Electronic Arts: DRM Purgatory

[Fallensky7]

Well it appears that Electronic Arts is trying to develop some sort of video game publisher/developer Zen. They seem to think that mixing the good with the bad makes out for a great formula; I am referring to the stream of excellent games that they have come out with in the recent months such as Spore and Red Alert 3 that they have felt obligated to shoot in the foot with excessive Digital Rights Management.

EA has taken a lot of flak over their use of SecuROM, post-install activation, and limits on how many copies your CD Key is issued. They justify this behavior as a step to protect their profits and protect the integrity of their users.

Do you think that this is a necessary step that developers have been forced into with the pervasiveness of internet piracy?

Or is EA simply harassing their user community by providing games that seems more like a shelf price rentals than a product that you actually own?

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Oh man, you don't know us very well do you? Here, put on this teflon hat that curiously resembles the hat of the japanese burrowing unit from Red Alert 3 *dons his own*

The firestorms coming.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

What's all this about "DRM" and "SecuROM"? I've never heard of them. [font color=white]/ sarcasm. Seriously though. there have been at least six zillion threads on this topic.[/font]

 

[dekkarax]

I think that the DRM in Spore was a terrible idea, it stopped me from buying it and I'm glad of it, I certainly dodged a bullet there. But RA3, from what I've heard, it's less restrictive what with the ability to get installs back when you uninstall (if you are connected to the internet), I'm still not happy with it, but I don't think it's bad enough to stop me from buying it.

Oh man, you don't know us very well do you? Here, put on this teflon hat that curiously resembles the hat of the japanese burrowing unit from Red Alert 3 *dons his own*

The firestorms coming.

Can I have one too?

 

[MercFox1]

Current DRM is an absolute mess. I say current because stuff like CD Keys and disc checks are rudimentary forms of DRM, which, for the most part were more annoying than restrictive. Losing your CD-key is always an issue, but I tend to keep that with my disc as well as a digital rundown of all my CD keys on my computer so I don't have problems, but that is more through my diligence than can be attributed to the publisher.

Instead, now we have this draconian system in place that tells you, the consumer, that your software can only be used in a way that (not even the developer, but more) the publisher dictates. Clearly, this puts you, the consumer, at odds with the software (and sequentially, your enjoyment) right out of the gate.

To your point: No, I do not think it was something that the developers were forced into, much as the way hunger does not force someone to steal bread. It may make a very, very strong case to do so, but, ultimately that is their choice. I think it is an unfortunate one, and I can see the reasoning behind it, but it's a foolish choice, and one that nearly everyone seems to agree hurts EA's credibility and their sales figures. There's no doubt it's harassment, though.

That said, I can't understand why people respond to DRM with piracy. It's the digital equivalent of "bombing for peace". I was really pissed when Randall of XKCD did that "Pirate This Comic" webcomic a little while ago; although, upon reaching the end, I did understand his point in its entirety. The disclaimer at the end said, "If you don't like this, demand DRM free files." (This was related to MP3s) Well, the easiest way to make a demand on a company is to deprive them of what they need: money. He's right, and maybe his comic was a way for decent people who wouldn't piracy for ethical, moral, or a mix of those motivations, to understand what needs to be done before this will go away.

If three million people were to pirate and zero people were to buy a game, I bet the publisher/developers would say to themselves, "Wow, that would be a really good game if only we had stronger copy protection." Instead, if zero people were to buy the game, and zero people were to pirate the game, it would be considered an absolute failure. There aren't even any pirated copies that could be turned to sales, so that logic would fall completely flat.

Maybe the DRM is there to stop the used game sales, I know I haven't addressed that possibility. I just...wish some gamers would own up to a solution. I know that if DRM were to magically disappear, piracy would not follow suit; but I know I've done my share to convince my friend who would always give me ISO files to start buying his games. Now he's a big Steam guy, can't wait for L4D and Dawn of War II, and has already preordered both.

I don't like piracy and I don't like DRM. Both of them hurt my widdle baby, gaming. ;(

 

[jamesworkshop]

Install limits only effect the sale of second hand games not piracy when cracking groups remove all traces of DRM or root kits anyway and do so for the challenge of proving how elite they are i mean Razor1911 cracked shadowrun/halo 2 soo badly you could even play it on windows XP when it was released as a vista exclusive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor1911

often releasing before retail, DRM beyond cd keys to stop 90% of the population is useless with the other 10% who can't be stopped

 

[Kiefer13]

This is why I have personally resolved to not buy any EA games that include the DRM from now on. It doesn't matter that they raised the limit to five, it wouldn't matter if they raised it to 100, or even a million. It's the principle. It disgusts me that EA are treating their customers like criminals, and they won't get another penny of my money until they remove DRM.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

Oh poor foolish EA. Make me get a crack for RA3. That's a good way to keep business.

 

[jamesworkshop]

This is satirical right?

Edit:

Install limits only effect the sale of second hand games not piracy when cracking groups remove all traces of DRM or root kits anyway and do so for the challenge of proving how elite they are i mean Razor1911 cracked shadowrun/halo 2 soo badly you could even play it on windows XP when it was released as a vista exclusive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor1911

often releasing before retail, DRM beyond cd keys to stop 90% of the population is useless with the other 10% who can't be stopped

Don't name names. That's as bad as posting warez.

Not satrical no I fully believe it to be the proper intention of install limits to harm second hand sales imagine if the car industry did something like that and as my link demonstrates DRM does not stop piracy at the highest level to release before retail requires insiders either at distribution companies or the optical media printing press since it will quite obviously take time to remove and rebuild a game free of DRM no digital protection system works in that scenario

 

[Amnestic]

Well, it will be interesting to see how well EA does with this DRM mess. Their belief seems to be that the best way to protect grain from thieves, is to burn the granary to the ground once the fall harvest is all loaded inside. Yes, it does stop thieves, but it kinda fucks over the village too. Better to let a handful of dishonest people siphon off a small percentage of the grain, than to ruin the whole stock.

If anyone else can come up with a more accurate metaphor, please share it. I guess in my example, poisoning the grain would be more accurate, because the games (grain) still reach the people, but are still unusable (inedible).

Perhaps an addition or modification to your metaphor. You poison the grain during the food preparation of the grain to prevent thieves. As such, the thieves who have already dipped into your granary have already got off scot-free with an unpoisoned batch of grain (That is, a game with no fucking DRM/SecuROM) and get to enjoy their grain the way it should have been before EA poisoned it.

 

[James Raynor]

Well, it will be interesting to see how well EA does with this DRM mess. Their belief seems to be that the best way to protect grain from thieves, is to burn the granary to the ground once the fall harvest is all loaded inside. Yes, it does stop thieves, but it kinda fucks over the village too. Better to let a handful of dishonest people siphon off a small percentage of the grain, than to ruin the whole stock.

If anyone else can come up with a more accurate metaphor, please share it. I guess in my example, poisoning the grain would be more accurate, because the games (grain) still reach the people, but are still unusable (inedible).

Perhaps an addition or modification to your metaphor. You poison the grain during the food preparation of the grain to prevent thieves. As such, the thieves who have already dipped into your granary have already got off scot-free with an unpoisoned batch of grain (That is, a game with no fucking DRM/SecuROM) and get to enjoy their grain the way it should have been before EA poisoned it.

Or that the thieves detox it.

 

[geizr]

I have heard it said several times in other places that DRM is not actually about stopping piracy(that's just the red herring from the publishers). Instead, DRM is really about monetizing the ability to multiply copy digital information. Basically, content publishers are trying to create scarcity in information in much the same way as physical objects are subject to scarcity.

Information itself has no actual physical form or substance, although it may be manifest via a physical medium. As a result, it does not itself suffer scarcity because it is not constrained by conservation of mass-energy in the manner of physical objects. The physical medium manifesting the information, on the other hand, is constrained by conservation of mass-energy and thus subject to scarcity. Thus, one uses DRM to limit information through the medium in order to create an artificial scarcity, ensuring continued revenue. Piracy is then only a consideration because of its ability to circumvent this artificial scarcity, but stopping the piracy is not the primary goal.

 

[meatloaf231]

It's not really to stop piracy, methinks. It's more likely to stop secondhand/used game sales.