

 

Problem is that when I am on the road there is no internet and then I can't play the game. At my home there is satellite internet that is sometimes intermittent and again can't play. It would be nice if there was something like having to go online once a week or so to update a key, but needing a constant connection can prove to be difficult.

[Kieron]

I received the game on Friday, and other than the first hour after downloading, I have had no connection issues - maybe it has something to do with me having the UK's fasted broadband? Who knows. Today the servers went offline for a while, however shortly after they released news of a patch, so the server going offline for a short while is understandable. In this sense it is no different to an FS developer upgrading their servers leaving you unable to activate your product for a while.

 

As for the Online-Only strategy: I personally have no issues with it, I read that it was online-only back before pre-ordering, and when they released the information about it back in the Summer of 2012. I understand that for all, this isn't exactly the ideal situation, but if companies tried to please everyone then products would become very big, and very expensive. EA and the guys at Maxis have attempted something new and unseen when it comes to city-building games (at least I think it is?), and that is the multiplayer aspect - no city runs on it's own! Granted not everybody wants to play with other people, and maybe they should have thought about that, but as a whole that would of changed the game and the way it works. With the game using a lot of the server for saves, global markets and the leaderboards/stats and what not, offline play simply wouldn't be possible, yet. As has been mentioned, there are other games out there which do the same thing and allow offline play.

 

EA/Maxis have admitted that they were wrong in not predicting the demand for a game which hasn't seen a release in a decade, nobody is perfect, not even large companies! They have offered us the ability to choose a game from the 18th for free, which although might not suit some, at least they are trying. They didn't see the demand in the pre-order sales, which along with the beta they based their server requirement information on - according to their recent Twitter Q&A, bad move? definitely so. Unfix-able? No. Inconvenience? Yes!

 

Don't forget guys, the game was only released on Tuesday for some countries, Thursday and Friday for most others. The "New Game" novelty is still very much in the air at the moment, with some of us only racking up two possible days to play on a very anticipated game. Give it a few weeks and people will get that out of their system, and sever capacity will increase.

 

Just my 2 pence worth, nothing is aimed at anybody in particular just my general thoughts and gripes. Of course, everybody is entitled to their own opinion and choices as a consumer.

 

I apologize for any bad spelling/grammer etc. It is now 3AM and I still haven't woken up properly!

[Swofford]

I can understand the aversion to online only. For games like this it's a pain and EA isn't the most consumer friendly company out there. While it doesn't bother me to much I don't like being assumed as being a criminal. DRM is a nessacary evil some is more intrusive than others. Unfortunately I think it's gonna get worse. It's one reason I enjoy consoles I can just turn it on and play anytime I want. All though I fear the next couple of generations of consoles is going to get draconian as well. Sooner or later I think it's going to end up costing them customers and they'll be forced to change or go out of business.

[EngineRoom]

 

Problem is that when I am on the road there is no internet and then I can't play the game.

 

I feel your pain. I've got more reason than most to not like the online requirement. I'm on a ship for eight months each year and although I have a mobile net connection via 3G it only works when I am in the UK and have a 3G signal - which isn't always the case. In a couple of weeks I am joining a ship which due to the nature of its cargo spends most of its time in deepest darkest Scotland well away from any civilisation (and 3G coverage!) so I expect to be without any net connection.

 

The unfortunate fact is publishers see massive piracy of the big triple A titles like this and feel the only way to protect their investment is by implementing the online requirement. If we are going to single out EA for some very harsh criticism in this matter, let's also be fair and point a rather large finger at the multitudes of pirates who are torrenting brand new games right now.

 

 

maybe it has something to do with me having the UK's fasted broadband?

 

Who's that with? Virgin? I've got their 100Mb/s connection. Quick hint - don't use Wi-Fi to connect your PC to the router, use a regular ethernet cable. Connecting to the router using Wi-Fi I was getting 67Mb/s. When I connected via an ethernet cable I was getting 105Mb/s on Speedtest.net which according to them was faster than 98% of the UK.

 

 

EA and the guys at Maxis have attempted something new and unseen when it comes to city-building games (at least I think it is?), and that is the multiplayer aspect - no city runs on it's own!

 

Very true, a lot of people who are complaining and don't have the game don't seem to understand this. Yes Sim City 5 can be played in totally single player, but it's meant to be played with others. Each region can have anything from three to eleven cities which can interact and complement eachothers' development.

 

 

For games like this it's a pain and EA isn't the most consumer friendly company out there.

 

Again, for a game that's meant to be played with others the online requirement isn't such a huge deal really. I agree about EA not being very consumer friendly, but then again they're a big company out to make money for their shareholders, so there's no different form any other big brand name in that respect.

 

 

If you absolutely must have a city builder and be able to play it offline then you can always go for Cities XL which is available pretty cheap on Steam right now. The graphics are very good but it does suffer from some ropey coding which causes performance to bog down in larger cities. The old Sim City 4 still holds up very well and is available even cheaper still on Steam. If crowd sourcing is your thing then there's one or two city builders looking for funding via this method as well.

[Kaboki]

 

I've been a musician and photographer for 20+ years, so don't tell me art wouldn't be made if people weren't in it for the money

 

Im not saying art wouldn't be made, but you couldn't live of it if it didn't sell, then you would have done something else to make a living. If the commercial side of art whas gone alot of people would live like hobos begging for food in the streets...

 

 

As for your analogy I don't really see how it relates to selling bad products.

 

Im not trying to relate it to selling bad products, but talking about piracy in general. If you don't like a bad product don't buy, no one is forcing you...

 

Piracy is stealing no doubt, but like crime in general it can't be annihilated.

 

So your saying because crime can't be annihilated, we shouldn't have police trying to fight it but just let it be?

 

I do lock the door, but I don't chain my snow showel to the house.

 

Some do and I don't blame them for doing it, because that shovel may have value to them..

[Kieron]

Who's that with? Virgin? I've got their 100Mb/s connection. Quick hint - don't use Wi-Fi to connect your PC to the router, use a regular ethernet cable. Connecting to the router using Wi-Fi I was getting 67Mb/s. When I connected via an ethernet cable I was getting 105Mb/s on Speedtest.net which according to them was faster than 98% of the UK.

It sure is Virgin's 100Mb broadband, I found out the wifi/ethernet cable issue after months of complaining to them about my slow speeds! Why they don't tell you this in the first place, i'll never know! Now I get around 120Mb/s thanks to their speed upgrade promotion.

 

Thanks anyway!

[tonywob]

 

Unfortunately I think it's gonna get worse. It's one reason I enjoy consoles I can just turn it on and play anytime I want

 

Yep, I've heard "rumours" that Sony are thinking of locking games down to a particular console. So gone are the days of lending games to friends, taking games round to your friend's house, etc. They'd be crazy to do this, but as it seems to be apparent in the gaming industry now, you shut up and accept it :(