Remember the old day of Ragnarok Online private servers (an MMORPG).
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.
Comment on Stop Destroying Videogames petition heads to the European Union
Jrockwar@feddit.uk 3 months agoWhen 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.
cordlesslamp@lemmy.today 3 months ago
tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 3 months ago
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.
SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
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).