[Bonder]

Simply put I just want to play around and build, however the only way to play this game is by joining servers. This brings along with it the goods and bads of online play.

Will Rust ever be playable single player offline? or is this DRM hard at work?

[elixwhitetail]

Rust is an online multiplayer game and there is no plan to make a single-player version with AI humans walking around simulating other players.

If you really want to play by yourself, download the dedicated server and run a local copy without port-forwarding so nobody outside your network can join. Both legacy and "experimental" (the new version) have their server files on Steamcmd.

[Bonder]

Creating my own dedicated server does give me a solution to offline play however, by single player I mean single player, there would be no AI players(it would be terrible)

[elixwhitetail]

And what I'm saying is, a balanced single-player experience is not something the devs are going to put any time into. It's not their goal. The game you're looking for is not Rust. Take a look at The Forest for a single-player-first take on survival.

Like I said, if you want "single-player" Rust, play on an empty self-hosted dedicated server. It'll be a sandbox with very little to threaten you, but if that's what you want to do nobody'll stop you.

[GrymThor]

I would suggest hiring a server, then put a password on it that way you can have admin rights and Insta-craft(give yourself 1,000,000 wood), plus you can allow who ever you want to play on it.