Activation Bomb

[Georgeman]

Ummmm, I'm pretty sure that you have discussed the patch matter in a previous Experienced Points article. This one, [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/6452-Experienced-Points-Online-Activation-Is-a-Ripoff] as a matter of fact.

I also think that you have driven the DRM matter into fine dust. But, I'm not complaining. After all, the vast majority of game journalists don't seem to bother or care about the DRM infestation, so don't stop bashing it! If the companies refuse to trust us and demand that we trust them, they can fuck right off.

 

[RJ Dalton]

This is more or less why I'm not buying games anymore.

 

[Irridium]

If publishers had any common sense they would realise that online activation and whatnot is a bad thing, and only makes problems, never solves problems.

Sadly there is no common sense in buisness.

 

[Therumancer]

I agree with you 100% a much better written and articulated version of something I've been saying for what is probably a couple of years now.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

"Look, Mr. Game Publisher, I'm worried about not being able to play that game I paid for down the road. Why do you need online activation?"
"We need online activation because you're a dirty pirate who wants to steal our game."
"But if I was a pirate I'd just bypass your online activation."
"SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU DIRTY DIRTY PIRATE I CAN'T HEAR YOU LA LA LA LA LA."

...there, do I have the logic down right?

 

[dannymc18]

Although there are quite a few reasons why everything I own, and everything I will own (be it music, movies or games) will always be on disc, this is the major one, and no-one or -thing will ever make me change my mind about it. If activation goes down there will undoubtably be someone out there who will work a way around it, but as for the games you bought on Steam and Steam alone..

It's also one of the reasons I play everything on consoles now.

 

[karmapolizei]

... and that is why I always download and keep a crack for every PC game I buy.

 

[UtopiaV1]

This is way I like hard copy of games, you don't have to worry about someone else maintaining it for you.

Seconded. But you shouldn't worry too much, the great thing about pirates is that they will ALWAYS find a way around online activation, no matter what. So keep your solid copies to prove you -bought- the game, then download that no-cd no-activation version of the game from Pirate Bay or something.

Then you are breaking no laws! Except the ones that don't make sense, but that's okay... right? ¬_¬

 

[lluewhyn]

Come on Shamus, you're phoning this article in this time. You've said all of these things before.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

My media has always existed in a state of temporary ownership regardless of security mechanisms that are in place. My old consoles have either been lost, sold or destroyed. Many old PC games will not run without significant effort simulating a fairly particular set of conditions. I lose cd keys, scratch discs and have had items stolen. Each of these things has robbed me of my ability to play infinitely more games than this theoritical (but entirely plausible) scenario being pitched.

It also occurs to me that people believe corporations are immune to the threat of class action lawsuit.

 

[SirPumpkinLongshanks]

The only time online activation is reasonable is when it's an MMO or it otherwise depends upon online multiplayer. Aside from that developers are encouraging the very behavior they're trying to curb through DRM schemes.

I don't know what the ideal solution is but I know content that's exclusive to people who bought the game and a friendly corporate image are both steps in the right direction. One of the big reasons people can justify pirating is because they think of gaming companies as faceless monoliths instead of an organization comprised of people like themselves. Bioware has it down, so does Valve.

Is there a third element? What's missing from the picture? Is value really enough to get customers to buy? Considering that Hollywood hasn't gone out of business and the games industry is still intact it's definitely good enough to generate sales.

 

[Captain23222]

Come on Shamus, you're phoning this article in this time. You've said all of these things before.

Yeah I was just going to say the same thing, I've read the same article probably three times all by Shamus

Expand your horizons my friend

 

[Andronicus]

This is way I like hard copy of games, you don't have to worry about someone else maintaining it for you.

Seconded. But you shouldn't worry too much, the great thing about pirates is that they will ALWAYS find a way around online activation, no matter what. So keep your solid copies to prove you -bought- the game, then download that no-cd no-activation version of the game from Pirate Bay or something.

Then you are breaking no laws! Except the ones that don't make sense, but that's okay... right? ¬_¬

That's true. I'm pretty sure there are laws that allow the personal use of any media so long as you have bought the game at some point. ie. As long as you can prove you bought a game at some point, it's yours to do with as you wish, should you want to, say, download an (otherwise) illegal copy off the net. Anyone who bought games off the Steam network would have been sent a receipt to their e-mail address. I would recommend you save those to your harddrive, or a USB or something. That way, if at some point in the distant future the government sends out squads of piracy police to beat the crap out of unlawful netizens, you could just show them your receipts for having originally bought the game.

 

[Jared]

Good article. That's why I buy games that don't require online activation, like console games.

Same here, online activation annoys me so much. But, I can see it creeping into consoles now...

 

[Bongo Bill]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Valve has actually already made and tested the patch that would disable Steam's copy protection. Can't find the source - if someone would oblige, that'd be just swell - but there's hope yet.

 

[Crunchy English]

Excellent work as always Shamus.
Don't listen to the naysayers, this is indeed a little different. Yes, DRM features in this discussion, but this is more a review of legacy code and its legitimacy. Short answer, it doesn't solve the problem.

But Online Activation isn't necessarily a bust. Sure it's clunky and unwieldy and not particularly fair, but if a company that insisted on using it goes out of business that doesn't mean Piracy is the only option. Even Legacy code isn't a necessity, although it would be useful. I think I'm on to something here.

I'm no programming expert, but could you not "time-stamp" the requirement for online activation into the game? You could program this sort of "failsafe" during development. For instance, and again everything I know about programming could fill a thimble halfway:

Game A is released on Feb. 5th 2010. Then the game connects to the internet to check the date remotely, shouldn't need a game specific server for that, my computer self-corrects its date and time all the time.

If the date is three years, 4 years, 5 years (whenever the company can safely assume its not actively making them money from new sales) after release date - don't seek online activation.

If it is within the set time frame, seek online activation. At worst, there might be a short window of time a game might not install, if the company has a mega failure and just crashes unexpectedly. But you can be guaranteed your game will come back.

What do you think? Viable?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

This already happens on mobile games. If your phone gets wiped when the engineers are working on it, then all your stuff is gone. Forever. No cash-back.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

This is why I'm not a PC gamer. MOD communities and the like are pretty cool, but all this anti-piracy stuff (that doesn't work anyway) has turned me definitively onto consoles.

 

[UnravThreads]

I think that providers like Valve and Stardock (Steam and Impulse respectively) already have measures in place for when/if their service goes out of commission. IIRC, Impulse doesn't need to be run during the game (unlike Steam) but I've really barely used it so I'll not mention it further in case I'm completely wrong about what I'll say.

What I'd guess Valve'll do is either a series of patches to drop the requirement of Steam or they'll simply drop a patch that removes the need to "phone home" as it were. Online activation is a relatively recent thing and I suspect that a lot of the major publishers will have a disengage-DRM patch or command for when the time comes.

Who knows, though? Hopefully no big company is going to go bust just yet

 

[LewsTherin]

Rage....building.....

*twitch*

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!