1Up - A Gaming Industry Plea

Chris Pereira from 1UP has written an editorial about how publishers need to be more considerate towards gamers, especially in this time of microtransactions in games.
Here's take on EA's current information about thiis:

just yesterday it [EA] revealed plans to proliferate microtransactions throughout each of its games. As EA and publishers in general attempt to do this (and try out other means for generating additional revenue), I hope they don't forget to treat gamers with respect.

He doesn't have any problems with DLC as such, however, requiring gamers to always be on-line

I find much more hostile. Take Diablo III, for instance. Blizzard liked to point to the benefits this requirement allowed for (persistent friends lists, server-side characters accessible from any computer, and the like), but it ignored the fact that this prevented a segment of gamers from playing the way they wanted to. This is not World of Warcraft where an online connection is critical to the experience; Diablo III can be played solo, but you have to connect to Battle.net's servers in order to do so even if you have no intention of ever taking advantage of an online feature.

And in conclusion:

The bottom line is that the gaming industry needs to ensure it treats gamers with respect. It might ultimately view them as walking bank accounts, but that doesn't mean it can't shy away from some of the more anti-consumer practices out there. Take DRM, for instance: Far too many companies (which is to say, more than zero) place an emphasis on trying to block pirates from accessing their games rather than making the experience of buying and owning the game more pleasant. Instead of everyone putting effort into delivering a kick-ass boxed product, as some do, you have a company like Ubisoft that has, in the past, employed always-online requirements as a form of DRM that only punished legitimate customers once the DRM was cracked. It's the equivalent of the piracy warning you're subjected to when you boot up a DVD that can only be skipped on pirated discs, only far more detrimental. Paying customers shouldn't be treated like criminals.

More information.

Good games don't have to cost ungodly amounts of money to make. Make good games. Make money.

Microtransactions and blatant placing of money over good games will just drive gamers away.

There are so many good games out these days there's no reason for players to put up with greed from slime like EA, who exist more to milk money from players than to make good games.

Instead of everyone putting effort into delivering a kick-ass boxed product, as some do, you have a company like Ubisoft that has, in the past, employed always-online requirements as a form of DRM that only punished legitimate customers once the DRM was cracked. It's the equivalent of the piracy warning you're subjected to when you boot up a DVD that can only be skipped on pirated discs, only far more detrimental. Paying customers shouldn't be treated like criminals.

Amen to that.

I still don't understand why are publishers acting as a police and wasting money on DRM instead on more goodies in a game. Remove the most annoying DRM that ever existed (yes, I'm talking about two actually: Origin and uPlay), let the police catch thieves.

DRM will continue so long as publishers think they will make more money by having it. The same goes with microtransactions.

I was surprised to see another article from 1UP as the site is officially gone since last year. Then I noticed the article is a year old. Still it's a good read though.

True words - that will fall on deaf ears, unfortunately.
Or already did, as the article is a year old

It might ultimately view them as walking bank accounts, but that doesn't mean it can't shy away from some of the more anti-consumer practices out there.

They can, they have, and I don't see any reason why they won't continue to do so. In every sector of the American economy, antiquated or consumer-unfriendly business models continue to thrive and they won't change until there is real financial impact. I mean obvious, undeniable financial impact, since falling profits can be ascribed to any number of factors.