EA: Making DRM Disappear in One Easy Step

[fix-the-spade]

So that's EA off my companies to buy games from list. At this rate I'll be finding a new hobby.

Actually, that may have already happened, in 2009 I spent less than £50 on gaming. It's an unfortunate side effect of this stupid, stupid corporate thinking (it's not what we're doing that's the problem, it's how we're packaging it) that they are driving away the paying customer. On the plus side my mountain biking's got a load better.


If someone were to ask me, legal rammifications aside, why they should not pirate games now, I'm not sure I could tell them. Whether they do or don't they're going to be treated as a criminal, they may as well be treated as a criminal with a larger bank balance.

 

[hyperdrachen]

Apparently EA spells bullshit with a capitol Z, but it's still bullshit.

 

[Nesrie]

It's past time the gaming community actually does something together and reject Ubisoft and EA bs DRM claims and not buy the games. We'd all be better off without these publishers.

 

[JaredXE]

"There...ARE....FOUR....LIGHTS!"

And, there is DRM.

Sorry EA, ain't buying it. Unless I am playing online multiplayer, I should not need my connection to be used to verify that I have indeed purchased the game. So goodbye DRM, you will be washed away with the next extra-legal patch that comes out, most likely before the game itself is actually released.

 

[Wicky_42]

It's a smart move to paint it as a service being provided. That's a model that works for all online games - you log into your account to track your progress/stats in the online world, or to access the server browser, perhaps with associated stat tracking. Peachy, fine and dandy - expected.

Now, you start doing this to single player games and the people revolt. There's no reason (beyond managing someone's rights to use your product) to have to log into a world-wide web to have a quiet game alone. Stats can be uploaded if you want by logging into an online database - no need to have the game servers peering over your shoulder the whole time.

It becomes even more infuriating when you just want to play the game without worrying about stat tracking and messages and monitored progress and all that jazz, not to mention the software taking up your bandwidth to do little more than spy on you.

Gah, I wish violence to those that would blindly follow systems like these. Less so if you genuinely believe that it's a good idea after critically considering all aspects of the issue, but still...

 

[KeyMaster45]

I've been kinda confused on this whole matter. Yes its DRM, but isn't it the same type of DRM employed by using the Steam client? Everyone seems to be cool with that, yet they're up in arms over it being applied to specific games not sold through Steam?

"There...ARE....FOUR....LIGHTS!"

Best ending to a TNG episode ever XD

-EDIT-
This was applied to Portal and Half-Life through steam and many other single-player game, why is this such a shock now?

 

[Worgen]

so its not drm? its an mmo now?

Its bullshit for C&C4 but its one of thoes things Im not sure if its really worth worrying about since so far its just on one game, one game Ill never buy but only one game, I mean if they also pulled it with bad company 2 or mass effect 2 then it would be much more worrying.

 

[Caliostro]

Great, only problem: C&C 4: Cracked and fully playable.

Assassins Creed 2: Not cracked and missions aren't playable.

AC2 was cracked two days before release...?

 

[matrix3509]

They stopped raping us with a sandpaper dick, and we breathed a sigh of relief, only to find out they replaced the sandpaper dick with a greek column coated with spikes... and soaked in chlorine trifluoride.

 

[Lord Honk]

"Let's see you do that with an offline game."
C:\Users\Lord Honk\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\Saves\Lord Honk\*.*, copy.
USB-Stick, 5$, paste.
ZOMG, that really is a lot of work, and I couldn't even make use of my internet connection =0
I can understand login during game start, but i can't understand why the last hour i've played this one mission just goes to waste because i get disconnected (router likes reconnecting when data fluctuates too much) just during the ending cutscene.
I can't believe i'm saying this, but for the sake of my sanity, can't we just go back to our securom bull manure? at least i knew the game would run once i got it to work =/

?: yes, steam has offline mode. dawn of war 2 is a nice example, you need GFWL (urg) and steam, but you can have offline profiles for both.

 

[bismarck55]

so its not drm? its an mmo now?

Its bullshit for C&C4 but its one of thoes things Im not sure if its really worth worrying about since so far its just on one game, one game Ill never buy but only one game, I mean if they also pulled it with bad company 2 or mass effect 2 then it would be much more worrying.

Why would they put it on just one game? That would not make sense. They will most likely do what Ubisoft is doing and implement this DRM on all their future releases.

 

[hyperdrachen]

It's past time the gaming community actually does something together and reject Ubisoft and EA bs DRM claims and not buy the games. We'd all be better off without these publishers.

I'm all for a proper consumer rebellion the shame of this is of course that the publishers make decisions like these, but the developers that actually make the game are forced to watch thier work thrown to the sharks. I was actually close to prepurchasing C&C 4, then I scrolled down and saw that EA had jumped on the UBIsoft train, glad i read the fine print.

It's amazing how dense of a mindset it must take to use this form of DRM in particular. I know we've hashed this a million times now on this forum, but do they really not see that they've created a weapon that only hurts thier customer. Companies that sell digital products need to get it through thier heads that pirates should not be part of the equation. The guy that was gonna pirate C&C 4 is not going to be discouraged by the fact that a crack wasn't available on day 1 and go out and buy a legit copy. He'll just wait til its finally cracked, or forget the game. The pirate is not a customer, no DRM will turn him into one. However, cumbersome enough DRM can lose customers, and in some cases even turn customers pirate.
If somone wants very much to play a game but have decided that your DRM is too akward for them to give you money, they do have a 3rd option, get a cracked copy.

I myself am truly a lost sale, my fingers seconds away from the buy button, when i read the dreaded words "persistant internet connection". A persistant internet connection is probably not an issue for most, but that's not all thats required, you must also be persistantly connected to an EA server, which is probably sitting in the sites of a million string botnet. My money was real sales increase, what sort of gains do you see on your sales for "pirate who is not playing on day1"? you can stop 10000 pirates you won't make a single extra dime, and turning off a customer denies you whatever your cut of the 50bucks was gonna be. That's not good math, not for the devs, not for the publishers, and not for the legit gamers that wanted to enjoy your product.

 

[Sebenko]

Ah well, I didn't buy C&C3, so It's not like I'm going to buy this one anyway.

 

[Twad]

So.. basically, same difference?

We end up owning our game less (since that system feels like a long-term rental system), being hostage of our internet connection.

 

[zehydra]

They've got to be careful though. This policy will only work well, I think, if they promise to remove the online feature of this new DRM (they say it's not DRM but i don't believe them), when the game gets old. It shouldn't be up to the publisher to decide when people are going to stop playing a game, (in this case I mean single player games)

 

[TOGSolid]

I don't care what they call it. I can't play the game when I'm not home (I work on a boat without internet most of the year) so I'm not going to play it. If EA pulls a Ubisoft on this, then I'm really going to be fucked. Ubi is a shitty publisher that hasn't put out anything decent in a while, but EA holds a lot of the cards. I'll be out a good chunk of games if I'll no longer be able to play them where I spend most of my time. I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of pissed off military guys as well. This is horseshit, pure and simple.

I spend a ton of money on video games (not bullshitting here either: http://www.steamcalculator.com/id/ThatOneGuy and that's just my steam account. I've got way more in discs and other online purchases). Do the companies really want to alienate the gamers that DO spend money on them? It's almost as if they've decided that they don't want to make money anymore. It's a sad irony that I always gave my friends shit for pirating, but soon it looks like I'll have no choice if I want to actually enjoy my hobby.

 

[lacktheknack]

-EDIT-
This was applied to Portal and Half-Life through steam and many other single-player game, why is this such a shock now?

Two words: Offline Mode.

That's really it.

 

[secretsantaone]

Apparently EA is comparable to Nazi Germany.

Whoda thunk it.