On April 4, Microsoft’s Adam Orth said on Twitter that he didn’t get the drama surrounding an “always on” console because every device we use operates this way and it’s just the world we live in. The tweet, which was part of a back-and-forth with a friend of Orth’s, exposed the director’s lack of empathy with gamers who don’t have access to a high speed Internet service providers or possibly reliable Internet at all. The twitter rant went viral across tech and gaming blogs and shortly after, Orth resigned from his position at Microsoft, a PC Magazine article reported.

Earlier in the year, Sony clarified that the PlayStation 4 will pass the “always on” requirement to play games. Shuhei Yoshida, head of Worldwide Studios, said the move towards social gaming is incredible and fun, but he recognizes that some gamers want to play offline and by themselves. That feature is not something Sony intends to deny gamers.

But to answer Orth’s question, what is the big deal with an “always on” console. It’s a concept that’s universally despised in the gaming community. Why? The most notable examples are Diablo 3 and SimCity 5, two recent games that required an Internet connection to play, even in single player mode. Blizzard and EA, producers of the popular game franchises, told consumers it would provide a better experience and allow players to work together online. On the day of release for these games the servers were so bogged down with gamers trying to log on, many were left staring at an error screen for days. Diablo and SimCity required an Internet connection and gamers could not play the games offline.

Gamers don’t like a less-than-satisfying user experience, but even more so, they don’t like being lied to. “Always on” isn’t about social gaming. It’s about digital rights management (DRM) and combating piracy. By requiring an internet connection to play a game or console, the manufacturer knows whether or not your copy of the game is legitimate. Companies know better than to accuse their customers of being potential thieves, so they market “always on” as a social experience, even though the end goal is to reduce piracy.

Microsoft’s “always online” Xbox might reduce piracy, while abandoning a huge portion of its customer base. A portion that Sony could adopt with the Playstation 4.