BioWare Lifts the Lid on Dragon Age 2 DRM

[Sovvolf]

How about this, if pirates are to blame for DA2's DRM, then pirates are to be thanked for the lack of DRM on Witcher 2, right?

No... How would that work? If muggers robbed a store and caused that store to increase security... I should thank muggers that a store down the road isn't getting robbed?

 

[Sovvolf]

Please prove that with economic data.

Please use your common sense. If I had such data readily on me I would. However reading reports over the last few years, many of the drops in sales in all three mediums have been blamed on piracy.

People no longer need to go to the cinema or buy dvd's because they can simply down load it and many do. The music industry as taken a large hit from this. So has gaming.

 

[Randomvirus]

Things that won't actually stop pirates:

This.

Things that just become bothersome to legitimate consumers:

This.

 

[Jandau]

I'm gonna go with "I don't give a crap since I crack all my games anyway."

 

[frago roc]

I'll buy the game but if i find the drm too intrusive i'll just crack it. I bought it, i can patch it however I want, with 3rd party patches or otherwise.

 

[Sovvolf]

How about this, if pirates are to blame for DA2's DRM, then pirates are to be thanked for the lack of DRM on Witcher 2, right?

No... How would that work? If muggers robbed a store and caused that store to increase security... I should thank muggers that a store down the road isn't getting robbed?

Lack of DRM is a selling point for Witcher 2. That wouldn't be possible without pirates since, in your opinion, pirates are to blame for DRM.

So If muggers robbed a store and caused that store to increase security... I should thank muggers that a store down the road isn't increasing its security?...

 

[Gindil]

Please prove that with economic data.

Please use your common sense. If I had such data readily on me I would. However reading reports over the last few years, many of the drops in sales in all three mediums have been blamed on piracy.

People no longer need to go to the cinema or buy dvd's because they can simply down load it and many do. The music industry as taken a large hit from this. So has gaming.

And I read a lot more reports on piracy on a daily basis. I'm calling BS on the piracy and I have the reports to prove it. Common sense says piracy is a scapegoat and trust me, I have plenty of factual data to use.

If you want to play this game, we can, I just want to give you fair warning that either there's a skewed bias in the reporting or you're not getting the full picture.

 

[Sovvolf]

Please prove that with economic data.

Please use your common sense. If I had such data readily on me I would. However reading reports over the last few years, many of the drops in sales in all three mediums have been blamed on piracy.

People no longer need to go to the cinema or buy dvd's because they can simply down load it and many do. The music industry as taken a large hit from this. So has gaming.

And I read a lot more reports on piracy on a daily basis. I'm calling BS on the piracy and I have the reports to prove it. Common sense says piracy is a scapegoat and trust me, I have plenty of factual data to use.

If you want to play this game, we can, I just want to give you fair warning that either there's a skewed bias in the reporting or you're not getting the full picture.

Fine then, if you have factual data that shows that I'm wrong then I won't argue with little more than my word and a few websites that state which industry as dropped in sales. However I would like to see your sources before I drop out of this arguement.

 

[Arcanist]

Well, that isn't too unreasonable. An occasional check isn't going to be massively intrusive, and something is definitely up if more than five rigs are running the same copy of a single-player game at once.

 

[Sovvolf]

How about this, if pirates are to blame for DA2's DRM, then pirates are to be thanked for the lack of DRM on Witcher 2, right?

No... How would that work? If muggers robbed a store and caused that store to increase security... I should thank muggers that a store down the road isn't getting robbed?

Lack of DRM is a selling point for Witcher 2. That wouldn't be possible without pirates since, in your opinion, pirates are to blame for DRM.

So If muggers robbed a store and caused that store to increase security... I should thank muggers that a store down the road isn't increasing its security?...

It depends, is the store down the road using it's lack of security as a selling point?

Even if it is... Why should I thank the muggers? I should be a little more pissed with the muggers given that they'd botched things up so bad that a store that doesn't have security is can be a selling point. Maybe Witcher 2 might be happy with them. That is until its released an we see if the store starts getting mugged on a frequent basis or not.

 

[Gitty101]

Meh, seems fair enough to be honest. Won't affect me though as I'm getting it on console ^^

 

[Sovvolf]

Please prove that with economic data.

Please use your common sense. If I had such data readily on me I would. However reading reports over the last few years, many of the drops in sales in all three mediums have been blamed on piracy.

People no longer need to go to the cinema or buy dvd's because they can simply down load it and many do. The music industry as taken a large hit from this. So has gaming.

And I read a lot more reports on piracy on a daily basis. I'm calling BS on the piracy and I have the reports to prove it. Common sense says piracy is a scapegoat and trust me, I have plenty of factual data to use.

If you want to play this game, we can, I just want to give you fair warning that either there's a skewed bias in the reporting or you're not getting the full picture.

Fine then, if you have factual data that shows that I'm wrong then I won't argue with little more than my word and a few websites that state which industry as dropped in sales. However I would like to see your sources before I drop out of this arguement.

I thought the industry was growing?

Well according to these and other sites... They are dropping in sales. I personally blame piracy and such however... If the fellow quoted can dispute that... Then, I will back down from the claim until I can find evidence to back it up.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41062675/Video_Game_Sales_Drop_6_in_2010_Second_Year_of_Declines

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-20016030-235.html

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-npd-september-video-game-sales.html

 

[BloodSquirrel]

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.

Talk about lowering the bar.

Really, all PC developers need to do is release a few games with a completely absurd, pointlessly punishing DRM system that, I don't know, randomly deletes files from your computer. That way they can start putting Assassin's Creed II-type systems in games and everyone will just say "Well, at least it's as unobtrusive as possible."

 

[Spy_Guy]

Not interested in DA2, just felt the need to comment on DRM in general.

It is pointless!

Why do publishers insist on jamming this crap down the throats of paying customers? Time and time again people crack the DRM of high-profile titles, like DA, and that's that.
Pirates play a DRM-free version with minimal hassle, while the legitimate customers get the privilege of submitting to spot checks and get to enjoy the benefit of install limits.

What part of this makes sense? It's arguably an old argument against DRM, but that's because it's true.

If someone says "I pirated it because I didn't like the DRM" I'd call bullshit (unless it's the Ubisoft always-online DRM, good grief).
A result stemming from the Ubi DRM is that news outlets and similar are starting to call DRM that are still very limiting when using a portable device (laptop) and on holiday to some location with spotty Wi-fi, "...nowhere near 'draconian,'".

English not being my first language, I can't really say how strong an expression like "draconian" is on the scale of Bad <-> Really Bad.
I can however say that thinking that we're not getting shafted because this DRM happens to be less nasty than the other DRM is a fatal mistake.

I don't pirate games. Period.
What upsets me though, as a legitimate customer, is the fact that individuals using cracked versions of the game get a more versatile (and as such better) product than I am.

Why do we gamers accept this?