Ownership

This was originally written in July 2021; I've decided to review it and push it out because it's a decent article and an issue that continues to be more apparent... so here we go.

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I have a concern; it's not a new concern to any modern gamer but I think it is one that now cannot be denied by the various corporate shills that make up the current cadre of games journalists.

Not that I'm a particularly big fan of those vestigial waffling morons at the best of times.

We don't own our games anymore.

Yeah, I know; it's been at least 10 years since this was true. Steam was the first real step towards this but recent actions by Blizzard really brought this home to me. There are two prime examples:

1. Warcraft 3 "Reforged"
2. Diablo 2 remake

For both games, the remake was announced and we were told the old games would likely be taken offline; we were promised that the old game would be accessible via the remake. The Diablo 2 remake came and went with poor player response that I didn't even notic but if you know anything about modern gaming then you already know that the Warcraft 3 remake was an epic disaster.

1. Remake graphical upgrade promises were not kept
2. Connection problems made actual multiplayer matches fail regularly
3. Edits to the story made fans angry
4. Many features from the original game were broken or missing

The above can be summarised thusly: The remake was a worse product than the original. They should have left well enough alone... and if you wanted to go back to the old game you could not... your "license" for the original had been revoked.

I actually wouldn't mind loading up Warcraft 3 and play through the single player again, but I refuse to pay for a remake I didn't ask for and is inferior... and since Blizzard won't allow me to play the original it seems my choices are to find a pirate version or just forget about it.

I like playing old games quite often, so it makes me quite sad to know that any games from the 'always online' era will eventually disappear and I'm not given a choice... and I know as someone trained in software engineering that these developers could easily design the game such that they could release a "last patch" prior to shutting down a server to allow for determined players to continue enjoying a game when support ends... you know, like every non-always online fucking game since Pong!

I think it's time for governments to at least threaten deep and broad regulation of software companies; where these bastards simply aren't allowed to sell mere "licenses" to use software but an actual share or something like property in said software... Licenses can be revoked, a share is property and that implies a right that can't simply be disregarded.

This is something that should be considered at least as seriously for commercial software like AutoCAD or Windows itself if not more so; as the problem there is how often companies are trying to turn all useful software into a damned rental... they'd do that with games if they could, but people mostly play a game for a while and then forget them, so it doesn't work and thus we get always online and DLC up the bum instead.

Imagine a hammer you HAD to rent... or a toaster, frypan, TV...

I'm not suggesting that this model of software shares and such would mean that companies would have to support the software in perpetuity... that's not viable. But what it means is that the company could be compelled to ensure that access to the software and all basic functions are available. What do I mean by "basic"? Well, for example: warcraft 3 would allow single player and multiplayer via LAN, direct IP (maybe some 3rd party multiplayer support?), etc would be usable. While the servers and such for Bnet would be considered an "advanced" feature.

Essentially, basic features are all features that do not require continued financial resources from the developer/publisher to use. If I play Dune 2 on my PC right now, I don't need Westwood to do anything... which is good because Westwood disappeared a long time ago. Much of the warcraft 3 experience can be considered basic though much of what doesn't work or just straight up missing in the remake can be considered advanced anyway. Whoops.

This is not a simple problem... but it could be fixed or mostly avoided if the big companies like Blizzard/Activision, EA and Ubisoft would just stop being a bunch of cunts with their shitty live service games.

I'm sure this will continue to be an issue until the next AAA game crash (that as of 2023, might actually be coming); unless we get lucky.

We need to regain ownership of not just our games, but everything.