2010′s DRM in Gaming: The Road to Perdition

Monday, Feb. 22 2010 | Author: Jayvee

There appears to be an emerging trend in gaming DRM that requires users to have an active Internet connection while playing, else you get kicked out. This applies to single player games as seen in Assassin’s Creed II and rumored to be present even in Command and Conquer IV. Not only that, but LAN seems to be going the way of the direct IPX connectivity option for multiplayer (remember 1 vs 1 Starcraft by dialing your friend’s modem?). The major uproar started when Modern Warfare 2 for the PC removed dedicated servers. You COULD play LAN under private games, but without XP progression. It’s a road to perdition paved with an unreasonable DRM imposition.

Dedicated servers had the advantage of better connectivity from a worldwide pool of gamers, the option to really choose your battles and most importantly a community that fueled the creation of mods, skins and other doodads that made gaming more colorful. The adverse effect is that at times, you’d enter a game baffled by the most horrible sound effects and annoying welcome music (i.e. Team Fortress II). Nonetheless, it still built community.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the gaming industry went back to being a “closed” platform. With Internet becoming a requirement for gaming today, it would be stupid to call yourself a gamer without Internet connectivity. But we’ve spent so much money upgrading our rig — and as a gamer, if the only impediment is a wall that screams “sorry my Internet provider is down for maintenance” it would be a sad reality for the single player gaming industry, punishing those who buy legit copies of the game and actually rewarding bootleg copy distributors who have found ways around the DRM. It’s silly.