Stargazer, I've GOT Sins. I play it regularly. It does NOT need online activation. I've never even been online while playing it. It's really easy to find (legal) downloads of the patches, too, so you don't have to register anywhere to get those, either.
If you want added content, sure, you register. But added content is not standard patches and it's totally up to you if you register or not.
All of which is fine by me!
For the rest, though, I agree with you entirely
