Blizzard Says DRM is a "Losing Battle"
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
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Blizzard, marry me?
Seriously, Blizzard was my favortire game studio when I was growing up, and it's still is. In fact, it's getting better as time passes. They are reasonable, make awesome games and are smart (and humble) enough to trust their fans and know when to change strategies so everyone could be happy. We need more Blizzard.
Seriously, Blizzard was my favortire game studio when I was growing up, and it's still is. In fact, it's getting better as time passes. They are reasonable, make awesome games and are smart (and humble) enough to trust their fans and know when to change strategies so everyone could be happy. We need more Blizzard.
In related news, Blizzard also says that birds fly, sun shines and Duke Nukem might take a while.
Thing is though, if Steam is DRM, then so is Battlenet. And Steam works fine with non-Valve games,like Starcraft 2.
So, where's that carrot? I just see a smaller stick.
Thing is though, if Steam is DRM, then so is Battlenet. And Steam works fine with non-Valve games,like Starcraft 2.
So, where's that carrot? I just see a smaller stick.
XDDSK- said: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!
Oh, please don't call me "sir". You're making me feel old.
And I suppose it can be a bit harder to get into Steam if it's forced upon you rather than adopted by choice. I'm among the people who first installed it to pre-order Half-Life 2, so to me it's a small blessing. Plus, I tend to have broadband access 24/7, so there's really nothing in the package to inconvenience me.
At last an understanding that the stick approach doesn't work, as pirating lets you avoid the stick altogether.
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I like what Blizzard is trying to do but there will inevitable be a boat-load of people who pirate the game because Starcraft is... well, almost a sport and they don't want to pay. I hate companies that have to malicious beat there customers to try and stop pirates but unfortunately pirates don't care what the carrot is like, they still pirate. Still, someday "positive" DRM may be real. *Obligatory all gamers are assholes*
Oh yeah, forgot D2D. That was simple, just download it and enter the code they give you. Even easier than Steam.coldalarm said:
Sounds like they are taking a page from the book of Jobs.
?We don?t believe it?s possible to protect digital content? What?s new is this amazingly efficient distribution system for stolen property called the Internet ? and no one?s gonna shut down the Internet. And it only takes one stolen copy to be on the Internet. And the way we expressed it to them is: Pick one lock ? open every door. It only takes one person to pick a lock? You?ll never stop that. So what you have to do is compete with it.? ? Rolling Stone, 2003
?We don?t believe it?s possible to protect digital content? What?s new is this amazingly efficient distribution system for stolen property called the Internet ? and no one?s gonna shut down the Internet. And it only takes one stolen copy to be on the Internet. And the way we expressed it to them is: Pick one lock ? open every door. It only takes one person to pick a lock? You?ll never stop that. So what you have to do is compete with it.? ? Rolling Stone, 2003
I'm glad some people in this thread have mentioned Stardock. They're a developer that doesn't tend to get a lot of publicity or notice, but they've been ahead of the curve on this for a long time. Here's a link to a blog post the head of the company wrote a few years ago.
http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gaming
For those that don't want to click on a strange link, here's a few comments I think that really make the point:
"I don't want anyone to walk away from this article thinking I am poo-pooing the effect of piracy. I'm not. I definitely feel for game developers who want to make kick ass PC games who see their efforts diminished by a bunch of greedy pirates. I just don't count pirates in the first place. If you're a pirate, you don't get a vote on what gets made -- or you shouldn't if the company in question is trying to make a profit.
The reason why we don't put CD copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count. We know our customers could pirate our games if they want but choose to support our efforts. So we return the favor - we make the games they want and deliver them how they want it. This is also known as operating like every other industry outside the PC game industry."
...
"When you blame piracy for disappointing sales, you tend to tar the entire market with a broad brush. Piracy isn't evenly distributed in the PC gaming market. And there are far more effective ways of getting people who might buy your product to buy it without inconveniencing them.
Blaming piracy is easy. But it hides other underlying causes. When Sins (of a Solar Empire) popped up as the #1 best selling game at retail a couple weeks ago, a game that has no copy protect whatsoever, that should tell you that piracy is not the primary issue."
http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gaming
For those that don't want to click on a strange link, here's a few comments I think that really make the point:
"I don't want anyone to walk away from this article thinking I am poo-pooing the effect of piracy. I'm not. I definitely feel for game developers who want to make kick ass PC games who see their efforts diminished by a bunch of greedy pirates. I just don't count pirates in the first place. If you're a pirate, you don't get a vote on what gets made -- or you shouldn't if the company in question is trying to make a profit.
The reason why we don't put CD copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count. We know our customers could pirate our games if they want but choose to support our efforts. So we return the favor - we make the games they want and deliver them how they want it. This is also known as operating like every other industry outside the PC game industry."
...
"When you blame piracy for disappointing sales, you tend to tar the entire market with a broad brush. Piracy isn't evenly distributed in the PC gaming market. And there are far more effective ways of getting people who might buy your product to buy it without inconveniencing them.
Blaming piracy is easy. But it hides other underlying causes. When Sins (of a Solar Empire) popped up as the #1 best selling game at retail a couple weeks ago, a game that has no copy protect whatsoever, that should tell you that piracy is not the primary issue."
For someone who claims to be so adept at making his own cracks, you seem quite amiss at the option for every game you have in Steam to not update. Which you can implement at any time with no penalty.rembrandtqeinstein said:
Spawn copies were no problem back in the day when coding for a game didn't take a decade to do, and you only needed one CD-R that wasn't even filled up to cart it around in. These days you are dealing with a lot of man hours(I'm waiting for when games are made by more than one generation) put into a game that will need to be compressed on multiple DVD's. The times be a changing, and things aren't as cheap or convenient as they used to be.
I give Cataclysm one month before things go back to how they were. Just with different places to find your questgiver dead at. Yay.
For free to play MMO, don't forget Perfect World [http://www.perfectworld.com/]. Almost like Mario and WoW had a child. And you could fly in it, long before Aion came out with that.
That sounds more like an issue with the games themselves and not Steam. Take note that it is up to the publisher to make the game work with Steam. It is not Valve's job to do so. They already provided enough tools that work fine with plenty of other games. Your's isn't the first I've heard about getting MW2 to work on Steam.DSK- said:
I see some people arguing that the one time online registration of the game is a sort of DRM, and is evil.
Well sure its a DRM, but its not really a lot more than what the CD keys used to be like back in the day.
Also, you will probably be able to do the registration while the game is installing (at least you can do that for WoW)
As long as the game can be partly enjoyed offline (read single player) then I don't see the big problem. And not having internet while installing your game is probably a minority these days.
Well sure its a DRM, but its not really a lot more than what the CD keys used to be like back in the day.
Also, you will probably be able to do the registration while the game is installing (at least you can do that for WoW)
As long as the game can be partly enjoyed offline (read single player) then I don't see the big problem. And not having internet while installing your game is probably a minority these days.