Another Blow In BioShock DRM Scandal

[krysalist]

Another Blow In BioShock DRM Scandal

If you bought BioShock for your PC you are not allowed to let any of your family or friends play the game, according to a 2K forum moderator named JT.

The issue arose when a forum user named "Nemesisdesignz" posted [http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=191631&postcount=2347] a problem he was having in 2K's tech support forum. All text issues in the following paragraph are sic the user:

I installed Bioshock on my laptop under one admin user, Everything works fine, but I then tried to switch users on my computer and whenever I launch Bioshock it is asking me to enter my serial again for the game.... IS THIS GONNA CHARGE ME TWO OF MY 5 Activations????... I need to know this ASAP before I attempt to play this on my pc under the other user.

The reply came soon after from "2K Tech JT," who wrote, "The other way to view this, is one USER has purchased the game. Not the whole family. So why should your brother play for free?"

2K Interactive has been hit with an enormous amount of flack for its as-of-yet uncracked DRM software called SecuROM. The software, which made its debut as a coating for BioHhock, only allows a purchaser to install the game twice. BioShock's designer Ken Levine has stated that SecuROM will eventually be removed from the game's code, after the game has gone through initial sales periods.

September 6, 9:23 a.m., UPDATE:

In a response to an email request for comment, 2K Games spokesman Markus Wilding wrote, "Forum moderator JT is not an official spokesperson of 2K Games, his quote is one person's interpretation of the EULA." Wilding added that 2K games would, "look into the matter."

Wilding also pointed out that, just after the game was released, 2K released a patch that allowed the game to be installed on five different computers, five times each, on each computer. This writer regrets the omission of this information in the preceding story.

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[Bongo Bill]

I can understand putting DRM - even one as awful as SecuROM - on a game, from a business standpoint. The suits have contracted the strange delusion that it is useful or effective from either a technical or a legal standpoint to attempt to lock a computer's owner out of their own machine. The developers don't share this delusion, and most have been burned by DRM themselves, but the suits sign the checks.

What I don't understand in all of this is why somebody though that SecuROM would be necessary to protect a free demo, or why SecuROM plus Steam DRM was necessary, or why they've put a designer to work performing apologetics that, were there any sense involved in this whole scenario, should be done by the person who decided that SecuROM should be included.

The studio until recently known as Irrational are good people. They've been extremely professional about the other issues that have come up around this game. This just makes it all the more tragic that they're stuck with a publisher who seems to possess such a flippant disregard for their customers.

 

[Junaid Alam]

""The other way to view this, is one USER has purchased the game. Not the whole family. So why should your brother play for free?""

How fitting; a DRM as conjured by the spirit of Ayn Rand.

 

[Geoffrey42]

I find this humorous, given the advice I've heard people give in the past about installing things as an admin user, and using the machine as a non-admin user. Personally, I've always flaunted that, and run admin full time (shockhorror), but I know people that stick to the prescribed way of doing things. Like this poor sap.

It sounds like the scheme hit a snag, and the Tech didn't really have a good answer, except to turn it around and say "It's not a bug, it's a feature!"

 

[Andrew Armstrong]

Sounds like they're trying to cover a crap system that uses HKEY_LOCAL_USER to store data rather then HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in the registry. No other software ever runs like that, even things like Adobe with their even more ridiculous installation DRM on their Acrobat Products don't limit to a single user.

Absolutely pathetic, really. The publisher should remove or fix the problem, I'm luck I'm savvy enough to run as a single-admin user on my system and no other user accounts exist, else I'd really be in a pickle!

 

[whisp [deprecated]]

Um I have had bioshock cracked for around a week, [Deleted]

[DO NOT post things like this. Ever - Virgil]

 

[werepossum]

I think a fair compromise would be that I include in my $50 credit card payment a utility of modest size that loads into Take 2's financial server(s). (This would not be disclosed until I actually have the game.) This utility would run all the time, and spending my $50 would not delete it, as that $50 is my intellectual property. The person processing the payment and up to four others would be allowed to spend my $50 or accept interest on it, although of course the utility would first have to check with my cousin Earnie's server to make sure the transaction does not violate any of my rights or endanger my identity. In the unlikely event that Cousin Earnie's computer is not actually running, no transactions are allowed, although a circular round of emails is available to keep one busy and out of my hair. Up to five transactions would be allowed, after which time Take 2 must send me a new copy of the game to enjoy any additional transactions. If my utility detects behavior it considers questionable, then my $50 immediately becomes unaccessible.

This is aimed at the those who beat a game and then sell it or loan it out. SecuROM essentially makes used PC games worthless, as a retailer could not tell if a game has any activations left. I was looking forward to playing the game, but now I'm looking forward to keeping my $50 even more. And since they are projecting a sequel every two years which I also won't buy, I'm essentially getting a 50% annual return on my $50 savings.

They may have sold 1.5 million copies of Bioshock, but Take 2 is still a bunch of wankers.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I think a fair compromise would be that I include in my $50 credit card payment a utility of modest size that loads into Take 2's financial server(s). (This would not be disclosed until I actually have the game.) This utility would run all the time, and spending my $50 would not delete it, as that $50 is my intellectual property. The person processing the payment and up to four others would be allowed to spend my $50 or accept interest on it, although of course the utility would first have to check with my cousin Earnie's server to make sure the transaction does not violate any of my rights or endanger my identity. In the unlikely event that Cousin Earnie's computer is not actually running, no transactions are allowed, although a circular round of emails is available to keep one busy and out of my hair. Up to five transactions would be allowed, after which time Take 2 must send me a new copy of the game to enjoy any additional transactions. If my utility detects behavior it considers questionable, then my $50 immediately becomes unaccessible.

This is aimed at the those who beat a game and then sell it or loan it out. SecuROM essentially makes used PC games worthless, as a retailer could not tell if a game has any activations left. I was looking forward to playing the game, but now I'm looking forward to keeping my $50 even more. And since they are projecting a sequel every two years which I also won't buy, I'm essentially getting a 50% annual return on my $50 savings.

They may have sold 1.5 million copies of Bioshock, but Take 2 is still a bunch of wankers.

Look at EB/GS they have baned the resell of PC games over "consumer concerns" they will tel you, but in fact all they do is clear shelfs for newer stuff that dosent sell and try and maxize shelf space for stuff that sells.

Also the eula and label on the disc that warns of no loaning is BS and break fair use laws much like half the DMCA,Sony is trying to prevent used software sale in the PC market, much like with HL2 why would I put it with that crap at full price, of course I wont I will crack it and stick a DRM free version in with the retail and I will do all this by buying used.
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Bongo Bill
IG is dead its now part of a corporate machine this had happened time and time before and will continue to happen till pubs realize that no gutting and "adjusting" the devs they buy is a good thing.

 

[Andy Chalk]

DRM is bullshit. It's common knowledge that the only people it has any real effect on are the honest ones; the warez-type dickwads will work their way around it fairly quickly in nearly every case. That said, this OMG BIOSHOCK DRM overreaction nonsense is equally bullshit. Yes, the game is copy-protected. So what? Get over it. Refusing to buy what is by all reports one of the finest FPSs ever produced just so you can stick it to the man is foolish. I applaud the defense of principle, but I'm not entirely convinced that's really what this is all about anyway.

Also, while I'm not a forum admin, I do have a bit of a vested interest in things around here and I'm also rather firmly anti-piracy (if it's worth playing, it's worth buying) so please don't post anymore links to warez or cracks.

 

[CarlosYenrac]

hear hear malygris. i admit, i have done my fair share of downloading -but in my defense, sometimes it is the only way to to know if a game is worth paying for or not (i'd finished freelancer before i found a copy in a shop and i don't regret spending the $50 at all)!

but on the flipside, i'm terrified of even playing x3, for fear starforce will eat my burner...

there has to be a middle ground.

 

[jezcentral]

I don't understand what Nemesisdesignz's problem is. He still had 3 mre activations left. How many computers was he planning on installling Bioshock on? Outrage for outrage's sake. It only becomes a problem when you hit that 6th concurrent install. Until then, don't complain.