EA Exec Claims DRM Is a "Failed Dead-End Strategy"

[Narcogen]

I'm assuming that either the word "former" was left out of the headline inadvertently, or else it's going to need to be added in an update fairly shortly.

 

[Narcogen]

No shit Sherlock. We've been saying that for years.

As for the people that are calling Steam DRM, I don't think of Steam as DRM because Steam provides me with an actual beneficial service that I WANT. It serves an actual purpose and it's consumer friendly. DRM by it's very nature isn't consumer friendly.

DRM is what it is and does what it does regardless of whether you like it or whether it bothers you. Steam includes DRM. It uses reasonably well-implemented DRM that is not too invasive, and it is bundled together with storefront and other features that people use and like. EA's DRM, at least for SimCity, is onerous, breaks the game, and it appears as if the need to implement it had a negative impact on the design of the game itself.

Calling everything bad 'DRM' is part of what makes arguments against these sort of schemes ineffective. Personally I think it'd be great if everything were donationware with no DRM whatsoever, but I doubt all industry players would agree. It's better to get behind reasonable DRM schemes that serve the publishers' interests without too severely inconveniencing the end user-- like Steam's approach-- rather than push the idea that everything EA does is DRM and therefore bad, and that the same sorts of things, done better by Valve, are therefore not DRM.

 

[oktalist]

What is this, opposite world?

 

[Charli]

And you're still insisting Sim City required always online regardless. That's cute, that's uber cute. Do you play dead too?

 

[FalloutJack]

And you're still insisting Sim City required always online regardless. That's cute, that's uber cute. Do you play dead too?

Only above the neck. The rest does sort of a chicken-with-its-head-cut-off dance to create the illusion of life.

 

[Giyguy]

Alright, it's a start. Now follow through with what you just said. That's going to be the hard part, because I bet you guys are going to go RIGHT back to your shoddy business practices, horrible employee treatment policies, and general douchbaggery and that you got some fresh piece of meat to say this in an attempt to gain better PR, because it is so goddamned easy to predict a proverbial cornered rat's actions.

you see, you did this in order to release the pressure the the press has been putting on your ass, and you'll go right back to what you were, pathetic and detrimental to the entire gaming market, as soon as that pressure lets up. But the pressure won't drop, no sir, not from this, you need results, you need to follow through with those words you most likely scripted for Mr. New Meat.

Can you prove me wrong? THEN FOLLOW THROUGH.

 

[sumanoskae]

So what you're saying is that persistent online connection is the game's key feature... so why the fuck doesn't it work?

Well I guess SimCity's failure isn't due to EA being evil, just incompetent to the point of psychosis.

They're probably still evil, though.

 

[BrainWalker]

I'm a little bothered by the fact that this statement basically reads "The problem wasn't DRM because there was no DRM; the problem was we let the creative team do what they wanted."

Which would mean that is a thing they are less inclined to do in the future.

 

[evilneko]

Digital rights management,

I prefer the much more descriptive term, Digital Restrictions Management.

"If you play an MMO, you don't demand an offline mode, you just don't.

Methinks this Gibeau person has never, ever, not once, entered the online fora of any MMO, ever.

Furthermore, I disagree. Digital Restrictions Management can be done decently and without treating your customers as criminals.