A month ago, Electronic Arts, a Bay Area-based video game producer and publisher, released its subsidiary’s new and highly anticipated SimCity game. SimCity is a city building and urban planning simulation, the first major installment in the series since the release of SimCity 4 back in 2003. So why talk about a game a month after it came out? The release was, according to Wired‘s Chris Kohler, a complete disaster.
Prior to its release the game garnered some prestigious awards, but as soon as it went public a wave on consumer outcry overshadowed the gameplay entirely. Sites like Reddit, 4Chan, and Kotaku were flooded with posts and comments from angry users complaining of game-breaking bugs. According to an EA press release SimCity sold over a million copies in the first two weeks, but the backlash just kept coming. Amazon even went so far as to suspend sales of the game and subsequently add a ‘buyers beware’ warning label to the game’s main page on the site.
The main problem? DRM (digital rights management) software was included with the game — as it is with most video games published these days. The difference is that while SimCity games of the past were installed only on each player’s personal computer, now each player is required to play in EA’s servers at all times. This means that if an internet connection is lost, running slowly, or if EA’s servers become overloaded, players can not access their cities at all.
Herein lies the debate that has upset the online community over the past few weeks. EA makes the argument that most players have reasonable access to the internet these days and the “always on” DRM protects the company from those intent on pirating their software. The fans argue they bought a game, not a subscription and they should have access to said game whether or not they have internet access (or EA should keep their servers running smoothly, which clearly they have yet to do).
