Since Maxis decided to give this game MMO-like features? It's not the same as the old games.
I didn't realize having a multiplayer mode was justification for being forced to log in to EA's servers to play alone.
This is the same exact conversation that happened when Diablo 3 shit itself at launch.
Now, I should say - I don't mind at all having to log into a client to be able to play my games, as long as the service it runs on is reliable. This is not one of those cases.