Over the past couple of weeks we’ve seen the release of Diablo III and mixed with all the high praise for it’s addictive gameplay and action-packed kill ‘n’ loot action, is the low grumbling noise of discontent gamers who are not happy with the games  mandatory online presence (DRM). Many players are complaining that they get booted out, or are unable to connect or the servers are offline, all the time being unable to play a game that they have paid about £40 for.

This is not going to be another ‘whining at Blizzard post’. They took Diablo III in a direction I don’t entirely agree with, but was it a bad move? A move so terrible that other game developers will be too afraid to try something similar? Not at all, despite the negativity for being online, Diablo III is now one of (if not the most) best-selling game of 2012. This shows that whatever negative effects the online presence may have it’s not shadowing the gameplay or the enthusiasm for a majority of its players.

But still, if you type “Diablo III Online Moaning” into Google there’s more than enough unhappy people to go around.

I haven’t bought Diablo III myself and I have to admit that despite how pragmatic I try to be I am a bit put off by having to be permanently online. I know I would be mightily pissed off if a game I had spent so much on was inaccessible to me because the servers are down, or I kept getting kicked out or there was lag or any of the other game-breaking issues that people have complained about. Is that it though? Is that my only gripe? Nope, I know there’s a unhealthy mix of fear-of change, paranoia and distrust for a large company. None of these are in any way rational. Read more