BioWare Lifts the Lid on Dragon Age 2 DRM

[Xanthious]

I've not said it does much of anything to counter piracy, not once. I said its at least an attempt at doing something. I know DRM can be cracked in a matter of hours... Do you not think I read? Still they do it because its better than doing nothing. There not doing it to simply look good, they are doing it to at least try to prevent it. Again for the third time, doing something that may or may not draw away customers purely for show is counter intuitive... Do you not think that developers would still be using it if it was just for show? Do you think that they'd actually intentionally draw away costumers just so they can look good? It makes very little sense. They'd be no benefit to it.

I imagine its doing something, otherwise there wouldn't be much of a point in using it.

That being said, I'm not a full supporter of DRM. I don't think its the best way of prevention and it is a pain in the arse for the customer. I think they could find other means. However I'm not shaking my fists in the air at the big companies having to use this. I'm shaking my fists at the pirates who, because of them, we have this. Seems that these people are the good guys though in the eyes of the internet.

Where I disagree with you is that you assume that DRM in this day and age has a single thing to do with stopping piracy. It doesn't. DRM is in place anymore to keep the secondhand market dead and buried. Again, I ask, which does it do a better job of stopping? Well piracy is alive and well, secondhand PC sales, meanwhile are dead and gone. Think about it a little further. Publishers are much more likely to get someone who buys secondhand to buy new if they remove their primary route. However, if you took away pirated copies the pirates would be much less likely to buy a new copy. The reason they tout piracy out there is that it makes for better PR than saying they want your game as worthless as possible once you have given them your money.

 

[HK_01]

Steam it is then. Or not at all, considering the things I've seen to date make me more than a little skeptical of the game.

 

[unwesen]

As DRM goes, this is probably one of the most forgiving and light systems around

It fills me with sadness that we have been worn down to the point that this is the essence of the reaction to a DRM system; it should be more like "HULK SMASH!!!"

I'd say its more terrifying then sad. Since people seem to be OK with all this.

I was terrified of DRM back in the late 90s. Now I'm too tired, and just sad.

 

[Irridium]

Nope, because putting up measures to protect their property means they are the evulz. I love it how people blame the companies for putting up the DRM and very little blame goes to the pirates, who, if it hadn't been for them we wouldn't be in this predicament.

I guess its easier to blame the big "evilz" company with a face rather than blaming the thieves. Because you know, they are the virtual Robin Hoods that steal from the rich and give to the poor meaning that game companies have to increase security which harms the paying customer.

Christ these pirates are ruining the gaming, music and movie industries and people are cheering them on as they are doing it.

Your right. Pirates are the main problem. Most of the time, they're assholes with an overinflated sense of entitlement.

That being said, trying to beat them by putting shitloads of copy-protection on games that punish legitimate consumers is not the way to go about this. There are better ways to go about it, and they're going the "lets just be bigger dicks" route.

Yes pirates are assholes, but publishers are acting just as assholish as pirates. So forgive me if I'm not sympathetic.

I agree and admit that DRM is not the way to go about it. They need a much better system, this is punishing the customers true enough and I don't find it fair at all. However, people are putting the blame squarely on the companies who are just trying to protect their property. Very few are pointing their fingers at the real bad guys here, the worse thing about it is that people are actually cheering these people on.

I know, and that pisses me off just as much. I'm sick of people seeing pirates as digital Robin Hoods, and I'm sick of all the love they seem to get.

They may not be "stealing" in traditional terms, but they're still massive cock-heads who are the cause of all this.

There's very few times where I see piracy as fine. Those times being if the game isn't sold in your country(since then there's no possible way to legally acquire the game, there's no lost sale, and yeah, there isn't much else you could do). And when the DRM is so fucking insane there's is no way for you to legitimately play the game you bought.

An example for me would be Spore. I bought it, but it was impossible for me to install it. I had to spend one fucking month downloading the full game on an unstable dial-up connection just to play it. I could not play my legitimately bought copy. I had to download the pirated version to play it. Have you tried to download a large game on a flaky dial-up connection? Its not fun.

 

[Callate]

That's nice, I guess, but "infrequent" really isn't specific enough to tell me if it's going to want to be online the one time I'm sitting with a laptop in an airport lounge with no free WiFi in sight.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

When the game is out I give it 8 hours before it gets cracked.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

As DRM goes, this is probably one of the most forgiving and light systems around. Obviously, it's not ideal - no DRM system ever is - but BioWare does seem to have gone to some effort to ensure that it's as unobtrusive as possible.

Bullshit.

They could have done it a million ways that wouldn't require periodic internet access, or they could have done it like the game i am now entirely sure i will be buying instead of this; The Witcher 2.

I'm sorry, but I'm struggling to see where all these alternatives are. I'm not saying it's a perfect system - in fact I said it in the sentence before the section you quoted - but it seems very much like BioWare has tried to strike a balance between preventing software pirates as best it can, and not inconveniencing its customers too much.

 

[the.writer]

To anyone bitching about not having the internet: " Downloads from other providers..."

If you download the game, it's pretty much assumed you can have an internet connection from time to time right.

You left out an important part of that sentence..."as well as the retail versions." The copy you pick up at your local game store will also require you to have an internet connection.

I'm not complaining about it; I obviously have one if I'm writing this. I just find it interesting that companies are assuming all their potential customers have reliable and continuous access to the interwebs.

 

[Feylynn]

This doesn't bother me at all, I played DA1 online for the Bioware Social updates anyways.

It was nice of them to conceive of the likely scenarios I play this on more then one machine in my life time and the more likely still Internet connection dropping every now and then.

If I managed to suffer through games for windows to play Bioshock 2, I think I could handle a moderate blood sacrifice to unbind magical seals on Dragon Age 2.

Not to imply I'm on the drm side of things though, or to imply I didn't think long and hard about just cracking Bioshock 2 after making my legal purchase of it. (I didn't but kind of regret not going that route haha. Would have been much less trouble. )
Just understanding they need to try to protect it. (Even if it's entirely futile <.< )

 

[Delusibeta]

As DRM goes, this is probably one of the most forgiving and light systems around. Obviously, it's not ideal - no DRM system ever is - but BioWare does seem to have gone to some effort to ensure that it's as unobtrusive as possible.

Bullshit.

They could have done it a million ways that wouldn't require periodic internet access, or they could have done it like the game i am now entirely sure i will be buying instead of this; The Witcher 2.

I'm sorry, but I'm struggling to see where all these alternatives are. I'm not saying it's a perfect system - in fact I said it in the sentence before the section you quoted - but it seems very much like BioWare has tried to strike a balance between preventing software pirates as best it can, and not inconveniencing its customers too much.

Well, by not including mandatory random internet re-activation, for a start. People complained heavily about that when it was included as part of Mass Effect 1's DRM, so much so that it was removed. I conclude that they didn't learn anything from that.

 

[unwesen]

I agree and admit that DRM is not the way to go about it. They need a much better system, this is punishing the customers true enough and I don't find it fair at all. However, people are putting the blame squarely on the companies who are just trying to protect their property. Very few are pointing their fingers at the real bad guys here, the worse thing about it is that people are actually cheering these people on.

I know, and that pisses me off just as much. I'm sick of people seeing pirates as digital Robin Hoods, and I'm sick of all the love they seem to get.

They may not be "stealing" in traditional terms, but they're still massive cock-heads who are the cause of all this.

I don't condone piracy, let me get that out first. But no, it's not the pirates who are causing this. I'm not saying they're innocent in this either, but as in any other conflict, it requires both sides to continue or stop it. One side alone won't manage, and when they fail, it's easy to blame the other side for that failure.

Interestingly enough, historically, it's content creators that called publishers "pirates", because they were well known for taking content, monetizing it, and giving little back to the content creators. That what copyright laws were originally invented for, for protecting content creators. Now it protects distributors, who still don't give much back to the creatives in the industry.

Pointing your finger at pirates alone in this is ignoring half the picture. Sadly, some content creators will echo what their distributors tell them is the reason for why they can't pay out more. But repeating something often enough doesn't really make it true, it just makes it sound true. There's a difference.

If publishers/distributors had any interest in solving this issue, they would find a way that awards paying customers instead of punishing them. Here's an interesting model: DDO and LotRO are both free to play. There's no way pirates can pirate, because you can't pirate what's free.

Paying customers? They get points. Points get them extra stuff. Extra stuff gives them a competitive advantage in-game, or just more fun. Paying customers are awarded. And you know what? Looking at Turbine's press releases when they made DDO and LotRO free to play, that model works pretty well in their favour.

Granted, this works because there's a strong online component that not every game shares. And games that require an online component when they don't technically need it, well, they're annoying. For those games, publishers need a different model. And they've got one and use it already, they pack goodies with games boxes, for example. Special editions. Stuff that only paying customers get. Might not work as well as fro DDO and LotRO, but it's an idea that can be improved upon.

The fact that this is not the norm just goes to prove that publishers have no interest in stopping piracy. If they did, they'd get smart about the issue.

 

[Danpascooch]

Players will be able to install the game on as many computers as they like, but no more than five machines can be used to play the game in a 24-hour period.

As much as I hate DRM, this is a much smarter system, it achieves the goal of limited installs, without the hassle.

Who the hell would legitimately play a single copy on five different computers in a single day anyway?

 

[Tharwen]

I'll probably be getting it from Steam then. It's a shame... I really like boxes...

 

[Dastardly]

I'm sorry, but I'm struggling to see where all these alternatives are. I'm not saying it's a perfect system - in fact I said it in the sentence before the section you quoted - but it seems very much like BioWare has tried to strike a balance between preventing software pirates as best it can, and not inconveniencing its customers too much.

Agreed. Understanding is the key to communication--if we want to open meaningful dialogue with these companies with regard to DRM, we've first got to show the courtesy of understanding why they do it. The fact that they're trying different methods, tweaking this and that, demonstrates that they are, in fact, aware of the customer woes regarding DRM. They're trying to find a compromise... but "we" (in the corporate sense) just sit on our side of the table and shake our fists screaming, "NO!"

Perspective. See, most folks working in the development of a game? They are also players of games. They live on both sides of the fence. Most players, on the other hand, are not also making (or attempting to make) a living creating and selling games. They are only able to see one side in a personal way. I'm not saying the developer perspective is perfect, but I'm saying it's far more likely to have a bit more dimension to it.

When one side offers one extreme and the other side offers the opposite extreme, both sides must compromise. When on side offers a compromise at the other side offers only the extreme, it is unreasonable to continually ask the first side to compromise even further. Until people quell these raging hard-ons for "activist pirates," not even the magical forces of supply and demand can enter reasoned negotiations that will improve the production, distribution, and pricing of games.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Yet another blow against piracy... now... only time will tell how they'll react.

By pirating it, probably.

 

[ImprovizoR]

This is just plain fuckin' retarded. Pirates will simply pirate Steam version. YOU CAN'T STOP THE DAMN PIRATES! SO STOP PUNISHING THE FUCKIN' CUSTOMERS ALREADY!

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

To ensure I would get the signature edition I had to preorder it at a Gamestop so I guess I'll have to deal with the retail versions issues, but now that I think of it whenever I would get disconnected while playing the first Dragon Age games I'd almost instantly save and go and try to figure out what happened.

 

[p3t3r]

who exactly is this screwing does anybody no anybody who is buying this game for pc and has 6 gaming computers that they plan on using to play this game in a single day. or someome with no internet at all ever. i mean come on you have something that will run this game you have internet.