Poll: DRM and the complainers

[ike_luv]

Does anyone else feel like we over reacted about the DRM issues? One of the most successful and long running game companies in the world, probably older than a lot of us, is attempting to protect its material (which anyone can understand!), and we do almost everything in our power to shut it down...

Or am I talking to the wrong crowd...?

 

[mokes310]

No, I'm not mad, and I'm also not mad about the people who find ways to get around it. I guess I ultimately don't care. If it's not something I'm working on, then I just don't care. Sorry to all artists and creative people on the Escapist...

 

[SimuLord]

DRM is not an effective way to protect software from unlawfull destribution. It only angers and inconveniences the legit users. If you dont believe me - go to any torrent site and search cracks for any DRM protected game. You will see that cracks come out same day, two days after the release in worst case.

Which only further reinforces the idea that DRM isn't about piracy. It's about shutting down the used games market, which only makes people more willing to pirate because there's much more at stake when they buy the game. It used to be if you bought a game and it sucked, you could sell it on eBay or even (gasp) return it to a store within 14 days. These days, if the game's a shit sandwich, you're SOL. With what games cost, I'm not so sure I want to risk the fifty bucks, and I can't even borrow the game from a friend to find out if I'd like it enough to make it worth buying. They're even putting restrictive DRM on demos now because the demo version can be used to crack the retail game.

 

[Pseudonym2]

The problem is that "attempting" is the key word. Installing occasionally computer crashing programs on to ones PC without the users consent is just irritating.

The pirates don't seem to mind it very much judging by often Spore was pirated.

 

[ike_luv]

Wow I didn't know they were "DRM"ing demos! Haha! I'll admit that is a bit far, but I guess what hasn't been talked about, is the reaction of gamers. Like the Amazon situation:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/product/B000FN7K2S/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt/280-7095401-8670365?_encoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

This is a bit excessive surely... I think it's incredible that the main community the gaming industry pretty much works for, can't even be trusted! That's probably why there's an increasing market for family party games, because those people don't know or care about piracy.

 

[joystickjunki3]

If the individual can outsmart the system, then by all means do so. Cyber-Darwinism.

 

[Praelanthor]

lol DRM was more a challenge to pirates
this is a break down of how it happend

EA: yisssir wit our DRM our game is un piritable
Interenet: All your game are belong to us
EA: someone set us up the bomb
News: Spore most pirated game of 08

 

[ike_luv]

The problem is that "attempting" is the key word.
The pirates don't seem to mind it very much judging by often Spore was pirated.

I'm gonna take this as sarcasm (hopefully I'm right!), and say yeah they were clearly over the moon seeing as a recorded 1.7m copies were pirated this year. I mean... if they didn't like DRM that much, then they probably could have just ignored it! But then saying that, EA probably wouldn't care... because they may just think, we're still on top... and over a million copies were still sold! Meh!

 

[The Wooster]

Does anyone else feel like we over reacted about the DRM issues? One of the most successful and long running game companies in the world, probably older than a lot of us, is attempting to protect its material (which anyone can understand!), and we do almost everything in our power to shut it down...

Or am I talking to the wrong crowd...?

It's more of a ethical reaction as opposed to a practical one. The amount of people who are actually negatively affected by securom and it's ilk are few, but there is something wrong with an industry that shrieks about piracy every day of the week and yet their only response is to implement a system that makes life more difficult for people who actually own the product. Game companies have somehow convinced themselves that they can go toe to toe with a underground army of rum drinking, peg legged, coders and they can't. Each game that gets cracked a day after release, or, quite hilariously, before the official release is a testament to the fact securom never has and never will, prevent piracy in the slightest.

So should we be pissed off that game companies are making their games difficult to access and destroying resale value in the name of fighting piracy? Yes. Yes we should be.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Funnily enough I was reading the Wikipedia article on perverse incentives that mentions this very issue.

I am in favour of DRM in principle, as I believe that developers and publishers deserve to be fairly paid for their work. What I object to is the heavy handed methods that some publishers are resorting to, which actually makes a pirated version not only preferable, but superior to the retail product.

 

[Good morning blues]

How, exactly, is complaining and boycotting an "over-reaction" to DRM?

I mean, I paid for that game, didn't I? Should I not be allowed to install it on as many computers as I like, as many times as I like? Should I not be allowed to make myself a backup version of the disc in case something happens to my original? Should I not be allowed to install and play these games without worrying about them throwing rootkits or Starforce (which, as has been widely reported, is capable of destroying CD drives) onto my hard drive?

 

[tjoris9]

I also feel that developers are trying to kill the idea of buying used games, as well as friends trading and lending games. It's just a really stupid idea that makes downloading a pirated copy of a game easier, more convenient, and safer than making a legitimate purchase.

Piracy will always be a problem to some extent, and punishing legitimate customers makes piracy a bigger problem.

I think the real problem is that we passed the sweet spot between profitability and processing ability about three years ago. Games are too expensive to make now that graphics engines and player tastes demand that every hair on a character's body be perfectly rendered down to the minute details. Developers are feeling the pinch, and they have two groups to blame: the consumers, who are most likely feeling their own pinch in the pocketbook, and thus settling for rentals, used games, and torrents; and the hardware companies, who got anxious and shoved the new gen down our throats before anybody was ready.

 

[Caliostro]

Or am I talking to the wrong crowd...?

You are.

The general problem with DRM isn't that it's an attempt to stop piracy, but that it does NOT stop piracy but instead fucks over the legitimate costumer.

DRM has not, and will never be an effective anti-piracy method. It was not designed to. It was designed to covertly fuck up the reselling of games and/or game renting. This is what we object to. We all know DRM doesn't stop pirates, look at spore, was pirated to hell and back.

The only thing DRM does is limit the amount of times a legitimate user, who BOUGHT the game, not only has a harder time installing the game (drm compatibility issues), but also gets fucked over by having it's installations limited to 5. I dunno about you but I have games I've installed well over 5 times... Hell, I must have installed the Counter Strike Source bundle well over 10 times by now...

And this is where the fault lies. DRM makes it harder, less convenient and less accessible for the regular costumer to buy the damn game legitimately than it is for them to just pirate the thing. DRM isn't anti-piracy, it's PRO-piracy.

 

[bad rider]

Metaphor

Imagine their is a terrorist threat to plane so they step up security at the airport. Ok thats fine... except in this case more terrorists attempt plane bombings and are succesful, so really, only those trying to get on a plane are feeling the effects of increased security and end up waiting more hours, in the same sorry state of affairs.

 

[Jaythulhu]

Metaphor

Imagine their is a terrorist threat to plane so they step up security at the airport. Ok thats fine... except in this case more terrorists attempt plane bombings and are succesful, so really, only those trying to get on a plane are feeling the effects of increased security and end up waiting more hours, in the same sorry state of affairs.

Hmmm, sort of. It's more like if terrorists were hijacking planes left and right so they stepped up security on the bus/train lines.

Anyone who's ever had their hardware and legitimate software locked down by drm like securom will understand my objection. I do video editing as a side job for a bit of extra cash. I don't appreciate having drm that I didn't authorise being installed on my system taking it upon itself to terminate my editing software processes because it thinks they're.. i don't know.. somehow related to piracy, or disabling my dvd burner because the company who made it didn't pay the extortion price to get off the blacklist.

 

[almo]

I find it insulting that I can't use what I pay for as I like. I don't let people copy my music, whether it has DRM (by removing it) on it or not. I will be removing DRM whenever possible so I can use what I pay for. But I'm firm about making sure artists get paid for their work.

I've downloaded music via BitTorrent, then purchased what I liked. That which I didn't like, I deleted from my hard drive.

 

[Sensenmann]

DRM has no effect on me as no one else wants to use my games, and I dont even have a large enough bandwidth to download games either, if i lose my disc it is likely reloaded or some other group will have cracked the game.

 

[Isaac Dodgson]

Gets the fire and the stakes ready

What? It's not that I care one way or another (I'm on a Mac...so yeah "I can't play games" blah blah blah)...I just like to watch stuff burn