After the recent Ubisoft DRM debacle, I began thinking of what could be done about the issue. Most of it centered around how PC gamers are ignorant, selfish douches (Its true. Most of you have little understanding of law and IP ownership and they're workings from the way you react), but that is a long, angry rant, and not one I'm inclined to give right now. Obviously, some form of DRM has to be used - to suggest otherwise is insanity. Yet there is no need to totally sodomize the customer.
No DRM is uncrackable. This is true. But one can be made that slows pirates and hackers down, or a situation created wherein they make fools of themselve by making them look like they are taking advantage of a company trying to meet people halfway. So what to do to create this situation?
For purposes of this example, the game developers in question will be called Paragon Studioes and the game will be called War.
"With the release of their new game War coming soon, Paragon Studioes has finally released details about their new DRM scheme.
To start with, War can be downloaded or installed to an unlimited number of devices, in addition to not needing the disc to be in the tray after installation. In addition, using the new "Paragon Center" system, Paragon Studio's new central account management system, players can fairly effortlessly transfer their save games from one machine to another using the "Upload/Download" feature announced today, though a game save can only be downloaded to one machine at a time - in order to use it somewhere else, it must be uploaded to the server first, then downloaded at the new machine. This is in addition to the stat-tracking and other services the Paragon Center offers.
Of course, this is still a DRM system, so there is one hoop to jump through. Attempting to play War without officially purchasing it will cause players to find themselves quite unable to save the game. All installs and downloads of War will completely lack the nessacary parts to create a save-game.
Without a save-game, the players will only be able to access the first three levels of War, and a multiplayer demo on one map. Players will also not be able to download or use patches, DLC or any other official content.
In order to save the game, a player must have a legitmate Paragon Center account and Profile Code for that game. Each legitimate copy of War will come with 1 profile token, that can only be associated with 1 Paragon Center account. Upon activation, the system will automatically be promoted to download a unique save-game for that account, allowing full access to the game. Afterwards, a player only has to interact with the servers if they want DLC or updates. If a player wishes to have more than one profile per game, extra profile tokens will be avaliable at little charge (.50c to $1) for accounts that have a legitimate copy of the game registered to them. Those who download or borrow the game and then wish to play the full version for themselves can buy a full Profile Token from Paragon Studio's website at normal price.
Paragon Studioes hopes this will be a more effective DRM the other systems, and that the trade-off will be worth the minor inconvience.
"We really don't think its a bad trade. You can lend the game as a demo to anyone you like, and if you/they want the full game, all you have to do is pay, access the Internet for about 10 minutes one time, and then the game is yours forever. And paying for the game gets you a lot of things that you won't otherwise recieve. Obviously this is still going to irk some, but honestly, we can't please everyone, and we certainly can't be just throwing our work out into the winds unguarded."
War release Febuary 31st, 2012."
No DRM is uncrackable. This is true. But one can be made that slows pirates and hackers down, or a situation created wherein they make fools of themselve by making them look like they are taking advantage of a company trying to meet people halfway. So what to do to create this situation?
For purposes of this example, the game developers in question will be called Paragon Studioes and the game will be called War.
"With the release of their new game War coming soon, Paragon Studioes has finally released details about their new DRM scheme.
To start with, War can be downloaded or installed to an unlimited number of devices, in addition to not needing the disc to be in the tray after installation. In addition, using the new "Paragon Center" system, Paragon Studio's new central account management system, players can fairly effortlessly transfer their save games from one machine to another using the "Upload/Download" feature announced today, though a game save can only be downloaded to one machine at a time - in order to use it somewhere else, it must be uploaded to the server first, then downloaded at the new machine. This is in addition to the stat-tracking and other services the Paragon Center offers.
Of course, this is still a DRM system, so there is one hoop to jump through. Attempting to play War without officially purchasing it will cause players to find themselves quite unable to save the game. All installs and downloads of War will completely lack the nessacary parts to create a save-game.
Without a save-game, the players will only be able to access the first three levels of War, and a multiplayer demo on one map. Players will also not be able to download or use patches, DLC or any other official content.
In order to save the game, a player must have a legitmate Paragon Center account and Profile Code for that game. Each legitimate copy of War will come with 1 profile token, that can only be associated with 1 Paragon Center account. Upon activation, the system will automatically be promoted to download a unique save-game for that account, allowing full access to the game. Afterwards, a player only has to interact with the servers if they want DLC or updates. If a player wishes to have more than one profile per game, extra profile tokens will be avaliable at little charge (.50c to $1) for accounts that have a legitimate copy of the game registered to them. Those who download or borrow the game and then wish to play the full version for themselves can buy a full Profile Token from Paragon Studio's website at normal price.
Paragon Studioes hopes this will be a more effective DRM the other systems, and that the trade-off will be worth the minor inconvience.
"We really don't think its a bad trade. You can lend the game as a demo to anyone you like, and if you/they want the full game, all you have to do is pay, access the Internet for about 10 minutes one time, and then the game is yours forever. And paying for the game gets you a lot of things that you won't otherwise recieve. Obviously this is still going to irk some, but honestly, we can't please everyone, and we certainly can't be just throwing our work out into the winds unguarded."
War release Febuary 31st, 2012."
