Remarkable. An always-online thread conducted with civility. Mention of piracy and still little to no flaming or ad hominem. Well done, gang. Well done indeed.
Of course, I cannot stand this. Macleod, <fundamental disagreement laced with racist/homophobic hints and references to vague statistics supporting my point>. So there. Ownt, I should say. Ownt!
Anyway. I don't think the always online model is inevitable. It may even be a passing phase. You laugh, ( or don't), but consider that this year sees multiple turn-based isometric single player RPGS coming out or in development.
Do you know something? I don't think I'm playing a single multi-player game right now. I was mucking around with The Old Republic, but that got dull. So that's it.
Weird. A few years ago, everything I played had multiplayer, with maybe one or two exceptions a year. The era of MMO, BFBC, CoD and so on. I actually wondered if I was done with traditional single-player games.
Now I wonder what multi-player holds for me, other than perhaps a small co-op function. You never can tell.