Dark Souls was a surprising hit for From Software last year. The game that came before it, Demon's Souls, was well-liked but it just did okay in the sales department. Dark Souls was a much more well-received game and it almost seemed like everyone was playing it. I definitely enjoyed it as well - it ended up on my top 10 list for 2011. The one thing that people have been clamoring about for the game was a PC version, for those that didn't own a console but were intrigued.
Well, we are finally getting a PC version (whether they planned it all along or the petitions actually worked is hard to tell) and people are overjoyed. At least, they were until they learned that the game would include Games For Windows Live, the service that PC gamers love to hate. New petitions have shown up begging for the removal of GFWL and a lot of the positive comments about Dark Souls have again turned negative.
I can kind of understand this vitriol for GFWL. At times, I have had massive problems with the service, mostly with updating the client and getting stuck in impossible update loops, but for the most part, it is fairly unobtrusive. Some complaints state that Dark Souls' ever-online functions would be hindered by GFWL and I could certainly see that being the case at points.
However, I cannot get behind this petition. Its intents are in the right place but the anger around the whole thing is not. Gamers managed to convince From Software to put the time and effort into a PC port and they immediately complain when it isn't everything they wanted. GFWL is a horrible piece of crap sometimes but it isn't the end of the world; if the game did end up including it, it would only be a minor inconvenience.
It seems like this year is the year of gamer entitlement (an overused word but for good reason). If something isn't exactly to their liking, they yell and scream and pout until they get their way. Bioware caved with the Mass Effect 3 ending and I'm willing to bet From Software will cave too, unless the deal is already cemented.
On one hand, we are the consumers paying for these products and our say should matter. On the other, the consumer doesn't always understand what went into a decision or how game design actually works.
We are heading down a dark path towards a future where any little thing that fans of a game don't like will be patched or updated because that is what is expected of a developer. This future will be one where the only game developers are the ones that don't even bother to try something new because they don't want to risk being drawn and quartered by the online community.
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