*sigh*

However good of an idea this is, it should not be forced upon us. Many people (myself included) do not want to interact with other cities.

Well they just lost my purchase... Sad to see SimCity go this way, back to my SNES copy then.

*sigh* Well I was excited for this. If I want to play multiplayer that sounds pretty cool, but if I just want to play singleplayer I'm forced to jump through the online hoop.

Is this only in multiplayer?
When SimCity came out, it was widely used as a teaching tool for planning?
This version makes it hard to see that being so, if you only have multiplayer options.

Mike from Morgantown

It sounds like a single player with social aspect similar to facebook games, I think.

You get a little help from your neighbours or sabotaging you instead.

All of which could be simulated just like how SC4 regions affecting adjacent cities.

This is just another scheme to lock you down and prevent second hand sales.

From what I have read, you DON'T have to interact with other people, though it is encouraged....
You do still have to have always on internet, but if your connection drops for a bit, it is okay, it doesn't actually require totally always on internet, but just mostly on internet, if that makes any sense

I'm fine with always-on internet for this particular game. It is to combat piracy, obviously. But it also makes sense gameplay wise. Bring on the game, can't wait!

Design requirements: Figure out a way to build a game experience around requiring people to connect all the time, so they have to buy games new, so we can keep tabs on them, and make sure they bought the game. Yes, what they did fits into the logic, in that, yes it makes sense a city has other cities next to it. It is also true, from a gamer perspective that it sucks you have to have an internet connection all the time. It is like a free MMO that you buy to play. It moves away from the single-player sandbox experience.

It's sad. I love Sim City so much (I've bought most iterations including the iPad one) but I'll be passing on this one. With all the trouble I've had with always on DRM and Diablo, I'll never buy always on DRM again.

I know they have some half-baked explanation how it's a multiplayer experience I couldn't care less about, but it's a DRM. Plain and simple. Screw that.

Except that it is, to the best of my knowledge, a PC game. In the US at least, PC games have a pretty tight exemption from first-sale doctrime. Also, if you buy it digitially, like most people do with PC games, second-hand sales are not an issue/consideration/possibility anwyay.

Now if this were to transfer to consoles, the second-hand-sale busting idea would make sense.

Mike from Morgantown