The Internet Is The Worst Thing For Gaming (?)

[williamjones]

Is it? I think so, and Ill list why I think so too below. If you disagree (or agree), please reply and say why.

Annoying DLC that shouldnt be there, I just spent $60 for a new game and I have to download things to play it on my system, or unlock characters?

Game developers blame it for piracy, then blame the piracy on why they cant make better games. Thats really stupid, because theyre admitting they dont make cool experimental games.

DRM, nough said just writing that.

"Wow, I can watch Netflix on my tv no problem, theres so much to watch. Why did I buy this game system again?........games?.......huh........I wonder if someone replied to my Facebook messages?"

"Wow, I can play against people all over the world with this game.....what?! My internet is blacking out?! They hit pause?" Ten years later. "Gee wiz, I sure do want to play some retro gaming, better bust out the ps3 and get on and see if I can play SSF4.....WHAT?! the internet service isnt available? Surely this didnt happen to the Dreamcast games!?"

The internet browser on the PS3 is bad too.




So in all maybe Im old fashioned, but I want to just pop the game into the system and play, not have any distractions, or worry about in ten years I cant download the necessary patches to play a used game I just bought. Internet is a cool thing for fighting games, but besides that I dont see the point for internet use on a console game.

[Cookie Monster]

So in all maybe Im old fashioned, but I want to just pop the game into the system and play, not have any distractions, or worry about in ten years I cant download the necessary patches to play a used game I just bought. Internet is a cool thing for fighting games, but besides that I dont see the point for internet use on a console game.

What's the big deal? Unplug the ethernet cable and play.

[Gare]

Um, you don't have to. No one's forcing you to download that extra content. While I do agree that DLC is often used as a cashcow to put out overpriced, mediocre content, it has little to do with how useful the internet is for gaming. Blame companies that put out shitty DLC, not the internet. In itself, the concept is great - you can download additional content for your game from the comfort of your home. It's just that it's often used as a cashcow of sorts.

In any case, I can't think of an instance when I really hated the online component of a game. Not even Diablo 3 was as bad as people made it out to be, and co-op in that game is much more fun than soloing. I'm actually playing Dark Souls these days and being online just makes the experience that much more enjoyable to me. On PC you also have enormous modding communities that are constantly working on new content and patches, sometimes long after the devs themselves have stopped supporting the title. Morrowind got a complete overhaul made by fans, while a series of patches and bugfixes were released for Vampire: Bloodlines long after the company that made the game went bankrupt. I'm sure there are more examples, but these were just the ones off the top of my head.

So basically, I think the internet has had a pretty positive influence on games, despite certain negatives (retarded DRM and so on). Yeah, I know I'm talking about PC, but your thread title said "gaming", and gaming hardly stops at home consoles.

[_Gambit]

What's the big deal? Unplug the ethernet cable and play.

Bazinga.

None of my consoles are hooked up to the net. And I feel no need to since if I want multiplayer, I call a friend. If I want internet browsing. I got a laptop. Could care less about DLC.

Secondly: How do you think half the population gets there games?

[Gypsy]

I'm good until you have to have internet access to play a game. Oh what's this you say? It already happened? Diablo 3?

But yeah, the internet is wonderful, for gaming and everything else.

Bazinga.

None of my consoles are hooked up to the net.

Secondly:

Mine are disconnected most of the time, but I've given into the DLC monster a few times (mostly free stuff but still). As well as having to patch NFS:HP to make it compatible with racing wheels (wooo EA).

[Mohit]

Another thing.
In android. Some games, generally of gamevil don't run without internet. Then they sell make the game that hard that you can't beat it without buying those stupid powerups or anything.
Cheating is the only option remains. But their game even detects that, and exits. WTF

[Gare]

Secondly: How do you think half the population get there games?

Funny how you brought that up, because yet another great thing about the internet is the (legal) digital distribution of games you would otherwise have a really hard time tracking down. GOG.com says hi.

[Gypsy]

Gog is amazing. If I didn't already have most of the old PC games I want I'd be spending a lot more money there. Very useful for getting the Iron Plague expansion for TA:K.

[williamjones]

Ok, Im glad you guys are responding so well to this. Im used to forums where people yell and scream at people and troll them into oblivion. Thanks.

I was talking more about consoles than PC gaming. To me video gaming is more a term for consoles that hook up to the tv. And PC gaming is on computers. I grew up when there was a huge difference in both.

[unnoticedninja]

Dlc isn't always good, but if you want more content for your game without them making a brand new game, it's a good idea, not to mention dlc has pretty much replaced expansion packs for games, and occasionally gets a retail release like Game of the Year Edition or something similar. And for fighting games, like Soul Calibur IV for example, I bought the 360 edition, which does not contain a character for the PS3 version, and instead of paying an extra $30-60 for another copy of the game plus the PS3 if I don't have one, I can just buy the character for $5. And yes they could have made the character available by default, but before like Soul Calibur 3, each game had system specific characters and you would have to buy each version if you wanted said character.

Also, people have friends that live far away and or don't want to come to your house to play games with you, so you can just get online and play with them and talk over the headset, makes multiplayer gaming much more convenient and if you don't want to use it you don't have to, and most games also still include local split screen support as well.

[Slacker Magician]

Um, you don't have to. No one's forcing you to download that extra content. While I do agree that DLC is often used as a cashcow to put out overpriced, mediocre content, it has little to do with how useful the internet is for gaming. Blame companies that put out shitty DLC, not the internet. In itself, the concept is great - you can download additional content for your game from the comfort of your home. It's just that it's often used as a cashcow of sorts.

In any case, I can't think of an instance when I really hated the online component of a game. Not even Diablo 3 was as bad as people made it out to be, and co-op in that game is much more fun than soloing. I'm actually playing Dark Souls these days and being online just makes the experience that much more enjoyable to me. On PC you also have enormous modding communities that are constantly working on new content and patches, sometimes long after the devs themselves have stopped supporting the title. Morrowind got a complete overhaul made by fans, while a series of patches and bugfixes were released for Vampire: Bloodlines long after the company that made the game went bankrupt. I'm sure there are more examples, but these were just the ones off the top of my head.

It was never a cool concept, there's no standard for quality or the amount of content it adds; it was a way to push expansion packs (aka meaningful additional content) out of the way. Modding communities for this game or that have nothing to do with the online modes of a game unless the mod is specifically for it.

[Gare]

Imagine that the bit about modding is in a separate paragraph. I was not trying to connect it to online modes. It was more of a comment on why having internet is cool shit when it comes to games.

[Rok124]

They say later on in the future gaming generations you may actually have to always have internet to play even single player games

and even those single player games may just simply stop being made and be replaced by massive amounts of multi-player like games

You can't escape the internet when it comes to games at this point im afraid

[MrFlamingo]

You can't escape the internet when it comes to games at this point im afraid

It's more like you cant escape the internet, it's seeping into almost everything.

[Slacker Magician]

Imagine that the bit about modding is in a separate paragraph. I was not trying to connect it to online modes. It was more of a comment on why having internet is cool shit when it comes to games.

I suppose that makes more sense .

In any case, I agree on a lot of points WJ made. Facebook/Twitter/Socialnetworking has no place in any game, and just because someone can ignore it doesn't mean they were justified to include it, it's time they could've spent fixing bugs or fine tuning game systems.