News
Server Only Games Need Offline Mode
Cordova, TN; December 29, in the year of our Lord 2014--Family
Friendly Gaming, the industry leader in covering the family
friendly video games is giving the people what they want. We
routinely hear from a variety of different families on various
topics. We also throw in our own attitudes, and opinions on
topics. We have been beating around the bush on this topic for a
few months now. The time has come to bring this important topic
to the forefront of the entire video game industry. Server only
video games need an offline mode. Even if it is a port to a
complete a different system. Especially older video games like
Yslandia and Ultima Online. There is no reason these games can
not be released in an offline mode.
Why do some games get released in online only modes? There is
the control issue. Plenty of companies want to be in control of
the video games you play. If they keep the game on their servers
then they are in complete control. Meaning if they choose to
shut it down like Ultima Forever, then you lose all access to
the video game you paid for. How nice of them to steal from
consumers. Some companies claim it would be too expensive and
consumers would need a really powerful computer. Yet games like
Sim City were released in an on offline mode months after the
server only mode was released. This should also be a non-issue
in older games. Piracy is another excuse some companies use.
Companies can ping your machine and make sure you paid them for
the product.
There are even more reasons companies like to do the server only
games. Greed comes into play, since they can charge monthly fees
for server only based video games. They tell consumers they need
constant payment to keep the servers running. Let us play
offline and that problem is solved. Development costs are also
brought up by numerous companies. They have to update the game
twice, and they have to replicate their work in two places for
online versus offline. Server only video games harbor a
community of gamers. Which plenty of companies like to exploit
with tiered based pay systems. See something better, and they
get some consumers to covet it. Plus it allows players to play
together from all over the world. Yet it excludes families that
want to play together locally only.
The development cost of any server only video game should be way
cheaper than a brand new game. Even lower than the cost of
remastering a video game. Family Friendly Gaming is encouraging
every company to release their server only games in offline
modes. Physical copies of these games would be wonderful. One
step at a time though. There are plenty of fantastic video games
that could see new life if they were released in offline only
modes. These companies need to stop being such control freaks
and provide the consumers what they have asked for.
God bless,
Paul Bury
Family Friendly Gaming