The downside to this sort of thing is when it has a false positive and declares someone who isn't a pirate to be a pirate and gives them the buggy behaviour. Then it annoys the paying customer.
And even when it does catch the pirates, if they genuinely see it as a bug then they'll be badmouthing the game to all their friends (which might reduce sales, depending on what kinds of friends they have), and online (which is more likely to reduce sales). Then the company has to come out and say "no, that's not a bug, it's because they're a pirate", and then the pirate groups find out where the traps are and patch the pirated version, so it no longer bothers the pirates any more. Meanwhile they've still got a whole pile of bad press floating around...
It just doesn't seem like there's a win anywhere. But I still prefer this sort of thing more than online activation and limited installs, and other such nasty stuff.
And even when it does catch the pirates, if they genuinely see it as a bug then they'll be badmouthing the game to all their friends (which might reduce sales, depending on what kinds of friends they have), and online (which is more likely to reduce sales). Then the company has to come out and say "no, that's not a bug, it's because they're a pirate", and then the pirate groups find out where the traps are and patch the pirated version, so it no longer bothers the pirates any more. Meanwhile they've still got a whole pile of bad press floating around...
It just doesn't seem like there's a win anywhere. But I still prefer this sort of thing more than online activation and limited installs, and other such nasty stuff.
