Lokus

Securom is already a horrible copy protection, if it doesn't like your cd-rom or dvd-rom drives, well, you're out of luck, so sorry. Now they're changing it so that it checks with the servers every 10 days to authenticate your cd-key and install. If you can't authenticate, then you can't play at all. So you basically need an internet connection to play a single player game, for Mass Effect at least. Word is that Spore uses the same copy protection but it at least has a multiplayer component.

Honestly, it's this kind of thing that turns people to piracy (not that I'm advocating piracy). I don't want to have to worry about installing a new hard drive or video card and irritating the copy protection or not being able to play because my internet is being loopy. EA really should take a page from Stardock, they still had plenty of sales and keep their customers' gratitudes for not making them jump through hoops just to play a game.

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Martian

What's really ridiculous about this is that the odds are there will be a crack out for it within a week of release.

Never underestimate the ingenuity of people who don't want to pay for software, I always say.

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Willravel

I purchase my games and I'm always online. This won't effect me at all.

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SecretMethod70

It's a shame that the game publishers are killing PC gaming like this.

I really like PC gaming.

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Ustwo

No blame for the pirates?

I don't think they would spend the money and effort for something like this without reason.

If its anything like starforce though I will still hate it.

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Destrox

Just about every legit game I own, I will download the NO CD cracks, or the hacked EXE's just for the pure fact that all copy protection is removed.

Amazing when a games executable goes from 16 meg to 3.

That much less shit in my ram.

And less chances of a foul root kit, or other "protection" snooping around my hardware.

It is just all a complete waste of money, those who wish to steal the game will no matter what you think.

War on PC game piracy is a joke just like RIAA's little game.

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Ustwo

Personally I hope not, I really hate console gaming.

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Destrox

The saddest little fact is that there is a even larger crowd for Console Piracy these days. Its not too difficult to buy two 360's and have one cracked and the other not.

Or if you're willing to risk it just keep updated with the latest mod chips and cracked games.

But its just easier to make the evil PC gamers look like the only real issue.

I'm mostly ranting and taking away from this thread, so I'll stop.

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Ustwo

Its the ease of use, most users are not savvy enough to use an xbox crack.

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Shauk

this wont phase pirates one bit. it's just another business for coders to jump in to because they're working on the corporate dime.

They really could care less if the end result is pirated or not, as long as it looks good enough for them to keep getting a paycheck.

Ustwo

So if it doesn't help, why do publishers pay for this?

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Lokus

Well, the copy protection pisses off some customers but it also prevents your average pirate from getting it, since something like this new system will probably take a while to crack. If pirates foiled is greater than customers pissed off, then they make more money than with no copy protection at all, especially since the pissed off customers already bought the software. Of course that doesn't take into account the people that pirated it but had no intention of buying it in the first place since there's no way to accurately gauge how many there are.

I think you get the same sort of thing happening with music, people don't want to spend the money to buy CDs, especially when it's easier and more convenient to download illegally. Software is somewhat less convenient but also more expensive.

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Lasereth

Not really. What turns people to piracy is them knowing they can get a game for free, so they choose to get it for free instead of paying $50 for it. 10 years ago DRM was no such thing in software and people were already pirating games so they wouldn't have to buy them.

People who simply don't want to pay for something they can get free are the result of this. It's a shame that the people who actually want to buy the games are punished for it but I don't see an alternative.

Baraka_Guru

Yes, finally this was brought up. As someone who works in an industry based on copyright law, I cannot condemn a company that does whatever it can to stop people from literally taking their products for free. Most people who have a hard time frowning at pirates either don't understand or don't appreciate the importance of copyright laws and intellectual property rights. Go into a "big corporation deserves it" rant if you like, but you cannot seriously criticize them for doing this without taking a hard look at piracy practices and the lax laws surrounding them.

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hulk

Leak a gimped version before release, refreshing it every now and then with a slightly different gimping. Then have it erase the HD of everyone who downloads it.

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Lokus

That's true, I didn't mean to imply that most pirates are doing it out of some sort of moral outrage. What I meant was that there are some people who would have paid for the game but won't because of DRM issues. A lot of pirates don't want to spend the money and many of them wouldn't buy the game even if piracy weren't an option. These companies make the mistake of assuming that every pirated game means a lost sale when in reality, a lot of pirates wouldn't buy the game no matter what. I think it would benefit the companies in the long run, they don't have to spend money on draconian copy protection measures that don't even work and customers don't have to worry copying their game to their laptop or upgrading hardware or any other of the myriad issues with DRM.

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Cynthetiq

actually, it does. If servers can't authenticate you, you can't play. The moment they decide they don't want to upkeep those servers... you can't play anymore.

A good example of this scenario is actually happening.

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macandcheese240

Yeah but with things like wikipedia theres no need for technical know how, you can get everything you need to know online. You can buy chips that can crack the systems and most cracks that don't require something physical are avaliable through detailed walkthroughs.

Martian

That's simply untrue. The concept of DRM in the form of copy protection has existed for over 20 years.

The problem arises when the control methods become unacceptably controlling or restrictive.

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Willravel

So you're worried about them forcing a system upon us to prevent piracy and then not only abandoning that system but still requiring authentication? Doesn't that strike you as somewhat unheard of in the gaming world? MSN Music, sure, but that was a rather massive failure due to MS making virtually every mistake possible for online music. Unless something amazingly unexpected happens, ME and Spore are not likely to be failures.

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Martian

Granted it's not going to be a problem for five years at least, but you can bet that MS (or whoever it is that's responsible for this) will pull the plug on the authentication server the very day it becomes unprofitable. If you don't think it'll be needed that far down the road, I will respectfully point out that there are still people out there devising new ways to defeat those copy protection methods on 20 year old games mentioned above.

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Willravel

Still, these may end up being the next Starcraft and Diablo 2, which still, after as much as 10 years, still have magnificent online investment because of such consistent use. It seems a bit early to be predicting their untimely deaths.

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CyCo PL

I'm sure if they "pull the plug" on their authentication servers, they would probably release a patch that would get rid of the copy protection altogether. There have been many games in which the developer released the game with copy protection, and then patched it out in a later patch.

I think it's kind of dumb that you have to authenticate every ten days rather than just authenticating once, but I have a constant internet connection that rarely goes down, so it won't really be a problem for me. I don't really see how this encourages piracy, since most people who want to play the game will probably buy it just to avoid the hassle of being bugged for authentication every ten days.

LoganSnake

No, with a crack, it won't even ask once.

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