Game Design Reducing PC Piracy, Inflating Identity Theft

[ProGrasTiNation]

All it costs to help reduce identity theft is to give people more information about how to protect themselves. You don't even need to add new code! Whether people heed that advice is up to them, but for the most part, identity theft falls on the person with the bad password and the poor virus protection.

You could have a huge password & the best anti virus & still get boned if you were the target of a very good hacker,they are new ways of stealing info being made as we speak & if your antivirus doesnt have the definitions it becomes useless,look at china & the massive reroute of all the info to their servers a while back.
That virus spread like widfire even do it was only supposed to attack business.Look at twitter & facebook,all hackable if you have the right knowledge & tools,they go were the info & details are its that simple.

 

[Jack Macaque]

Really? MMOs and multiplayer games reduce pirating...i wonder why.

Well, that's the industry leaders trying to convince us all we need in life is more MMOs, yay...

 

[Echo136]

Mmm. I knew that account theft is an issue with WoW, but on other platforms, really? I wasn't aware that there were frequent cases of Steam account theft, perhaps someone could fill me in?

Theres usually someone trying to scam me with a false link in STEAM friends at least once every month or so. Im not stupid enough to click on it but some people do.

 

[duedmen]

Cheers Actual.. again!

This is what I thought. An MMO account theft is sensitive because of all the volatile elements to it. Equipment can be sold, gold transferred etc. But what can anyone do with my Steam account? Download and play my games for the whole 24 hours it's going to take me to get it back? They can't transfer them or sell them off. Valve has that wrapped up pretty tight. I mean, maybe they could mess with my cloud saves if they're real bastards but the local save games can be forced to take priority so.. Hell you can't even read your own credit card info. This hardly seems like a burgeoning threat to the gaming community.

I had my first steam account hacked once got it back within a few days but the jerk hacked on a VAC server and then got me vac banned

That really is annoying. Truly, some people get their jollies shitting on other peoples' lawn, even if it gains them nothing. Did Valve ever recognise that it happened while your account was hijacked and restore your status? Do you mind if I ask how it happened in the first place?

no it's still vac banned to this day and no sort of attempt on their part to sort it out besides giving me my account back or how it was hacked. I asked a friend of mine whos good with programing and he suspects the guy got a hold of my steam ID and IP from a server and used those to hack the account

 

[Guy32]

free-to-play games are much harder to pirate than single-player titles.

*Facepalm.*

Surprised I'm the first one to notice this. "Oh dude, you hear about that new free to play game? I'm going to pirate it."

"Lolwut?"

^ What I was thinking.

 

[duedmen]

I had my first steam account hacked once got it back within a few days but the jerk hacked on a VAC server and then got me vac banned

That really is annoying. Truly, some people get their jollies shitting on other peoples' lawn, even if it gains them nothing. Did Valve ever recognise that it happened while your account was hijacked and restore your status? Do you mind if I ask how it happened in the first place?

no it's still vac banned to this day and no sort of attempt on their part to sort it out besides giving me my account back or how it was hacked. I asked a friend of mine whos good with programing and he suspects the guy got a hold of my steam ID and IP from a server and used those to hack the account

And your password too? I'd love to know how that happened and I bet you would too. Hopefully this sort of thing is pretty rare. A real shame about your vac ban. A definite admin/support failure on Steam's part there. I've had all good support experiences with them so far but I've heard mixed stories. Sounds like you got the short end of the stick this time around.

It took bout a year to get over it but then I took a seconed round with valve (after a friend gave me TF2 for my birthday)gave myself an insanly strong Password and for the most part try 2 has been much more enjoyable then try I have over 25 games in my steam libary as I don't do retail PC anymore so I came to forgive valve I mean with games like portal L4D and Half-Life

 

[JediMB]

free-to-play games are much harder to pirate than single-player titles.

*Facepalm.*

Surprised I'm the first one to notice this. "Oh dude, you hear about that new free to play game? I'm going to pirate it."

"Lolwut?"

Aren't there some retail MMOs that make you buy the game but after that are free to play (no monthly fees)? If there are, that's obviously what they were talking about.

You are correct. Playing the game is free, but you still have to own (buy) it to begin with.

It's a misleading term, though.

They actually call games like this (Guild Wars, being the most famous) buy to play, not free to play.

Meanwhile, on Wikipedia...

Free-to-play (F2P) refers to any game that has an option of allowing its players to play without paying. Some of these games have both a free version and a Pay to Play version that offers the full version of the game and all of the updates. Free-to-play games with pay-to-play components utilize the freebie marketing technique to draw in a user base with this advanced type of game demo. The term "free-to-play" is frequently heard in the context of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs).

Many game developers keep a free-to-play version running so people can try the game before paying the membership costs. It also helps attract more players to the game. Other developers generate revenue by selling in-game items that significantly enhance the player's in-game experience. In-game items can be purely cosmetic (vanity items), enhance the power of the player (power items), or accelerate progression speed (booster items). A common technique used by developers of these games is for the items purchased to have a time limit, after this expires the item must be repurchased before use can continue.

The term forever free-to-play game (FF2P) is used to distinguish MMOGs that promise to never charge a subscription fee from those that are currently free-to-play but may become pay-to-play in the future. It applies only to online games because while a conventional singleplayer freeware game becomes free-forever as soon as it is downloaded to the player's hard drive, a free online game may start charging a fee and instantly transform into a pay-to-play game.

And then Dungeons & Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online are among the games listed as "free". They're both, last I checked, retail games without subscription fees.

 

[RelexCryo]

So now, instead of a bunch of people who probably weren't going to play the game anyways playing, innocent players who have done nothing wrong are getting hurt worse than ever through their accounts being hacked.

Why am I not surprised?

 

[TechNoFear]

Digital distribution, MMOs and "free-to-play" games are a step up from that, since they effectively turn a game from a product into a service, thus taking away legal ownerships from the consumer and bypassing the "First Sale Doctrine" altogether.

Funny how one side of the piracy debate always points out that 'piracy is not stealing' but is only copyright violation (because no physical product has been taken from the legitimate owner).

They then complain that software is not treated exactly the same as a physical product when sold/resold.

You can't have it both ways.

This is the primary reason why developers and publishers are attracted to these kind of business models, since it essentially allows them to have the cake and eat it too.

How dare the people who make games try to get paid for their hard work!

Imagine pirates cost you about 20% of your wage each week. What would you do to get that money in your pocket?

http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Another-view-of-game-piracy

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Digital distribution, MMOs and "free-to-play" games are a step up from that, since they effectively turn a game from a product into a service, thus taking away legal ownerships from the consumer and bypassing the "First Sale Doctrine" altogether.

Funny how one side of the piracy debate always points out that 'piracy is not stealing' but is only copyright violation (because no physical product has been taken from the legitimate owner).

They then complain that software is not treated exactly the same as a physical product when sold/resold.

You can't have it both ways.

First of all, I don't see why "copyright violation" is any less of a crime compared to "stealing". Regardless of how you call it, it is still illegal.

And second, I fail to see how those two examples are even related. If I obtain a game through piracy, no contract occurs. Regardless of the method, I obtained a copy illegally, therefore I have no legal rights related to it. But if I purchased a CD/DVD in a store, then of course I expect it to be treated as a physical product when sold/resold...afterall, I purchased a physical product. Therefore, I deserve all the legal rights that such a purchase entails.

So yes, I can have it both ways, beacuse how you treat a legitimate and a illegitimate isn't and should not be the same.

This is the primary reason why developers and publishers are attracted to these kind of business models, since it essentially allows them to have the cake and eat it too.

How dare the people who make games try to get paid for their hard work!

How dare the customer demand that his rights be respected! For our hard work, we not only deserve to get the money, but also retain the ownership over the product we are selling! We are such creative geniuses that these lowly peasants called "customers" should be kissing our feet and be glad that they have the chance to give us money without expecting anything in return!

Imagine pirates cost you about 20% of your wage each week. What would you do to get that money in your pocket?

http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Another-view-of-game-piracy

You know what I would do? I would not punish my paying customers for what isn't their fault. Instead of blaming piracy for my woes, I would instead focus on developing a quality product and rewarding my paying customers.

Hey, what do you know, the link you posted mentions the exact same thing! But I probably don't need to mention that. Afterall, you did read it in full....right?

 

[TechNoFear]

But if I purchased a CD/DVD in a store, then of course I expect it to be treated as a physical product when sold/resold...afterall, I purchased a physical product. Therefore, I deserve all the legal rights that such a purchase entails.

The DVD is the physical product (and is really just packaging), not the software on the disc.

If you buy a digital download, so there is no physical product, does that change the situation? If so why?

So yes, I can have it both ways, beacuse how you treat a legitimate and a illegitimate isn't and should not be the same.

It is not about illegitimate/legit.

It is about physical ('scarce') goods and digital ('infinte') goods.

These are different types of 'products' and are clearly legally and physically different.

How dare the customer demand that his rights be respected! For our hard work, we not only deserve to get the money, but also retain the ownership over the product we are selling!

When you 'buy' a movie ticket do you expect to keep the seat or just rent it long enough to see the movie?

Do you expect to be able to resell the movie ticket later, because you 'bought' the seat?

Clearly some 'products' are not able to be resold.

You know what I would do? I would not punish my paying customers for what isn't their fault. Instead of blaming piracy for my woes, I would instead focus on developing a quality product and rewarding my paying customers.

Pirates never copy 'good' games do they? The pirate ALWAYS purchases quality software don't they? (ie Starcraft 2 with over 2.3 mill illegal downloads of ONE torrent alone in only 3 months)

Good software without DRM (so no 'punishment' to the customer) is also never pirated to the extent that legit customers can't log on to the online servers, is it? (ie Demigod had 18k legit users and 100K pirates log onto servers)

Clearly developing 'quality' games does not magically stop piracy.

Or are you saying that adding value via DLC, online components (achievements etc) and cloud saves (that can only be used by the original purchaser) is destroying customer rights? (as it reduces the resale value)

Hey, what do you know, the link you posted mentions the exact same thing! But I probably don't need to mention that. Afterall, you did read it in full....right?

It was to back up my assertion of a 20% loss in sales from piracy (and yes I read it).

I don't agree with all the conclusions of the artical. It ignores that 'quality' games are also pirated.

IMO it ignores the fact that pirates just do not pay for games.
If the game a pirate wants to play can not be pirated, they do not purchase that game, they find a game that can be pirated (and play it instead).