In the past couple days, Blizzard announced a few things about their upcoming sure-to-be megahit Diablo III. The two that stood out are the creation of a real money auction house for selling in-game loot, and that playing the game will require an always-on internet connection, even when playing single player. The former isn't a particularly big deal to me. Having played previous installments of the series, I don't really care if some random dude has way better gear than me. I don't really play PvP stuff, so if it means he's killing more stuff than me, it's not a big deal. On top of that, I'd mostly be playing with friends, so it's even less of an issue, unless they decide to make cash-only items that affect gameplay, but I don't see that happening. (Cash-only items that don't do anything, well, that will almost certainly happen if World of Warcraft is followed.
The second, however, is a major problem. Not as a practical concern - my internet connection is quite stable - but as an ideological one. I'm not a fan of DRM, in general, but I'm okay with it if it's unobtrusive. Valve's Steam system is a pretty good example. You can't take your games away from Steam, but that's all the built-in DRM. Publishers can add their own to games on Steam, however, which can be annoying, but is generally not much more than a serial number. Requiring an always-on connection means that any time it goes out, even briefly, your game ends. It means you can't put it on a laptop and play on an airplane. I'm not totally against DRM, but I can understand the reasoning from publishers. This is just too far, and I won't support any game that does it (provided it's not an online multiplayer game, but I think that's obvious). Maybe there's more to it. Maybe people can just randomly join your game, and there's really no such thing as a "single-player" game in this. If that's the case, I'll reconsider, but probably won't change my mind. It's unfortunate, but I hope more people do the same.
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