How would you implement DRM?

[PhunkyPhazon]

Put it on Steam and load the game with extras. Maybe add in a couple extra hours of gameplay, some mod support, perhaps take a little bit of extra time to fix some of the smaller complaints about the game if it has already been released on a console. If you buy it retail, perhaps some nice collectibles to go with it. If this isn't good enough for them, then I guess I'll just have to take my severance pay and go somewhere else.

It doesn't matter what I do, it will always get pirated by people who were never going to pay in the first place. Just stop trying to prevent it, and just worry about the legit customers.

Where's that Shamus Young article when you need it?

But some sort of devious DRM following in Batman: AA's footsteps.

It took me a second to figure out what you were talking about as I couldn't recall Batman having anything more then stupid Games for Windows LIVE, but oh my god I forgot how genius that was.

For those who don't know, use of a nocd crack disables gliding, making it impossible to get past the first ten or fifteen minutes of the game. I think the current cracks fix it, but if devs want to really fight piracy then this is definitely on the right track.

 

[jamesworkshop]

My advice would be to spend the money on advertising because DRM is a false economy

 

[mikecoulter]

I'd say pretty much the way Steam has... It's pretty good. With all the games bought linked to one account. However, I'd have a 2nd hand market place. After all, Steam can still take a cut of the selling price.

 

[The Infinite]

To be honest I wouldn't implement DRM. If I want to combat piracy, taking out DRM is pretty useful. If you look back some of the most pirated games have been ones which boast its Secure DRM, it's more like challenging the pirates to break the DRM. Regardless though Pirates will upload your game and people will downloading. I guess just living with it works, like the guys that made Demigod. Though looking at current DRM I'm liking Steams one is the best.

 

[Phoenixlight]

Well I'd make games connect to a server to authenticate themselves when the game was launched then disconnect the game and let the players go offline and play them if they wanted to.

 

[YuheJi]

A much better one would be not leaving a tip when you dine at a restaurant, which is essentially the direct equivalent of software piracy, in that you receive the same service that other patrons did but they actually paid for it. But the act of not leaving the tip itself does not make the server lose money - for that, you would have to not only deprive them of a tip but also take some of the tips they have already accrued. Making less money than you rightfully should and incurring a lose due to direct theft are not the same thing at all: sure, both cost you money, but the one is potential money you could have made, and the second is money you actually have right now that you just lost (you know, a "loss").

And here is where the misunderstanding becomes obvious. I felt you were saying that taking the data doesn't constitute as stealing. While i still feel that they suffer a financial and time loss from stealing the data we are arguing over semantics.

Calm down though. It was a misunderstanding around minor beliefs. I'm willing to apologize for any offense.

Edit: I consider losing money you should have gotten a loss. Even if it isn't taken from you i feel its a loss if you supposed to get it for your work. Sorta as if that server was docked the time she spent working with you. Her bank balance didn't go down, just the money she should have gotten for her hard work. To me that counts as a loss.

I don't think the analogy of a waiter receiving or not receiving a tip would be a good analogy, because she takes time to serve you when she could have been serving another who would tip. Piracy is not like that. The developers make the games for people to buy. After the game is made, their job is basically done. After that, it is the people who buy the game that will make the money. The assumption that publishers like to make is that pirates would become paying customers if they were unable to pirate, which I think many of us would disagree with (at least for the most part). However, when a game is pirated, nothing of the developer's work or time is wasted, since that pirate likely would not have paid in the first place. It is not a lost sale, it is a sale that never existed.

Which is why many of us feel that DRM is a waste of time. Pirates should pay for the game, obviously, but when they don't pay, it isn't money you "should have gotten" if the game was uncrackable or something like that. It is the paying customers that give the developers money for their work, so I think Gildan's main point is that the pirates should just be ignored, because whether they pirate or not, they should not be expected to contribute in rewarding the developers for the game and all they are really taking is data that can be copied as many times as desired, so nothing is really lost.

 

[jubosu]

use steam
boom done

 

[Halceon]

None whatsoever. I'm an infosocialist. I'd rather get the economy department together and implement something akin to flattr.

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

I'd release a game without any DRM but make a public announcement that every time someone pirates a copy of the game, we shoot a kitten.

 

[Wicky_42]

SaaS = Software as a Service

Nothing gets downloaded, so you are just playing online with software that is hosted on a server. You can use downloadable tools to create custom character classes / items / game levels, but you can't run them offline, because all the software required to do that is online.

Dedicated Server licenses are sold separately, so you can host your own games where-ever you like. All the classes are sealed, so you can't actually get into the code, but is carefully exposed to allow for Dedicated Server support. Every license allows one install through a generated key that needs to be activated online. If a new key is required it has to be requested from the main site with the original key: once a new key is generated the old one is scrapped, and will never work again. So, basically you get unlimited installs, but only one of them will work at a time.

So, when your servers go down, a la Ubisoft, your customers love you? Not the answer.

 

[ethaninja]

Fire myself and tell the company to never again waste time, money, or resources on DRM. Pirates will continue to pirate, and legitimate customers will continue to buy the games. No DRM = less hassle for everyone.

Yeah I would probably have to go with that one.

 

[Baneat]

Multiplayer and Co-Op online modes.

Not kidding here

 

[Uncreation]

A much better one would be not leaving a tip when you dine at a restaurant, which is essentially the direct equivalent of software piracy, in that you receive the same service that other patrons did but they actually paid for it. But the act of not leaving the tip itself does not make the server lose money - for that, you would have to not only deprive them of a tip but also take some of the tips they have already accrued. Making less money than you rightfully should and incurring a lose due to direct theft are not the same thing at all: sure, both cost you money, but the one is potential money you could have made, and the second is money you actually have right now that you just lost (you know, a "loss").

I'm sorry, but this example is just silly. Not leaving a tip is not stealing in a any way. You are not in any legal way obligated to tip. You pay for your meal by... well... paying for your meal, meaning, paying however much that dish is in the menu. That money covers everything: ingredients, salary for the people working in the restaurant, etc. The waiter/waitress has a salary already, the tips are just extra (and generally compensate a bit for that salary not being that great). It's nice to tip, but it's not obligatory.

Ok, sorry about that off-topic bit. As for DRM, as others have said, i would not implement it.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

A much better one would be not leaving a tip when you dine at a restaurant, which is essentially the direct equivalent of software piracy, in that you receive the same service that other patrons did but they actually paid for it. But the act of not leaving the tip itself does not make the server lose money - for that, you would have to not only deprive them of a tip but also take some of the tips they have already accrued. Making less money than you rightfully should and incurring a lose due to direct theft are not the same thing at all: sure, both cost you money, but the one is potential money you could have made, and the second is money you actually have right now that you just lost (you know, a "loss").

I'm sorry, but this example is just silly. Not leaving a tip is not stealing in a any way. You are not in any legal way obligated to tip. You pay for your meal by... well... paying for your meal, meaning, paying however much that dish is in the menu. That money covers everything: ingredients, salary for the people working in the restaurant, etc. The waiter/waitress has a salary already, the tips are just extra (and generally compensate a bit for that salary not being that great). It's nice to tip, but it's not obligatory.

Ok, sorry about that off-topic bit. As for DRM, as others have said, i would not implement it.

I'm well aware that failing to leave a tip and downloading a pirated copy of a video-game are not analogous behaviors that are equally morally reprehensible, the example was only intended to illustrate an equivalent financial application - stiffing your server is like illegal downloading in that neither generates any income for the content creator/service provider yet the cheapskate/pirate responsible still receives the service, and the current wealth of the content/service provider isn't negatively impacted by the actions of the cheapskate/pirate.

Or in other words, it was an example intended to showcase why comparing illegal copying of data to theft of a retail establishment's merchandise is silly, because piracy isn't theft in the traditional sense, and cannot be directly responsible for 'losses', at least not the ones publishers so often like to claim based on piracy statistics. As I pointed out already, a title that sells 10,000 copies and has 10,000 copies pirated and a title that has 10,000 copies sold with 100,000 copies pirated, assuming all other factors are identical, have made the same amount of money.

You still shouldn't stiff your server though.

 

[blackshark121]

Have two versions of the game:

One that is released on dvd with a cd key and some basic protection.

One that is released on the internet, fully pirate-able, but missing features here and there, like enemy AI and such.

 

[slowpoke999]

For Digital PC games, use steam

For Hard Copy PC or Console games have collectors editions and sweet merchindice.

It's not fucking rocket science.

And if the company doesn't want to use steam then just make your own DD program then.

And if you need DRM keep it to online activation only.

No limited downloads, no constant online for single-player, oh and for the love of god no windows live.

If steam becomes perfected then all digital games should just use Steam, fundraiser charaties would go corrupt before Valve would.

 

[Reep]

Personally, id do the Batman Arkham Asylum approach and make a game breaking bug for those who break the game.

Probably not the best pun but it got my point across.

 

[Telperion]

So, when your servers go down, a la Ubisoft, your customers love you? Not the answer.

If you are familiar with modern server technology, specifically server clustering, then you'll know that the probability of a totally unrecoverable server crash is very low. A server crashing really isn't a big deal these days, if you know how to configure a cluster.

 

[Om Nom Nom]

Cut the DRM, put that money back into developing the game. Yes, not even a disk check. Heck, sell the game on cheap USB drives. The costs of actually making the game will be FAR lower, and more copies will likely be sold because of the lower end-user price tag.

Also, including tangible special stuff you can only get when buying from a retailer would be a smart move. And just to be sure; give out 'the making of' videos on the USB (only needs to be a handful of people from the development team(s)) and screenshots from various stages of development, because people love that stuff.

It will get pirated, no matter what's done to it (within current laws). Better to reward buying it in the first place.