>What if I like those games? What if I barely have a choice because 95% of multiplayer games released today work like that?
Then you (and countless consumers like you) have guaranteed that the greedy assholes forcing always online DRM etc. win. Vote with your wallet, life is too short to give money to people who hate you and who don't respect your rights.
Then you give up any chance of playing what I'd call "modern multiplayer games" for (presumably) decades, so that maybe a different generation can get better games.
A noble cause, but no thanks I think I'd rather just feed the greedy companies and play some games then.
Unless of course you can enjoy some other game almost as much, then it's a small sacrifice to stick it to the greedy companies. But I'm not enjoying indie or retro games much at all.
I agree that life is too short, but I arrived at a different conclusion, which is that it's too short to care about DRM that much. I set up a separate operating system only used for gaming, and so they can have all the intrusive anti-cheat and DRM and whatnot, because it's effectively an empty system, not even knowing my real name. As far as I'm concerned, the greedy assholes have already won, I won't really make a difference here. But I can have a good time, and that good time will be more or less on my terms.
>Okay, so where are the people who don't hate me and respect my rights? I don't see them anywhere.
GOG, and plenty of indie devs and smaller devs. There's a whole world of games out there beyond $FlavorOfTheMonthFPS. Or you could just continue your preferred method of "Don't question, just consume product and then get excited for next product."
I do care about games. I play lots of games. I play some that have online components and I play knowing that it could all disappear out from under me. That'd suck but that's a risk I'm willing to take.
Other games I choose to not play because of the online requirements.
Lastly, they're just video games. It's nothing critical like food or housing. Not having video games is not a humanitarian crisis. I've been playing WoW since launch and if Blizzard shut it down and my characters I've had for 18 years vanished, it'd suck for like a minute, then I'd go do something else.
My personal answer to this is "adapt". I shifted my thinking of games as experiences, with a limited time offer. Like a ticket to a theme park, or to the movies. Let's pay for it now, make good memories, connect with each other in the context, and properly let it go, when the time comes. And remember when buying, that the button might say "buy", but you effectively license, or rent. The time will come when they will change the experience, and that'll be it. So make the most of it while you can.
What if I like those games? What if I barely have a choice because 95% of multiplayer games released today work like that?