What are you playing now?

Mamoulian War · May 20, 2011

Disc Check > Online Activation at any time...

WILL THE ALMIGHTY · May 20, 2011

Disc Check > Online Activation at any time...

Hell no, online activation is one time only. With a disk check you can lose the disk and never play again.

Nepenthe · May 20, 2011

Disc Check > Online Activation at any time...

Well, that assumes that you lose your internet connection more often than your discs. I've had 10 minutes of noticeable downtime in the past year, so that reverses the situation for me.

Azdeus · May 20, 2011

Disc Check > Online Activation at any time...

Hell no, online activation is one time only. With a disk check you can lose the disk and never play again.

Though ponder for a minute what happens if the company belly-ups?

Mamoulian War · May 20, 2011

Disc Check > Online Activation at any time...

Hell no, online activation is one time only. With a disk check you can lose the disk and never play again.

Though ponder for a minute what happens if the company belly-ups?

Or someone hacks their activation servers... And man would think, that humankind would learn something from PSN outtage...

Mamoulian War · May 20, 2011

Disc Check > Online Activation at any time...

Well, that assumes that you lose your internet connection more often than your discs. I've had 10 minutes of noticeable downtime in the past year, so that reverses the situation for me.

My first game is from 1987 on ATARI 800XL. I still do know where I have it stored, if I would ever find a need to play that game ever again, and I found that my old ATARI is still working...

Never ever ever lost a disc/manual/whatever you needed to use to be able to play that game... So yes, I am losing my internet connection more often then I do lose this stuff...

All you need to do is have a better system at storing your hobbies, and never ever allow to touch them by your parents/girlfriends/wives/pets/kids/sisters/brothers/aliens... This always worked for me...

Gfted1 · May 20, 2011

What part of "one time activation" factors into companies going belly up, hackers or temporary loss of internet?

Mamoulian War · May 20, 2011

What part of "one time activation" factors into companies going belly up, hackers or temporary loss of internet?

The part, where you install your game into your newly purchased computer and you cant start to play because your game cannot be activated, and therefore is unplayable, due to mentioned reasons?

Or you missed the news how it was with Portal 2 on PS3 where you could play PC version of the game after one time activation, but actually was unable to activate it for 3 weeks after the purchase?

Edited May 20, 2011 by Mamoulian War

Gfted1 · May 20, 2011

What part of "one time activation" factors into companies going belly up, hackers or temporary loss of internet?

The part, where you install your game into your newly purchased computer and you cant start to play because your game cannot be activated, and therefore is unplayable, due to mentioned reasons?

You cant be serious.

Just so I fully understand, you are saying:

1) You just bought a game and before you have the chance to install it the company went belly up so you cant play?

2) You just bought a game and before you could spend the 15 seconds performing the "one time activation" a hacker slipped in there a screwed up the server?

3) You just bought a game but have suffered a temporary service interruption and thus have to wait a few hours to perform your "one time activation"?

You understand that "one time activation" means just that, when you install the game it phones home ONE TIME to activate itself?

Mamoulian War · May 20, 2011

You forget to add

4) You own the game for long time and you purchase new computer and you want to activate it, but cannot due to company went belly up.

5) You own the game for long time and you purchase new computer and you want to activate it, because the company does not support the game anymore.

6) You own the game for long time and you purchase new computer and you want to activate it, but cannot due to the servers being offline for a 3 weeks, due to hackers owning your security measures.

7) You own the game for long time and you reinstalled Windows and you want to activate it, but cannot due to company went belly up.

You own the game for long time and you reinstalled Windows and you want to activate it, because the company does not support the game anymore.

9) You own the game for long time and you reinstalled Windows and you want to activate it, but cannot due to the servers being offline for a 3 weeks, due to hackers owning your security measures.

10) You own the game for long time and you install new drivers for MB/GPU/Whatever but due to bug the DRM thinks, thinks you are using new PC, and you want to activate it, but cannot due to company went belly up.

11) You own the game for long time and you install new drivers for MB/GPU/Whatever but due to bug the DRM thinks, thinks you are using new PC and you want to activate it, because the company does not support the game anymore.

12) You own the game for long time and you install new drivers for MB/GPU/Whatever but due to bug the DRM thinks, thinks you are using new PC and you want to activate it, but cannot due to the servers being offline for a 3 weeks, due to hackers owning your security measures.

And I can continue with more probable reasons as you mentioned above why any phone home activation sucks ass...

Tale · May 20, 2011

You understand that "one time activation" means just that, when you install the game it phones home ONE TIME to activate itself?

Generally this means one-time per install. How else would it know the difference between the first install and the second years later? It's not as if the game is going to change bits on the disc to tell it.

Humanoid · May 20, 2011

Well if it comes to the worst and all the contingencies fall over - well there's the 100% DRM free GoG version on the high seas as a final fallback.

Monte Carlo · May 20, 2011

Rift.

It's very purdy, runs well on my machine but I'm getting hacked to death by everything.

Tale · May 20, 2011

Rift.

It's very purdy, runs well on my machine but I'm getting hacked to death by everything.

Did you ask them to stop? I find that being polite solves a lot of problems.

entrerix · May 20, 2011

disc check>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>steam>>online activation>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>constant connection required>Securom

Morgoth · May 20, 2011

You guys are taking this DRM issue way too serious.

Don't forget to enjoy your games....

HoonDing · May 20, 2011

Don't forget to enjoy your games....

Good one.

entrerix · May 20, 2011

i love my games, doesnt mean i can't have preferences! (though i wont buy any game with more restrictive drm than steam on my scale of awfulness, unless the game is less than $10)

Gfted1 · May 20, 2011

You forget to add...

~SNIP~

13) The company gets hit by a meteor.

I didnt realize we were talking about mindless paranoia. Carry on.

Hurlshort · May 20, 2011

How many companies are out of business today, making activation of their games impossible? I'm not being facetious, I'd like to know if there are any cases out there.

Also, the Sony thing was messed up, but it still only meant three weeks without the game. It went longer than I think anyone could have expected, but the service was never close to being shut down for good.

It's like being paranoid about keeping money in the bank. They are too big to fail today, so it isn't worth stressing about it.

Tale · May 20, 2011

This thread should be retitled "What will you be playing after the Rapture?"

Mamoulian War · May 20, 2011

You forget to add...

~SNIP~

13) The company gets hit by a meteor.

I didnt realize we were talking about mindless paranoia. Carry on.

Actualy 3 of this already happened to me with my Windows XP, so I am speaking from my own experience... Last time when I inserted new SATA drive into my PC, the Windows refused to start unless I reactivated... But comparing customer support of MS with EA is like comparing hotness of Jessica Alba with Kadaffi...

Deraldin · May 21, 2011

Still working through my BG1 Insane SCS Hard Times run. I'm not as hard core as Tigranes is, so I've been doing a fair bit of reloading when things don't go well. I have to say that I have a new appreciation for kobolds since clearing out the mines. I was absolutely destroying the groups on the first couple levels.

On the final level just as I hit the trapped bridge I encountered a couple kobolds. No problem, I'll just have my PC and Imoen take care of them and oh wait, there's a few more of them. Hmm, no matter, I can still do this. Imoen is taking a few hits so I'll bring up Branwen and have her heal Imoen while we keep picking off kobolds. Speaking of which, I could have sworn I'd killed a bunch of them already, so why are there so many still shooting at me?! Damn those Commandos and their fire arrows hurt! Glad I picked up several levels before I came down here. Edwin, get your butt down here and put some of these guys to sleep! Jeez! They keep coming! How many are there?! We can do this. We can do this!

Final count for that one battle was 30 kobolds from my check in the text log. Small groups aren't much challenge anymore, but if you get enough of them, they can still hurt before you get a chance to put them all down when you have to pick them off one by one. Then the Chieftan and his Shaman repeatedly kicked my butt because none of my guys knew how to resist a sleep spell. Finally got past that one when I remembered my oil of fiery burning which roasted both them and their mooks.

Currently roaming the countryside hunting bandits while I prepare to take on their camp. Party is:

PC Ranger 4

Imoen Thief 5

Branwen Cleric 5

Xan Enchanter 4

Khalid Fighter 5

Jaheria Fighter/Druid 4/4

greylord · May 21, 2011

Disc Check > Online Activation at any time...

Hell no, online activation is one time only. With a disk check you can lose the disk and never play again.

With online activation the server can be taken offline, or they decide not to support it, and if your harddrive dies/gets virused/fumox's/getnew computer you can NEVER play again, even if you have a hardcopy of the game (aka, a disk, which considering I still have game disks that are 15 years old, and have outlasted just about any server from that time, I'd say the chances of them cutting off support are higher then me losing a disk).

If you lose a disk it's your choice, and your fault.

If they cut server activation...you have NO choice.

In answer to another question on how many companies are no longer around...even prior to activation some companies had codes and such that were in games during the 80's and 90s, found in books (yep, have those games too). Most are not only not around, but unable to answer any questions for those who may need to know how to run said games or what to do about the codes (if they were so foolish as to lose the books). The only way around that is the PIRATES...who have these things for d/l at various locations from what I understand.

It's highly likely that some or many of the companies requiring onlne activation will go out of business before I lose the game disks and/or are unable to install it.

In another note....

Still playing Space Rangers and Space Rangers 2. The latest version which had NO DRM, no copy protection, which I paid for and bought, and which run without a disk in the drive.

Edited May 21, 2011 by greylord

Deraldin · May 21, 2011

Hurray! I managed to beat the group chilling out in Tazok's tent, but it took a fair bit of cheese to kill them all. I snuck into the tent with my entire party invisible (thank you 24 hour duration!) and then set my cleric up in a blind spot where she could cast spells without triggering the "Kill them!" dialogue. With SCS I installed the tougher end of chapter battles so there were a few extra elite mooks in the room and those bastards will murder you if you let them use their bows.

The cleric summoned a bunch of skeletons, and buffed the whole group with strength of one before silencing the enemy mage. The skeletons were moved into the middle of the enemy group set to go when the turned hostile. Khalid and my PC used oils of speed and the kickoff was a provided with a flamestrike scroll used on the mage. With three ranged guys, the mage died before the flamestrike animation finished. Khalid chunked a hobgoblin elite and the skeletons attacked all the black talon elites and the hobgoblin elites in melee so they would switch to melee weapons and not murder me at range. Khalid charged into the fray from the back while the cleric cast several hold person spells which managed to get the main boss character and two black talons.

After that it was mostly a mop up operation with 2 bows, 2 slings focusing one enemy down at a time before they could finish chewing through my skeletons as Khalid chopped guys up. Even with the cheese, this was a pretty difficult fight that took a couple reloads to get it right. The first couple times I didn't use my potions which meant my PC and Khalid weren't dishing out the damage fast enough to get through the archers before my skeletons were gone.

Now my party is visible again and I still have to make my way back out of the bandit camp which is going to swarm me the moment I leave the tent. Thankfully Xan is still invisible so his 12 HP butt will be able to make it without being one shotted. And the adventure (hopefully) continues!

EDIT: Managed to get out of the camp, but I lost Jaheira and Khalid. Would have been fine if I hadn't turned the AI on for some stupid reason so that Jaheira attacked on of the black talon while waiting for someone to catch up. Khalid was dead either way. Even with haste he can't outrun arrows.

Edited May 21, 2011 by Deraldin

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