Poll: Does DRM ever actually affect your purchase?

[Vakz]

Yes, though only Ubisoft so far. I have yet to play AC2, AC Brotherhood, Driver San Fransisco or Heroes VI. I would love to play them, and I would go to the store and buy them all right this instant, had the publisher been any other than Ubisoft with their fucked up DRMs.

Vote with your wallet.

 

[xXGeckoXx]

Often when a company announces that their game will have heavy DRM, always online -requirement or that you need to use Steam or Origin to play it, there are some people that react to this negatively and shout all over the internet and forums that they shall not purchase this product. However, when the release day arrives, a lot of these people (from my experience) go out and purchase the game.

My question is this: When you have had a problem with some form of DRM, has it made you avoid purchasing the game that you were originally going to get?

It does. But distribution systems do more. Currently I just bought sins of a solar empire for the first time (great game). But I have been playing the game about 4 months. With piracy it's always convenient to play a game but not Necessarily to buy it and that is my message about DRM.

It's the reason I did not buy SC2.

 

[Zantos]

The number of times I've been all "Move into new place, call to get internet sorted, 3 weeks?!?! Glad I've still got some single player games. WTF, Rage, anger, wrath, etc." I've become more wary of it. At least until I settle down permanently the always online DRM stuff is a no-go for me.

 

[tzimize]

Often when a company announces that their game will have heavy DRM, always online -requirement or that you need to use Steam or Origin to play it, there are some people that react to this negatively and shout all over the internet and forums that they shall not purchase this product. However, when the release day arrives, a lot of these people (from my experience) go out and purchase the game.

My question is this: When you have had a problem with some form of DRM, has it made you avoid purchasing the game that you were originally going to get?

I preordered Batman: Arkham city for PC on account of my fantastic experience with Arkham Asylum. I was quite pissed that they had GFWL on Arkham Asylum on PC, but I didnt suffer for it much since I purchased it on PS3 as well.

When I started to play Arkham City and until I was done, GFWL and Securom was a constant hassle and annoyance to me, and I decided that no matter what Rocksteady studios does next, I will not buy it. Arkham city had Securom+GFWL in addition to steam. What the fuck.

They have effectively created a bad image with me and put me off buying their future products. Congratulations Rocksteady and your publisher WB, well done. I could have been a faithful fan for YEARS to come.

Likewise I am not buying products from Ubisoft anymore since I hate their Uplay crap and constantly connected DRM.

It amazed me how slow moving some heads in the industry are.

 

[MGlBlaze]

I'm fine with Steam; it's actually a good service and the DRM is un-intrusive enough that I usually don't notice it at all. You even get to play your games offline, though it requires a few steps... that may be the result of a bug because apparently you don't need to do those steps if your computer isn't connected to any network at all.

Ubisoft I am never going to buy any games from again until they clean up their act. The last few assassin's creed games I have bought used on the consoles so that at least Ubisoft themselves don't get the money; I'm more giving the guy I bought it from a partial refund. It's not perfect, but pirating the game would only serve to prove their point.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

Yes, it does. Always online requirement (for single player games), limited number of installs, Origin requirement, or some shady crap that can fuck up my computer (like StarForce) are completely unacceptable for me. There is absolutely no way I'm buying a game that includes any of the aforementioned. I'm a paying fucking customer and I refuse to put up with this, I won't pay to be treated like a criminal.

I almost didn't buy the first Mass Effect because it was supposed to have the first two on my list. Fortunately, the publisher in my country made a deal with EA to use normal disc check instead (they'd have lost a lot of customers otherwise, and they knew it). I only wish more publishers were this enlightened.

 

[Pearwood]

Yeah, the easiest mods to find are no-CD or DRM removal ones. I don't play modern games on the pc though so I can't say anything about internet based ones.

 

[redisforever]

Steam is fine. I love Steam. Because it works perfectly.

Now, when a game has extra DRM, like GFWL, is when I have a problem. Quantum of Solace, good game, but it uses GFWL and if I'm offline, I can't save. WHY?! Not to mention that every time I go to play the game, it tells me I have to update it, or again, I can't save.

Worst though is SecuRom. Look it up.

Guh...

I really hate it, because I have had a problem with it after buying the game from GamersGate, and the serial not working after a while. So, I emailed both SecuRom and GamersGate. This was a few months ago. Nope, no response from SecuRom yet. However, GamersGate quickly gave me a new serial, and I'm happily gaming now.

I refuse to buy DRM'd games now, because I don't want to go through that again.

 

[Suijen]

I don't like it, but it usually does not affect my ability to play the game, with the only exception being Assassin's Creed 2 for the PC which apparently will not work in China.

 

[saucecode]

Definite yes.
I haven't bought a single DRM game ever (unless you count BF3 for 360).
So in recent times i've been playing Minecraft alone. Thats my entire pc gaming experience.
Thanks DRM.
-.-

 

[Kathinka]

most certainly yes.

i fortunately live in a country where downloading games from the internet is perfectly legal and not "pirating".

so i have the option to get pretty much any game for free. the result is that i end up buying only games that in my oppinion truely deserve to be bought.now, with the DRM we have nowadays that's not a whole lot. until rather recently i refused to use steam and avoided it like the plague that it is, until i finally folded because of...empires: total war i think.

it even has gone so far that due to my situation (i travel a lot, i have a secondary residence in another country) i can not play games i legaly own, but i can run downloaded copies just fine. really steam people? really? you don't see how this is retarded and could backfire? yeah...

 

[Denamic]

I wanted BF3 but origin and their shady business practices keeps me away.

Not really otherwise I wouldn't have played some of the games I play on PC (Say what you will but Steam is DRM).

Yeah, but most other kinds of DRM doesn't give you unlimited access to your digital copies at high speed no matter where you are, with minimal intrusion. Most other kinds of DRM also don't give you a browser and IM service built into any game, even games you haven't bought on Steam. And most other kinds of DRM doesn't keep all your games up to date automatically either.

 

[Vrach]

Yes.

I didn't get battlefield 3, i won't be getting Mass Effect 3 or Old Republic because of Origin.

Old Republic has nothing to do with Origin. Even when you buy it via Origin you download the game from a website and play it without ever turning Origin on.

OT: Yeah, intrusive always-on DRM (like Ubisoft's crap) means I don't buy the game.

 

[Kathinka]

Yeah, but most other kinds of DRM doesn't give you unlimited access to your digital copies at high speed no matter where you are, with minimal intrusion.

hah, if only!

when i tried to start my perfectly legal copy of portal two in my second home in germany it wouldn't let me. steam support pretty much told me to fuck off and buy another copy. hell no.

the rest is just shiny extra. so it has a web browser, a shop and some shiny social features that are supposed to distract us from the truth (quite successfully in the case of many people). it's still a very restrictive DRM.

 

[Kathinka]

i fortunately live in a country where downloading games from the internet is perfectly legal and not "pirating".

Sorry to disappoint, but downloading music and movies (and other video programs) is legal - not software and games though (the same goes for my country, we're neighbors).

i don't know about slovenia, but i'm pretty sure about the czech republic. got lectured on it by a law professor in college because i made the mistake of opening the toppic. it was quite technical and boring but it boiled down to this: you can download what you want and there is fuckall they can do about it. as long as it's for your private use at least.

that's why we are on this american piracy-nation list, forgot what it was called, together with countries like malaysia, thailand, PR china and russia xD

 

[Giddi]

I don't mind steam, but after all the problems I had playing my LEGITIMATELY purchased screed 2 and settlers 7, I avoid anything from Ubisoft. That damn player launcher has f**ked me over too many times to count.

Never had an issue with anything else.

 

[x-machina]

Yes, I refuse to purchase any game with ridiculous DRM. That does not mean I won't play it however. If you want to treat me like a criminal, I will act like a criminal.

I don't pirate games off of publishers I respect. Only the companies like EA or Ubisoft. Yep, now a moderator is going to suspend me or something.

EDIT: Would now be the right time to use the word "ironic" properly? A companies attempts to stop me from being an online pirate, actually drive me to to piracy.

 

[Lyri]

Often when a company announces that their game will have heavy DRM, always online -requirement or that you need to use Steam or Origin to play it, there are some people that react to this negatively and shout all over the internet and forums that they shall not purchase this product. However, when the release day arrives, a lot of these people (from my experience) go out and purchase the game.

My question is this: When you have had a problem with some form of DRM, has it made you avoid purchasing the game that you were originally going to get?

I want Arkham City but I'm on the fence because of Games for Windows live being a whore.

I had a crappy experience with it in DoW2 and in Batman: Arkham Asylum too, I spent ages trying to make an account, sign into it, update it.
It kept back tracking me constantly for about 2 hours after creating and account and adding it to my game, apparently.

 

[Doctor Panda]

Same. May have to give mass effect 3 a miss because for the love of god i do not need anymore background processes running on this thing. Or EA knowing anything more about me. Shame too, I really wanted that game. I've already given Assassin's Creed 2 a miss. Diablo III i can probably handle because at least it adds SOMETHING to the experience.

 

[Yopaz]

I voted no, but the answer is actually 'maybe'. I have Steam. I have Origin. I have GFWL. I don't care about that. I've heard some bad things about SecuROM making parts of your computer not work, so I might be a bit hesitant about that. But my computer is pretty much only offline during power outages, so I'm not that concerned about always on DRM.

This guy got the right of it in my case. My computer is never offline, my internet is really stable and my computer is powerful enough to run virus scans while playing new games so DRM doesn't really affect me.

However if someone tells me a game is released without DLC and I have been considering to get it I will buy it simply because it's released without DLC.. However the last time I did that I pre-ordered the game and I ended up with a faulty disc so thanks a lot...