Put on Your Gaming Bib: It's Time to Talk About Central-Server Dependent Gaming
For my freshman article we are going to roll up our sleeves, put on our gaming bibs, and try to take a bite out of the clusterstorm sandwich that is central-server dependent gaming. I would like to preface this discussion piece with some context about the online gaming community and specifically address some of my preliminary concerns, when it comes to review sites and gametailored forums. Of course by now, gaming-centric reviews sites, such as Kotaku, have seeped into the blood vessels of mainstream media. And with that wide level of recognition, it seems to be an emerging trend that something gets lost along way, including but certainly not limited to, logic.
I can already hear you clicking your mouse to the next page, insisting the online requirement to play games isn't harming anyone, how it brings players together, promotes teamwork, and improves cooperation. Sure, maybe if you are an MLG status RTS player. But if you fall even a little short of the 'professional' title and your gaming rig doesn't require a heatsink and cooling fan just to run without frying itself out, your Fireteam will probably manage without you. Aside from that most frequent LAN/WLAN, gamers are overly aware of the fact that the only two things that await them online are:
G.I.R.L.S. (Guys In Real Life [see: Defil3d])
Angry european kids who, contrary to popular belief, do kiss their mothers with that mouth
Well, in the famous words of YouTube legend "Angry Video Game Nerd": "Now what's the most important aspect about any game? Well, being able to f***ing play it." and I concur. Take Polaris SnoCross for instance. A game released for multiple platforms in February of 2000. Your run of the mill 3D extreme snow sport racing experience, with a couple of pleasant and notsopleasant surprises. A little hidden secret about Polaris that falls under the latter is that the developers of the PC port of the game included a couple of lines of code that essentially made the CPU racers unbeatable. Even on a fully upgraded snow bike, they would defy the laws of physics to rip ahead of you and undo hours of your precious work. I'm sure any gamer who has been exposed to the Japanese variety of gaming* (see below) would just have written it off as being extra difficult, but it wasn't until Ross Scott, the creator of Freeman's Mind, hacked the game's code, beat the cheating CPU and discovered over a dozen and a half tracks that were never going to be seen by anyone. Doesn't that strike you as odd, just a tiny bit? If that scenario gives you pause consider this: Imagine you wrote a novel but then glued the last half of the book's pages together. The story people can read is ended in medias res but it isn't like you didn't write an ending! You just glued the pages together so if anyone wants to read it they would have to manually tear the book apart page by page and even that has a low chance of success of letting your reader discover the finale in its entirety... I mean, that sounds crazy, doesn't it?
That is the mentality of companies like EA and Ubisoft. These two gaming behemoths combined, arguably release several of the most popular franchise titles in gaming history, including Madden (the groundbreaking physics formula for which was immorally obtained from Bethesda Studio, but that is for another article) and Assasin's Creed. To avoid stepping out of the scope of this story though I would like to give even more background on the insidious nature of games that require a connection to a central server**(see below). When a publisher announces a brand new title or IP that will require a connection to a central server and they are shoving advertisements down our throats about the rave "4outof5 star" reviews and the stellar feedback, it never fails to escape me: this game is going to die. It isn't a Doomsayer storm of morbid self loathing either. I know for a fact that the publishers will 100%, without a doubt, pull the plug with no intention of giving back to the people who by then will have sunken hundreds of man hours of their lives into these games. While that doesn't necessarily stop some extremely dedicated fanbases (see: Runescape) from generating their own private servers, promising uptime for as long as they can manage it, it is still an industry practice that is far too common. At this point gamers are becoming docile in that they are laying down and accepting it. But that isn't what is really bothering me. What is bothering me is the people who have the nerve to come to the defense of companies that kill the games that it makes!! In the words of the immortal Angry Video Game Nerd "The most important f***ing part about any game is being able to f***ing play it!!"
This practice has become so common that I stumbled across forum and blog posts defending large publishers for their choice to hopelessly murder their own games and not release the source code or even have anything remotely resembling a contingency for people who want post-Gestapo enjoyment, in the most ironic ways possible. Everything else is one person after another frustrated but numbed to the expected sliminess of these companies. Video game award related and events that bring the games to reality get an honorable mention here. I'm looking at you JaGeX and Comic Con's across the world. Okay, so that new movie with your favorite actor is airing, no commercials. You can watch it through once or twice or even a few more if you're lucky, but any re runs and all bets are off. In that person's ideal universe, they are totally fine with Freddy Kruger turning them into sliced honey glazed ham everytime they try to watch a movie more than a few times. Why stop there? In the middle of your expensive dinner date, the waitperson will remove your plate from the table while you're eating and toss it into the trash bin. When you cry out for your food, begging and pleading, not understanding why it was taken from you, the headwaiter simply turns and says:
"The chef decided he didn't want you eating the food he cooked anymore. Nothing you can do about it. See you next week."
And you show up the next week. And the week after and the week after that but at the end of the day it will always be easy to point fingers at gamers for allowing this practice to continue but ultimately it's more multifaceted than that. Gamers have a voice and their opinions and feedback are heard by large developer companies (ie. 343/Bungie Studios in relation to Destiny), through letters, live gamerelated conferences, public forums, real time news sites like Reddit and most importantly, profits. So instead of looking for blame, accusing the next gamer of being responsible for the state of the industry, let's take some personal responsibility first. Spread the word and share the news with anyone who would care to listen. It won't be easy but people have a right to know that publishing companies are 'offing' their games without a care in the world, and that it is not right.
"All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."
*Games made in Japan have been noted for being notoriously harder than games made in other countries. Often, the boss levels would just be the level creator's attempt to troll the player until they gave up. A prime (and more relatable) example is the popular franchise Kingdom Hearts. In Japan, a remix dubbed "Kingdom Hearts Final Mix" featured a slew of new content, including one very difficult boss fight. Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix upped the ante by including over 15 new bosses and the option to playthrough the entire game as level 1. To put that in perspective, most randomly generated enemies can kill you in two hits or less. And that was only available on the hardest setting, dubbed "critical mode", it was considered ten times harder than the hardest American setting (Proud Mode).
**By requiring access to a central server, I don't mean games where the player has all the game data and the internet simply acts a firewall to actually play it. Pirates rip those and upload them on a regular basis. I'm referring specifically to games that, once they lose their central server connection, become lobotomized.