When it was revealed that Diablo III would require a permanent connection to Battle.net, some people became furious. Blizzard has argued that there are valid gameplay reasons for the requirement, but to many PC gamers, it’s yet more crappy DRM. Blizzard is surprised by the reaction.
“Internally I don’t think [DRM] ever actually came up when we talked about how we want connections to operate,” VP Robert Bridenbecker told MTV. “Things that came up were always around the feature-set, the sanctity of the actual game systems like your characters. You’re guaranteeing that there are no hacks, no dupes … the whole copy protection, piracy thing, that’s not really entering into why we want to do it.
“… If there’s a compelling reason for you to have that online connectivity that enhances the gameplay, that doesn’t suck. That’s awesome.”
Bridenbecker reminded fans of Diablo II, where they needed a separate online character, and reaffirmed how Diablo III would eliminate that problem. He also promised that the game wouldn’t turn out to be like Facebook, where the online connectivity demanded all sorts of social nonsense.
In the case of this game, I’d say Blizzard makes good and fair points. It’s better than Ubisoft’s “f*ck ’em” approach.
Blizzard VP ‘Surprised’ Over Fan Reaction To ‘Diablo 3’ Online Requirements [MTV]
