My wish for Civ4:Warlords

[Willem]

Originally posted by 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."

That was tried in the early days of computer games and it wasn't very effective. It was also very annoying. It would be even less effective today with the ability to scan manuals and distribute them online.

[Nikolai]

Oh, how I hated that thing! Like in Civ1, you had to answer a question about tech to get further on after 2000 BC. Although, the question was so easy that I haven't used the manual once for it, and still have only failed twice or something.

[AoA]

God, I remember on the original SimCity, I had to match three symbols and a city name to type in a six digit population. All on a four page, 5 inch by 7 inch doument printed in black ink in like a 8 font on dark magenta paper (back when you couldn't make good photocopies).
And yeah, it wasn't effective even back then, just annoying. I remember actually being happy when they instituted cd-based copy protection. (and look at me complaining about it now)
It would be way too easy to bypass this today with scanning, the 'net and using windowed mode.

Nikolai, I remember that. Yeah, you never needed to actually use the manual to proceed, but essentially a non-invasive system. Don't know if it stopped pirating though.

[Willem]

The D&D games, Pool of Radiance etc. used to have a code wheel with two parts. You had to match up symbols around the edges of each one and then type in the letters that you saw in these little boxes that were cut out on the top circle.

[Robert]

Originally posted by 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

So, you actually play those games without ever installing them? That's pretty awesome!

[player1]

Actaully I also do similar checks before buying the game.
Games are just to expenisve for me (living in poor Balkans) to risk damaging CD every time I play.

So I buy and then "break the EULA". I don't feel guily beacuse develoers got their money from me. And why should I have more hassle then some dude who bought pirated copy? Not fair.

That not anymore moral issue, but simple "legalism" issue.
I don't care about "legalism" issue if they are not tied to moral ones.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by CyberShy
So, you actually play those games without ever installing them? That's pretty awesome!

I didn't say I never installed the games

[AL_DA_GREAT]

getting around these dvd checks is fairly simple

[player1]

Originally posted by AL_DA_GREAT
getting around these dvd checks is fairly simple

Yes it is.
Good way to preserve precious original discs.

[ben04]

I remember when I first played Railroad Tycoon 1. You needed to know the names of the train engines when given a picture to be able to build more than 3 train station when I remember correctly. Anyway in the first game you didn't know them obviously but then you played a game with that limit and during it all engines became available with pictures. So take paper and pen and the game was "cracked". Afterwards I however bought the game anyway as I really appreciated playing it.

[greenday_234]

Is it really that awful to have to put the cd in the drive.

[Urban Ranger]

That's not the point. The point is we legit buyers shouldn't be treated with suspicion.

[Silver14]

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?

As long as you don't advise them to say "Arrrrrrrrrr!" while holding a knife in their teeth in the process of robbing the store.

[CagedCrado]

Why not have a number imprinted within the information of the game (within the code of the game or whatnot) that ends the sequences when the game installed is not unique to fewer than a certain amount of machines (checked every time a multiplayer game is played or if you are connected to the internet while playing, it wouldnt stop non broadband users, but it would stop people using cable, which is most anyone who could download a pirated copy)

If your code is on more than the amount of machines allowed, your game will no longer run until a CD is inserted. After the CD is inserted the game installs a patch that repairs the byte code and gives you the one on the CD. This stops people who pirate the game, allows you to play the game without a CD, and is hard to crack since the game requires most of the anti piracy code (because the numbers chosen to prove this are essential to the games operation)