An interesting article about piracy

[Tigranes]

Oh, I see. In that case it's really an argument about nothing... Numbers' original point was simply that you generally want games to be more replayable. Since it's even more of a given that you want your game to be fun first, urh.

[213374U]

You're the one who just said games aren't worth replaying twice no matter how fun they are.

No. I said games can be great fun the first time around, not so much in subsequent playthroughs. Maybe I wasn't sufficiently clear, but Tigranes seems to have caught my meaning well enough...

[Llyranor]

Fun = replayability. If the game just has a lot of content unaccessible the first time around, the lack of fun just means that it won't actually get replayed regardless. You can have both, of course.

 

Some games actually get more fun as you replay them, once you get to terms with learning/mastering the gameplay mechanics.

[213374U]

Fun = replayability.

Perhaps. But does that mean that fun ⇔ replayability?

 

 

 

Time for my nap.

[mkreku]

I think Ubisoft has found a way to battle piracy: don't let anyone play your game. Ever. Almost.

 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/02/17/you-maniacs/

 

Now THAT is where I draw my line. I was kind of looking forward to Assassin's Creed 2 too. Damnit.

[Pidesco]

Ubisoft: "Don't buy our game. Please!"

[Deadly_Nightshade]

I was kind of looking forward to Assassin's Creed 2 too. Damnit.

 

Yeah, I was going to pick that up as well... But not now, I'm not touching games with Ubi's DRM.

[Enoch]

Now THAT is where I draw my line.

I reckon that I'm more DRM-tolerant than the vast majority of people who discuss PC games on the internet, but I have to agree with you on that one.

[Tigranes]

What we didn

[Mamoulian War]

way to go... who wants to guess what reason they will publish, when the game will not sell enough copies? I am betting fresh bottle of beer, that they will blame piracy... Oh and another bottle on used sales of Xbox and PS3 versions of the game...

Edited February 17, 2010 by Mamoulian War

[RPGmasterBoo]

This is probably a test to see how an AAA game would sell with this sort of copy protection. If it doesn't (and hopefully it won't), they'll drop it.

 

Its insane.

 

when Bioware/EA’s servers suffering extended maintenance meant all his Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 DLC was deemed unauthorised, which in turn prevented him from loading any savegames which used that DLC.

 

Edited February 17, 2010 by RPGmasterBoo

[Oner]

Sorry Ubi, there are decisions that not even SoT can make up for.

[Tigranes]

when Bioware/EA

[Syraxis]

This is probably a test to see how an AAA game would sell with this sort of copy protection. If it doesn't (and hopefully it won't), they'll drop it.

 

Or they're looking for an excuse to drop development plans for the PC.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

when Bioware/EA’s servers suffering extended maintenance meant all his Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 DLC was deemed unauthorised, which in turn prevented him from loading any savegames which used that DLC.

 

Yeah, all you have to do is turn off something like authorised=1 in an xml file. Still idiotic, but that's only part of the DLC problems isn't it?

 

Yup. All you need to do is tweak a few lines and then the DLC will be activated.

[Asol]

I think the part about making decent games is what's really important. Most people don't have a problem paying for something that they feel is worth their money.

 

Nothing to you specificly but this is one of the justifications that gets under my skin. The idea only the capital A art stuff is worth buying isn't anything more than putting a personal slidey scale on what one is comfortable stealing.

[Bos_hybrid]

Let's just some this up, DRM is bad. Why? Because it never works, it only screws around the legitimate owners of the game. Limited installations, legit user can only install game on a limited amount of configurations, pirate never has this problem. Always online, legit customer gets all problems associated with that, pirate does not.

 

Anyone seeing a pattern here?

 

I have no problem with devs trying to safeguard their products, but it should not be at the expense of those that actually buy their game. The best way to go about it, is to make it more appealing to the consumer to buy the product. Stardock/EABio's way of offering free DLC and restricting patches to legit users is a more effective way to decrease piracy IMO(Yes I know, those too will end up on torrent sites). It's a shame devs have to do this, but that's just the age we live in.

Edited February 18, 2010 by Bos_hybrid

[bhlaab]

This is probably a test to see how an AAA game would sell with this sort of copy protection. If it doesn't (and hopefully it won't), they'll drop it.

 

You know how much money they must have pumped into this idea for all the servers it has to run on?

 

You know how long they kept using Starforce even after its evils became common knowledge?

 

Quit dreaming man, this is for the long haul.

[RPGmasterBoo]

Let's just some this up, DRM is bad. Why? Because it never works, it only screws around the legitimate owners of the game. Limited installations, legit user can only install game on a limited amount of configurations, pirate never has this problem. Always online, legit customer gets all problems associated with that, pirate does not.

 

Anyone seeing a pattern here?

 

I have no problem with devs trying to safeguard their products, but it should not be at the expense of those that actually buy their game. The best way to go about it, is to make it more appealing to the consumer to buy the product. Stardock/EABio's way of offering free DLC and restricting patches to legit users is a more effective way to decrease piracy IMO(Yes I know, those too will end up on torrent sites). It's a shame devs have to do this, but that's just the age we live in.

 

We've covered this. Its not a campaign against piracy (because that's useless) its against the secondhand market.

 

As for DLC's the ME2 stuff was out in the pirated version at day one. Amusing but true.

 

You know how much money they must have pumped into this idea for all the servers it has to run on?

 

You know how long they kept using Starforce even after its evils became common knowledge?

 

Quit dreaming man, this is for the long haul.

 

I don't think so, because its going to fail. That's too much even for them. Anyone interested in their games will just dl a cracked version that goes around the authentication.

 

Not that I care all that much, the last Ubisoft game I bought was IL2: Sturmovik ages ago.

[Tigranes]

Starforce is a great example, when everyone started talking about how moronic it was it was eventually mostly phased out.

[RPGmasterBoo]

Yeah, starforce is a case of clever boycott and a disinformation campaign by the warez crowd. It caused problems occasionally with people's drives but when it worked it wasn't much of a hassle.

 

Although those guys were **** and had it coming. They published a direct torrent link on their forum for a game that refused to use their copy protection.

[Bos_hybrid]

Its not a campaign against piracy (because that's useless) its against the secondhand market.

 

Really? No game retailers here take PC games as trade-in. I would also say that the 2nd hand market is more a console problem.

 

As for DLC's the ME2 stuff was out in the pirated version at day one. Amusing but true.

 

I know, but it's not really amusing. Same happened with Stardocks patches.

[Mamoulian War]

Its not a campaign against piracy (because that's useless) its against the secondhand market.

 

Really? No game retailers here take PC games as trade-in. I would also say that the 2nd hand market is more a console problem.

 

 

They do not want that you sell their 4 hour long game to your friend for 20 bucks, they want your friend to buy that game new for 50 bucks... 2nd hand market does not need to have a middle man...

[RPGmasterBoo]

Its not a campaign against piracy (because that's useless) its against the secondhand market.

 

Really? No game retailers here take PC games as trade-in. I would also say that the 2nd hand market is more a console problem.

 

As for DLC's the ME2 stuff was out in the pirated version at day one. Amusing but true.

 

I know, but it's not really amusing. Same happened with Stardocks patches.

 

There is no other rational explanation for it. Not only does it not stop pirates, it also makes their version of the game more enjoyable. That's like doing them a favor.

[Hurlshort]

Wasn't there some research out there that showed second hand sales actually increase the sales of new games?