VideoGameCritic wrote:
I don't mind the back-and-forth. I like your question. Here is why I like to keep my consoles offline:
1. I prefer to review a game in its original unadulterated form.
2. As soon as I put my console online, I'm bombarded with time-consuming updates. And here's the thing - I don't want or need them. But they become mandatory when your system is online. When offline the games fire right up. Plus there are a lot less annoying notifications popping up (new update available!).
3. I don't want to be pestered to buy DLC or microtransactions.
4. I have no interest in sharing my gaming activity with Microsoft, Sony, or social media. Don't want to be targeted by advertisers.
5. Some games blur the line between online and off. For example, you might get dropped into a shop screen that lets you buy items with real money. When you're offline you don't have to worry about stuff like that.
I guess the question is, why do people keep their consoles ONline? I know the only reason I do that with my PS4 is to play my friend in another state. Otherwise it would not be worth the effort for me.
I can only speak for myself. First of all, I play games online with my friends a lot. We all have busy schedules so very seldom do I actually get to host game nights. I also like online competition in games like Halo and Killer Instinct. Some games, such as Bloodborne, Monster Hunter, and Dark Souls, are designed with that online multiplayer experience in mind.
But the big reason? The one that actually undermines any potential reason for keeping my console disconnected?
Being online with the 8th-generation consoles is actually the only way to
avoid sitting through updates. This is due to one critical feature that the 7th-gen consoles lacked: a standby setting. If you only connect your console to the internet every now and then instead of
leaving it connected, you'll more than likely be hit with multiple updates to sit through. I've heard that it can add a dollar or two to your electric bill, but I personally have not noticed a change. I keep both the PS4 and Xbox One in this setting at all times when not in use.
This is how it works: when it's not in use, the console goes to sleep and performs background tasks, kind of like the "Power Nap" function that Macs have. If you keep them offline, you're going to have to connect to update eventually when you start to lose basic compatibility with certain titles (one of the reasons why the Xbox is so aggressive about updates is that they released an OS revision that actually allowed devs to utilize 10% more GPU power by disabling Kinect), on the odd chance that you want to play a game online, or when a publisher unfortunately ships a broken game and has to fix it. When you only connect to the Internet *sometimes* is when you're hit with a tidal wave of updates all at once. Kind of like when you try to do a fresh installation of Windows 7 SP1 and your PC takes
days to catch up to the latest version.
It sounds like being
offline has presented more difficulty with your Xbox One than otherwise precisely because all the game software seems to
expect an internet connection. You've mentioned before in this thread that you get prompts for updates even when your console is disconnected. Nintendo has a really smart way of handling these situations where they actually put the latest system software version on the actual game discs so you don't have to go online to secure proper functionality. Xbox, however, does not play nice off the grid.
Perhaps it's because I've gotten used to it (and because of how it's still leagues easier than PC gaming, which I do also engage in), but none of these things you list have ever been a nuisance for me. The only targeted advertising I ever see on the Xbox One come in the form of suggestions from Microsoft regarding games I might like. They don't really help me in any way since I only buy games when they're on sale and mostly in-store rather than digitally, but they're hardly an
annoyance. I barely even notice they're there.
Although I've never actually seen a real-money store
inside a console game, I can think of one example from last generation that a friend told me about--namely, Crysis 3. I thought that sounded ridiculous, but if you don't store your credit card information on your console (and I know you don't), then why is it so scary? And how does being disconnected from the internet change the fact that that game was designed with in-game microtransactions? That's a problem that's fundamental to the game. The fact that those microtransactions even exist throws the whole thing off balance. If they want to encourage people to spend money for powerups, they'll slow down the character progression curve or artificially increased the difficulty in some way in order to drive purchases, which is precisely how a lot of MMOs work. That's the game's fault, and cutting out the internet connection doesn't do much to remedy it.