The problem isn't that some of us don't have internet (thanks to 10 GB patches and similar stuff, you'd be screwed anyway)... The problem with "Our servers run your singleplayer game" games is that your (singleplayer!) game is inoperable the day the developer decides to shut down the servers (those things cost money). That's even worse than some useless, crackable always online DRM.

The classics of the future? -> Junk files!
GOG of the future? -> "Today we'd have released Elite Dangerous, but sadly all servers shut down 10 years ago :("
Boxed copy collection of the future? -> "Dad? You should talk to a doc about your compulsive hoarding disorder..."

The same shit starts with console gaming too... Look at Microsoft and its Xbox "We-don't-lack-power-because-we-have-cloud-processing" One. What happens to your games when Microsoft doesn't want to pay for cloud processing anymore? Microsoft is filthy rich and won't do this because people will start a shitstorm? Look at Games for Windows Live! One day they get some pretty popular games for their "service" (Batman stuff, Dark Souls) and the next day they decide to shut down everything. Now imagine what happens when they shut down the cloud processing servers... Xjunk One incoming!

No, the problem isn't internet requirement. That's just an annoyance that could be solved by crackers or some enthusiastic guys who start a store for old games that won't work on modern systems. The problem is that we're dependent on the servers of profit-oriented companies. Not long ago "gaming" wanted to become a cultural good (the "Are games art?" discussion). Today they do everything to move away from cultural goods. They're pushing hard towards non-durable consumer goods. THAT'S the problem.

I find this post particularly hilarious/idiotic

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=58789&p=1002725&viewfull=1#post1002725 :lol:

Always online requirement tied to an account is apparently not DRM in the minds of some seriously deluded apologists.

It is not just DRM, it is the most egregious form of DRM.

I recommend Elite the New Kind. Basically Elite Vanilla rewritten in C or C++.

http://ianbellelite.xyz/etnkv11final.zip

Oh, I have this one already, but thanks anyway.

Ugh. The posters who defend Frontier...their judgment is questionable. They don't mind it when a company abuses customers, for no other reason than to create a walled garden. This encourages Frontier to expand their abuse to the entirety of their player base. Why in the world would customers want to create that kind of environment for themselves?!

Here's hoping that Frontier utterly fails and disappears from the industry. It is fine to be greedy, but greed that has no consideration of honesty or upholding one's promises is malignant. People should be prosperous, but betraying others should not form the basis of that prosperity.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous

"How will single player work? Will I need to connect to a server to play?

The galaxy for Elite: Dangerous is a shared universe maintained by a central server. All of the meta data for the galaxy is shared between players. This includes the galaxy itself as well as transient information like economies. The aim here is that a player's actions will influence the development of the galaxy, without necessarily having to play multiplayer.

The other important aspect for us is that we can seed the galaxy with events, often these events will be triggered by player actions. With a living breathing galaxy players can discover new and interesting things long after they have started playing.

Update! The above is the intended single player experience. However it will be possible to have a single player game without connecting to the galaxy server. You won't get the features of the evolving galaxy (although we will investigate minimising those differences) and you probably won't be able to sync between server and non-server (again we'll investigate)."

-----------------------------------

It is not only the online connection, although that sucks also a lot (meaning servers go down, the game goes down) and if I understand their statement it right there will be no single player mode at all.

The original Elite was at it's time a quite exciting single player game as you had a lot of freedom in a game for that time to do things with a really vast universe. It started out with a goal, which could choose to achieve and that was to avenge the death of your father. You could be a pirate, a trader, a bountyhunter. There were also some good follow up single player games like WC:Privateer 2 or Starlancer.

The difference I want to point out is that the choice between single player and mmo sandbox really changes the game itself for the player. It is quite a difference playing some months to get a good ship and being shot down by an npc or just being ridiculed and taken out by a bunch of other players repeatedly. Furthermore, coming from EvE, MMO sandbox fights where you actually lose stuff are mostly highly asymmetrical, there is no balance like in a single player game so that you can say, ok I got taken out because I played bad, mainly you just get run over by 3-6 other players and made fun of in chat. Or you can't check out the goods between several planets, look at events to make some money with trading as other players may be faster and flood the planet you have chosen with goods before you reach it. The Game itlself changes a lot from single player to mmo sandbox.

tldr: From single player to pure mmo sandbox changes the game itself a lot.

Had an eye on it for some weeks because it would have been nice to have a follow up to Elite, Starlancer, WC:Privateer 2.

Seems greed has won. There are already enough mmos with shitty microtransactions - there may be a game where microtransactions are good, but I've never played such a game.

That is why I (almost) never preorder, even for games I know I'll buy day one...

Yeah, I'm definitely going to be more selective with my pre-orders now.

+1
I totally agree, this reeks.
I have made the same observations.

They assume 'full control' over the money we pay for their products but outright refuse to grant us 'full control' over the products we get in return. Thanks to all the mess Frontier has made, and my following refund request - i have also canceled the order i had placed on a Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS flightstick, and shelved my plans for getting a Oculus rift VR headset. For some of the money i now have saved, i think I'll buy both a TW3 collectors edition, and place a preorder for the gog version here as well.

Aand... i better not comment more on the things you mentioned there, or i might end up blowing another box of gaskets or a few blood vessels!

;)

I had to request a refund as well, there's no way I'm spending $75 on a game that won't work once the servers are shut down.

Simple solution, abandon everything Online related and make the game offline singleplayer only and use any funds that would've gone to online crap to make better offline single player game. Everyone wins! Have fun playing your online singleplayer games when they eventually pull the plug from the servers. Oh right, game stops working then!

I can't believe people are falling for the exact same "reasoning" as EA used in the case of the latest Simcity AGAIN.

The 80x86 one, assuming you're going to use Dosbox.

I backed Elite:Dangerous after the kickstarter, on Frontier's store. Also put up money for the expansion pass. Ok so let's see how this goes. Request for refund submitted.