DRM Thread

[Mamoulian War]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

 

I don't. Steam is just another form of DRM, albeit a slightly more attractive one than most.

 

I agree that Steam is just another form of DRM, but I think it is less attractive than most. Most games of the past few years have still used CD activation keys and I find those to be far more attractive as a form of DRM.

 

 

 

I love the Steam one because when I reformat my computer getting all my Steam games back is uber-easy.

 

It's easier to redownload 50GB of games than to reinstal it from CDs?

[Deraldin]

It's easier to redownload 50GB of games than to reinstal it from CDs?

 

Yes. All you need to do with Steam is right click -> install and that's all the interaction that is required on your part. It takes care of the rest. Of course if you happen to have a 60GB (or lower) that can make it a pain in the butt for the rest of the month.

[Syraxis]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

 

I don't. Steam is just another form of DRM, albeit a slightly more attractive one than most.

 

-Most games don't have activation limits (except for the ones from EA, go figure.)

-Games are tied to account, not machine itself (except for EA, they never learn do they?)

-Offline mode

 

As much as I hate DRM as much as the next guy, high budget PC games without some form of DRM (no matter how much proof is shown to the suits that they just don't work) nowadays is wishful thinking. Sad? Yes but it could always get worse. Worse being subscription based business models such as OnLive (which I still believe is an investing scam.)

[Gorth]

It's easier to redownload 50GB of games than to reinstal it from CDs?

 

Yes. All you need to do with Steam is right click -> install and that's all the interaction that is required on your part. It takes care of the rest. Of course if you happen to have a 60GB (or lower) that can make it a pain in the butt for the rest of the month.

Try half that size and welcome to the rest of the world. It would take 2 months to install your games and no internet for you

[Deraldin]

It's easier to redownload 50GB of games than to reinstal it from CDs?

 

Yes. All you need to do with Steam is right click -> install and that's all the interaction that is required on your part. It takes care of the rest. Of course if you happen to have a 60GB (or lower) that can make it a pain in the butt for the rest of the month.

Try half that size and welcome to the rest of the world. It would take 2 months to install your games and no internet for you

60GB is the max you can get from my current ISP. Any of the lower tier plans come with a lower cap as well as speed. I think it bottoms out at 2GB/month for basic service.

 

Personally, I'm a collector and having a huge list of games is no fun if I don't have the boxes to go with them.

[Purkake]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

 

I don't. Steam is just another form of DRM, albeit a slightly more attractive one than most.

 

I agree that Steam is just another form of DRM, but I think it is less attractive than most. Most games of the past few years have still used CD activation keys and I find those to be far more attractive as a form of DRM.

 

 

 

I love the Steam one because when I reformat my computer getting all my Steam games back is uber-easy.

 

It's easier to redownload 50GB of games than to reinstal it from CDs?

 

For me, totally. Having to dig out the discs and then swap them and have it install for an hour is way more of a hassle than setting Steam to download and doing whatever in the mean time. 50GB would take about 12h with my connection over Steam.

Edited April 11, 2009 by Purkake

[Gorth]

Personally, I'm a collector and having a huge list of games is no fun if I don't have the boxes to go with them.

Same here, even the low cost DVD type "boxes" and printable pdf manuals are preferable to just being a customer number in somebody elses system

[karka]

Steam is only good for indie games. It's really easy to forget which indie games do you own and where(which site) did you buy them when you own lots of them.

[Jaesun]

Did you do that?

 

Cause the photoshoping is horrible, but I won't comment if you did it.

 

Yes I did that. As you can see... I didn't try that hard to make it look more authentic. It was mainly just for lulz.

[alanschu]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

 

I don't. Steam is just another form of DRM, albeit a slightly more attractive one than most.

 

I agree that Steam is just another form of DRM, but I think it is less attractive than most. Most games of the past few years have still used CD activation keys and I find those to be far more attractive as a form of DRM.

 

 

 

I love the Steam one because when I reformat my computer getting all my Steam games back is uber-easy.

 

It's easier to redownload 50GB of games than to reinstal it from CDs?

 

 

Yup. Assuming I haven't misplaced my CDs, I can literally install steam, tell it what games I would like it to download, and go to sleep, go for a run, do anything else really.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

-Most games don't have activation limits

 

Except for the ones that do, including some that have no limits when bought off-the-shelf.

 

-Games are tied to account, not machine itself.

 

Yep, so if anything happens to that account you're ****ed. Nice system if you're willing to put all your eggs in one basket.

 

-Offline mode

 

Hummm... Doesn't the fact that you even need to put this show that it has a DRM issue?

Edited April 11, 2009 by Deadly_Nightshade

[Mamoulian War]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

 

I don't. Steam is just another form of DRM, albeit a slightly more attractive one than most.

 

I agree that Steam is just another form of DRM, but I think it is less attractive than most. Most games of the past few years have still used CD activation keys and I find those to be far more attractive as a form of DRM.

 

 

 

I love the Steam one because when I reformat my computer getting all my Steam games back is uber-easy.

 

It's easier to redownload 50GB of games than to reinstal it from CDs?

 

For me, totally. Having to dig out the discs and then swap them and have it install for an hour is way more of a hassle than setting Steam to download and doing whatever in the mean time. 50GB would take about 12h with my connection over Steam.

 

Installing 50GB worth of games from my DVDs would be max 2 hours...

 

And speaking about misplacing CDs/DVDs??? Seriously I have over 200 of them for 4 different gaming systems, and I have never ever misplaced any... And when i want install or run some old game, I can find anything in 15-20 seconds... All you need is good system for sorting it...

Edited April 11, 2009 by Mamoulian War

[Purkake]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

 

I don't. Steam is just another form of DRM, albeit a slightly more attractive one than most.

 

I agree that Steam is just another form of DRM, but I think it is less attractive than most. Most games of the past few years have still used CD activation keys and I find those to be far more attractive as a form of DRM.

 

 

 

I love the Steam one because when I reformat my computer getting all my Steam games back is uber-easy.

 

It's easier to redownload 50GB of games than to reinstal it from CDs?

 

For me, totally. Having to dig out the discs and then swap them and have it install for an hour is way more of a hassle than setting Steam to download and doing whatever in the mean time. 50GB would take about 12h with my connection over Steam.

 

Installing 50GB worth of games from my DVDs would be max 2 hours...

 

And speaking about misplacing CDs/DVDs??? Seriously I have over 200 of them for 4 different gaming systems, and I have never ever misplaced any... And when i want install or run some old game, I can find anything in 15-20 seconds... All you need is good system for sorting it...

 

The aren't misplaced, I just need to go through the shelves and find it. That's 2 hours of disc swapping and drive spinning instead of 12 hours of sleep/playing another game/surfing the web. Where's your hurry?

[Mamoulian War]

You know, when i want to play a game, i want play right away not to wait for stuff to download and then to play

[Magister Lajciak]

Most games of the past few years have still used CD activation keys and I find those to be far more attractive as a form of DRM.

 

True. But I was comparing it to the limited activation versions of SecuROM, etc.

 

In that case we are in agreement!

[Purkake]

You know, when i want to play a game, i want play right away not to wait for stuff to download and then to play

 

Patience is a virtue. I also have a bunch of stuff always installed.

[Mamoulian War]

Patience is a virtue, but time is money

[Purkake]

Patience is a virtue, but time is money

 

So you don't sleep?

[Mamoulian War]

If it would be possible, i would not

[alanschu]

-Games are tied to account, not machine itself.

 

Yep, so if anything happens to that account you're ****ed. Nice system if you're willing to put all your eggs in one basket.

 

 

Such as?

 

 

 

But keeping your CDs is a nice system if you're willing to put all your eggs in one basket. It would suck if your house burned down.

[alanschu]

Installing 50GB worth of games from my DVDs would be max 2 hours...

 

And speaking about misplacing CDs/DVDs??? Seriously I have over 200 of them for 4 different gaming systems, and I have never ever misplaced any... And when i want install or run some old game, I can find anything in 15-20 seconds... All you need is good system for sorting it...

 

 

Here's a cookie for you. I can (and often do) misplace CDs. Especially when I move and whatnot.

 

 

 

As for "waiting," I don't. I install the games I'm interested in playing right away. It's not like I have to download Left 4 Dead every time I want to play it. I bought Fallout 3 at 2 AM and was playing it when I woke up in the morning.

 

In fact I even had Neverwinter Nights 2 done and beaten before most of the people on this very board even had their copy. Including those who preorder.

Edited April 12, 2009 by alanschu

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Such as?

 

VAC ban, disabled account, hijacking, phishing, etc; The list goes on and on.

 

It would suck if your house burned down.

 

True, but the likelihood of that happening is far less than the likelihood of something happening to a Steam account. Also you could be compensated for a game collection by an insurance company if your house was destroyed - it would be unorthodox but doable.

 

I can (and often do) misplace CDs.

 

I have to agree with Mamoulian War, I cannot recall ever doing that.

 

In fact I even had Neverwinter Nights 2 done and beaten before most of the people on this very board even had their copy. Including those who preorder.

 

Direct2Drive? Steam doesn't sell that.

 

EDIT:

I also like choosing the patches I use as some of them do not play well with mods while others do. Steam forces you to update and has no "roll-back" option.

Edited April 12, 2009 by Deadly_Nightshade

[alanschu]

VAC ban, disabled account, hijacking, phishing, etc; The list goes on and on. down.gif

 

How often do these things happen in situations where it's not justified? But hey, the list goes on and on. Valve isn't complete ****ing tools. Steam wouldn't work if it made a habit of ****ing over valid users.

 

 

True, but the likelihood of that happening is far less than the likelihood of something happening to a Steam account.

 

You know, I bet it probably isn't.

 

 

I have to agree with Mamoulian War, I cannot recall ever doing that.

 

Well whoop-dee-****ing-do. You two are the only people I have ever met that have never misplaced anything in your computer game collections. You must have immaculate computer areas and I bet you get pissed at people that touch your computer collection without your permission. I've been a computer gamer for 26 years now. Even if I had best intentions of keeping my entire library of games intact over that time, I doubt I'd be able to. Without even factoring in the various consoles I've owned over the years. The sheer clutter of it all would have been ridiculous. I'd have to have full rooms dedicated to just the storage of the media.

 

Direct2Drive? Steam doesn't sell that.

 

Yeah it's direct to drive. I started to shift more to digital distribution in general with that comment.

 

 

EDIT:

I also like choosing the patches I use as some of them do not play well with mods while others do. Steam forces you to update and has no "roll-back" option.

 

Good for you. You don't like it. You've made it painfully clear. It must be such a pissoff for you that it's so successful. I accept it as a viable business solution because I do not find it particularly intrusive, and I see it as a moderately effective way to combat piracy. If pirates didn't pirate software it'd be less of an issue. Tell pirates to stop pirating and maybe you'll get a more concerted effort to drop DRM. Ironically you still support it though.

 

If you're going to jump down someone's throat everytime they make a comment that they like something that you hate, then get a ****ing life.

Edited April 12, 2009 by alanschu

[Aristes]

I don't know. In principle, I agree with folks who prefer CD hard copies. In practice, I use STEAM a lot. In fact, I've used both STEAM and Direct2Drive. I prefer STEAM for convenience.

 

The fact is, as long as it's not intrusive, I don't mind either method. In the end, that probably favors online distribution because I can own a game and not have to worry about keeping track of the physical item. On the other hand, I like having the physical item because it has psychological purposes to have my hands on an item I own, even though I don't actually 'own' the software.

 

At the end of the day, I'll lend my vocie to other middle of the road consumers. I don't care who does what as long as my purposes are served. (ie. the game is available to me.) If it's an either/or proposition, however, I went to the online distribution camp a long time ago. I believe my first purchase was Blood Money.

[Kissamies]

Hmm yes, I'm one of those who has hardly ever has misplaced anything. There's one or two CD's that got destroyed, but that is not a lot out of all the games I have. Worst loss I guess was Star Control 2 and that's available for free these days. Steam crashed for me once and somehow scrambled the log in so much that I had to contact their support to unravel it. Luckily they fixed it fast. So I'm one of those who perfer to buy physical copies and consider Steam an annoyance. Tolerable compared to the invasive DRM methods, but still an annoyance.

 

On the other hand, I have been buying some smaller PnP roleplaying sourcebooks on pdf form for some time now. I don't feel like I need physical copies of those. I'm weird.