Greetings Mayors!
In this article I will be explaining why I think the SimCity servers have had a slip-up and also things which I do not like about the server-system. I feel the need to write this article in a response to my Can EA Servers handle the UK Launch? article.
So, at first, the UK launch was not at all as bad as the March 5th launch. However the UK launch has defiantly grown much worse over the last few hours. Many people are getting server-related errors, bugs and city-sync problems. Some users have even lost all they're work (cities, regions and achievements) due to server issues.
The servers have also come to a stand-still point. Where most of the servers are busy, the ones that aren't have authentication and connectivity issues.
Well, what can I say? I am very disappointed, that's for sure. But thinking about it, it could be far worse. I have had about 3 hours of gameplay, which I really enjoyed, but as people started coming home from school and approaching mid-afternoon, things started getting busy, very busy.
Major slip up:
Although things could be worse, things could be a lot better too! I really dislike the fact that all a user's data is stored on one particular server! So if that server goes down, or has to be replaced, you loose everything you have done. Any cities, regions achievements and leaderboard rankings! That is why I think this is one of their major slip-ups, in my honest opinion.
A part from possible data loss, there are other reasons I do not like the fact that all a user's data is stored on one particular server, they are:
- If a server is busy and your friend wants to come and play in the same region as you, he'll have to wait, most probably a while to even connect to the server.
- Leaderboard rankings are only for that server, which makes the leaderboard not really worth looking at.
- Hard to find what server your friend is on
- Instead of just saying 'My region is called:', when informing people about your region. You also have to include server details.
- If the server you've been playing on all the time, has got too busy, you are then held out of the server until it is available again
With all these things baring in mind, there isn't really an easy solution. But given all the time EA had to think about they're choices, I think a lack of wisdom came into this choice somewhere.
When you slip up, you've got to get back up. But mayors, the question is, how long will it take for EA, to get back up, from this server slip up?
Thanks for reading! Feel free to post your opinion in the comments.
This is actually really appalling by Maxis/EA. Because i am in the UK, and i haven't had a go yet. And personally, they should of had this covered from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteMy point, there are other games out there now, that have had issues, Diablo III, for example. Now, why couldn't Maxis/EA, see how many preorders there were, times that amount by 10, and then they wouldn't of had these issues. Unless there is something they aren't telling us?
Also, i have heard that the game is being taken off shelves in shops, due to the fact of this issue with the servers. Even seen pictures to the fact.
I really hope this gets resolved very soon. And i think over the weekend, it is only going to get worse, because majority of people are not at work.
So that should be fun...!