Help me create the perfect DRM

[MetalGenocide]

How about instead of wasting time on an impossible task, developers just make an genuinely awesome game that is totally worth the money, so people don't need to pirate it huh?

From an programmer stand point, everything is hackable, everything. Even if the game that is sold is nothing more than an launcher(while most of it is stored on an online service/server), it still needs to place data on the user's machine(install game duh). There are any number of ways, of someone knowing what he's doing(usually a group of people), to get what he needs done. Knowledge is power. Unless they make a way to erase memory of "all the pirate hacker teams" in the world. Which won't happen.

Then, there are legal complications. Your company can't just add malicious software and call it a day.

How about this -- the company (Activision, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, etc.) 'leak' a version of the game to Torrent Sites -- naturally, these files will get spread around to other sites by pirates. Naturally, a lot of people will download this and install it... and then be incredibly disappointed when they find out that their version of the game only has the first few levels (or in sandbox games, a severely limited area of the world map)... but also that their IP Address has been reported for piracy.

Not exactly DRM, but would be quite effective nonetheless. And after that, how many people would be willing to take the chance downloading your next game? Or the one after that? Effectively, if all game publishers bought into this, you could stamp out video game piracy.

People have already got used to seeing fake uploads, and download from trusted sources. Also there are proxies.

 

[Akalistos]

snip

snip

I updated the OP once more, check it out.

I don't play online and thus, haven't plug it on the internet yet. No... still bad. Look at the Dating Sim DDR that was in the news last week for ideas.

 

[Mr. Gency]

snip

But publishers are under the impression that everyone will pirate there games if they don't use some kind of DRM, and if we end up with a good enough DRM, I would like to let publishers know about it. I trying, to the best of my ability to get rid of DRMs, and the only way I can think of to do that is to find a way to rebuild the publishers trust in the gaming community. If you have a better idea let me know (anything you come up with can help).

 

[Twilight_guy]

The simplest solution is just to stop making games. That, of course, is an undesirable solution.

Any code that you put on a game can be cracked given enough time. Hackers are bastards and they will spend every moment of their life working out of spit to fight "the man." Spore and the Humble Indie deal have shown us they they have no scruples and no morals whatsoever(Note: not all pirates are this way but I'm referring to certain groups here). The more you fight, the tighter the knot gets. Therefore, I propose a trap. A bit of code secretly lodged onto a game that is sold as "DRM free." The game is distributed and after some time has passed and you ensure a good number of copies have been stolen, you have the game begin to send out a signal sending personal IP address and such to a central server that then proceeds to use the hidden code to fry every computer with an illegal copy. The problem of course is that this plan is infesable an illegal and will only slow them down... but its a happy thought.

A more real solution would be to use a system like OnLive. Simply don't give people your game. Rent it, send them the video feed and control there input. So long as you can hold back hackers from getting into your system and leaks within your company the pirate will be sitting outside a mile high concrete wall looking in pinholes. The unfortunate side effect is that you don't sell games, you sell a service to get to your games and that's a hard sell.

 

[Mr. Gency]

snip

snip

I updated the OP once more, check it out.

I don't play online and thus, haven't plug it on the internet yet. No... still bad. Look at the Dating Sim DDR that was in the news last week for ideas.

Well then what if, in the "So crazy, it just might work" part, I made it so that you can download the "pirated" update from any computer onto a USB drive (or some other form of portable memory) or, if the game is on a disk you can download it onto the disk, itself.

 

[blankedboy]

I love the way the Steam DRM works, and how Valve manage to patch it again and again. Quite awesome.

What does DRM even stand for?

 

[Mr. Gency]

The simplest solution is just to stop making games. That, of course, is an undesirable solution.

Any code that you put on a game can be cracked given enough time. Hackers are bastards and they will spend every moment of their life working out of spit to fight "the man." Spore and the Humble Indie deal have shown us they they have no scruples and no morals whatsoever(Note: not all pirates are this way but I'm referring to certain groups here). The more you fight, the tighter the knot gets. Therefore, I propose a trap. A bit of code secretly lodged onto a game that is sold as "DRM free." The game is distributed and after some time has passed and you ensure a good number of copies have been stolen, you have the game begin to send out a signal sending personal IP address and such to a central server that then proceeds to use the hidden code to fry every computer with an illegal copy. The problem of course is that this plan is infesable an illegal and will only slow them down... but its a happy thought.

A more real solution would be to use a system like OnLive. Simply don't give people your game. Rent it, send them the video feed and control there input. So long as you can hold back hackers from getting into your system and leaks within your company the pirate will be sitting outside a mile high concrete wall looking in pinholes. The unfortunate side effect is that you don't sell games, you sell a service to get to your games and that's a hard sell.

OnLive is also probably going to be expensive. You also make a good point about how only some pirates are obsessed with... um... pirating. So I should make as many ways of conveniently getting the game legally.

 

[Mr. Gency]

I love the way the Steam DRM works, and how Valve manage to patch it again and again. Quite awesome.

What does DRM even stand for?

Digital Rights Management.

 

[Mr. Gency]

Some snip later...

Your DRM is what my "So crazy it just might work" idea came from.

 

[Akalistos]

snip

snip

I updated the OP once more, check it out.

I don't play online and thus, haven't plug it on the internet yet. No... still bad. Look at the Dating Sim DDR that was in the news last week for ideas.

Well then what if, in the "So crazy, it just might work" part, I made it so that you can download the "pirated" update from any computer onto a USB drive (or some other form of portable memory) or, if the game is on a disk you can download it onto the disk, itself.

Pirated? Yeah, that would work in the meeting. But yeah, insert a CD-Key for the update and download it from a computer to a hard drive (like my psp) and insert it into my PS3... Might just work for me. I did the same thing to update the OS a few month ago.

 

[CWestfall]

What if to play the game, you give the publisher your physical address; they then dispatch a representative to ensure you have a valid receipt and give you the actual copy of the disk. He will then move in with you and watch you play the game to ensure you don't do anything illegal like upload it to The Pirate Bay.

 

[Reyalsfeihc]

How about this -- the company (Activision, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, etc.) 'leak' a version of the game to Torrent Sites -- naturally, these files will get spread around to other sites by pirates. Naturally, a lot of people will download this and install it... and then be incredibly disappointed when they find out that their version of the game only has the first few levels (or in sandbox games, a severely limited area of the world map)... but also that their IP Address has been reported for piracy.

Not exactly DRM, but would be quite effective nonetheless. And after that, how many people would be willing to take the chance downloading your next game? Or the one after that? Effectively, if all game publishers bought into this, you could stamp out video game piracy.

That reminds me of what EA did with Battle for Middle Earth 2, where after five minutes if you were playing a pirated version of the game all your units and your base simultaneously died!

 

[Mr. Gency]

That reminds me of what EA did with Battle for Middle Earth 2, where after five minutes if you were playing a pirated version of the game all your units and your base simultaneously died!

I now have a new favorite DRM.

 

[The Lunatic]

Perfect DRM system?

No DRM at all.


Those who want to get a game for free will do, why waste money and time on making a DRM that might protect you game for about a week at most.

 

[Reyalsfeihc]

That reminds me of what EA did with Battle for Middle Earth 2, where after five minutes if you were playing a pirated version of the game all your units and your base simultaneously died!

I now have a new favorite DRM.

Just think. This very idea could be implemented into any game we play on PC. All the studio would have to do is create their own custom death sequence!

For Example:
Modern Warfare 2: Nuke dropped on player within two minutes of any level
Starcraft 2: 800 AI controlled uber-banelings are spawned to take out all human players
Just Cause 2: Your grappling hook snaps in mid-air for you to only precede to be sucked into a passenger jet turbine
Max and the Magic Marker: Everything you draw now instant kills you after certain play time (had to add a kid friendly game)
Any MMO: Take away the player's entire inventory, savings, and stored items and since SOME players would enjoy their character's running around naked, make them all morbidly obese and loop Justin Bieber music during chats with NPC's.

 

[Mr. Gency]

That reminds me of what EA did with Battle for Middle Earth 2, where after five minutes if you were playing a pirated version of the game all your units and your base simultaneously died!

I now have a new favorite DRM.

Just think. This very idea could be implemented into any game we play on PC. All the studio would have to do is create their own custom death sequence!

For Example:
Modern Warfare 2: Nuke dropped on player within two minutes of any level
Starcraft 2: 800 AI controlled uber-banelings are spawned to take out all human players
Just Cause 2: Your grappling hook snaps in mid-air for you to only precede to be sucked into a passenger jet turbine
Max and the Magic Marker: Everything you draw now instant kills you after certain play time (had to add a kid friendly game)
Any MMO: Take away the player's entire inventory, savings, and stored items and since SOME players would enjoy their character's running around naked, make them all morbidly obese and loop Justin Bieber music during chats with NPC's.

Splinter Cell: No shadows, and gun jams if you execute
Assassin's Creed 2: No hidden Blade.
Bioshock 1: the splicer in the beginning kills you.

 

[Mariena]

None of you play Dj Max Trilogy I take it. Get a USB that stores all your profile data and isn't accessible via the computer. The game needs the USB in to start. Still no cracks of it to this day so I assume it's a good method.

The closest thing to it being cracked is this:http://www.bemanistyle.com/forum/f140/how-share-your-dj-max-trilogy-profile-key-friends-over-internet-51778/

Which doesn't allow simultaneous play anyway.
Here's an image of the USB.

Spoiler

To install the game you don't even need a serial but for the game to start and to save any progress you make you need the USB connected the whole time you are playing.

Popularity of the title makes a lot of difference to whether it will be cracked or not .. I don't know how popular that DJ Max Trilogy is, but it doesn't look like it's anywhere near mainstream. Combine that + a dongle, and scene groups most likely won't bother.

Steel Beasts Pro Personal Edition also has a dongle for authentication. Considering it's a hardcore/realistic armored warfare simulator, and it uses a dongle for protection, it isn't worth the effort. Thus, it remains uncracked. Not sure why they bother though with all this protection, because they're not out to make real profit from SB PPE .. they get all their money from militaries that use their Professional version (for incredible sums of money).

So you're saying because it has a dongle people can't be bothered cracking it. Isn't that a good thing?

The games are also quite popular, enough to justify a franchise of about 7 or 6 games anyway. And if you head over to playasia.com the game and some peripherals are constantly back-ordered. In terms of time to crack the game it's been available for about 2 years by now.

But in the long term all DRM gets cracked. Except Guild Wars. So I guess the lesson to learn is to make a really, really good algorithm for making serial numbers.

Never said it's a bad thing. It is simply too much effort for, I suppose, too small of a "market" to bother cracking. That's why it's not cracked.

Why people would actually bother to play Guild Wars on a private server is beyond me. I had trouble finding proper groups as it was! /offtopic

 

[Reverend Del]

To anyone saying the publishers should simply release great games that folks wouldn't want to pirate: Seriously, what the hell? Arkham Asylum wasn't one of those? Oh wait, yes it was. It's a damn fine game, and yet folks still pirated it, DA:O (not my cup of tea) is also, supposedly, a fantastic game. Still been pirated. Simple fact is that even if some developer creates the holy grail of gaming, that one perfect game with no flaws, the pirates will still have it copied and on the internet before the box art ink has dried.

OT: Gimped game features is my current favourite DRM. I pay I suffer no issues. I don't have to do something daft to play my game, I just put the disc in the tray (or boot up steam) and play my game. Done. I don't pay and Batman can't jump, Superman can't fly and Megaman can't duck...oh wait. can't shoot.

 

[Bloodstain]

What if every game had a unique code and you have to make some kind of account to download the rest of the game. You must go to your e-mail and sign in before you can download, and you must be signed in to the same e-mail every time afterwords (you can change which e-mail is need, though).

What if somebody wants to play games but has no access to the internet?

 

[Nimbus]

OT: Gimped game features is my current favourite DRM. I pay I suffer no issues. I don't have to do something daft to play my game, I just put the disc in the tray (or boot up steam) and play my game. Done. I don't pay and Batman can't jump, Superman can't fly and Megaman can't duck...oh wait. can't shoot.

I really wish people would stop holding this up as the holy grail of DRM. It doesn't work. It never works. Best case scenario, it delays the real crack by half a day.

DRM always gets cracked, and pirates always end up with a perfect coy of the game (sans multiplayer)