Want to know why people are angry about Internet-based DRMs? Look no further than the recent release of SimCity. EA had repeatedly assured us that their servers would be able to handle whatever load of activity the SimCity fanbase would throw at them. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
SimCity’s servers are constantly clogged and it has only been a day since the game hit the market. The game routinely freezes on loading screens, gives back “city cannot be built” errors, and places you in queues with wait times a slog as thirty minutes or more.
EA warned users via twitter that the game might take up to three hours to unlock when initially downloading it. However, there are reports that gamers are waiting up to eight hours with no response whatsoever.
What’s even worse is that SimCity is traditionally a single-player game. It’s a simulation. All you really want to do is build a metropolis and have Godzilla smash it to bits. There’s no reason that the game shouldn’t be able to run in offline mode. Origin’s forums are littered with complaints and forum topics are popping up about how to install pirated versions without any DRM. If this isn’t proof enough that always online DRM encourages piracy, I don’t know what is.
Source: Arstechnica