At some point someone like me who has dumped 1000s of hours into gaming over past 20+ years fell out of the "average user" simply because I have never had stable internet?
Diablo 2 was not a lesser game for not having always online and DIablo 3 (which I still have yet to be able to play) has not been better for it.
Sim City 4 was not less, and new "Sim City" is not better.
I really do not mind the OPTION, but to be demanded and told "who care that you spend a small fortune on our industry, you don't have reliable internet so we do not care" seems to be a bit jarring. Roughly 40% of people in the US are in a similar situation to me so I'm not some bizarre "cabin in the woods" 1% outlier.
This, to me, is what happens when people within an industry live in a bubble. They think their reality and their acquaintances reality is everyone's reality. They cannot conceive of a gamer who routinely losses internet due to their shoddy cable companies connection.
I was perfectly content in the "old days" whe I played games before having any sort of internet connection at all. I managed to enjoy the Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Genesis, PS1, N64 and PS2 before ever logging on. That old experience is still fine by me and it is clear that in these games always online is just another form of DRM coated in "experiencing enhancing PR BS".
