Back in April 2024, I wrote about the Stop Killing Games initiative from Ross at Accursed Farms. Now, it's heading to the European Union with a European Citizens' Initiative you can give you vote to.
When you bought e.g. half-life, it would come with the ability to run a server.
If a game needs a server, that functionality should be added into the game, not kept separate. I mean it might be a separate executable, but it should be part of the game “bundle” because the server is part of the game.
If we could run our own servers, we would. Publishers know that. Most of their money relies on predatory practices, including instilling a “fear of missing out.” They know that artificial scarcity is profitable and they design games with that as a base.
They have gotten away with it bc corps have lobbied for DRM, etc and consistently met success. They just tie fears of piracy into this online only bs and get a pass.
I’ve bought now three single-player (with online features) games on console not realizing the servers had already been shut down for whatever reason within a year or two of launch. I can’t play them, and I really wanted to.
Sure they might not have made money off me this time around, but if they put out a game in the future and I’d been able to play these, I’d be more likely to try those and give them my money. Instead, because I wasted money on these year-old games that were already trashed, I just won’t touch anything from those studios ever again, since they clearly don’t believe in their games at all. It makes me look real long and hard into how “online” they are… if I need an internet connection to solo play? Immediately not interested, which is becoming much more limiting as that gets more common.
Meanwhile, if I ever bother setting up my ps2 with an Ethernet cable, I can play with other people who have the same setup with 20+ year old games (like champions of norrath, last I played that “online” was about 10 years ago, but it seems to spin up an on-demand server for whomever is available).
There’s tons of games that still have all of their DLC listed for ridiculous amounts 15 years after the game comes out, I guess I just don’t understand why they would scrap all that work when there’s other viable options that could potentially have future returns… instead they just close the door entirely.
When you bought e.g. half-life, it would come with the ability to run a server.
If a game needs a server, that functionality should be added into the game, not kept separate. I mean it might be a separate executable, but it should be part of the game “bundle” because the server is part of the game.
If we could run our own servers, we would. Publishers know that. Most of their money relies on predatory practices, including instilling a “fear of missing out.” They know that artificial scarcity is profitable and they design games with that as a base.
They have gotten away with it bc corps have lobbied for DRM, etc and consistently met success. They just tie fears of piracy into this online only bs and get a pass.
Here’s the thing though…
I’ve bought now three single-player (with online features) games on console not realizing the servers had already been shut down for whatever reason within a year or two of launch. I can’t play them, and I really wanted to.
Sure they might not have made money off me this time around, but if they put out a game in the future and I’d been able to play these, I’d be more likely to try those and give them my money. Instead, because I wasted money on these year-old games that were already trashed, I just won’t touch anything from those studios ever again, since they clearly don’t believe in their games at all. It makes me look real long and hard into how “online” they are… if I need an internet connection to solo play? Immediately not interested, which is becoming much more limiting as that gets more common.
Meanwhile, if I ever bother setting up my ps2 with an Ethernet cable, I can play with other people who have the same setup with 20+ year old games (like champions of norrath, last I played that “online” was about 10 years ago, but it seems to spin up an on-demand server for whomever is available).
There’s tons of games that still have all of their DLC listed for ridiculous amounts 15 years after the game comes out, I guess I just don’t understand why they would scrap all that work when there’s other viable options that could potentially have future returns… instead they just close the door entirely.
Remember the good old day of Ragnarok Online private servers (an MMORPG from 2002).
Even though it’s not the official intended feature (I think the game source codes got stolen and leaked).
But it’s the way things should be.