189: ¡VIVA LA R3V0LUC10N!

[InsoFox]

Hahah. I thought maybe a FEW people wouldn't get the joke, but jesus. Surely the whole bit about having friends with friends who have gone to jail because of DRM was a bit of a giveaway?

Anyway, I believe 3 things about DRM,

1 - You never buy a game, you only buy a license to play it and the program necessary to do so. It's not yours to do whatever you like with and it -never has been-, pre or post DRM. If you don't believe me read the license agreement you accept when you install pretty much any game, old or new. Publishers can deliver the game how they want, as long as they think people will still swallow it.

2 - The way a lot of them are doing DRM now is nevertheless broken, causes too many problems and needs fixing.

3 - Having said that, none of the doomsday scenarios people talk about like, say, the day Valve's servers shut down and nobody gets to play the games they got from it anymore will never actually happen because even if the servers do go down for good if Valve doesn't release a patch unlocking the content before that happens, then -somebody- will. If the worst comes to the worst with DRM, we'll still be able to keep playing.

 

[Beery]

"By far the most funny thing to come out of all of this is the people who aren't quite getting the joke."

I agree. But the article itself wasn't very funny. This is a serious issue, and the article pokes fun at the wrong side of it. It would have been much more effective if the writer had poked fun at the DRM supporters, who DO actually tend to be over-the-top. The problem with the article, as satire, is that most anti-DRM folks are actually NOT irrational, so in order to cloak itself in some level of believability, the satire can't be all that effective.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

That was hilarious man, got nothing else to add.

 

[AgentNein]

"By far the most funny thing to come out of all of this is the people who aren't quite getting the joke."

I agree. But the article itself wasn't very funny. This is a serious issue, and the article pokes fun at the wrong side of it. It would have been much more effective if the writer had poked fun at the DRM supporters, who DO actually tend to be over-the-top. The problem with the article, as satire, is that most anti-DRM folks are actually NOT irrational, so in order to cloak itself in some level of believability, the satire can't be all that effective.

I guess we're simply on opposite sides of the fence then, because what I find is a lot of people who feel entirely too entitled to steal products people have put their blood sweat and tears into.

DRM wouldn't be an issue if there wasn't a healthy pirating community out there. By presenting the product, a publisher or developer has every right to set the terms of said purchase and use. You have every right to not support such terms of purchase and use, you however do not have the right to rip them off.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Excellent satire. My hat is doffed. Well done.

-- Steve

 

[Nomad]

The real stupid thing about DRM, one that isn't mentioned in this article, is that in addition to making it harder for legitimate customers to play the game, it doesn't do shit to stop the pirates.

Exactly. I always found that funny. Copyright protection does nothing to stop pirates, because the software pirates get cracked software. Cracked software = broken copyright protection. So what they're really doing is punishing the consumers for actually buying the game by giving them inferior software.

 

[1ronJ4m]

I don't care about this crap. Here in Hungary, all my friends and relatives and almost everyone I know and has an Internet connection, pirates games, films, music, porn whatever. We don't care. Although every 1 year there's a commercial in the TV like 'don't pirate it isn't nice' or such, we really don't give a shi*t. I pirate cuz I don't got much money and I want my stuff FREE. That's the truth man. Sometimes I felt a bit guilty, cuz hell, I'm committing a f*ckin crime! but I got over that a long time ago. You get used to this crime. I think you're just trying to justify yourself. Wake the f*ck up!

Edit: By now I realised this was just a joke. Maybe I was a bit rushy. But anyway, that's how I feel about people who think pirating is right. CUZ IT AIN'T!

 

[Baneat]

illegally obtained information such as unauthorised phone taps or DRM information will invalidate itself in court.

 

[Sylocat]

The real stupid thing about DRM, one that isn't mentioned in this article, is that in addition to making it harder for legitimate customers to play the game, it doesn't do shit to stop the pirates.

Exactly. I always found that funny. Copyright protection does nothing to stop pirates, because the software pirates get cracked software. Cracked software = broken copyright protection. So what they're really doing is punishing the consumers for actually buying the game by giving them inferior software.

In a way, it's similar to airport security: Making legit customers jump through hoops that barely do a thing to stop people who are actually determined to sneak bad stuff on the plane. [http://www.cracked.com/article_16849_7-dumbest-things-ever-done-by-airport-security.html]

 

[phatslo]

WOW! People couldn't really tell that this was satire.

 

[Blank__]

Fun fact: Gaming is not a human right.

Please have my children.

 

[JoshasorousRex]

I would understand this better if I knew what DRM is

 

[sand-12]

Is this some kind of satire on the kind of people who justify their piracy with poorly thought-out idealistic philosophies, or is the author actually as pathetic as he seems? He compares videogames, which are a luxury item by any possible definition of the term, to food (where he talks about trying to "feed his family DRM-free gaming"). That alone would be enough to mark him out as a particularly stupid and wilfully blind individual. He doesn't need to play videogames, much less DRM-free videogames. Therefore when he pirates a game he does so purely because he wants to. Because he feels like it. Because he's too greedy to go without and too weak-willed to stand up for his philosophy in any meaningful way. He talks as if publishers have a duty to provide games that meet his expectations; they don't. The games are their intellectual property and therefore they have the right to release them in any form they see fit. The only problem there might be is if they put something into the game which they didn't tell people about, and if that's the case then there's no need to launch some kind of protest against it because they'd already be breaking the law. Try to understand this; pirates are criminals. There is no possible reason to believe otherwise. They haven't been forced into it any more than a man who can't afford the insurance on a new car is forced into stealing it. They are scum, they are hurting developers, and if we can't force them to stop then they must be made to understand that there is no justification for their actions.

EDIT: Ah, apparently this article was a satire. In that case well done to the author, I really couldn't tell the difference between him and some of the outspoken pirates.

 

[AndresCL]

True, if you like a game you will just buy it. But this DRM c***-sucking bullshit dosent help much. I have two originals game ATM. ArmA (wich dosent have DRM, Steam or any program you need to install but the game to play AS IT ALWAYS SHOULD BE) The other game is L4D, is a great game but sometimes i feel that having to "link" it to my Steam account is like "Okay, you have freedom but we will keep an eye on you even if you are not a criminal". I know that steam has it advantages, like Auto-Update, Steam community (not that much tho, it can be a disadvantage sometimes with all those scammers triying o steal your account, so you still have to be careful) and all those free mods avaible to download (wich theyre pretty much made by the comunity, VALVe "only" supports them).

The other game that made me think how things were in the "Good old times" is Falcon 4.0 Allied Force. It dosent asks you for a cdkey, crack or anything. You can even download it from torrent or anywhere and it will let you play the full game, yes, even online. It may sound crazy but what the devs think about when doing this was "If they like the game, they will buy"

In my opinion is brillant, just like with ArmA having the freedom to install it everywhere i want gives me the feeling that i actually "Own" the game. Steam system is not that bad, but i got hijacked some time ago, even when the VALVe support is awesome and i got my account and my game back wihout having it VAC Banned and stuff i still live with the fear that if someone gets my password (wich is hard to know anyway) they could do whatever they want with my account. Instead stealing a MD5 HASH encrypted cdkey is MUCH harder (of course, with a keylogger you are pretty much f**** up but i make regular scans and search on viruses/spyware from time to time)

Sorry for the swearing, but the DRM or "limited owning" stuff cracks me up

 

[TylerDurdan]

This isn't really in reply to the article, it's just a rant about people getting too fired up about internet security and privacy and blahdey, blahdey, blah. YES I KNOW THE ARTICLE WAS BEING IRONIC - I'M AUSTRALIAN, WE EAT IRONY FOR BREAKFAST, ALONGSIDE A BIG STEAMING PILE OF AMERICAN CHILDREN. Although, the line about immolating yourself in Gamespot's parking lot was pure genius. I actually laughed out loud. And since you did that for me, I took the time to type "laughed out loud". Twice, even. And I just read back over some posts and saw that someone else already made that joke earlier, in this same thread. So I guess I'm not that original, after all.

Being from Australia, so I don't have a lot of cultural "freedom" baggage to bring to the table, so I couldn't be bothered to avoid DRM purely on principle. And as far as people seeing what I'm looking at on the internet, or what I'm writing in my emails? I can't imagine anybody would really care that much. Besides, all the emails people send in Australia are kept for three days and scanned for potential security threats, so it's not like the DRM on my computer is going to reveal something that isn't already being done by Big Brother. If I ever wanted to take part in an insurgency, which is the only thing I can imagine getting noticed by an email scanner, then I'd use paper to plan it, and maybe a public computer.

To be honest, I'm not that worried about this stuff. It's not a right in Australia to bear arms or to be able to take part in revolution, which is maybe why none of our prime ministers have ever been assassinated. We have a mostly functioning democracy to keep things in check, and we mostly trust it.

So really, I'm happy to be seen on the internet. I don't need to hide, because I know that I don't matter that much. You see that avatar? That's my FACE, right there! That's a real photo of ME! Because NOBODY cares!

Anyway, I digress. The point is, I buy software, and I don't bother cracking it, because it's too much hassle for no material benefit. I buy the game because I want it, DRM notwithstanding. I've never had a game that didn't work because of DRM, and if I did, I know that cracking is available to me, so who the hell cares?

If everyone's that worried about what DRM might be doing to your computer, why don't you lobby for laws that regulate what it's allowed to do? You see, unlike companies removing DRM in response to your single pedestrian vote, those laws might actually come to pass. Then, when some company crosses the line, they're not going to be some faceless IP address in a sea of IP addresses. They're going to have to face the music, and you can have a good self-righteous rant about it on Slashdot.

 

[TylerDurdan]

I would understand this better if I knew what DRM is

Okay, I'm not going to ridicule you. Some people would, but they're all morons, who deserve to be ridiculed.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. Basically, it's any system that attempts to prevent copyrighted material from being copied. So, if you have a program that checks the DVD in your computer to make sure that it's the original game disc, so you can't play it on a copied disc, that would be DRM. It's the same thing with encrypted data, and programs that connect to the internet to verify that you're the only one with your user licence who's playing the game. Some are more aggressive than others, and occasionally they stop legitimate owners of software from using it. Hence, some people get angry about it.

Of course, the fact is that it's usually not too hard to crack DRM, since anything that can be accessed and viewed by a computer, can also be copied by that same computer. That's a basic principle of electronic information. Its main benefit to companies is that usually a DRM system takes a few days or weeks to break, so for the crucial release period, their sales aren't being undercut by illegal downloads, etc.

So there it is. You could've googled it, but you would've had to dig through a lot of venomous rhetoric to extract this information, and no-one needs that.

 

[Death916]

i agree with the article drm kills some games for me. and i may or may not be forced to pirate sometimes

 

[Nutcase]

Nice parody.
Especially naming Stardock with all the other big publishers:

There's millions of gamers like me who refuse to buy games from companies like Activision, EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, THQ, Microsoft, Valve, Stardock and many others.

Stardock doesn't use any kind of DRM ^^

Suggestion: look at what they do, not what they say.

Their retail copies have no DRM.

Anything they sell online has network activation, which to me is the most invasive sort of DRM. This puts Stardock right beside Valve, EA, and others.

Additionally, Stardock wants to move game content into downloadable add-ons which cannot be moved onto another account. This is a thinly veiled attempt to kill right of first sale for retail games.

For an example of online distribution without DRM, see GOG.com.

 

[Julians]

I'm going to side with people without internet on this one. Every time a publishers assumes everyone will be able to connect to the internet to prove he bought the game a fairy dies. Too much DRM might eventually kill the pc single player gaming. It's not working and is actually keeping people away from those games. I think it's time publishers looked for a different strategy, how about more value in a box? How about a manual that doesn't look like a photocopy. How about a key chain that's going to cost you $0.5 to make in China. All those things will bring more value to a box edition of a game and remove value from secondhand copies.
I also agree with TylerDurdan, in this corporation driven world you have a much better chance to actually get a government to pass laws than make corporation do something.

 

[kubinschu]

CheCalavera is a hero of the state.

Just as an aside, the last game I bought for PC was UT3, The last new game I played was UT3, I just play old games now. DRM is one part of why.