DRM: A Different Approach

[Sybban]

I'm in a posting mood lately. Being bored at work with not better to do on a Friday, I decided to read about pointless crap I would never actually bother myself with in my free time....you know cause I'd be wacking it or playing Dawn of War 2...or both.


I read a really interesting lecture from a gaming professor named Miguel Sicart. He had great undeniable points at the fruitless-ness (word?) of putting this software in games in the first place.

The only people who profit from DRM are the publishers of DRM:

-It doesn't stop piracy; it attracts it

-It turns people off towards any product with it installed

-they probably spend a ridiculous amount to include this software the same way you would buy cancer creme if someone promised it would work.





ATTENTION DRM USING PUBLISHERS: I paid for your game. You put a program in it that I do not want and most definitely did not pay for. If you want to make things right and possibly dig yourself out of the hole you created for your company, lower your price of the game. I want you to pay me for the inconvinience. I am not the criminal, yet you treat me like one. Meanwhile the actual criminal is largely unaffected. You're flawed logic will lead to even bigger mistakes and make your revenues crumble. If you think the answer is even tighter security, then you have no future in the gaming world.

 

[mikecoulter]

Good views, I like it. However for example, Sims 3 dropped DRM, and is now leaked two weeks early. And the World Of Goo team entrusted the world to do the right thing, and 95% of people who have played the game used and illegal copy.

There's no good in-between.

 

[mikecoulter]

I do have to point out mikecoulter that they removed the customers right of return.

Wow, I did not know that! Does that apply in every country?

 

[Sybban]

Anonymouse:

Ermm this isn't a 'yay for piracy thread' or a 'fuck DRM thread', it's just a 'keep drm, just lower your prices thread'

 

[Aradiel]

Ermm this isn't a 'yay for piracy thread' or a 'fuck DRM thread', it's just a 'keep drm, just lower your prices thread'

I've got to disagree with that sentiment: I think they should get rid of the DRM software they use - I view installing software secretly and without your consent to be immoral and possibly illegal. That's not even considering the potential damage it causes (due to a conflict between two different bits of DRM software a few years ago, my GFX card melted. Literally)

 

[Sybban]

Ermm this isn't a 'yay for piracy thread' or a 'fuck DRM thread', it's just a 'keep drm, just lower your prices thread'

I've got to disagree with that sentiment: I think they should get rid of the DRM software they use - I view installing software secretly and without your consent to be immoral and possibly illegal. That's not even considering the potential damage it causes (due to a conflict between two different bits of DRM software a few years ago, my GFX card melted. Literally)

My stance is, it doesn't seem like either are going away. A 3rd option must be found.



How on earth does that kill your card, I'm genuinely curious.

 

[not a zaar]

The average consumer doesn't care about DRM or even know what it is. It's only the people who care about it who get mad, and they buy the games anyways.

 

[DM.]

DRM only pisses of people who legitimately buy the game not the pirates yada yada yada.

 

[Sybban]

The average consumer doesn't care about DRM or even know what it is. It's only the people who care about it who get mad, and they buy the games anyways.

I have no statistics but I have a feeling most people who have purchased a game with DRM on it found out about it quickly.

 

[SimuLord]

The average consumer doesn't care about DRM or even know what it is. It's only the people who care about it who get mad, and they buy the games anyways.

I'd even say the average DRM-aware consumer doesn't get too annoyed about it until the DRM gets too intrusive. CD-keys, disc checking, even online authentication at game launch (and its cousin, Steam-based authentication)? Not a problem---I'm a reasonable person and don't mind small measures. DS games with copyright traps that break the game on flash carts and require pirates to suss out all the traps and defeat them one by one, all while the company gets those critical first-week sales? Fucking brilliant, even if eventually beaten. Install limits and hardware-destroying DRM? No thanks, I'd rather pirate the game I otherwise would've bought---congratulations fuckwits, you just lost a sale.

 

[Aradiel]

Ermm this isn't a 'yay for piracy thread' or a 'fuck DRM thread', it's just a 'keep drm, just lower your prices thread'

I've got to disagree with that sentiment: I think they should get rid of the DRM software they use - I view installing software secretly and without your consent to be immoral and possibly illegal. That's not even considering the potential damage it causes (due to a conflict between two different bits of DRM software a few years ago, my GFX card melted. Literally)

My stance is, it doesn't seem like either are going away. A 3rd option must be found.



How on earth does that kill your card, I'm genuinely curious.

I had "Beyond Good and Evil" and "I-Ninja" installed at the same time. Whenever I tried to run "I-Ninja" (I'm not sure if I tried running BGE while IN was installed) it started running it's copy protection routine then after a short while I got a blue screen detailing a failure in the NVidia drivers. This happened a good few times, but then the problem was solved when I uninstalled BGE and ran the Starforce remover tool. I could then quite happily run "I-Ninja" sans any problems. However, this constant dll failure seemed to strain my card too much, drastically reducing its lifespan from years to months or weeks.

 

[timmytom1]

I`ve still got starforce on my computer from when i downloaded the ubersoldier demo you know things are getting out of hand when publishers but copy protection on stuff they are giving away for free and isn`t even the full game

 

[tehbeard]

I agree with the idea that DRM doesn't stop piracy, but promotes it.

To understand my point you must understand the average pirate. They're bored and want a challenge, so some executive going on about "blah are DRM will stop pirates blah" just makes then want to prove that the smart arse in a suit with slick hair is a idiot in a suit with slick hair. Also the fact DRM can seriously **** a system up.

Now I understand the reason behind DRM.
I can also see its problems when they use a shoddy piece of **** that kills my DVD-RW drivers and crashes out my PC forcing an entire ****ing reformat and install. And for the love of jesus make the drm uninstall when I uninstall the fricking game!

To the video game companies who use DRM. Get DRM that doesn't **** my pc up, won't random lock me out etc etc.

 

[koichan]

Good views, I like it. However for example, Sims 3 dropped DRM, and is now leaked two weeks early. And the World Of Goo team entrusted the world to do the right thing, and 95% of people who have played the game used and illegal copy.

There's no good in-between.

You're forgetting the fact that, taking those figures, results would be:

-with drm - Sims 3 is released with drm, and is now leaked two weeks early with drm cracked. Many legal owners of sims3 are also forced to crack their own copies of the game just to make it work.
And the World Of Goo team entrusted the world to do the right thing, and 95% of people who have played the game used and illegal copy.

-without drm - Sims 3 dropped DRM, and is now leaked two weeks early. And the World Of Goo team entrusted the world to do the right thing, and 95% of people who have played the game used and illegal copy

it's pointless including DRM, which only effects PAYING customers when it does nothing whatsoever to stop pirates.

DRM is supposedly designed to annoy pirates and not paying customers... It does the exact opposite

 

[Nutcase]

The average consumer doesn't care about DRM or even know what it is. It's only the people who care about it who get mad, and they buy the games anyways.

Nope. I'm one of the people who get mad, and I don't buy anything with online activation at full price. If the DRM doesn't come off in a patch - and it virtually never does, because it's there to screw legit customers and not pirates - I might consider buying once the game is down to $5-10. That is, if I'm still interested at that point. So in my case, the DRM costs the devs the sale, or at least the lion's share of the profit they could have made.

There are far more good games to play than I have time, so it's no big loss to just leave the ones the publishers deliberately shat on.

I'd even say the average DRM-aware consumer doesn't get too annoyed about it until the DRM gets too intrusive. CD-keys, disc checking, even online authentication at game launch (and its cousin, Steam-based authentication)? Not a problem---I'm a reasonable person and don't mind small measures. DS games with copyright traps that break the game on flash carts and require pirates to suss out all the traps and defeat them one by one, all while the company gets those critical first-week sales? Fucking brilliant, even if eventually beaten. Install limits and hardware-destroying DRM? No thanks, I'd rather pirate the game I otherwise would've bought---congratulations fuckwits, you just lost a sale.

I fail to see how online authentication at launch (or install) of a single-player game is a small measure. It turns your "retail" game into a rental just as much as install limits do.

 

[V379]

Why put them there in the first place, anyone who knows anything about pirating games will have a way around the security.