MoO3: The Ultimate Warez Deterrent?

[DaShi]

Imagine all the time they waited to download it, and what do they get? Plus, they can't even use the patch on the hacked files.

This goes along with my theory that companies are deliberately producing defective games in order to beat pirates. They will make a game that has the basic code down but is so filled with bugs and inconsistant features that it is virtually unplayable without patches.

Oh, let's just call such a game Civ3 for convenience sake. So our happy little developers of Civ3 are coding away and suddenly they notice that they are nearing their intended release date. But there's a big problem. They've been playing the game fully with no bugs or issues for last four weeks. A dream come true for those who would rather warez or buy pirated CDs. So our developers of Civ3 make a press release that they have to rework the game in order to make it more 'fun' (where fun=profitable). So they deliberate break features and add bugs here and there. In the meantime, the anticipation only increases the hype for the game. So finally, they feel that Civ3 is defective enough to release to the public. Pirates get it and think, "What the **** is this crap?" Buyers get it and think, "I paid 50 bucks for this? I'd better start convincing myself and others that it's good to disguise my stupidity." Now the developers of Civ3 are not completely without heart. They begin preparing a patch. This patch, of course, will not work with warez'ed or other pirated games. Also, this patch will not address all the bugs, just in case some pirates put in the effort to make it workable with their versions. Hence, more patches mean more trouble for pirates. And the patches keep the hype going, assuage dissatisfied customers, and develop a community.

So there in a nutshell is why I believe MoO3 to be the greatest warez deterrent ever. Just imagine that hacker looking at it for the first time thinking, "No way, I'm going to keep updating this for each of the 20 or so patches that it will need to be playable."

[krait23]

"No way, I'm going to keep updating this for each of the 20 or so patches that it will need to be playable."

20?

You sure are a diehard optimist



Lata
Krait

[krait23]

Oh and I am sure Amazon offering to give you $ 2.01 if you take a game out of their stores is also part of the grand master "Thwart the pirates" scheme that MoO3 really is hehehe

Lata
Krait

[DRoseDARs]

Very interesting theory, DaShi.

Wouldn't suprise me in the least, plus would make sense as a very effective deterrent to pirates...but would ultimately be like shooting yourself in the foot to cure athletes' foot. What would work better is letting the public know you are going to make the game less-than-complete as a means of fustrating piracy, but at the same time assure that patches (and lots of them, as much as we all love THAT thought... ) will fix/add things to the game over time.

[KWAiRT]

I am going to assume you were looking for a NOCD for v1.2 I know I was already looking around but in the case of Moo3 I am going to disagree with you. Yes developers do use some tricks when it comes to anti-piracy and in some cases a patch that litterly does nothing but updates the cd protection system is quite common today however in Moo3's case I beleive it is just a lack of interest in general. If the game is popular you will see nocd's come out pretty much the same or next day of the patch. With a game that nobody cares about it can take months before someone will the skill and tools to do it comes along and realizes he needs a nocd. BTW Moo3 is Securom if anyone is interested in making a NOCD =)

Its funny since were on the topic of warez. The fact that developers are putting in more cd checks and stuff is making me buy less games. I can't stand some of the crap that is out there. Hell if it wasn't for a NOCD I would never play BF1942. The cd checks and load times are crazy enough without waiting for the damn drive to spinup all the time. Combined with the fact that EB no longer has an exchange or return policy I just wont buy many games at all. I paid full price for Moo3 and it was a complete waste of money especially when I had to wait this long for a patch and now the game is 10 bucks. So you can see many reasons for not rushing out and buying games and these publishers and development teams wonder why nobody buys their crap.

[Corentor]

That is a rather wild theory. One that doesn't make much sense either.

Programmers are expensive. Developement time is expensive. No one goes around breaking programs for the fun of it only to have to keep the programmers around later to patch it again.

Warez users will pirate regardless of the quality of the game. They have no intention of buying the game if there is a patch or no patch or a flood of patches. If the game sucks, they just download the next ISO image that goes up on IRC channels every week or so.

So where is the extra revenue to pay the programmers for breaking the game multiple times and then patching it multiple times going to come from?

If the Warez users aren't going to buy the game anyways, why not just get the game done right, release it on schedule and then dump the programmers or have them start doing something else?

It makes no sense at all doing anything even remotly close to what you are suggesting.

[DRoseDARs]

Corentor:
You've misread the theory that DaShi was trying to get across: that developers make a relatively bug-free game THEN go back to take things out and put bugs in; they already have the means to fix things for future patches because they are just undoing what they themselves have put in, calling them "bugs". They don't need to "break it multiple times," just "fix" things in reverse order as they "broke" them the first time through...or however they'd do such a thing. Heck, you might only need one or two programers instead of the whole developing team if that's the case. The publisher would be the one releasing the "patches" and the two people left would just be checking to ensure the "patches" are as they were intended and released in their proper order.

Anyway, this is all just theory. It'd be an outrage if this WERE the reason MOST software that's been released in recent years has grown more and more buggy upon market release...but I don't believe any programers would be willing to do such an immoral and unethical thing. Still, pressure from above can make good people do bad things...



KWAiRT:
I'd been looking for a no-cd to put a stop to the ENDLESS SPINNING EVERY FREAKING TIME I LOOKED AT A DIFFERENT DIPLOMATIC MESSAGE...*sigh*...but I discovered in another Moo3 forum the secret to ending my misery: Copying the Music folder on the Play-CD (CD#2) to the installed game's tree. C:\WhereEverYouInstalledMoo3\GameDataSets\Classic_ 01\GameAssets\Common\Music <-This is what you should end up with. Since I've done that, I don't recall having heard a single peep out of my CD-Rom except when starting the game up.

[Daz]

Its a matter of days when they'll crack the patch....

Sorry DaShi, I dont believe in this theory...

[DarthVeda]

If we get another patch after this one it will be out of the good graces of Atari. I honestly don't think this game can be helped by patches alone.