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Comment by paavohtl | Hacker News Reader

Ah, that's the interesting bit: the actual simulation was 100% local. Networking was actually only required for region play, and I don't think it even communicates in real-time; just occasionally syncs certain variables between cities.

The always online requirement was just a form of DRM, and wasn't actually necessary for the game. EA even patched in an official offline mode in 2014.

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> The always online requirement was just a form of DRM

We can only hope that every app/game that adopts this policy dies an excruciating financial death.

I’m not necessarily morally opposed to always-online DRM (I mean it is their game, they can do what they want), but it is a strong signal that they are not afraid to make technical decisions that they know people will hate in the interest of monetization. Bad sign!

Considering they can't even keep MLS operating for older games, always-online DRM is basically a guaranteed the game won't work within 3-10 years when the company decides to turn off the server. Based on many company's record with this, it's basically a guarantee that they won't patch the game to bypass the DRM check (or make the MLS modifyable and/or default to a fan-supported MLS).

In that case, I do find it morally objective to say the person is "buying" a game. If anything, they're renting the game.

> Ah, that's the interesting bit: the actual simulation was 100% local. Networking was actually only required for region play, and I don't think it even communicates in real-time; just occasionally syncs certain variables between cities.

I think you're right, but the misconception comes from the fact that EA actively played up the fact that they were doing work "in the cloud", to make it seem more powerful and advanced of a simulation (and to justify their reliance on the always-on network DRM).

Didn't someone write a patch the day it came out that stripped out all the phoning home in single player and the game played perfectly ok in single player. I seem to remember it being a large embarrassment to EA at the time due to EA saying that parts of the single player were run on the remote servers. City Skylines is better and I'm not going back so water under the bridge.

Yes. EA responded to the always online complaints by saying the game couldn't possibly run offline due to servers processing information. It was then 0 day cracked showing it was a complete lie.

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