The Frustrations Of An Always-Connected Gaming World

Yesterday was a good day for me. I turned on my Xbox Series X in anticipation of playing Fortnite. The title screen of Fortnite was displayed and I saw a warning message from the system that said my online connection had failed. Since I could see online functionality on my home screen, I knew that my Xbox was connected fine. I assumed this alert was a boot-up hiccup – something I experience from time to time when reawakening my console. After restarting my Xbox and trying to launch Fortnite again, it booted me out once more. Now, the alert says that someone who is responsible for this game must log in.

At that point I was aware of the issue with Epic Games and Xbox. I then tried to play Ravenous Devils – an offline single-player game – and that too brought about an ownership claim. The Xbox was rebooted again and I attempted to launch both games. I received the same error message. The online Xbox service went down.

It didn’t even cross my mind. I checked Xbox’s TwitterThe support team checked on the console to verify the issue and did a check for it. I was told by both information sources that the service had issues when people tried to launch and buy digital games. While I was waiting for Microsoft to fix the problem, I binge-watched the very first episode. Star Trek: Strange New WorldsThe latest episode of Outer Range. Microsoft could restore service if I spent the time I did other entertainment, including eating dinner. Microsoft has a reputation for being quick to provide solutions. It was wrong. Service was still unavailable. However, it was not something I thought much about.

Last-ditch attempt to play Ravenous Devils, a game that I’m reviewing, was to turn my Xbox offline mode. Because it is a one-player game, it was possible that it would not require a dumb DRM handshake. After setting my Xbox as my home computer, I went offline. The handshake was not required by the game, so I could select “play offline”. Ravenous’ title screen started up perfectly, however, I couldn’t get into the game because the option titles didn’t go away, so the game was unplayable. The same glitch kept happening when I rebooted it two times. Offline play probably didn’t get much attention during testing.

Connection issues are a common problem in this age of online gaming. They don’t happen often but they do occur enough frequently that I find myself numb. Microsoft is not getting a pass. Many gamers are frustrated by DRM and being “always online”. The inability to access the paid-for games is frustrating, even for single-player experiences which don’t require internet connectivity.

Although I was unable to play the games that I desired, I still found some enjoyment in my Xbox. Many of the downloaded games are available offline, thanks to my Xbox set up as my home computer. A test I did today confirmed that Stardew Valley, Psychonauts 2, Hades and Psychonauts 2 work on Xbox consoles running offline mode. When I attempted to play Halo Infinite’s campaign, the program didn’t detect that I own the game. Instead, it asked me to return it to its owner. I could not do this because I couldn’t access the store. This was an unusual problem that occurred offline.

Downloading and testing offline games is a good way to be prepared for an outage. These games can be considered an emergency “in-case” kit. The pool of compatible games is vast. Be aware that not all titles such as Elden Ring will work with the online version. You may also encounter unexpected issues.

Every console, Xbox or PlayStation has different offline and online functionality. When their services are down, these consoles can be affected differently. DRM is something I understand and I love. However, I do not like it when it happens. Players are frequently unaware of what’s happening when a network is down or certain functions are disrupted.

Knowing what hurdles to clear to find information, and where to search for it (both on- and online), I can also understand why certain games aren’t playable without DRM. It’s frustrating for many players and a process of trial-and-error. There needs to be more transparency and alerts from services so that players know that they have not done anything wrong, and the issue is the service. Xbox will issue a warning, but this should always be prominent and obvious when the service goes down. Getting an alert like “something is wrong,  error code X235329drmsux320i” does nothing to inform or help.

Here’s the good news. You can play games. It is possible to watch TV shows. Microsoft hopes that every outage brings more improvement. It is all possible to stay connected in the digital age. It is up to us to learn how to navigate the turbulent waters.