Are You Worried About Online Gaming Availability in the Future?

[Sir Topham Hatt]

I'd feel cheated if I paid for a game that used online servers, then some time later, they closed the servers.

If I pay for something like a game, I never want to feel like I am simply renting time to play it.  But it seems many games these days require some sort of link to a server to play, especially online multiplayers.  I suppose there are some that have been through the test of time - Team Fortress 2, that cube type game beginning with M, Roblox too maybe?
But I played a mobile game of Micro Machines - basically just a Carmagedon type game where you had to smash others to pieces.  Much fun and although you could pay for upgrades, I didn't.  And then a few years back, they closed the server for it, so no play any more.

Planet Zoo is another that I have sunk over 300 hours into and although there is an offline mode, the better features are all server based.

Perhaps there's plenty of games that will mean these "server" games will just die when they turn the servers off or the games will have some sort of offline mode too but would welcome other views on this.

[JustGeorge]

Might as well accept it or leave modern gaming behind. According to Licensing BS, you've been "renting" games forever. Game Pass, digital purchases, online requirements etc. are just the companies' ways of making good on the rental thingy. 

[Sir Topham Hatt]

On 04/03/2023 at 09:41, JustGeorge said:

Might as well accept it or leave modern gaming behind. According to Licensing BS, you've been "renting" games forever. Game Pass, digital purchases, online requirements etc. are just the companies' ways of making good on the rental thingy. 

Maybe I haven't been renting for ages 🤭

[ThaCrip]

On 04/03/2023 at 01:02, Sir Topham Hatt said:

If I pay for something like a game, I never want to feel like I am simply renting time to play it.

Exactly. that's kind of why I am glad I generally don't care for online games. so I don't have to worry about that angle and the single player games I do play "offline" copies tend to be better since you can play them anytime you want without worrying about needing to have a online connection to play.

[Tomoko]

This has always been a fact of online gaming, eventually they shut down. Remember Motor City Online, they shut it down after only two years and that was back in 2001.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

I think my answer to this is "it depends", you can break this up in to two types of games.

Games which are totally online only:

This is a tricky one, I think games like these you need to accept these games will not be around forever and start playing them with that in mind. One day that game is going to be deemed unprofitable and the servers closed down. So whatever money you put in to that game, you will never really own the content, you are paying to play that experience for a limited time. This is the nature of online only games as sad as it would be if a game you enjoy gets closed down.

The only game like this I have ever played is Pokemon Go. As much as if the game closed down tomorrow it would be sad, the game does have the option to transfer your Pokemon to the main series of games on the Nintendo Switch, so I know the years I've put in to this game will not be wasted if / when the game does close down. I will still have my Pokemon, just like I do from the original GameBoy games I played as a kid.

Chances are if the game is popular enough it will be reverse engineered and community servers setup. Look at Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast, that is a game released on a console that failed commercially, yet its still possible to play that online 22 years later:  https://sylverant.net/

Games which have single player / offline functionality or DRM that will not work once a server is turned off:

This is what I do not think is acceptable at all and is a worrying trend. If a game has a single player only component this should ship in its entirety on disc / cartridge and be totally playable offline, without any DRM or day one patch. Even if playing this game without future updates is not the best experience, that game should at least work without requiring an online connection to enable you to play or download an update. That is the only way you can be guaranteed you can play that game again in the future.

I do think its a sad trend some physical games (Call of Duty for example) are essentially shipping with a blank disc, forcing you to download the entire game once that disc is put in the console. Without piracy you will never be guaranteed you can play that game in the future.

Sadly a lot of games today are digital only. The only real solution here is piracy, I think more people are actually realising from a game preservation view piracy is essential...

Are they any solutions?

Thankfully many past online services and games have been reverse engineered, so its still possible to play older games online at no cost on servers run by a community of people passionate about that game / console.

• Dreamcast: https://dreamcastlive.net/games/
• Xbox Original: https://insignia.live/
• PS2 & PSP : http://beta.openspy.net/en/supported-games
• Nintendo DS / Wii: https://wiimmfi.de/
• Nintendo Switch: http://www.lan-play.com/
• GameSpy based PC games: http://beta.openspy.net/en/supported-games
• PS4: http://www.lan-play.com/
• GameCube / Xbox / Xbox 360 / PS2 / PS3 / PS4 system link games over the internet: https://www.teamxlink.co.uk/

Their is also a lot of game specific community server implementations:

• Blur (PC) : https://amax-emu.com/Dashboard
• Pokemon Gen 4 / 5 games (NDS): https://pkmnclassic.net/

I'm sure their are many more game specific servers, I just listed a couple I've used.

So yes I am worried, but also I know the community will eventually enable most popular games to be played 10, 20+ years later, even though they shouldn't have to.