I'm a gamer and I've been gaming for a long time now, but I need to know what the hell is DRM? I've not played a Ubisoft game since GRAW 2 so I haven't exerienced this thing that supposedly "Makes their games unplayable." So what is it? I never saw anything about it in anywhere before I signed up here, and I'd like to know before I dump a whole bunch of cash into Splinter Cell: Conviction and other games that might not work.
DRM?
- Thread starter kickyourass
- Start date
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Digital Rights Management. Quite simply, it's anti piracy measures.
Said anti piracy measures are sometimes strict and stop some games from working, like recent Ubisoft titles.
Said anti piracy measures are sometimes strict and stop some games from working, like recent Ubisoft titles.
Digital Rights Management. Software incorporated into programs to make it as hard as possible for an unauthorized version to be run properly or at all.
It comes in many forms, from a simple disk-checker that requires the game or program disc be in your computer's disc drive to run; virtual drive detectors that won't allow the app to run if a virtual CD drive program is installed. StarFOrce, SecuROM, SafeDisk are all some well-known and usually hated DRM programs as well.
What Ubisoft has done though, is forcing the game to maintain a permanent internet connection while the game is running in order to even be able to play single-player content. Should you not have a reliable internet connection, should your router go down temporarily, etc, not only does this disconnect you from Ubisoft's authentication servers, it shuts down your game and any unsaved progress is lost. You cannot play the game at all on PC until your internet connection is re-established. Ubisoft specifically excluded an ability to play all future PC games offline.
As far as I understand, this will be in all Ubisoft's PC titles from Assassin's Creed 2 onwards, which now also includes Silent Hunter 5 and soon Splinter Cell Conviction.
It comes in many forms, from a simple disk-checker that requires the game or program disc be in your computer's disc drive to run; virtual drive detectors that won't allow the app to run if a virtual CD drive program is installed. StarFOrce, SecuROM, SafeDisk are all some well-known and usually hated DRM programs as well.
What Ubisoft has done though, is forcing the game to maintain a permanent internet connection while the game is running in order to even be able to play single-player content. Should you not have a reliable internet connection, should your router go down temporarily, etc, not only does this disconnect you from Ubisoft's authentication servers, it shuts down your game and any unsaved progress is lost. You cannot play the game at all on PC until your internet connection is re-established. Ubisoft specifically excluded an ability to play all future PC games offline.
As far as I understand, this will be in all Ubisoft's PC titles from Assassin's Creed 2 onwards, which now also includes Silent Hunter 5 and soon Splinter Cell Conviction.
How does it effect 360 games? Although I do have to ask, aren't anti-piracy measures a good thing? (Unless you yourself are a Pirate?)
For console gamers wondering why PC gamers are raging hard over the Ubisoft DRM: Picture Assassin's Creed 2, a single player game. Now imagine it demanding a connection to the Xbox Live/PSN servers in order to play the game, and if your connection to Live/PSN is lost or the Live/PSN servers go offline, the game stops and you can't play, and if you're reconnected you get booted to the last checkpoint.
That is the sort of BS we're talking about in this thread.
That is the sort of BS we're talking about in this thread.
It only effects PC Gamers, so you needn't worry about it if you only play on a 360, but you should still sign any petition against it.kickyourass said:
As for your second point, yes, things like cd registration keys, and such, programs like Steam, which offer more than take, but new DRM from Ubisoft does several of these methods, and then moves onto stricter methods, like keeping your computer connected to Ubisoft servers 100 percent of the time, which intrudes on gameplay if you have a bad computer.
I'm pretty sure most gamers don't mind publishers taking every step they can to stop piracy (Even the pirates know it's wrong), but what the PC Gamers don't like is the intrusive manner the publishers put into their DRM, which ends up being removed from the pirated code, and only used in the retail editions of a game.
A lot of previous PC titles used DRM which limited install limits, which for a PC Gamer is incredibly annoying as windows machines often need reformatting, and you'll find that you're game has no more installs left (They were 3 installs originally), and you need to buy another copy.
If that's not enough information or TL
R, well... I'mmah go cry nao.
Yes, in theory. In practice, they frequently hurt paying customers. Examples follow.kickyourass said:
Paying customer buys game
Paying customer plays game
Paying customer changes computers/ reinstalls the game/ loses Internet conection
Paying customer cannot play the game any more
Only one person, somewhere in the world, buys game
Person cracks game
Person puts crack on Internet
Pirate wants game
Pirate downloads cracked game
Pirate plays game
As far as I know, that issue was solved by having very routine checkpoints, and by the game not "shutting down" as much as "being unable to progress further" until connection is reestablished. Ubisoft has said that the game continually attempts to ping the server, but doesn't simply shut itself down.Vek said:
So, if there's a momentary lapse in connection, it would be a momentary loss of playability, not a full shutdown. The issue of not having connectivity is general is legitimate, though. Still, let's remember to blame the right people for the whole problem:
Pirates.
kickyourass said:
The important point to make here is that it only effects PC gamers ATM. With recent mass bannings by Microsoft, and Nintendo's complaint about rampant piracy of its games, it looks like DRM for consoles is moving into the industry's attention. I'm not sure what measures they can implement, but then I never thought they would go to the extreme of requiring a constant internet connection to play a single player game, yet that is what Ubisoft has already done.The Undoer said:
Perhaps you'll require a constant internet connection, the disk in the drive, need to make a telephone call to confirm your identity before each play session and to re-purchase a serial key each time you re-boot your system. Honestly, nothing would surprise me after Ubisoft's move. Horrify and cause despair, maybe, but not surprise.
On a related topic, my friend has a few PS3 games that, everytime he starts up, unless he's picking up an Internet signal, the games shut down because they want to "validate" his trophies/achievements but can't peg the Network. That's honestly worse than a DRM, because it's USELESS STUFF THAT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER! Friggin' trophies/achievements ....