Blizzard Says DRM is a "Losing Battle"

[Danpascooch]

I have always known Steam was DRM, but it's DRM that's fine with me, an oxymoron I know.

 

[Danpascooch]

Steamis DRM. This is a fact.

i really have to disagree here, not because its not true (it is) but rather your wording.

steam ACTS as a drm method, but saying steam IS drm is completly ignoring its primary purpose as a digital distribution platform. going by your logic one could say that gog is drm as well because you have to sign into your account to download anything off the site once purchased, but gog is about as much drm as postal is a game for young children. again, im not disagreeing with you, only the wording everyone uses whenever this comes up. steam is NOT drm, its a digital distribution platform whos secondary purpose is to act as a drm method, and a pretty acceptable one at that.

just once id like to see someone mention impulse, d2d or any of the other "drm's" out there that never get mentioned.

Saying "it's DRM" doesn't mean "it's bad" you're making that connection yourself when it isn't there.

You just said yourself, "who's secondary purpose is to act as a drm method" well there you go, he never said it was "PRIMARILY drm" he just said "it's drm" and hell, YOU just said it's drm too!

DRM is not always a bad thing, and steam is proof of that (although pretty much every other DRM so far is bad)

 

[Marmooset]

When will they learn that calling something *unbreakable* or *uncrackable* is just a call to arms for hackers?

Calling anything "Un" is a call to arms for the malcontents in the world who just see as a challenge, hell even nature took exception to the dreaded "un" as evidenced by the unsinkable ship sinking in it's first voyage.

Fun fact, white star line never said that the titanic was unsinkable. They never used the word once.

It's true.
They regretted the whole "Iceberg-Proof" slogan, though.

Can you imagine the board meeting of executives at white star the next day? I would pay to have been a fly on he wall that day.

CEO: I want names! Who the HELL came up with that god-awful slogan???

Board member 1: I believe it was that one guy - the rep that went down with the ship. What was his name? Sid?

Board member 2: Wait - wasn't it you that coined the the phrase "An iceberg's chance in he-"

Board member 1: Nope. Sid. Definitely Sid.

 

[Mr. Socky]

What ever you say, Mr. "No LAN in Starcraft 2".

But nobody plays LAN anymore anyway. It's not like people love hooking a couple of computers up, and just wasting the day away playing awesome games. It's not like it's even better than splitscreen. /endsarcasm

OT: Blizzard has lost all of my respect, so I don't really care what they think. They have plenty of DRM themselves, and in addition, I don't really care to sell a kidney just to have the privilege of playing their games.

 

[acosn]

What ever you say, Mr. "No LAN in Starcraft 2".

We live in the internet era. If you seriously live in the piss middle of no where you have more pressing issues like the quality of your water and the regular flow of electricity. Blizzard's primary audiences are people living in areas with easy internet access- the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Europe and so on.

LANing is a antique from an era where hardly anyone had internet, and at best it was at speeds aroun 56k. All putting it in now would do is leave it open to piracy. It just baffles me that people think they know better than Blizzard.

 

[DSK-]

I absolutely hate steam because its DRM. I just want to install the game and play it. Most of the time I play singleplayer campaigns with my games and at present only play MW2 online.

Then again it isn't as draconian as some DRM interpretations.

 

[Nalesnik]

I'm glad they are speaking out against DRM, but it all seems like doublespeak to me.

They're going to make something that pirates can't get, but paying users can. But isn't that what DRM was supposed to do? They still suffer from the same problems: paying users may be held out just like the pirates. StarCraft II still won't have a standalone server or LAN play, which the beta testers will be happy to tell you is a serious misgiving (just trying staying on a Battle.net server long enough to finish a match). If you have a dodgy internet connection, or if you aren't connected, you won't be able to get achievements.

StarCraft II is such a bad example, because like most online games, the fact that you have to be online to play them isn't a hindrance, it's a necessity. It was an entirely different story when Ubisoft did it because they did it to a single player game, where an internet connection should never have been an issue.

The new "not DRM" system seems to be a lot like the old DRM system, just a little more relaxed. You'll still be able to play your game, but you'll lose many of the features of the game. I suppose that's better than losing the game entirely, but it's still a major drawback. You still need to sign-up for an account, you can't resell it or give it to a friend, you can't get your money back if you don't like it or it doesn't work, and you'll still lose access to many features if something beyond your control happens (like a server going down). Friends lists and online achievements are fine, but they really aren't much of a carrot.

I never had connection trouble during the Starcraft 2 beta, and I also never had someone disconnect during a match I was in, so I'm not sure what you are talking about with beta testers unable to stay on b.net long enough to finish a match.

Have you played since patch 13 came out? Several of my coworkers and I all preordered to get the beta a couple of weeks ago. Everything was fine until patch 13 came out on Friday. We have barely been able to play a complete game since. Usually you try to create a game and it hangs out for awhile before it says it couldn't find a server. If we're lucky enough to get in, one of us usually loses connection and times out within a few minutes. It's been a complete write-off all week, which is even more unfortunate, because we had a LAN party last weekend and couldn't get into a server all weekend.

Well yea, that's pretty much the whole point of hosting a beta; to iron out all the bugs. When the game is officially released, and it's still dropping players like there's no tomorrow, then that would be a valid time to protest. And of course Bliz is, no doubt, working on a fix for the next patch as we speak ..err type.

 

[yoyo13rom]

Gotta hand it to the devil(Blizz), their right about everything, and they know exactly how to seduce us into accepting their offers.

 

[DividedUnity]

Also does anyone else think this is just blizzard trying to get advertising for SC 2? Making a piracy statement and then including of we think weve done it right in our new soon to be released game.

Well yeah, if I'd just spent so much time and money developing something I'd take any opportunity to advertise it I could get. I don't think it's fair to judge them on that, I'd be doing the exact same in their position and so would you and everyone else.

Oh they have every right to advertise I wasn't saying they didn't. It kind of makes me doubt how much they are really against DRM if it is just a way of advertising. Yeah I'd probably try and make money off of the failures of other companies as well by kicking the DRM when its down. Even if I can't help but think they have ulterior motives the simple fact such a big company is speaking out is a good thing don't get me wrong.

 

[Enai Siaion]

Mandatory logins are like speed limits. You may be a responsible driver who adapts his speed to the circumstances. A lot of other people are not and they may crash and kill you, unless there is a speed limit and cameras.

The publishers KNOW people are annoyed by this. It costs them money, too. They'd much rather save money and sell more copies to DRM haters. But they assume the losses due to piracy will be much worse. Now DRM is an entirely wrong approach (crack once, cracked everywhere) but mandatory logins do work efficiently and require the user to undertake the incredible effort of entering a name and password. If you can't stand to enter a name and password so as to not have to play with thieves (who would be immune to bans!), you're spoiled.

Of course if the 'login' involves installing trash on your PC ala GFW Live the game isn't worth playing, but that's not due to mandatory logins but due to GFW Live.

 

[antipunt]

As much as I agree with the notion of his statement, anyone else think it's... really -easy- for Blizzard to think this way? Almost all Blizzard games I can think of heavily revolve around -online play-. Seems pretty easy to say "Aha! DRM is a waste of time. We are virtuous, yes?", when the main focus of their games revolve around Battle.net anyways. Afterall, there's no way to pirate your way into official online multiplayer.

I'd be more impressed if they released this statement, while being more of a single-player developer

 

[Antari]

Thanks Blizzard but I have an all encompassing DRM already, Steam beat you to it. Sorry.

 

[John Funk]

I don't care about the LAN,

What ever you say, Mr. "No LAN in Starcraft 2".

All putting it in now would do is leave it open to piracy. It just baffles me that people think they know better than Blizzard.

That's my point. For a company that presents itself as opposed to anti-piracy methods since they see them as ineffective, it sure is taking its own drastic measures to combat piracy. The LAN community is huge, don't be fooled, and many outlets don't have sufficient internet to provide efficient local play. Especially in third world countries.

Not to say that it shouldn't be in, but I think you're severely overestimating the LAN population. I work in an office of gamers and none of us have LANned in years. Maybe in countries where home internet is rare.

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see it in, but it's hardly a dealbreaker.

 

[JediMB]

I absolutely hate steam because its DRM. I just want to install the game and play it.

Funny, because just installing the game and playing it is exactly what I do with Steam.

I don't even have to bother with an actual installation process most of the time, since Steam does it all automatically in the background.

 

[ItsAPaul]

Yeah Steam is DRM since I totally have to be online to play my single player games. Wait a second...

 

[Drejer43]

Easy for them to say, they are not exactly in a money problem. And I don't see how achievements are going to get pirates to buy the game if they don't care that much about achievements,
I mean [free games> games you have to buy, but get achievements].

Also speaking of Blizzard, does anyone else think that if Starcraft 2 got such an awesome campaign, its going to get mass pirated?

 

[no one really]

DRM for me encourages piracy any game where I need an Internet connection to play consider it pirated, yes that goes for all Steam and stupidly DRMed games, oh starcraft II requires you to create a Battle.Net account, I don't want one, I WANT TO PLAY THE DAMN GAME WITHOUT REQUIRING A SODDING INTERNET CONNECTION.
They will probably do the same stupid DRM with Diablo III which is a shame, I was looking forward to that game.

I completely agree with you. Whats the point of HAVING TO create an account? It should be voulentary!

And why do you need to be online to play single player campaign? It's so unneccecary.

 

[DSK-]

I absolutely hate steam because its DRM. I just want to install the game and play it.

Funny, because just installing the game and playing it is exactly what I do with Steam.

I don't even have to bother with an actual installation process most of the time, since Steam does it all automatically in the background.

My apologies, I didn't explain myself properly!. Besides I just tested it and it seems my games do play with steam being offline. A little knowledge is a bad thing, I know and I beg you for forgiveness, kind sir .

I guess I'm still rather addled about the hours I spent trying to work out how to install Empire:Total War using Steam. And MW2 stating in between matches sometimes that I'm not online with Steam despite the fact I actually am (which cues a great deal of swearing and proimises of me throwing the computer out the window). I'm not violent...honest 'guv!

 

[Dzil]

oftentimes steam single player stuff can be run without steam running, you just have to go into the folder and make your own shortcut.