Disclosure: for me the open online if the only way to fly.
As a business man i am not surprised by the way things seem to be going for the offline version. There is only one reason for it: PIRACY. There may be some here who are of the intent that they will get their copy hack and share.
For those of us who have and continue to support this, Pirating this game jeopardises our future enjoyment of the game and its development. I get the desire to play off line like we used to. And yes it would be very helpful to have that option, but with the way things are now, there has to be some kind of authentication with the licence otherwise Frontier will loose valuable money that will help expand and improve the game. Games developers are paranoid about this. And rightly so.
There are plenty of sites explaining why this is a problem: here is a research paper if you like that sort of thing, http://www.mit.edu/~ke23793/papers/Drahchenetal_paperID16.pdf
Some nice quotes about piracy from those who have to deal with it :
http://gearnuke.com/will-piracy-death-pc-gaming/
you can find lost of evidence in google if you try, infact there are some 12Million ip addresses that Pirate and share PC and other games.
Now, i am not saying it should never happen but I believe that PURE OFFLINE should not come at launch. It is too tempting for the hackers at that time. I would like to see a USB or CD version with high security for offline play around the time of/month or two before the first Major expansion. I am sure that can do some form of ofline authentication and file checking down the road but not at launch. They have their hands full making a superb game, squashing bugs, and it is AWESOME.
I have posted here before that i love this game already. I takes me back to 84 like nothing else. It FEELs right so i can understand how some of you with restricted internet access are so upset when that is one of the core features you expected, and are now being denied.
Frontier is a Company, not a charity. Companies are capitalist entities. I know many of you may not agree with that sort of thing but that is the reality. They have shareholders, employees and a customer base that is an exemplary community. You guys are one of a kind. I lurk on several forums and most are Troll Caves or Flame Wars, ranting and very aggressive or total wind ups.
This beta and alpha community are the best bunch of peeps i have ever had the pleasure of being involved with on a game forum. You are mature, even the younger ones! thoughtful, balanced and communicate in a reasoned and responsible way.
For me the news letter was actually rather good 25% off insurance, which is a bit high, works. I feel sorry for those who will not get that, and I think there should be a way of getting a "No claims discount" within the game and even a "protected no claims discount" it would make us game carefully. As for the 5 "free ships" they are clearly meant to be free regarding in game credits, NOT pound notes or dollars. AWESOME, why aren't we speculating on which ones they will be, Krait? Moray? Adder? god i hope one is the Fer-De-Lance but i doubt it
And the 3.9 release, wow! Obviously they will keep the surprises back but it should be virtually everything in the game mechanics and possibly at a release type of balance. Cannot wait to dip in to that for a day or so before the Grand Wipe.
I am concerned at the amount of anger the lack of offline mode has generate. But It shows how involve some are with the game. it is a kind of grief. They cannot play without an internet connection and if they just don't have one that can handle it then i too would be angry and gutted as this game is superb. That is the problem The better the game is the more vocal some, maybe minority players, will be when they don't get what the need. Maturity and reasoned thinking balances out what they want in the game but NEED is a different thing. Some NEED this game in their life, if they don't have internet they NEED offline and they feel cheated. i feel for them.
And before you start sounding off about the remaining problems and annoyances, yes i know they are there. I am sure they will get fixed but there are enough ways to play the game right now that you can avoid those while we wait for fixes to emerge, most likely very rapidly over the next few weeks after launch.
Lets not forget that in a few days this game will launch and we will start our journeys among the stars. but also lets not forget those guys who have and are supporting this but may get left behind if they cannot play offline. They gave money to help make this what it is.
As a business man i am not surprised by the way things seem to be going for the offline version. There is only one reason for it: PIRACY. There may be some here who are of the intent that they will get their copy hack and share.
For those of us who have and continue to support this, Pirating this game jeopardises our future enjoyment of the game and its development. I get the desire to play off line like we used to. And yes it would be very helpful to have that option, but with the way things are now, there has to be some kind of authentication with the licence otherwise Frontier will loose valuable money that will help expand and improve the game. Games developers are paranoid about this. And rightly so.
There are plenty of sites explaining why this is a problem: here is a research paper if you like that sort of thing, http://www.mit.edu/~ke23793/papers/Drahchenetal_paperID16.pdf
Some nice quotes about piracy from those who have to deal with it :
http://gearnuke.com/will-piracy-death-pc-gaming/
you can find lost of evidence in google if you try, infact there are some 12Million ip addresses that Pirate and share PC and other games.
Now, i am not saying it should never happen but I believe that PURE OFFLINE should not come at launch. It is too tempting for the hackers at that time. I would like to see a USB or CD version with high security for offline play around the time of/month or two before the first Major expansion. I am sure that can do some form of ofline authentication and file checking down the road but not at launch. They have their hands full making a superb game, squashing bugs, and it is AWESOME.
I have posted here before that i love this game already. I takes me back to 84 like nothing else. It FEELs right so i can understand how some of you with restricted internet access are so upset when that is one of the core features you expected, and are now being denied.
Frontier is a Company, not a charity. Companies are capitalist entities. I know many of you may not agree with that sort of thing but that is the reality. They have shareholders, employees and a customer base that is an exemplary community. You guys are one of a kind. I lurk on several forums and most are Troll Caves or Flame Wars, ranting and very aggressive or total wind ups.
This beta and alpha community are the best bunch of peeps i have ever had the pleasure of being involved with on a game forum. You are mature, even the younger ones! thoughtful, balanced and communicate in a reasoned and responsible way.
For me the news letter was actually rather good 25% off insurance, which is a bit high, works. I feel sorry for those who will not get that, and I think there should be a way of getting a "No claims discount" within the game and even a "protected no claims discount" it would make us game carefully. As for the 5 "free ships" they are clearly meant to be free regarding in game credits, NOT pound notes or dollars. AWESOME, why aren't we speculating on which ones they will be, Krait? Moray? Adder? god i hope one is the Fer-De-Lance but i doubt it
And the 3.9 release, wow! Obviously they will keep the surprises back but it should be virtually everything in the game mechanics and possibly at a release type of balance. Cannot wait to dip in to that for a day or so before the Grand Wipe.
I am concerned at the amount of anger the lack of offline mode has generate. But It shows how involve some are with the game. it is a kind of grief. They cannot play without an internet connection and if they just don't have one that can handle it then i too would be angry and gutted as this game is superb. That is the problem The better the game is the more vocal some, maybe minority players, will be when they don't get what the need. Maturity and reasoned thinking balances out what they want in the game but NEED is a different thing. Some NEED this game in their life, if they don't have internet they NEED offline and they feel cheated. i feel for them.
And before you start sounding off about the remaining problems and annoyances, yes i know they are there. I am sure they will get fixed but there are enough ways to play the game right now that you can avoid those while we wait for fixes to emerge, most likely very rapidly over the next few weeks after launch.
Lets not forget that in a few days this game will launch and we will start our journeys among the stars. but also lets not forget those guys who have and are supporting this but may get left behind if they cannot play offline. They gave money to help make this what it is.
