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Petition Launched For Removal of SimCity’s ‘Always Online’ DRM

by on March 8, 2013
 

Removal-SimCity-Always-Online-DRMGamers perturbed by the requirement to be online to enjoy EA’s new SimCity have launched a petition asking for the removal of the anti-piracy feature.

Spotted by The Examiner, more than 34,000 people have already signed the petition on Change.org.

The petition’s message keeps things short, stating in a rather matter of fact way that EA need to,  “Remove “Always Online” DRM from SimCity and future games.” Alright then.

This demand follows a car crash of a launch in which players were unable to play the game, even in single player, because they couldn’t connect to EA’s online servers.

This echoes similar issues with last year’s launch of Diablo III which was both dogged by connection problems, and had players pleading for the removal of the requirement to be online.

Diablo III’s online requirements have not been removed. However recent reports state that the upcoming Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 versions of Diablo III may be playable offline, a rumour that has prompted further vitriolic backlash from Diablo III players.

‘Always online’ DRM is becoming an ever prevalent issue within games and its inclusion in SimCity is particularly questionable. SimCity games don’t need to be played online. In my eyes they have always offered an experience well suited to a lazy afternoon of administrative clicking and natural disaster spectating.

Will EA budge on the matter? Unlikely. That said it’s still interesting to see players reaction to this sort of feature. The number of signs this petition gets may not change SimCity, but it will likely make developers question incorporating the tech in their own games in the future.

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James Bowden

If writing ability was a flavour, I would be the warming embrace of apple and cinnamon - wonderfully familiar and pleasantly spiced. Ever the optimist, I spend most of my game time diligently failing at fighting games (BlazBlue and Persona 4 Arena being the preferred titles), Monster Hunter and Dark Souls. As you can surely ascertain from such preferences I'm a gamer at my most content when a title is punishing me, abusing my feeble abilities and forcing me to improve myself in order to overcome life affirming challenges. Feel free to question my opinions and such on Twitter, @Dalagonash, or find me on every gaming network available as Dalagonash.