Can I please have my single player offline games back?

and removing my CC (oh, wait, I already did that).

This is going to be bigger than the Sony breach

Speaking just for myself, I'm skipping both StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3, because of the onerous DRM and always-online requirements Blizzard now uses.

I wonder if the DRM and always-online requirements are preventing enough piracy that results in sales, to overcome the loss of buyers like me.

My guess is that what they're losing in sales to people like you (and me), they're more than recouping in the buy-things-for-real-world-money shenanigans they've instituted.

Sucks, but I guess that's how the cookie crumbles.

I am not the other guy, but maybe I can clarify: It is an online game. That is a fact.

Let me clarify further: Diablo 3 is an extremely shitty game that not only is overpriced by about 3x, but then seeks to monetize even further with it's online crapola.

As a free2play online game, Diablo 3 would be excusable. As the anchor in a very popular trilogy of AAA titles, it's inexcusable.

Further, to heal FAIL on top of FAIL, the information that you had to give them to create an online account with Blizzard in order to play this mediocre free2play crap is now in the hands of some Bulgarian sleazebags who will do their best to monetize Diablo 3.

Blizzard couldn't have mistreated Diablo fans much worse without infecting every one of them with Ebola virus and then smacked them in the face with a meat tenderizer.

Naturally, Blizzard bears zero liability for any damage that might be caused by their inability to keep customer records secure because everyone who played the game had to sign away all of their rights in the endless EULAs that they had to agree to on installation and with every single update.

Let me end this rant with a brief prayer: Jesus, Lord Baby Jesus, I beseech you. Please make the prostates of every one of the Blizzard upper management, board of directors and major shareholders swell up to the size of honeydew melons so that it takes them 15 minutes just to squeeze out a painful, burning drop of urine. And let them know, Father, that this pain is directly caused by their behavior with Diablo 3 (which, if it makes any difference to you, Baby Jesus, has satanic overtones). And I further pray, Lord, that you make an example of them so horrible as to cause sweaty, trembling nightmares for the upper management of every game developer and publisher, so that their nights may be beset with horrors so that they might look into their souls in order to change their ways and stop fucking over their customers. I pray this in the name of God (may Allah protect him), Amen. PS: please let the Bears win their home opener by 14 points or more..

Your "friend" is likely an idiot who has a key-logged, malware-ridden machine. 99.99% of the time, what someone calls "hacking" is nothing more than poor personal security on their own machine.

I know I am replying to a troll, though I am not actually expecting any kind of sane reply from him, I'm rather replying to his post so that other users would notice the obvious flaw here.

The thing is, if the hack does not actually use any of the OS-specific features to gain access to privileged data then the OS is wholly irrelevant. All the hacks and attacks mentioned by the troll have been because of faults on the Internet-facing software that runs on top of the OS and would've happened just the same if the software was running on *BSD, OSX or Windows. Operating systems simply cannot protect against stupid people or faulty software, that is merely a pipedream. As an example if there is a bug in your latest Windows-based MMORPG that lets attackers gain access to your data do you blame Windows or do you blame the MMORPG for the failure? I sure would opt for the latter. With that in mind the troll in question here is simply trying to associate bugs in 3rd-party software with the OS, shifting blame from one party to another.

How many paying customers see other people getting it for free and decide they also no longer want to pay?

Proof of this behavior? Walking through a red light, once one person does it, others follow.

Guarding against theft is not just to stop active thiefs, it is also a way to keep non-thieves from turning to thieving.

Proof with regards to copyright infringement?

Whenever a story runs in the main stream media on thepiratebay or napster or whatever, every geek gets asked by non-geeks how they can get in on the action.

Diablo 3 is almost the same as Diablo 2 pre-LoD with better graphics and a gameplay rebalanced toward more casual players than hardcore one:
- No need to spend 40+ hours to try a new build.
- An gold auction house (i.e. game money, not real $) to buy high level object without excessive grinding or spending hours in forum to find price, descriptions and reliable vendors.

Of course the guy still playing Diablo 2 today, Diablo 3 will feel dumbed down and "no elitist" enough. I played Diablo 2 as an obsessive gamer student. I appreciate that now that I work and have a family, Diablo 3 allows me (and my wife) to access high level of content without spending unreasonable amount of time. If the compromised is some pissed gold farmer and hardcore player - that's a good trade to me.

There are other cheaper great game out there like torchlight. But let's also be clear, most people complaining about the price of the game have spent 100+ hours on it. That makes it far cheaper than a lot of other activities.

It is reasonable to complain about the always-on connection - but really, in 2012, that is more a question of principle than a real constraint.

Jesus, Lord Baby Jesus, I beseech you. Please make the prostates of every one of the Blizzard upper management, board of directors and major shareholders swell up to the size of honeydew melons so that it takes them 15 minutes just to squeeze out a painful, burning drop of urine.

I'm afraid you're praying to the wrong God here. Jesus would tell you to forgive, and seek in you the strength to go to Blizzard and convince them to lose their bad ways, by being a loving example to them, as you'd like them to be to you.

Muhammad would tell you to behave, be a good moslem, and insist Blizzard upper management is bound for fiery inferno anyway so why care.

Buddha would tell you to care less for videogames, and maybe instead enjoy your next meal more (hmmm pork).

Nanak would just smack you over the head, and then pee in your general direction.

Eris would grant you your wish, turning Blizzard's management even more sour, then She would make you buy their next yet-shittier game nonetheless so you'd share some of the pain you sought to inflict, for the lulz.

Most other deities would require costly sacrifices and long imprecations upfront just to listen, mostly understanding your plea half wrong anyway. And their antagonist deities would curse you afterwards.