Online Activation Is a Ripoff
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
I like Steam, and you can play your single-player games on Steam without being connected to the net, in offline mode. I make a point to only buy games from Steam (if they have online DRM).
I find steam quite well working, but I don't know if it actualy works against piracy.
Otherwise I utterly hate it when you have to register and activate alot of bullshit on different websites just to play your game.
Otherwise I utterly hate it when you have to register and activate alot of bullshit on different websites just to play your game.
But DRM is different (in more ways than the obvious), DRM is punishing the people who act within the law. Last I checked you don't get arrested for not murdering, so why do you get install limits and self destructing games when you pay?Kwil said:
I have a hard drive full of torrented back ups to the games I buy, in quite a few cases (specifically anything with EA or Activision on the box) the pirated versions work better than the store bought ones. In BF2142's case the pirated version works and the retail one doesn't at all, it tells me I haven't got a genuine copy (yes it is the retail install that tells me this, it's why I started downloading backups in fact).
It's madness, I'm doing something criminal because I get punished for being a customer.
I see where you're coming from, just because Pirates will never stop copying doesn't mean publishers/developers should just give up trying to stop them. But as it stands they're cutting their noses to spite their face.
The games industry needs to step back and look at what they are doing against what they are trying to do, or they will keep giving the advantage to the pirates.
Shamus, reading your article makes it sound like you're not completely up-to-date about how the new battlenet is running. I had lost my warcraft 3 cd's some time ago, but I still had the case + the CD key. The new battlenet download service is already available where you're able to tie keys to accounts, so I decided to do that. Lo and behold, I could download and install the game. So it isn't just DRM activation, there's a good level of service attached.
Obviously this does nothing to your valid argument of "what if blizzard goes broke" or "what if they change personality". I'd prefer to own my games and selling licenses for singleplayer games is invasive. If they do go under, I'll take a gamble with piracy and hope no malicious virus gets installed when I get around their activation.
Obviously this does nothing to your valid argument of "what if blizzard goes broke" or "what if they change personality". I'd prefer to own my games and selling licenses for singleplayer games is invasive. If they do go under, I'll take a gamble with piracy and hope no malicious virus gets installed when I get around their activation.
It's a case of some (in this case many) spoiling it for the rest. Some people do get arrested for not murdering. Then they're convicted for not murdering. Some people do decades of prison for not murdering. Like Ray Krone http://forejustice.org/wc/ray_krone_JD_vol2_i9.htmfix-the-spade said:
Would you prefer there be no system in place to arrest murderers? No, you wouldn't.
Would you prefer there be no system in place to stop piracy? No, you wouldn't.
Is this the right system to stop piracy? Hell no.
Game piracy is a complex market problem with no easy solutions. For small games a no DRM strategy may help to win goodwill and give free exposure, but a corporation like blizzard with an immense market share stands to lose a lot of sales. The people who would have saved up money for a month to be able to buy it. Bam, download, play. The people who would have thought a week or two whether it's worth the money. The people who aren't familiar with starcraft and are unsure if it's worth the buy. Demo? Nah, just download the pirated version.
I wish there was an easy solution. Or a complex effective one.
Great article. I wish to God that all that wasn't true, but this is the world we live in today. The only way to stop trends like this is a massive boycott or two, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen unless people collectively get their heads out of their asses and realize what's going on. I for one thank Mr. Young for such a great eye-opening article.
On the one side, I hate online activation because, think of all the people who still don't own the internet (not many people I know but there still are) and second, when your internet is down there is no fucking way to reinstall the damn game.
On the other side, I understand online activation. Pirating gets a thing more heard of every day and developers get sick of it, they lose their money. (I wouldn't mind if Modern Warfare 2 was pirated by every single human being in the world ^^ fuck you Infinity Ward ^^, anyway that's not the point.)
On the other side, I understand online activation. Pirating gets a thing more heard of every day and developers get sick of it, they lose their money. (I wouldn't mind if Modern Warfare 2 was pirated by every single human being in the world ^^ fuck you Infinity Ward ^^, anyway that's not the point.)
I never said getting rid of DRM would eliminate piracy, in fact in my post I said quite clearly that people will pirate anyway. But punishing legitimate customers for acting within the law using DRM that does nothing to stop pirates is stupid. You don't get thrown in jail for failing to break the law.Kwil said:
This is why I simply buy the games at the store, then download the pirated version. They get my money, I get my game, and keep a clear, guilt free consious. Everyone wins.
I just wish publishers would realize that setting up all this DRM is just turning more people to piracy.
I just wish publishers would realize that setting up all this DRM is just turning more people to piracy.
"They gotta do something against piracy."Shamus Young said:
I read that you are open to suggestions. So what I'm about to do is suggest something so groundbreaking it's only been around in print since the original Ford was alive.
A) Provide customers with the best product possible.
B) Provide your employees with the best treatment possible.
C) Provide this for the lowest cost possible.
Holy shit! You know what happens now?
The people who were going to buy your game anyways will buy it, the people who were on the fence because of either A or C (or maybe B) will buy it, and the people who will pirate no matter what are going to do it no matter what and frankly short of killing them all you can't do a damn thing about that.
The cost of products (overall) has steadily increased while the quality of products (overall) has steadily decreased and during this time the companies have demanded more and more from consumers.
I can think of fewer better ways to create a piracy problem than doing what companies do now.
For a more on-target analogy, liken it to being arrested because you MIGHT murder someone.Capo Taco said:
As much as I laud Steam, every purchase I make on it comes with the knowledge, far in the back of my brain, that one day it might all be taken away from me with a single line typed into a computer on the opposite side of the country. And while I honestly believe that Gabe Newell would sooner give up his master key for all of Valve's snack-food vending machines than simply cut us all off from the games we've paid for, the vagarities of business- especially in the video-games sector- may place the decision beyond his control. It's upsetting to say the least, this idea that what I paid for might no longer be mine.
As the article said, if Microsoft could do it, who couldn't?
