The New Era of copy protection on PC games.

[Kinjiru]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Direct2Drive is hopefully the wave of the future... the online distribution model allows for a more effective installation model, while having no CD check, of course.

I agree that digital distribution is the way of the future. It is better for the two most important links in the supply chain - the developer retains a larger portion of the sale price, the consumer get the product without the need to worry about the physical media. Of course, it hurts the retail stores and, to a lesser extent, big time publishers.

However, D2D is a crap service. They scramble DLLs, which means several things: a) it's windows only b) consumers are dependant upon the D2D developers to get patches, not the product developers c) D2D does not have a policy of unlimited access to your purchased materials.

Stardock and Steam are much, much better services.

[Urban Ranger]

Only idiots would put copy protection on their games. This just drives away customers and/or make them into pirates.

[snoopy369]

D2D has to be the patch source regardless, because they put their own copy protection in it (or more specifically, remove the copy protection of the CD check and put in the activemark stuff). I'm not sure what "Scramble DLLs" means, but at least for Civ4 this was not true; the Civ4 installation was identical to any other Civ4 installation except for the EXE file itself, every DLL (such as the core game dll) was identical.

They do allow unlimited access, as well; you get several installations of the product, and then simply have to call them to get more. Obviously you can't install it unlimitedly in the current environment, because that would be called free piracy. The "A few installs and then a phone call" is a very reasonable compromise, because a) how often do most people install their products and b) the option to continue installing with a simple phone call makes it quite easy if you do have problems.

Expecting them to have no copy protection at all is idiotic; not only would no publisher go with them in that case, but it is simply not the way things work right now. For better or for worse, copy protection is a fact of life. Hopefully it will go away eventually, but I'm of the opinion that the pirates are at fault for its existence; it may not be a good solution to piracy, but it is the best solution anyone's come up with. No or virtually no piracy would mean virtually no copy protection; sadly there are far too many pirates for that ever to happen.

[Kuciwalker]

Stardock has no copy protection.

[asleepathewheel]

Bring back the game manual quiz at start up



though, these days, with the 4 page manuals, the answer would probably be the name of a graphical artist or somesuch.

[Kloreep]

Stardock.

Haven't had any experience with Steam. They allow unlimited installs, correct? But I think I read you have to be connected to the internet for its own check before you play?

[El_Cid]

I can see the problem with getting used to using a cracked game even if you do own the original, after a while it must get tempting to just not bother getting the original?

So just by making you consider this approach the software companies are helping perpetuate pirate activity, and in effect helping themselves loose sales in some cases.

So far I have decided I can live without buying/playing Bioshock and Kingdoms, but I'm not sure what I will do if these types of copyprotection becomes widespread. And one of my concerns is that it may well come to that.

How long ago did Starforce come on the scene? 5 years or so? I'm not sure exactly?

In terms of mainstream PC gaming I've been getting a growing feeling these last few years that maybe, maybe there is a semi-deliberate attempt to try to make PC gamers move to consoles? Just a hunch really, and the more I see these kind of copy protection schemes being used, the more it combines with the general malaise of current PC gaming(very buggy/unfinished games as the norm etc) to add to that impression.

Still I'm not entirely sure D2D(or versions of the same type of technology) is all about enpowering the gamer. It certainly could be, but many of the models the industry uses can be as intrusive and annoying as the nasty copy protection.

For example I don't want to have to remain online to play a game, especialy a single player game. Nor do I want a limited license that controls how I use the software when compared to a normal CD/DVD shop bought version. I want to pay for a game and then play it as and when I want, for as long as I remain alive to play it, then pass it on to my kids etc. I give you your money - you give me your game, like most trade transactions infact.

Maybe its the overview on the global games market that is causing this big brother approach? I can see some executives getting excited about the potential growth in the chinese market for example, then realising it's a very illegal market for the most part, so they are coming up with as many schemes as possible to tackle that problem, and are using us all to perfect their techniques? Who can say, but I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of thinking was doing the rounds in the bigger game publishers.

Like some have said here, I think I'll just vote with my feet. If a game has nasty copy protection i'll not get the game. If it later gets removed in a patch or something(like happend with X3) then i'll consider getting the game then. It may of course be available for much cheaper by then - so maybe if enough people do this kind of thing we could see the end of all this nasty copy protection?

And pigs might fly!

[Adagio]

Originally posted by El_Cid
I can see the problem with getting used to using a cracked game even if you do own the original, after a while it must get tempting to just not bother getting the original?

Well... games with MP has an advantage here. If they make sure that it's difficult (or impossible) to play MP, they will get better sales. A lot of people wants to play online, so if they have to dish out some money to do that, they probably will. There are more people who say "Go buy the game, so I can kick your ass online", than there are people saying "Go buy this game, the SP mode is awesome"

Wont work on me though, as I'm a SP person
Last game I bought went like this:
Download, install, try, buy, finish SP mode, then discover that the game actually has a MP mode (didn't know that before I bought the game, but now I'm playing online a few times a week)

[Quillan]

Originally posted by El_Cid
In terms of mainstream PC gaming I've been getting a growing feeling these last few years that maybe, maybe there is a semi-deliberate attempt to try to make PC gamers move to consoles? Just a hunch really, and the more I see these kind of copy protection schemes being used, the more it combines with the general malaise of current PC gaming(very buggy/unfinished games as the norm etc) to add to that impression.

I'm not sure there's an organized attempt to push things in that direction, but I am quite certain most of the developers would be happy if it happened. It has to be far easier (and cheaper!) to develop a game for a console with standardized hardware than for a PC which could literally have millions of possible combinations of hardware and software to cause conflicts. Combine easier and cheaper development with the typical higher sale price and sale volume of console games and it's clear consoles are where the real money is made.

I wonder if the PC will ever grow so powerful that it outstrips the ability of the game to push the limits of technology. If that happened, or if PC gaming became as mainstream as console gaming has become now, then I could see the situation changing. Until then, I don't.

If it can be produced by technology, it can be copied by technology. The power of personal tech has drastically increased in the last 20 years, making piracy of games, music, and movies easier than ever. Irritating the consumer is going to do nothing to stop it. There has to be another solution to the problem, but I do not know what it is.

[Proteus_MST]

I have no doubt about the preferred licensing scheme of the software industry as well as the music industry.

It would be "one person, one license" and would involve that you are forced to stay cnnected to some biometric scanning device while you play the game, to ensure that it is really you that plays the game and not some other person that doesn´t own the license.

In terms of music it could even go a step further to:
"Pay for what you hear"
and would involve a chip implanted into your auditory cortex.
It would scan for everything you hear and every time you hear a song of an artist that is listed by GEMA (or RIAA) it would automatically take al the steps necessary to transfer finds from your account to Gema/RIAA as royalties for the song you heard

[ColdWizard]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
I hate that so much! They used to let us fast forward through the old warning so we could get to the good stuff right away rather then having to sit and wait there until the 'protection' stuff is finished.

It's even more fun when they show it first in english and then in french. Seeing it in english is no deterrent but seeing it in french sure set me straight

If I weren't so lazy I'd make copies of those dvds just out of spite.

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Bkeela
If this is the way the industry is going, I simply won't buy games. I don't think I'm alone.

I'll buy the game, but I'm headed to google immediately afterwards. When I got my latest GFX card it came with two games, both were starforced. I might eventually download them but they don't seem too interesting at the moment.

[Whoha]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Direct2Drive is hopefully the wave of the future... the online distribution model allows for a more effective installation model, while having no CD check, of course.

Do some research before you get something from them, they've been known to hose games with their copy protection.

Originally posted by Adagio
Because of all the problems there is with protection, I have decided to NEVER buy a game, that I haven't tried the full version of. And based on what I've seen mentioned in other places, it seems like I'm not the only one. If a company makes a game that can't be cracked, then they've made a game I'll NEVER buy

The online master server ID stuff such as the model Tribes 2 used were both unobstrusive and extremely difficult to crack. I don't think Tribes 2 was ever cracked because even after it was made free to download, and the protection against multiple CD keys logging on to the master at the same time was removed people were still asking for keys.

[Bkeela]

I think it is ethical to download pirate copies to avoid copy protection viruses and for the sheer convenience providing one buys the original. But is it ethical to wait for the game to hit the bargain bin, years after the original release?

[Proteus_MST]

As ethical as deliberately buying a faster processor (or other piece of computer equuipment) not at the time when it comes out (and stll costs lot of money) but only after there is already a new generation available (and the prices for equipment of the older generation have dropped considerably)