I should be able to host my own WoW server on my LAN, play CoD split-screen on my TV, or run my own Battlefield tournament on my own LAN.
Using the internet as an option for multiplayer or other optional features of games is fine, but there is absolutely no reason why a video game should ever require an internet connection.
People deciding that it is somehow acceptable to require an internet connection to play a game is a big part of the reason why we have DLC, buggy releases, microtransaction riddled games, and shitty, invasive DRM.
If you have ever been involved in the creation of games that require an internet connection then I hope your asshole itches until the day you die.
Edit: if the game is only available through digital distribution then an internet connection is a requirement to play the game because you have to be able to obtain the game to play it.
Back in the day releasing a buggy game was costly because it meant you would have provide the option to your users to receive updates by mail or in stores. DLC (or expansion packs) would have to be meaningful, because it would mean having to press new discs or make new cartridges in order to provide that content to your users and it wasn’t worthwhile for the users to buy if it wasn’t substantial. Loot boxes and other microtransactions wouldn’t really be a thing because you would have no guarantee that anyone would be willing to buy them because they would have to be provided by mail or in stores on some sort of physical media.
DRM would consist of needing to have a disc in the drive and maybe having to verify that you had a unique activation key by verifying a cryptographic hash against a public key on the disc.
All of this made for better games because the games had to be worth the hassle of going to the store to buy them or waiting for them to be delivered in the mail.
Ownership. If it can’t be played 100 years from now on a whim, fuck off – it is a rental. If you pay more than $5 to rent junk, you’re an idiot. People are fine with being stupid, and the thing is, we must stop being nice and okay with stupid people. You’re a problem. You’re making the world go to shit because you have no depth and are a whore for whatever little bitch submissive slutting it takes to play some half finished garbage game that costs a fortune to rent. That makes you the shitty person. You’re trying to escape your shitty family and life, but you are the same problem passed down to all. Break the cycle and stop passing that shit down. You can’t fix anyone except yourself.
I am totally disconnected from it. I would love to play some old counterstrike or 2142 or MW3. But there are no games for sale that I can own. I hope the companies all burn. They get no money from me. I play open source stuff and hack around with the code because I own them. In the present world I play the only games that exist. If you’re worth the oxygen you breathe, you should be doing this too. No excuses. Just fix you, and tell everyone you can that they should do the same and what you have done. You have two choices in life, be part of the solution or part of the problem.