On SimCity’s always-on DRM

Claiming SimCity fixed, by removing the server queues, random crashes, lost cities, server drops, and the artificial restrictions placed on the game just to make it run, is like claiming a broken leg fixed because you’ve mended the crutches. The game, by its very design, is hideously broken, and like Diablo III before it, it has only served to scream a complete disregard for sense and a massive disregard for customers. So what we mustn’t do now is say, “Well, teething problems.”

These aren’t teething problems. These are continuous deep-running flaws designed to cripple the game for you as a player, simply to serve some nebulous notion of protecting the game against piracy.

I certainly understand and sympathize with game developers and publishers who don’t want people to rip them off. But there’s a delicate balance between a system that prevents people from stealing a game and one that punishes legitimate users unnecessarily, and right now, SimCity seems weighted towards abusing legitimate customers.