DRM Thread

[Magister Lajciak]

The perfect DRM would have a good balance between discouraging piracy without punishing the paying customer or tampering with their property. I have no problem with Mass Effect calling home when I install it. I dislike the fact that when I switch out my hardware, it will call home again and again and eventually tell me I can

[Slowtrain]

The reason is that I also like playing very old games and online activation servers will not be here forever.

 

Versus bugs that make your games unplayable right ot of the box.

 

Its interesting how some gamers seem to have no problem buying a new game and letting it sit on the shelf for three months while they wait for a patch, but get all agitated at the thought that DRM might make their game unplayable in 3 years. Not you ML, just some gamers in general.

[Hurlshort]

Most older games that are worth playing won't run well on new OS's anyways. Thankfully there are a few services out there that work to make older titles playable, and they are very well priced. Gametap and Good Old Games are they biggest I know of.

 

My King's Quest 1-4 boxset is simply gathering dust, it isn't playable with or without DRM.

[karka]

Is DosBox useless as well?

[Hurlshort]

Is DosBox useless as well?

 

Aren't a lot of dosbox compatible games free for download now?

 

Dosbox is far from perfect though. I've tried to get Xcom 3 to run through it a few times and I can't get the sound to work.

[Pidesco]

Is DosBox useless as well?

 

Aren't a lot of dosbox compatible games free for download now?

 

Dosbox is far from perfect though. I've tried to get Xcom 3 to run through it a few times and I can't get the sound to work.

 

VDMS might help.

[Hurlshort]

Is DosBox useless as well?

 

Aren't a lot of dosbox compatible games free for download now?

 

Dosbox is far from perfect though. I've tried to get Xcom 3 to run through it a few times and I can't get the sound to work.

 

VDMS might help.

 

Thanks for that. I'm sure if I try hard enough, I can get any of my old games to run, but my point is old software is going to have compatibility problems with or without DRM.

 

There are ways around DRM as well. I've already stated that I am a huge supporter of petitioning for better customer service from EA regarding DRM. For example, when I re-install Windows, I need to call and get a new code. It takes some time, but it's not all that difficult. If EA had a similar set up, I think that would be fantastic.

[Strix]

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Aren't a lot of dosbox compatible games free for download now?

 

Yeah, "abandonware" for DOSBox is plentiful.

[Maria Caliban]

Versus bugs that make your games unplayable right ot of the box.

 

Its interesting how some gamers seem to have no problem buying a new game and letting it sit on the shelf for three months while they wait for a patch, but get all agitated at the thought that DRM might make their game unplayable in 3 years. Not you ML, just some gamers in general.

 

'Some' gamers 'in general' get 'all agitated.' Yes, one post on the matter means I'm agitated.

 

DRM will never make any game, music, or movie I buy unplayable.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Maria Caliban

[Hell Kitty]

^You must have missed all the previous threads about DRM if you think CG is referring to you. That, or you're so vain, I'll bet you'll assume every post is about you, don't you? Don't you?

[Maria Caliban]

^You must have missed all the previous threads about DRM if you think CG is referring to you. That, or you're so vain, I'll bet you'll assume every post is about you, don't you? Don't you?

 

Now I have that damn song in my head.

 

Cool word of the day: Earworm.

[Gorth]

I read that as Earthworm first

 

Now I have to go and listen to some Carly Simon.

 

Yes, some people don't care and never notice DRM's. I do. I hate them. I hate them passionately. I hate that they (DRM implementations) sometimes get in the way of my enjoyment of a game. I hate that I have to behave as a criminal to enjoy something I paid for, because a piece of software simply refuses to work, depending on which make and model of optical drive or virtual drives you use on your system.

 

If it had a big black and yellow striped sticker with a skull on the box warning you that this software may contain traces of DRM and should not be used by people with allergies to such, then it might be easier to swallow

[Magister Lajciak]

The reason is that I also like playing very old games and online activation servers will not be here forever.

 

Versus bugs that make your games unplayable right ot of the box.

 

Bugs are a problem too, but there is a key difference. Draconian DRM (DDRM), such as online activation and limited installs, makes the game defective by design whereas bugs make it defective unintentionally. There is an easy solution to the draconian DRM problem - don't include it with the game and only include Friendly DRM (FDRM) that won't make the game expire (CD-keys, disk-checks, or perhaps artificial degradation of gameplay of pirated copies...). Bugs, however, are much more difficult to remove, because they require a lot of playtesting and coding. Adding DDRM, if anything, might or might not add new bugs, but it certainly won't remove them.

 

On that matter, I don't really know of many games at all that are so buggy that they are unplayable, but sure, I agree that more emphasis on playtesting and bug removal would be welcome. Perhaps part of the money saved for not licensing DDRM systems could be spent on removing some bugs?

[Humodour]

Man, I love the Internet.

 

Judging by the tone of customers, online retailers, news articles, forum threads, and even various game company heads, DRM has about as much of a future as the Australian Internet censorship scheme.

 

And, interestingly, the case against DRM is for many of the same seasons people oppose the Internet filter.

[Meshugger]

DRM will never make any game, music, or movie I buy unplayable.

 

What happens if the company, that hold the DRM-licenses, go bust? Or if the studio/distributor/vendor as well?

 

This applies to any mp3, movie or game that you have bought.

[Hurlshort]

DRM will never make any game, music, or movie I buy unplayable.

 

What happens if the company, that hold the DRM-licenses, go bust? Or if the studio/distributor/vendor as well?

 

This applies to any mp3, movie or game that you have bought.

 

I'm not answering for Caliban, but so what if they do? These things happen. I'm not going to fret about the 99 cents I spent on a song, or the $20 I spent on a movie, or even the $50 I spent on the game. Sure, if the companies tank and make my stuff unusable after a month, I'll be sore about it. But when has that ever happened? Usually any company that goes under creates a business plan that gives some support for at least a few months after the collapse.

 

I really don't expect the media I purchase to last forever. And I'm ok with that. The good stuff will be remastered for new media, and there is always new stuff coming out anyways.

[Deraldin]

Prince of Persia PC DRM Free apparently.

 

Thought some people here might be interested in this news.

[Meshugger]

DRM will never make any game, music, or movie I buy unplayable.

 

What happens if the company, that hold the DRM-licenses, go bust? Or if the studio/distributor/vendor as well?

 

This applies to any mp3, movie or game that you have bought.

 

I'm not answering for Caliban, but so what if they do? These things happen. I'm not going to fret about the 99 cents I spent on a song, or the $20 I spent on a movie, or even the $50 I spent on the game. Sure, if the companies tank and make my stuff unusable after a month, I'll be sore about it. But when has that ever happened? Usually any company that goes under creates a business plan that gives some support for at least a few months after the collapse.

 

I really don't expect the media I purchase to last forever. And I'm ok with that. The good stuff will be remastered for new media, and there is always new stuff coming out anyways.

 

[scenario]Lets say that you bought the original 'White Album'-LP by the Beatles back in the '60. Five years later, you couldn't listen to it because of DRM. Fair and square?[/scenario]

 

I obviously removed the part of "Respecting personal property", as in actually owning the product that i buy.

[Nick_i_am]

Actually, you don't own it. That's the point.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

And, interestingly, the case against DRM is for many of the same seasons people oppose the Internet filter.

 

Sure, both things are ineffective and idiotic.

[SteveThaiBinh]

It looks like the DRM regime around Spore has been relaxed somewhat - you can now install it on as many machines as you like sequentially, but only on five at any one time.

 

I assume this is the result of a rethink - if they were planning on doing this all along, why on earth wouldn't they announce it right at the start? I guess they have until their next big release to put together a sustainable and defensible approach to DRM.

[wesley2]

Seems like they may have just been testing the waters here too..just seeing what kind of DRM would elicit what kind of reactions out of consumers. Now they know what isn't going to work for US consumers, so the next release I'm guessing won't make the same mistakes.

[aries101]

Mass Effect for PC + Spore + Dead Space is out on Steam now. Just wanted to let you know. Alas, for the moment, only availabe to those in US+ CAN

[skuld1]

Prince of Persia PC DRM Free apparently.

 

Thought some people here might be interested in this news.

 

I found it quite interesting that they did this. Looking at it from one perspective, Ubisoft basically called the bluff of many pirates ("We only pirate because of the eeeeevil DRM")... and judging from a few torrent tracker sites I looked at, the pirates were basically proven to be full of sh*t.