I don't know if I like the comparison of DRM that actively hurts the consumer by stopping them from playing just because an internet connection or server goes down and makes them call up customer service if they install it too many times to those little metal detector things or whatever they are in stores and security guards.
If I go to a store and buy a game, they just swipe the game box over this little magnetic thing or whatever it is at the cash register before I leave and it's no problem. It doesn't hurt me in any way, and in the rare event that it doesn't work and the alarm goes off as I leave, someone comes over, looks at my receipt, and says I can leave. It's not them assuming I'm a thief as much as it is making it harder for thieves to do anything while not really imposing on the paying customers (again, only rarely do the little tags set off the alarm, and when they do you're only held up for a few seconds, a minute tops unless customer service at the store sucks). For the thieves, it is probably harder to steal a game from a store where they have the tags and you have to get an associate to get the game out of a locked display case for you which you then pay for immediately and you can't take it elsewhere in the store if you didn't pay for it yet.
So in short, if it actually does impede paying customers, it does so very little, and it makes it a lot harder to steal.
Then on the other hand, I have this crap where I can't play if an authentication server goes down, or if the internet in my area goes down, just because the publishers are trying to keep people from pirating their game with these constant checks. Meanwhile, pirates download the game, they download a crack for the DRM, and they can play just fine while the paying customers are left to wait until the servers come back online.
So on the other hand, paying customers are severely impeded when they become impeded, and pirates are free to play without any trouble.
Big difference between DRM and store security if you ask me. One works rather well, and one is a big waste of everybody's time that actually encourages people to steal because they get a better product for doing so.
...And then I hit play after writing all this and they say exactly that. God dammit. That's what I get for pausing to comment on things I want to comment on as I hear them instead of waiting for the end and forgetting something. Okay I'm just going to listen to the rest now and not write anything else.
