How much DRM? - TTLG Forums

Papy on 5/1/2009 at 08:04

Quote Posted by EvaUnit02

Physical media is on its way out the door.

I agree that physical media are disappearing and I think it sucks. Online DRM means to me I'm only renting a game. I don't mind renting a game for $5 or $10, I can go up to $20 for a very good game (I "bought" Clear Sky from Steam for $18), but there's no way I will rent a game for $60. Personally, I think Tages or SecuROM are far more anti-consumer than a dongle.

Quote Posted by Matthew

It still only needs to be one person or group's task, then the dongle is essentially worthless.

Yes, except this is a massive task compare to simply bypass a disk protection. So even if someone is willing to spend three months to break a single game, there is a lot of people who would not be willing to wait that long.

Matthew on 5/1/2009 at 11:30

I have found it wise never to underestimate the resourcefulness of someone who wants to play a game for nowt.

Brian The Dog on 29/1/2009 at 12:13

Apologies for the minor-necromancy, but I thought this was quite relevant to me at the minute.

I got the Orange Box collection for Half Life 2 for Christmas, good game but required Steam to install. As someone who didn't have Internet connection, this spurred me to get Mobile Broadband via 3G for £10/month. In principle, this works well, but with download speeds of 2-6kb/s in the evening, it meant an overnight-job to install & activate the game (and used up half my quota).

I'm happy with CD keys (like PavlovsCat, I keep the CD keys in text file), not quite so happy with Secu-Rom but will put up with it, and Steam is something that's a bit too far for me (I only did it because Half Life 2 is such a fun game). Dongles & online checking for single-player games is too much for me, let alone limited installs (the latter I would actively boycott).

I would always be worried with online checking, as experience with Ion Storm & Looking Glass makes me think that games companies won't be around for ever. I play games from 1993 onwards, many from companies that have long gone.

lost_soul on 30/1/2009 at 09:33

What is this mythical "copy protection" you speak of? I prefer to call it capitalistic malware, in part because of incidents like this:
(http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/pc-gears-of-war-drm-causes-title-to-shut-down-starting-today.ars)
...and this...
(http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/itunes-plus-drops-all-or-nothing-upgrades-goes-a-la-carte.ars) (charging to "upgrade" intentionally broken products)

I know the evil publishers want me to have to constantly shift game disks around so that they will get scratched and I will have to purchase a new copy. They also want to embed killswitches into products I pay for, to keep the door open to extract additional funds at a later date.

The above is why I believe the game industry NEEDS to crash again. Devs/Publishers have forgotten who puts food on their tables. I'm proud to say I don't purchase new games and thus do my part to cause the crash!

It's no big deal though, because I have twenty years of games to play which were released before the Capitalistic malware initiative was deployed.

The only type of security check I put up with is CD-Keys for the following reasons:

A. It doesn't impair my ability to use the product at all.
B. Although I purchased the game and I am entitled to play it forever, I am not entitled to perpetual master server access. They can shut down the key auth servers and I can't play online through their system any more, which is fine. The exception to this is if I also lose the ability to run my own private server.
C. When typing in a CD KEY, I'm not playing the victim in a corporate/government conspiracy to wear out my merchandise (see DMCA).

Matthew on 30/1/2009 at 12:11

Once I bought a game where part of the CD key had been rubbed away from the back of the manual. I ended up typing all the various possible combinations into the installer like some low-tech COLOSSUS machine.

Yakoob on 31/1/2009 at 09:38

Quote Posted by lost_soul

Capitalistic Malware Initiative

catchy

Bjossi on 31/1/2009 at 17:56

Quote Posted by Matthew

Heh, that is what I did when I was trying to reInstall Doom 3 after losing the last 2 digits of the CD key.

gunsmoke on 31/1/2009 at 18:18

How did you lose the last two digits? Mine is under the clear cd holder, and basically inaccessible.

Bjossi on 31/1/2009 at 18:24

I have no idea how, the CD key is just gone. I copied the CD key from a previous D3 install but for some reason the last 2 digits were missing.

Renzatic on 31/1/2009 at 18:46

After reading Lost_Soul's post above, I began thinking about how software sales would go if we all lived under a different system of government. Lets see how things would work out..

Capitalism-

Consumer: Hey, I just bought this game two weeks ago and I used up my three installs cuz my computer kept crashing. Now it won't let me play the game anymore. Could I have my money back?
Seller: NO! Didn't you read the EULA? You're allowed your three installs. Once they're gone, you have to pay for another copy of the license.
Consumer: What?!? That ain't right. I paid for this, I should be allowed to use this as many times as I want!
Seller: Not anymore. Big peeps need their ivory backscratcher all lubed up with your blood and toil.
Consumer: ...fuck me.
Seller: We just did. :D

Socialism-

A guy that wears black all the time and bitches about everything: I want to buy a copy of Cynicism 6, please.
Government Sanctioned Software Seller:Okie dokie. That'll be $299.50.
AGTWBATTABAE: What!?! After taxes, I only made $150. That ain't right!
GSSS: Roads gotta be paved sir, and Bill down the street needs false teeth. You gotta do your part, man!
AGTWBATTABAE: ....fuck me.
GSSS: You've been fucked three times this week already, sir. I think you're getting greedy.

Communism-

Citizen: It sure is cold out here, all waiting in line for so long for my free copy of The State Sure Is Great 8.
Mother Provider: Here you go, Citizen. Enjoy!
Citizen: Wow...this game looks shitty.
Mother Provider: wwwwwhHHHHAATT?
Citizen:*meanwhile, in prison*

Peaceful Anarchy-

Ain't no need for videogames. We be all Gears of Warring each other out in the streets.

So there you go. No matter which way we go, we're all screwed. Might as well dig ditches and sing sad, sad songs.