Digital Distribution Is a Matter of Trust

[hansari]

Sounds wonderful, but the question remains as to how realistic a business plan it is.

I'm sure experienced videogame pirates will say this "trust" thing will work...

 

[Nutcase]

LOL, yet another company that doesn't use DRM (that is, they call it with another name) and "trusts" its customers.

And the "journalists" lap it up.

Gamersgate doesn't use any DRM,

Only on every last game they sell.

but any game you buy will have whatever DRM the game publisher put on there.

... in addition to their own, just like Steam, and just like Impulse.

They just want things to move towards removing sounding like they use no DRM for games, because they think it will get them more sales.

Fixed that for you.
To be fair, I do think GamersGate is slightly more lenient than e.g. Steam and there are individual games on it which can be said to contain no DRM because the entire installed game can be "installed" again just by copying the bits into a new location.

I know I would buy more games from digital outlets if I could guarantee there was no DRM on it (like Good Old Games for instance).

As would I.

 

[Andy_Panthro]

Gamersgate doesn't use any DRM,

Only on every last game they sell.

but any game you buy will have whatever DRM the game publisher put on there.

... in addition to their own, just like Steam, and just like Impulse.

Just had a look through their website, and can't see anything which would constitute DRM on GamersGate's part... do you mean their downloader program? When I looked in their FAQ I found this...

"Q. I cant log in to the Downloader. [http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/info/faq-2-27]

A. The Downloader is no longer in use. Use the DOWNLOAD button next to the game in the My Games section at your GamersGate account to initiate the download/install process."

What other DRM systems do they employ? I was very tempted to use their service, but if they do have some sort of restrictions I wouldn't use their service for the same reason I don't use impulse/steam etc.

 

[Nutcase]

Gamersgate doesn't use any DRM,

Only on every last game they sell.

but any game you buy will have whatever DRM the game publisher put on there.

... in addition to their own, just like Steam, and just like Impulse.

Just had a look through their website, and can't see anything which would constitute DRM on GamersGate's part... do you mean their downloader program? When I looked in their FAQ I found this...

"Q. I cant log in to the Downloader. [http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/info/faq-2-27]

A. The Downloader is no longer in use. Use the DOWNLOAD button next to the game in the My Games section at your GamersGate account to initiate the download/install process."

What other DRM systems do they employ? I was very tempted to use their service, but if they do have some sort of restrictions I wouldn't use their service for the same reason I don't use impulse/steam etc.

You missed this section lower on the same FAQ, which means their installers aren't plain installers but have a network authentication DRM wrapping:
http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/info/faq-7-17

 

[Andy_Panthro]

You missed this section lower on the same FAQ, which means their installers aren't plain installers but have a network authentication DRM wrapping:
http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/info/faq-7-17

"NO. An internet connection is needed to install the games.
If the target computer got a slow connection we recommend that you download and burn, or store in any other way, the downloads from a computer with high speed connection and move it to the computer with slow speed."

What I like most about this, is that I'm fairly sure this sort of copying (copying of an installed game from one computer to another) is actually against the rather draconian copyright laws in my country (In the UK. A good example is, ripping a CD into MP3s and putting them on a music player is actually against copyright law here).

I guess I have to weigh up how much that bothers me. I do have a reasonable internet connection, but it still seems completely unnecessary, especially if the game you buy has it's own DRM anyway.