Is copy protection fair?

[Keygen]

Heh, double post. Haven't seen that for a while

[Keygen]

Originally posted by Adagio

There have been 'many' successful games with little to none copy protection, it seems like the best way to stop piracy is by making great games, not by making it a pain in the a** to start the game

Isn't that true?

Good games will always sell big time cause people like to spent money on worthy things.

Perhaps if publishers would drop the prises would increase their sells and reduce piracy, instead of punishing legitimate user with the illusion they're actually protecting their investment

[Solver]

A much more effective solution to piracy would probably be scaling prices regionally. If a game costs 50$ in the US, it costs 50$ everywhere. Which, in Eastern Europe, is easily the equivalent of - at least - 200$ in he US. Then again, I think that should hold true for all software, not just games. Microsoft got the idea right by selling Windows & Office very cheap in some Asian countries, but for some reason, this whole concept stays limited to those countries.

[Common Sensei]

Originally posted by Adagio
There's been plenty of research on this, and AFAIK all of them showed that protecting games only has little influence on sales
There have been 'many' successful games with little to none copy protection, it seems like the best way to stop piracy is by making great games, not by making it a pain in the a** to start the game

Plenty? The only research that I've ever seen is done by the software companies and those overstate the damage. Could you point to research that states the opposite? And could you also honestly say that those sources are also unbiased?

What tremendously successful game in recent memory has been devoid of copy protection?

[Solver]

What tremendously successful game in recent memory has been devoid of copy protection?

GalCiv2 + Dark Avatar are successful, winning numerous awards, and have no copy protection.

Half-Life 2, one of the most successful games ever, had its CD check removed in an early update.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Common Sensei
Plenty? The only research that I've ever seen is done by the software companies and those overstate the damage. Could you point to research that states the opposite? And could you also honestly say that those sources are also unbiased?

Sorry, don't have any links, but you could try a google search on the words piracy sales research

And when looking at the music business there has been several examples where downloading has helped the artist. Who hasn't heard about stories about some completely unknown artist, who's cd becomes available for download a long time before the cd is in stores, but still managed to become successful?

And since it's easier to copy a music cd than a game (not to mention that it's faster to download music than games), you'd imagine that piracy would be much harder on the music industry

And for successful games with little copy protection you could just look at the games Solver mentioned

[patcon]

I think this thread may be moot. I have a legal copy of Warlords and I got used to having the CD in the drive whenever I wanted to play. But just recently I was playing Warlords on my laptop and glanced over and saw my CD sitting on my desktop. (my real desktop, not my virtual computer desktop) The game was running without the CD in the computer! And it wasn't a fluke, it's been doing that since.

[Arrian]

Odd. I cannot play Warlords w/o my CD.

In any event:

Copy protection in general
CD check
Freeloaders who make copy protection necessary

-Arrian

[Keygen]

Originally posted by Common Sensei

Plenty? The only research that I've ever seen is done by the software companies and those overstate the damage. Could you point to research that states the opposite? And could you also honestly say that those sources are also unbiased?

There are plenty of research done from non-profit organizations or for governmental agencies all over the world referring to computer software piracy in general.

They indicate that there is a trend that piracy is decreasing in developed countries while in developing countries remains high or even increases.

That is a result, in my personal opinion, of a combination of attitude, anti-piracy campaigns (or lack of), income and efficient (or not) law enforcement. It has nothing to do with copy protection techniques at list nowadays.

[Common Sensei]

Originally posted by Arrian
Odd. I cannot play Warlords w/o my CD.

In any event:

Copy protection in general
CD check
Freeloaders who make copy protection necessary

-Arrian

With clever use of only two emoticons, Arrian has also succinctly summarized my feelings on the matter.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Solver
Well, it is a necessary evil of sorts.

No, it's a completely unnecessary evil. It does absolutely nothing to stop piracy.

[Solver]

"Absolutely nothing" is a somewhat strong assertion. Like I said, I have no doubt that it's pretty ineffective and only stops some piracy, but it does stop some. Mostly of the casual type, where you'd buy a game and then install it on your friend's PC - won't work because it won't run there without the CD.

I have no research to cite to guess how much this may be, it's probably just a few percent, but it does stop a small amount of piracy.

[Keygen]

Copy protection systems might also annoying a (very) small amount of people in such extend to practically forcing them into choosing piracy instead of legitimate copies. They might think what's the point of buying it if they have to break it anyway. Very unusual but some people might actually think that way.

Hey, don't look at me that way, it ain't me

[Xorbon]

CD copy protection and CD checks reduce one type of piracy while encouraging another type. Casual players who would otherwise make copies for their friends and family have a tougher time doing so, so that type of piracy gets reduced. At the same time, people who are annoyed at not being able to make a backup copy, or at being forced to insert the disk every time they play a game, are forced into piracy to find a CD crack to get around this. The question is, which effect is bigger?

Personally, I'd prefer it if companies would do more positive piracy discouragement rather than negative piracy "protection". Peripherals like good quality user manuals and quick reference fold-outs are a couple of examples. They won't stop piracy, but they will encourage people to buy a legitimate copy and not be punished with anti-piracy software.

[powerplayer]

Myself and everyone I know personally who plays Warlords bought the game, CIV IV and Warlords. If there wasn't a copy protection I am sure some would have offered me and others a copy.

You may say there are so many cracks and hacks around. But I hate cheats and hacks and i am not informed.

So I believe copy protections reduce illegal copies.