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General discussionGOGcast: Ross Scott of Freeman's Mind on online games shutting down(74 posts)(74 posts)
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Posted March 17, 2016
Chime in and join the discussion!


Ross Scott, best known for his hilariously persistent webseries Freeman's Mind joins our host Mike Smith (AKA ScreamingJoypad) in today's episode of GOGcast!


Ross Scott will be discussing games that depend on online access to a central server in order to run. When companies shut down these servers, the games become no longer playable – dead, at least officially.


We want you to chime in and join the discussion!
Is there something we, as gamers, can do to stop it? Is this really a big problem, or just a necessary evil? Have you lost any favorites to the throes of servers shutting down?

Ask your questions, let us know what you think — Ross Scott and ScreamingJoypad will be dropping by to address your comments during the stream!






Hear us live!
Head to Twitch.tv/GOGcom tonight and listen to the live show.

Listen at your leisure
Can't join us live? Want to relive the glory of the GOGcast? You'll find every episode on this dedicated playlist on YouTube. The GOGcast is also coming soon to iTunes!





Come for the gaming news and reviews, stay for the amazing people. See you tonight at 9pm GMT (or 10pm CET, 5pm EDT, 2pm PDT) at Twitch.tv/GOGcom
Posted March 17, 2016
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tfishell: I love Ross' Game Dungeon, and recently suggested (well, bumped a relevant thread on his forum) that he look into getting sponsored by GOG in some way.
That is a great idea, if anyone deserves a sponsorship it's Ross. Both him and Clint from LGR.
Post edited March 17, 2016 by ReynardFox
Posted March 17, 2016
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Matruchus: One question. Who was the idiot that introduced online activation/always online which is needed for most games today. Stupidest idea since most people still play games in singleplayer mode and that mode should never require any online drm systems, especially since all of them are crackable.
Who introduced it, I don't know, but who popularised it was Blizzard with Diablo III.

It sold millions. Why wouldn't EA follow suit with SimCity? People bitch, threaten & make complete asses of themselves online, but they keep opening up their wallets.
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GOG.com: .
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We want you to chime in and join the discussion!
Is there something we, as gamers, can do to stop it?.
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anothername: Gaining a healthy dose of self control and refuse to spend time and money on (singleplayer)games that require permanent servers and die because of it.

TL/DR: No, we cannot.
Exactly.
Posted March 17, 2016
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Matruchus: One question. Who was the idiot that introduced online activation/always online which is needed for most games today. Stupidest idea since most people still play games in singleplayer mode and that mode should never require any online drm systems, especially since all of them are crackable.
Wasn't it valve who first introduced online activation? They were certainly the first ones to really bring the idea to the limelight when they forced it on everyone through Half Life 2.

As for always online in a non MMO, I'm pretty sure that was Ubisoft.
Post edited March 17, 2016 by ReynardFox
Posted March 17, 2016
Hey guys, leave us your questions for Ross here - both regarding his campaign to stop games from dying and any others! :) We'll be happy to ask them live!
Posted March 17, 2016
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tfishell: I love Ross' Game Dungeon, and recently suggested (well, bumped a relevant thread on his forum) that he look into getting sponsored by GOG in some way.
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ReynardFox: That is a great idea, if anyone deserves a sponsorship it's Ross. Both him and Clint from LGR.
I second the motion. I love GOG and RS so it would be nice so them in some sort of a partnership. LGR too, he really knows his stuff.
Posted March 17, 2016
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RottenRotz: Piracy? :) is it the answer?just kidding...down with DRM
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Maxvorstadt: You know: The more pirates, the less global warming!!
Sadly, some of the always online singleplayer games were never successfully pirated, such as Darkspore, meaning that game essentially was wiped from existence when EA shut down the servers for it a few weeks ago.
Some modders have managed to import parts of it into regular Spore, which is still playable (but is also plagued by terrible DRM), but not the entire thing, which can now only been seen in youtube videos and screenshots.

I do think GOG should look into rereleasing old MMO's with both client and server software included. They or the publishers should preferably offer official servers that players can connect to, but with the server software in the hands of the users, the games can always be preserved. The 90's MMO Meridian 59 has been made available this way, and lives on thanks to it's community maintaining the project.
Posted March 17, 2016
My fellow GOGlodytes

I encourage you to leave questions for Mr Scott here in the forum, before the show (9pm GMT on Twitch.tv/gogcom) I'll collate all the questions together and make sure I ask them.

I'll openly admit that I only know a bit about Mr Scott's work so any questions you lovely lot have would be awesome!

STAY AWESOME!!
Posted March 17, 2016
Online single player is the reason I haven't bought Elite: Dangerous. With the backlog I have I risk that I don't have time to even try it before the servers go down.
Posted March 17, 2016
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blotunga: Online single player is the reason I haven't bought Elite: Dangerous. With the backlog I have I risk that I don't have time to even try it before the servers go down.
You're not missing much, from all reports from the people I know who own it, it's still an empty husk of a game.
Post edited March 17, 2016 by ReynardFox
Posted March 17, 2016
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blotunga: Online single player is the reason I haven't bought Elite: Dangerous. With the backlog I have I risk that I don't have time to even try it before the servers go down.
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ReynardFox: You're not missing much, all reports from the people I know who own it, it's still an empty husk of a game.
Well, at least X-Rebirth is in a playable state finally...
Posted March 17, 2016
Minecraft multiplayer servers will exist until its fans will exist.
I wish that every MP game could do that too, at least at some point.
Post edited March 17, 2016 by phaolo
Posted March 17, 2016
Oh, choo choo woot woot. Just started following him yesterday because of his gamedungeon.
Posted March 17, 2016
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Themken: Cannot watch -- demands Flash Player. Do they not know that Flash is on its way out?
No, it doesn't -- it's been using HTML5 for me for quite some time now. Have you tried it recently?
EDIT: Never mind me, I was wrong! :(
Post edited March 17, 2016 by HunchBluntley
Posted March 17, 2016
Questions for Ross:

- What are your fondest memories of PC gaming as a kid?
- What criteria do you use to choose a game or game series for Game Dungeon?
- Any chance for a Game Dungeon video about Pajama Sam (or other Humongous Entertainment game like Spy Fox or Freddi Fish)? ;) All are on Steam.
- How would you describe your own voice?
Post edited March 17, 2016 by tfishell
Posted March 17, 2016
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HunchBluntley: No, it doesn't -- it's been using HTML5 for me for quite some time now. Have you tried it recently?
Not sure why as of yet, but it tells me "No supported video backend available; Flash is not installed." in Firefox in Linux (CentOS 7). Firefox supports HTML5 video out of the box and works fine on Youtube which provides HTML5 video however.

So it's not quite as simple as it just working for everyone.
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Community
General discussionGOGcast: Ross Scott of Freeman's Mind on online games shutting down(74 posts)(74 posts)
(74 posts)