My wish for Civ4:Warlords

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Saldrin
If you really think about it, majority of the sales of Civ4 are basically done.

Not nearly, it's still in the sales top 5, which means it's still selling like hotcakes. And the price hasn't even dropped yet. A lot of people (including me, for most games) don't buy games until they drop below a certan price. It's still easily got 6 months of life in it, and by the XP will be out.

[Overcast32]

Originally posted by AoA

Evil Evil MS doesn't ask me to prove the program is bought by me at every use, why should Civ4. MS Office sure cost a lot more money than Civ4 and it gets a lot more use than Civ4 (and I would imagine that may even include teenage boys who ned to type for school)

Good point - how many people would be irritated if each time you booted Windows you had to insert the CD?

I can't stand having to put the original CD in each dang time I play. Even with good care - they still will get scratched over time, it's inevitable. 98% of the software I run doesn't need a CD each time I start it up anymore.

The best mix of copy protection and Customer ease of use products I find are those that only require the CD for expansion installs, updates, etc..

Maybe Firaxis and some others could just add it to the code to ask for the CD every now and then, instead of each time the game's started. I tend to jump between 3-4 games at a time. I might go homw tonight and play Civ4 for an hour or two and then maybe switch off to another game. I really like being able to just run apps without digging for a CD each and every time.

At the same time, I realize how many people will just copy a game and run it without ever buying it at all. So I see the need for some sort of way to regulate copying, but the problem is - it's really a pain for the people who buy the games. For the hacking community it's just another game to crack... I really think they enjoy cracking games more than actually playing them...

Sony's the worst though - their rootkits and other shady tactics used to "protect" their content. I've had it with Sony and their BS - I'm getting ready to buy a car Stereo and guess what - in spite of the fact that Sony has the best deal on a car stereo out there, I''m buying Pioneer... I even canceled my Everquest subscription because of the way that company acts.

Firaxis isn't too bad though - you can start the game and put the CD up again, they don't require it's in the whole time you are playing. Simple as it sounds, that is a selling point for me... They give me the impression that they want to keep things easy for the comsumers, but still protect their products.. EA Games is like that too.

See one issue i've always had is this - my wife and myself both play Video games, technically the license agreements state I need a copy for each of us, but I'm sorry - I'm just not buying two copies of games anymore so we can both play. It would be like buying 4 DVD's of a movie so you, your spouse and 2 kids can watch it. ummmm, right - I can see people doing that!! lol

So the ability to take the CD out and start the game on the wife's PC, will guarantee my returns as a customer. It's why we buy every Civ game and Sims expansion without batting an eye - cause we know we can both play them.

[AoA]

Those of us who have laptops though like to be mobile and not have to carry whatever cd's we feel we might need. I still only play SMAC instead of SMACX mainly because whenever I want to play, SMAC is ready, no muss, no fuss.
GalCiv2 will get a lot more playtime for me as it boots without checking to see if I own it. And I shouldn't have to decide whether I want to play Civ4, Civ3, Civ3Conquests, RoN, RoN:T&P, the new RoN, SMACX, or Scrabble before I leave the house.
There must be another way.

overcast, my wife only gets to play the games that I'm done with (since I need to use the only copy of the disc)

I should start down the dark path and go and get the workaround. I even have it bookmarked just in case.
And hey while I'm there maybe I can grab some other stuff. Since I had to search for the site anyway, I can now see all the goodies I'm missing out on.

Oh, if only the big companies didn't make me have to look to the black market.

[Modo44]

For me, the first thing to do after installing any game is patching it, removing any copy protection software malware it might have installed without asking for my permission, and putting a no-cd crack over the top. Why would I want to be bothered swapping CDs/DVDs every time I want to play a different game? I bought the frigging game already, now would the publisher please get off my back so I can play it.

Too bad most developers are not publishers. Guess what, IDSoftware games do not check for the CD/DVD...

/rant

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Well, there is something I could tell you, but it won't be wise for me to do so. Maybe Yin can do that.

Yeah, thanks for the clarification.

[Adagio]

I never buy games, before I'm 100% sure that I can run it without having the CD/DVD in the drive, so most of the games I have, I've never actually tested if the cd's work

[Willem]

Originally posted by AoA

Evil Evil MS doesn't ask me to prove the program is bought by me at every use, why should Civ4.

Good thing for me since mine is a pirate copy given to me awhile back. My Civ 4 is bought and paid for though. Coincidence, I think not.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Willem


Good thing for me since mine is a pirate copy given to me awhile back. My Civ 4 is bought and paid for though. Coincidence, I think not.

I wouldn't go around publicly admitting to crimes, Mr. Joe Offinga of Canada

[Willem]

Originally posted by LordShiva


I wouldn't go around publicly admitting to crimes, Mr. Joe Offinga of Canada

Hey, I did say it was given to me. Besides, it's a copy of 2000 and I was in school at the time. Not alot of money left over for necessary software, especially since I had just purchased a brand new computer. If I find a need to upgrade now, I'll probably go out and buy it. As a musician/songwriter, I'm sympathetic to the whole copyright issue overall.

PS: In fact just this last summer, I went out and bought several legal versions of pirate games that my brother had given me. Ironically, I haven't even played them yet.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by CyberShy
So, it's against the Poly-house rules to explain how pirate software, because it's illegal.
But it is allowed to explain how to rob a store?

Not pirate (this is a bad word itself) software, but what to do when the CD protection annoys you.

[Urban Ranger]

Now back on topic.

The one thing I really want them to include is the ability to build canals.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Overcast32
At the same time, I realize how many people will just copy a game and run it without ever buying it at all.

Not true, just ask Brad (Wardell, of Stardock Systems). They made enough from Galatic Civilization that they could make a sequel. and GalCiv has no copy protection at all.

Brad even wrote a blog entry on JoeUser about the situation.

[fed1943]

I would like something as a strong protection to install,to patch,to upgrade and,let's say,once every 3 months - my goal is just to save the CD or DVD.
Best regards,

[AoA]

UR...how could I have forgotten....

yes, canals CANALS CANALS!!!

I change my wish (especially since I know the first won't happen). I've always liked my idea (natch) to make each consecutive tile in the canal chain to be exponentially more expensive. And let us even just link a city to the shore, like Houston, Texas.

Actually, any kind of terraforming would be nice ala Civ2, 32 turns to turn a mountain into a hill with an Engineer? Totally worth it.

[AoA]

fed1943....a nice idea. How about a warning like we get when installing MS Office before doing the registration? You have X more uses of this program before a CD check. That way you can do it when its convenient and you know you can reset the count before going on a trip. Of course, needing the CD for updates and such is fine.
I guess people could always cheat their way around it and several people could share a CD and pass it back and forth when they need it, but realistically, cracking the program would end up being less work for the end-user in the long run so I wouldn't think there'd be too much sharing.

[patcon]

There is another means of preventing (or at least making difficult) piracy. Use some kind of code check, perhaps not every time, but periodically. Something like, "What is the third word on the second line of page 17 of the user guide?" Have this selected at random and a pirate would have to have a printed copy of the manual. But then people would be complaining, "But this means I have to keep the user guide around."