Stalker 2 has... Draconian DRM.
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I won't be.PingoBlack said:
The thing is, it was a game I was quite looking forward to and was planning on purchasing when it came out. They essentially lost a sale right there. It makes me understandably a bit frustrated with the whole situation, especially considering games that don't have DRM (EDIT: Or have a DRM-less option), like the Witcher 2, can still sell quite well (about 1 Million copies well [http://www.wbj.pl/article-55824-the-witcher-2-nearly-1-million-copies-sold.html])... -_-
Let me give you a few reasons why this is a problem:Skopintsev said:
Stalker games are buggy and broken and community patches and mods fix this to a large degree - No longer possible.
Stalker games are sandbox RPGs and benefit massively from mods - No longer possible.
Stalker games crash. Lots. Adding potentially flaky internet to the mix is not going to help.
What about when I want to play the game on my laptop somewhere where there is no internet connection? or when I want to play this singleplayer game when I've maxed my broadband CAP for the month and dont want any internet traffic which would cost me £5 per GB over the limit?
You do know that Steam has this helpful little function called "Offline Mode", right?sapphireofthesea said:
I am aware but steam also has a nice little lock out mode which means if the company goes bust (or changes something that makes me want to leave) you can't use that piece of plastic you bought.BreakfastMan said:
They're idiots.
You know which game tried this? Assassin's Creed 2. You know what happened? Pirates simply played the game, got all the server-based content and then put out a crack that contained all that content and simulated a server connection (all of it offline, naturally). The game could be played normally with no internet access required. I used the crack myself on my copy of AC2 since I was in no mood to endure Ubisoft's retarded DRM schemes.
This is an extra stupid idea for Stalker's developers. They aren't a big studio. They rely on the good will of their fans. And they just kicked their own fans in the nuts. Stalker 2 will likely suffer, but not because of piracy, but because the devs got stupid...
You know which game tried this? Assassin's Creed 2. You know what happened? Pirates simply played the game, got all the server-based content and then put out a crack that contained all that content and simulated a server connection (all of it offline, naturally). The game could be played normally with no internet access required. I used the crack myself on my copy of AC2 since I was in no mood to endure Ubisoft's retarded DRM schemes.
This is an extra stupid idea for Stalker's developers. They aren't a big studio. They rely on the good will of their fans. And they just kicked their own fans in the nuts. Stalker 2 will likely suffer, but not because of piracy, but because the devs got stupid...
If a group of techno-mages manage to work their techno-sorcery to get around this, then I'll gladly pick this game up. When it goes on sale for $5 or less. I can deal with the various other forms of DRM out there, but this always-on internet crap is where I draw the line. If we lived in a world where ISPs could guarantee internet at all times, the market wasn't flooded with shitty routers, and games companies could ensure that their servers wouldn't crash or drop connections, then this shit could fly. But we don't live in that world, so GSC Game World can go fuck themselves.
Some of the DRM these days is just ridiculous, C&C Tiberium Twilight for example, you have to be logged into steam to play it in the first place, then you have to log into the C&C severs to play singleplayer, I lost about 4 hours of playtime because whilst playing I only save at the end of a session and let autosave do the rest for me. But when my connection to the server (not my ISP) dropped, I lost all of that because they couldn't get my autosave back.
DRM is where the console gamers have an advantage, but even then gamers who buy used games are getting penalised by online passes and project 10 dollars. There is some DRM that makes sense (serial keys and registration to play online) but wiping someones saved games because of a fault with the servers ..... not cool!
DRM is where the console gamers have an advantage, but even then gamers who buy used games are getting penalised by online passes and project 10 dollars. There is some DRM that makes sense (serial keys and registration to play online) but wiping someones saved games because of a fault with the servers ..... not cool!
You do know that offline mode is horrendously buggy and often doesn't work, right?BreakfastMan said:
And that doesn't help if the game data is downloaded on the fly because since you aren't online, you can't download it! so you can't play the game.
OT: Damnit, that sucks.
Alas, one less sale. With my poor connection theres no way i want to get booted from the game for a hiccup with my connection.
Yeah but you know, that will be cracked in matter of days and then the honest good willing customer shave to suffer if they have connection issues. Yes, make the life easy for the criminals but god damn you if you dare to treat your customers like honest people... It makes sense to tag everyone as a criminal, because then everyone is in equally shit position... but no wait! The pirates will win this battle once again.Trezu said:
They really need to just stick to the same thing. I mean its a good idea but like someone said before me the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games are very buggy. It kinda seems it might be almost unplayable if you have to download stuff while your playing. But if they perfect that idea and make sure it was not to buggy it probably would not bother me to much (unless my internet becomes crap). But either way I am going to buy it.
It seems like something that could potentially cause trouble for players, but it doesn't sound as "draconian" as some of the DRM out there (at least you can sell the game). And unlike most of the DRM out there, it might actually do its job for a few weeks (unlike regular DRM which doesn't work at all). It's still abusive, mind you.
Actually, he said it was so awful it might actually work. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/7467-Experienced-Points-Impossible-to-beat-DRM]JesterRaiin said:
I am a rare gamer in that I have download limits...rediculous download limits..but yeah Im not very interested in the game anywaySkopintsev said:
oh and of coarse the principle of the thing..blah blah blah "dont want my games at the mercy of a server/would like to play when I want how I want" blah blah that kind of thing
Well, it's kind of a kick in the crotch to people who were waiting for it. After all, take your favourite game of all time, for example.PingoBlack said:
How pissed would you feel if you had a shitty internet connection and then you found that you HAD to have always online internet to play the game?
I'd be more than a little annoyed.
Dear stalker devs, I can understand your need to try and protect your game but the thing is I have always been a faithful supporter of you and a paying customer and this inconvenience just doesn't sit right with me so here's what i'm going to do. As a token of good faith I will still buy your game instead of resorting to [that thing that makes the escapist mods ban you for admitting to be involved with] because there are few enough games out there as it is that provide such a deep level of immersion and I would rather like you guys to keep making more but I will however resort to rip out your proven to fail DRM restrictions using the full might and force of the very same techniques used by the people that you were trying to keep from playing the game in the first place (oh the irony).
Normally when the illegal and easier to access version of a game is much more customer friendly than your expensive offer customers will make the understandable choice of JOINING the numbers of pirates that are hurting your game in the first place (see assassin's creed 2's drm that ended up getting cracked and played offline easily while the legal owners sat with a game they couldn't play because the servers had gone off at some point).
Now knowing the internet, I anticipate some criticism for my post to arrive at some point.
Then again, me admitting anticipation of anyone's criticism might serve as a way to ward off criticism, will be interesting to see.
Normally when the illegal and easier to access version of a game is much more customer friendly than your expensive offer customers will make the understandable choice of JOINING the numbers of pirates that are hurting your game in the first place (see assassin's creed 2's drm that ended up getting cracked and played offline easily while the legal owners sat with a game they couldn't play because the servers had gone off at some point).
Now knowing the internet, I anticipate some criticism for my post to arrive at some point.
Then again, me admitting anticipation of anyone's criticism might serve as a way to ward off criticism, will be interesting to see.
How is it less draconian than other forms of DRM? I mean, sure, other forms of it can be annoying as hell to deal with sometimes, but at least they don't require you to download vital game code as you go, just to play a single player game.plugav said:
While your point is fair, the outcome of this isn't gonna be them stopping piracy. Delaying it, sure, but nothing more.Trezu said:
All this means is that a bunch of people who weren't gonna pirate it to begin with, are either gonna do so out of spite, or not play the game at all.
Either way, there is no money to be gained in this.
This makes me really quite sad, S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 was high up on my list of most looked forward to games and now it's dropped off the bottom, I have never pirated a game and I think it's absolutely ridiculous that I should be punished for the actions of others, as such I don't buy games that use this sort of stupid DRM, sometimes it sucks to have backbone.
DRM in a nutshell:
(Replace ubisoft with DRM, of course)
-50 DKP GSC, I used to respect you.
DRM in a nutshell:
(Replace ubisoft with DRM, of course)
-50 DKP GSC, I used to respect you.