DRM, really what the hell

[Snotnarok]

I was waiting for Borderlands DLC to hit PC since I play the PC version more than the 360 version I have. So I open steam and there it is! Dr Neds Zombie Island DLC for 10 bucks, hell yeah I thought ready to kick some ass! I move my mouse to the [Add To Cart] option and I tilt my head eying the green "info area" on the right and there it is "3rd Party DRM 5 machine activation limit" I wanted to kill someone. DRM should be punishable by hanging for the shit it's given people and here it is shoveled in the DLC for a game I love.

DRM Problems for those who don't know
-it uses system resources to make sure your system hasn't changed
-An activation can be used for any hardware changes from ram to a video card
-It's bullshit

So I'm somewhat stuck here I dunno what to do with something I really would want but there's bloody DRM in it, I honestly thought we were past this DRM nonsense. EA removed all their shitty DRM from their games and here we are with Gearbox now doing it, or maybe 2K the publisher. Either way it's a BS move and it's just wrong.

Have you stumbled into DRM in a bad way?
What would you do given the situation?
Do you like toast?

 

[sunami88]

DRM sucks, and I do not support it. It will either completely turn me off of a game/piece of DLC, or I'll pirate it just for the sake of saving my system/myself the headache.

Not trying to get high and mighty to justify piracy, but I just can't be arsed into dealing with a faulty system that punishes me for buying the content in the first place (hence my owning a legit copy of Fallout 3 as an example, well done chaps!).

As for toast; love it. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLzsbtTzIdI]

 

[orangebandguy]

Yes I like toast.

I've never really come across it before that much. But it's pretty inconvienient to people so I've heard.

 

[Snotnarok]

DRM sucks, and I do not support it. It will either completely turn me off of a game/piece of DLC, or I'll pirate it just for the sake of saving my system/myself the headache.

Not trying to get high and mighty to justify piracy, but I just can't be arsed into dealing with a faulty system that punishes me for buying the content in the first place (hence my owning a legit copy of Fallout 3, well done chaps!).

As for toast; love it. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLzsbtTzIdI]

I don't mind secure rom, it's dated but ya know whatever I have the disc it doesn't bug me but DRM it makes me want to spit fire. I got games that are 12 years old plus and they are STILL playable today. DRM makes me want to go the illegal route because I'm not getting what I paid for I get crap.

You like butter on your toast? I hear some people like jam, I couldn't do that I dunno it seems weird to me.

 

[Rax]

Same thing happened to me today. Same game and everything and I too and a little pissed. DRM's Break games and to put it on a DLC when the game itself doesnt have one is a little fucked. I dont know what to say man, I think I may still get it but I dont know as of yet. Will have to think this one over.

 

[sunami88]

I don't mind secure rom, it's dated but ya know whatever I have the disc it doesn't bug me but DRM it makes me want to spit fire. I got games that are 12 years old plus and they are STILL playable today. DRM makes me want to go the illegal route because I'm not getting what I paid for I get crap.

You like butter on your toast? I hear some people like jam, I couldn't do that I dunno it seems weird to me.

Disc checks are A-OKay by me, should've mentioned that. And I suppose I can agree that SecuRom in its older forms is a lesser evil, but look at what happened with Spore/Mass Effect/Bioshock [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securom#Controversies] (for a few recent examples).

And you've never tried jam on toast? You have not lived, if I do say so m'self sir. Butter, jam, peanut butter, honey if that's your bag; it's all good.

 

[Snotnarok]

Same thing happened to me today. Same game and everything and I too and a little pissed. DRM's Break games and to put it on a DLC when the game itself doesnt have one is a little fucked. I dont know what to say man, I think I may still get it but I dont know as of yet. Will have to think this one over.

I just wrote to Gearbox, I honestly don't expect to hear from them on the matter, I asked them kindly about getting a copy with no DRM and that I'm not supporting any software with DRM. I'll probably post the response here when/if I get one.

 

[Octorok]

DRM sucks, and I do not support it. It will either completely turn me off of a game/piece of DLC, or I'll pirate it just for the sake of saving my system/myself the headache.

Not trying to get high and mighty to justify piracy, but I just can't be arsed into dealing with a faulty system that punishes me for buying the content in the first place (hence my owning a legit copy of Fallout 3, well done chaps!).

As for toast; love it. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLzsbtTzIdI]

I don't mind secure rom, it's dated but ya know whatever I have the disc it doesn't bug me but DRM it makes me want to spit fire. I got games that are 12 years old plus and they are STILL playable today. DRM makes me want to go the illegal route because I'm not getting what I paid for I get crap.

You like butter on your toast? I hear some people like jam, I couldn't do that I dunno it seems weird to me.

I love me some Jam on toast. I really hate butter, so I use Bertolli/Olivio which is heavenly, and only beats jam for toast toppings by a hair's breadth.

 

[teisjm]

DRM explaned.

When companies get butthurt by pirates they decide that they'll punish all their non-pirate costumers to vent their rage, and maybe get the costumers to hate pirates.

I can't imagine that they're really stupid enogh to think, that the game won't be pirated anyways, and in some way, they're just making it that much more tempting to pirate it, since you'll actually get a "better" game, due to the fact that the pirated version doens't have DRM.

Companies using DRM is like fucktards who beats their children caus etheir boss was after them earlier at work that day.

Gamers should make a statement, and NEVER buy shit with crappy DRM.

I know you can fake online with hamachi and shit like that, but I would still think, that the online part of most games, is enough to make people buy the game instead of pirating it.

 

[Hiphophippo]

Add me to the list of people who won't buy shit if it has DRM. Often times, I'll pirate it even if I don't want to play it.

Stick it to the man.

 

[Joos]

I hate DRM. When a game I buy use DRM, I usually download a cracked version to get rid of the DRM from my machine. I have zero tolerance for it.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Do developers REALLY not get that DRM will NEVER be the answer to stopping piracy? DRM will ALWAYS be cracked You want to get rid of piracy? Then put games at affordable prices and with no Copy Protection on it. Why do pirate groups exists? For the competition. It's ALL a competition to them. Remove the competition and you remove the competitors. Remove Copy Protection, and you remove the Crackers. It's that easy.

It seems that so much work goes into copyright protection that the actual quality of the games themselves is forgotten about(Spore anyone?).

 

[dekkarax]

Y'know, a lot of thing are technically DRM, even disc are; not just stuff like securom, so try not to generalise.

Anyway, while obtrusive DRM is a negative for me, it's usually not a decision maker.

 

[Snotnarok]

DRM explaned.

When companies get butthurt by pirates they decide that they'll punish all their non-pirate costumers to vent their rage, and maybe get the costumers to hate pirates.

I can't imagine that they're really stupid enogh to think, that the game won't be pirated anyways, and in some way, they're just making it that much more tempting to pirate it, since you'll actually get a "better" game, due to the fact that the pirated version doens't have DRM.

Companies using DRM is like fucktards who beats their children caus etheir boss was after them earlier at work that day.

Gamers should make a statement, and NEVER buy shit with crappy DRM.

I know you can fake online with hamachi and shit like that, but I would still think, that the online part of most games, is enough to make people buy the game instead of pirating it.

Hold on good sir/sirs who may be reading this, here's the biggest kick of logic yet for this little discussion.

Steam is a DRM client already it limits who can use the copy namely you use it, so the game and DLC are on steam so this EXTRA DRM with limited installs is just redundant and is totally aimed at the customers. (Steam being a DRM that doesn't limit installs just access to it)

To top it off the game has no DRM, infact the retail DVD version DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A SERIAL NUMBER . So the game is secured by Steam, (a DRM that I'm fond of because it doesn't rob the customer) and not secured at all with a disc, but the DLC is secured with DRM, what the hell? I hope I get a response saying there's a retail version with no DRM that I can share with you all because it's massive BS to do this.

Y'know, a lot of thing are technically DRM, even disc are; not just stuff like securom, so try not to generalise.

Anyway, while obtrusive DRM is a negative for me, it's usually not a decision maker.

Yes but this is limiting how many times you can install it to a PC, but that's not even technically right, because if you modify your PC in anyway (add ram/change video cards) that will count as an install so you're not actually getting 5 installs. You're getting ripped off.

 

[teisjm]

DRM explaned.

When companies get butthurt by pirates they decide that they'll punish all their non-pirate costumers to vent their rage, and maybe get the costumers to hate pirates.

I can't imagine that they're really stupid enogh to think, that the game won't be pirated anyways, and in some way, they're just making it that much more tempting to pirate it, since you'll actually get a "better" game, due to the fact that the pirated version doens't have DRM.

Companies using DRM is like fucktards who beats their children caus etheir boss was after them earlier at work that day.

Gamers should make a statement, and NEVER buy shit with crappy DRM.

I know you can fake online with hamachi and shit like that, but I would still think, that the online part of most games, is enough to make people buy the game instead of pirating it.

Hold on good sir/sirs who may be reading this, here's the biggest kick of logic yet for this little discussion.

Steam is a DRM client already it limits who can use the copy namely you use it, so the game and DLC are on steam so this EXTRA DRM with limited installs is just redundant and is totally aimed at the customers. (Steam being a DRM that doesn't limit installs just access to it)

To top it off the game has no DRM, infact the retail DVD version DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A SERIAL NUMBER . So the game is secured by Steam, (a DRM that I'm fond of because it doesn't rob the customer) and not secured at all with a disc, but the DLC is secured with DRM, what the hell? I hope I get a response saying there's a retail version with no DRM that I can share with you all because it's massive BS to do this.
...

Isn't steam still limiting you from playing the games if you're off-line? even the single player ones? correct em if i'm wrong, i'm not a big user of steam, so maybe i got something wrong, but in case i'm not, isn't it a kick in the balls to be unable to play games on, say, your labtop if you're somewhere without acces to the internet. Not everyone has portable internet dungles.

 

[Quick Ben]

Spoiler: Quotes

DRM explaned.

When companies get butthurt by pirates they decide that they'll punish all their non-pirate costumers to vent their rage, and maybe get the costumers to hate pirates.

I can't imagine that they're really stupid enogh to think, that the game won't be pirated anyways, and in some way, they're just making it that much more tempting to pirate it, since you'll actually get a "better" game, due to the fact that the pirated version doens't have DRM.

Companies using DRM is like fucktards who beats their children caus etheir boss was after them earlier at work that day.

Gamers should make a statement, and NEVER buy shit with crappy DRM.

I know you can fake online with hamachi and shit like that, but I would still think, that the online part of most games, is enough to make people buy the game instead of pirating it.

Hold on good sir/sirs who may be reading this, here's the biggest kick of logic yet for this little discussion.

Steam is a DRM client already it limits who can use the copy namely you use it, so the game and DLC are on steam so this EXTRA DRM with limited installs is just redundant and is totally aimed at the customers. (Steam being a DRM that doesn't limit installs just access to it)

To top it off the game has no DRM, infact the retail DVD version DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A SERIAL NUMBER . So the game is secured by Steam, (a DRM that I'm fond of because it doesn't rob the customer) and not secured at all with a disc, but the DLC is secured with DRM, what the hell? I hope I get a response saying there's a retail version with no DRM that I can share with you all because it's massive BS to do this.
...

Isn't steam still limiting you from playing the games if you're off-line? even the single player ones? correct em if i'm wrong, i'm not a big user of steam, so maybe i got something wrong, but in case i'm not, isn't it a kick in the balls to be unable to play games on, say, your labtop if you're somewhere without acces to the internet. Not everyone has portable internet dungles.

Steam has offline mode, which allows you to play offline after logging on once.

 

[Monshroud]

Isn't steam still limiting you from playing the games if you're off-line? even the single player ones? correct em if i'm wrong, i'm not a big user of steam, so maybe i got something wrong, but in case i'm not, isn't it a kick in the balls to be unable to play games on, say, your labtop if you're somewhere without acces to the internet. Not everyone has portable internet dungles.

Steam has the ability to run in an 'offline' mode. So if your internet connection is not working and you have run the game before, it will still allow you to run the game. That just isn't the case when you install/first time play, then an online connection is required. I have run steam games on a laptop while on a plane with no problems.

OT: People always ask what's the point of DRM. It doesn't stop pirates from playing the game. While that is true, if you talk to certain companies what they are trying to stop with DRM is the average person. You see it all the time with console games, someone asks 'Hey, can I borrow that' and you give the game to that person to play... So now you have a 2nd person playing the game for free when they should have paid the developer. Imagine what happens on a college campus, one person buys the game and then shares it with a this dorm buddy, who rips a copy and hands it to the guy next door, etc. That is what they afraid of, and it does happen. I'm not saying it's right or that I agree with it. I am just trying to give an example of some of the logic behind this.

I believe all that most DRM does is punish the lawful people by policing their computers. (e.g. that Sony DRM POS.) I think install limits are complete BS. As someone who has upgraded hardware numerous times and re-installs the OS a lot I think a company saying 'Oh, you reloaded your system 6 times in one year, sorry you need to shell out $50 again for the privledge of playing our game' is utter nonsense. There are better ways of doing this without installing additional software on my computer.