Escapist Podcast: DRM, Piracy & PC Gaming
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Cool, seems I was right to suggest you do this back in the Extra Consideration debut. It's a little rough for a first episode, because it doesn't work very well to record a speech when some participants don't have their thoughts ready for it (yes Yahtzee I'm talking about you). Thumbs up for Mike though.
So here's a suggestion: do your homework on the topic, think what points you're going to touch and your opinions WITHOUT synchronising anything with the show-companion(s). The less others know the better - the show will sound livelier when nothing is scripted and everyone will have something to say because they researched beforehand. And I think you guys should consider having 3-4 participants discussing instead of 2 so that it wouldn't be so painful to listen when one guy has nothing to say. And Yahtzee, buy a better mic goddammit.
So here's a suggestion: do your homework on the topic, think what points you're going to touch and your opinions WITHOUT synchronising anything with the show-companion(s). The less others know the better - the show will sound livelier when nothing is scripted and everyone will have something to say because they researched beforehand. And I think you guys should consider having 3-4 participants discussing instead of 2 so that it wouldn't be so painful to listen when one guy has nothing to say. And Yahtzee, buy a better mic goddammit.
I enjoyed this 
Id enjoy more of these and among many of the staff and contributers And a Yahtzee/Moviebob podcast would be good, more of the extra contribution stuff
Also I would say that ZP has cost many sales I know I myself have not bought 7-8 games based on his reviews(including Dead Space 2)and conversely have bought stuff because he "recommended" them
Id enjoy more of these and among many of the staff and contributers And a Yahtzee/Moviebob podcast would be good, more of the extra contribution stuff Also I would say that ZP has cost many sales
I know I myself have not bought 7-8 games based on his reviews(including Dead Space 2)and conversely have bought stuff because he "recommended" them
It was a bit awkward that they each were more interested in criticizing the other's work than in talking about the topics that were suggested to them. Mikey downplayed ZP's importance by saying it has never cost any game a sale (which is very untrue speaking personally. I even also bought games like Just Cause 2 which I ended up loving based largely on what Yahtzee has said about it), and Yahtzee obviously doesn't like Borderlands nearly as much as Mikey wants him to. Mikey seemed to be acting like ZP is just a silly little novelty, but it's a lot more important and effective than that.
For the record, I happened to really like Borderlands.
For the record, I happened to really like Borderlands.
Mickey makes yet another bad analogy comparing security guards in stores to DRM.
When someone steals something from a store the store cannot sell the product to another customer. The store has lost the money they used to purchase and stock that product.
When someone makes a copy of a game that copy doesn't prevent the original game from being sold. Making a copy of a collection of set of bits doesn't cost anyone anything. The original is still there.
Every dime that is spent on "preventing" piracy is a dime that isn't spent on Q&A or marketing or the developer's beer and hooker fund. And there is no proof whatsoever that any anti-piracy measures earn any revenue. However there is plenty of proof that underhanded anti-piracy tactics hurt the perception of a game, see Titan Quest as a case study.
I'm sure Mickey feels bad when Google searches of his games turn up torrents. But welcome to the 21st century, there is no way to prevent copies of data from finding their way out into the wild. Instead he should make sure that the experience for purchasers is SO good that nobody considers alternatives to making a purchase.
When someone steals something from a store the store cannot sell the product to another customer. The store has lost the money they used to purchase and stock that product.
When someone makes a copy of a game that copy doesn't prevent the original game from being sold. Making a copy of a collection of set of bits doesn't cost anyone anything. The original is still there.
Every dime that is spent on "preventing" piracy is a dime that isn't spent on Q&A or marketing or the developer's beer and hooker fund. And there is no proof whatsoever that any anti-piracy measures earn any revenue. However there is plenty of proof that underhanded anti-piracy tactics hurt the perception of a game, see Titan Quest as a case study.
I'm sure Mickey feels bad when Google searches of his games turn up torrents. But welcome to the 21st century, there is no way to prevent copies of data from finding their way out into the wild. Instead he should make sure that the experience for purchasers is SO good that nobody considers alternatives to making a purchase.
Oh god...regarding the Piracy thing, there are several points that you people actually missed and/or barely felt at all, assuming that little to none of you have lived within the walls of a pirate. Have you people even conversed with a pirate without that smearing disgust look in your face??
1. Unless they can live with single player, Pirates lack the ability to access the game's online community. While this may not sound like a issue to singleplayer games, several competitive gamers are quite infuriated by the fact that they cannot gain access to a live account where other legit people hop on...then again, most of those legit people are dicks to begin with. MOST. When they were talking about Borderlands, they unintentionally teabagged the pirates since they were mostly saying that the Multiplayer aspect of said game is much more fun.
The best example for this is later versions of Dawn of War II. The pirated version featured a full campaign and a Skirmish mode BUT it didn't give pirates access to The Last Stand which was actually one of the game's features that would be surprisingly addictive. Why?? Because The Last Stand records a player's progress and also multiplayer Skirmishes reward legit gamers with some graphical upgrades that indicate an achievement that the player would be able to gloat to others.
2. If anyone made a GFWL account offline? Then they won't be able to get those achievements for points BECAUSE of piracy. All that juicy miniature DLC that would make the game fresher than a sack of raw testicles (Like several skins, additional weaponry, bonus scenarios, etc.) would be a waste and something that only the legitimate side can grasp, sure there's a workaround but it's risky to the pirate wherein system files might just be replaced for what?? Risking BSOD just to get that shiny new Elvis outfit??
3. Ben mentioned that a torrent has risk of downloading a virus along with said game, but that's why there's a Comments board where SOME people risk their PCs and when it DOES have a virus, they'll just say so.
4. Some may say Hamachi, but Hamachi is a huge ***** that works. You have to wait for a game to finish just so that the other waiting players can hop onto it. And there are little games that support it as well (And I can assure you, most of what Hamachi can display is merely just say...games from before 2009) so, its almost a complete waste.
With that said, if you want to argue more about pirates?? Live with them first, but I doubt you people would do just that.
1. Unless they can live with single player, Pirates lack the ability to access the game's online community. While this may not sound like a issue to singleplayer games, several competitive gamers are quite infuriated by the fact that they cannot gain access to a live account where other legit people hop on...then again, most of those legit people are dicks to begin with. MOST. When they were talking about Borderlands, they unintentionally teabagged the pirates since they were mostly saying that the Multiplayer aspect of said game is much more fun.
The best example for this is later versions of Dawn of War II. The pirated version featured a full campaign and a Skirmish mode BUT it didn't give pirates access to The Last Stand which was actually one of the game's features that would be surprisingly addictive. Why?? Because The Last Stand records a player's progress and also multiplayer Skirmishes reward legit gamers with some graphical upgrades that indicate an achievement that the player would be able to gloat to others.
2. If anyone made a GFWL account offline? Then they won't be able to get those achievements for points BECAUSE of piracy. All that juicy miniature DLC that would make the game fresher than a sack of raw testicles (Like several skins, additional weaponry, bonus scenarios, etc.) would be a waste and something that only the legitimate side can grasp, sure there's a workaround but it's risky to the pirate wherein system files might just be replaced for what?? Risking BSOD just to get that shiny new Elvis outfit??
3. Ben mentioned that a torrent has risk of downloading a virus along with said game, but that's why there's a Comments board where SOME people risk their PCs and when it DOES have a virus, they'll just say so.
4. Some may say Hamachi, but Hamachi is a huge ***** that works. You have to wait for a game to finish just so that the other waiting players can hop onto it. And there are little games that support it as well (And I can assure you, most of what Hamachi can display is merely just say...games from before 2009) so, its almost a complete waste.
With that said, if you want to argue more about pirates?? Live with them first, but I doubt you people would do just that.
Excellent, though I hope we get an even more varied cast in the future. Is this going to be available as just an actual downloadable/streaming audio file though? (or is it already available and I'm just missing it?)
I loved the show! it however was to short, and failed at being a podcast on the most basic level, I couldn't listen to it on my ipod or other random portable media device. Fix this now, or change the name to guys sitting chatting in front of a tape recorder without the ability to use a camera, or something similar.
Excellent Podcast. Definitely interesting perspectives.
A message for Mikey about DRM -
I'm your target audience. Mid 30's, married, no kids. Tons of disposable income. I buy all my music, movies and games, but I will not buy a game with intrusive DRM like AC2. In fact, I swore off Ubisoft as a whole over it. Loved Borderlands, interested in Duke Nukem. Won't buy it if you come anywhere near this with your software. Consider that a promise and not of the "Modern Warfare 2 boycott" variety.
I appreciate the point you make about stores with metal detectors, mall security guards, and the dude at Best Buy searching your bag, but the difference you are missing is intrusiveness and timeliness. The mall security guard isn't intrusive (just fat and busy ogling preteen girls), and the metal detectors don't tell me how to wear my new spiffy shirt once I get home. It only prevents me from walking out of the store with it (which it really doesn't do if you think about it). The best buy dude doesn't frisk you and turn your wife's purse upside down, he looks in the bright yellow bag. Get out the door, and the product is yours to do whatever you want with it.
What it comes down for me is that the pirates get a more useful version of the game than the paying customers do. Think about AC2 on the PC. Paying customers can't play it when their internet is down. Or when your servers are down. Or when I'm on a plane. The pirates can. I'm not sure what moron thought that was a good idea, but the fact that it went all the way up the management chain and then through design, development and release without anybody raising their hand and saying this may not be a great idea tells me that Ubi isn't an organization that values its customers.
I understand organizations like yours' desire to protect their investment, but you must balance it with giving your customers the capability to use your product as they want. Give your customers an easy, legitimate means to consume your IP and the vast majority will - that is the lesson of iTunes. The rest weren't going to buy your product in the first place. Make your customers happy that they purchased your product. Don't force them to enter twenty 15 digit codes and download 6 files before they can play your game.
The lesson that the movie and video game industries must learn is that modern consumers have a near infinite number of ways to spend their entertainment cash. Adding barriers that prevent the customer from enjoying their purchases only encourages them to find other ways to spend their money.
Sorry for the rant. Just got lit by that comment. Probably TLDR, but /shrug.
A message for Mikey about DRM -
I'm your target audience. Mid 30's, married, no kids. Tons of disposable income. I buy all my music, movies and games, but I will not buy a game with intrusive DRM like AC2. In fact, I swore off Ubisoft as a whole over it. Loved Borderlands, interested in Duke Nukem. Won't buy it if you come anywhere near this with your software. Consider that a promise and not of the "Modern Warfare 2 boycott" variety.
I appreciate the point you make about stores with metal detectors, mall security guards, and the dude at Best Buy searching your bag, but the difference you are missing is intrusiveness and timeliness. The mall security guard isn't intrusive (just fat and busy ogling preteen girls), and the metal detectors don't tell me how to wear my new spiffy shirt once I get home. It only prevents me from walking out of the store with it (which it really doesn't do if you think about it). The best buy dude doesn't frisk you and turn your wife's purse upside down, he looks in the bright yellow bag. Get out the door, and the product is yours to do whatever you want with it.
What it comes down for me is that the pirates get a more useful version of the game than the paying customers do. Think about AC2 on the PC. Paying customers can't play it when their internet is down. Or when your servers are down. Or when I'm on a plane. The pirates can. I'm not sure what moron thought that was a good idea, but the fact that it went all the way up the management chain and then through design, development and release without anybody raising their hand and saying this may not be a great idea tells me that Ubi isn't an organization that values its customers.
I understand organizations like yours' desire to protect their investment, but you must balance it with giving your customers the capability to use your product as they want. Give your customers an easy, legitimate means to consume your IP and the vast majority will - that is the lesson of iTunes. The rest weren't going to buy your product in the first place. Make your customers happy that they purchased your product. Don't force them to enter twenty 15 digit codes and download 6 files before they can play your game.
The lesson that the movie and video game industries must learn is that modern consumers have a near infinite number of ways to spend their entertainment cash. Adding barriers that prevent the customer from enjoying their purchases only encourages them to find other ways to spend their money.
Sorry for the rant. Just got lit by that comment. Probably TLDR, but /shrug.
DRM is digital rights management, basically copy protection, ranging from simple serial keys to more crappy stuff like SecuROMWolcik said:It'd be nice to explain the concept of what you're taking appart. What's this DRM?
As for PC Gaming - it gets to the point where buying newer and better computer isn't really worth it unless you work on it as a graphic or something like that. PC should stay as more of a work tool, with few things to fuck around in the mean time (but we have facebook for that now) and leave games for specified medium that they made for - consoles and eventually something better
Overally I liked it
anyways this was pretty cool, hope to see more of it
Wow Yahtzee can speak normally )) The pod felt kind of awkward, not much chemistry between them both, I don't think they even know each other. Also felt sort of like an ad for Anthony save the world. Anyway I hope next one's better
)) The pod felt kind of awkward, not much chemistry between them both, I don't think they even know each other. Also felt sort of like an ad for Anthony save the world. Anyway I hope next one's better Likey, but i think it needs more than two people. get the lads from unskippable or something haha
The point isn't that they're treating customers like POTENTIAL thieves, it's that they're punishing people as though they were pirates. That's the problem with Ubisoft's DRM scheme. It was detrimental to proper customers, and the worst part was that the actual pirates find ways around the DRM. Meaning they could play it offline, without an internet connection. In a specific example, take Assassin's Creed 2. Now, I didn't pirate it, I bought it. And thankfully, I had a stable internet connection. But even then I had instances where my net failed for JUST long enough to kick me out of the game and I lost a fair chunk of progress. And after the second or third time that happened to me, I began to honestly consider getting a pirated copy of it, so that I didn't have to put up with the DRM, even though I had a legitimate copy.
The proper way to do DRM, in my opinion, is the stuff that only punishes pirates. For example, the Batman: Arkham Asylum DRM that plenty of people loved, where you got a gimped Batman that couldn't even jump if you pirated. It's not the only instance of a game putting that in, but it's the most well known that I can think of. Legitimate customers are able to enjoy the game without any problems, and the pirates were penalized.
The proper way to do DRM, in my opinion, is the stuff that only punishes pirates. For example, the Batman: Arkham Asylum DRM that plenty of people loved, where you got a gimped Batman that couldn't even jump if you pirated. It's not the only instance of a game putting that in, but it's the most well known that I can think of. Legitimate customers are able to enjoy the game without any problems, and the pirates were penalized.