DRM and Piracy: The Vicious Circle

[razor512]

piracy is bad and drm is bad, 2 wrongs don't make a right

 

[llama_man]

nazis style DRM's

Securerom has invaded Poland?

 

[radnor]

Securerom has invaded Poland?

Atchung !! Blitzkrieg !!!!

Ok, ok, i go back to my cave......

 

[Pist]

I think its pointless to for game developer to keep putting DRM on our games, its usually cracked within 1-2weeks and if someone really wants to pirate the game nothing will stop them.

I like Steam but wish they would allow you to share games behind the same ip address, that way family members could play games i'm not playing. (If i'm playing CS:S they can play another game on my account)
If the game not made by valve i will buy the retail version so i have more control over my game, that way if i want to allow a family member of friend to play it i can without having to worry about being kicked off steam.

I wish sites that review games would tell us if a game has DRM and give us more info about it.
We have too many sites worried about the money they make from advertising the game instead of giving people the facts.

Every new game that comes out that i like the first thing i check for is what DRM are they using and does the game have in-game streaming ad's (example: BF2142 and ET:Quakewars).
If the game has DRM that limits how many times i can install it or has streaming ads i won't buy it.

 

[Falcon688]

In all the threads on this topic I don't ever recall seeing a post where somebody actually claimed to have one of these horrible DRM catastrophes happen to them. Seriously where are all the claims that games have been rendered useless or security breaches. Seems like more hysteria than anything.
I also think a lot of people have a poor understanding of what DRM is. Thinking a subscription service like cable or a console gaming systems are not DRM is being completely misinformed. Both are actually pure DRM, maybe so much so that you can not even notice, but the truth is they are. Just because they allow you some liberties that only means it's part of the management of their content to allow you to do so. For the most part almost all digital content is controlled by some sort of DRM so get over it.
For those of you who really hate DRM though I hope you've never bought a Steam game.

What? Rat, I guess you missed the half dozen posts that I did on the crap that passes for DRM on COD4.

I am not a novice computer guy. I build my own system and keep it running, I even watercool. Could I get COD4 running? Nope. Could the morons at Avivision get it running? Nope, after 5 weeks of trying. How did I finally get to play my store bought game? I downloaded a no-cd patch and finally got the play my game.

I should add that I finally found to DRM issue. I was running my old ATA cd drive and a brand new SATA DVD drive. I found a forum post that said that it messes up the DRM. I unplugged my old ATA drive and the game worked. I reattached my old drive and no game. I am still livid at the COD4 tech guys for not being able to solve this.

I have read dozens of DRM broke my game/DVD/system stories on Tom's and I don't know how you missed them. Willfull blindness, I guess.

As for DRM and Steam, Steam has made its DRM as transparent to the user as possible. If my internet is down, I can still play my games in Single player or LAN mode. Yes, Steam dropped the ball early on when Steam prevented games for playing single player without a connection but they rescinded that policy after a few months. I will forgive a company that makes a mistake... if they fix it and don't do it again. EA make a mistake with Bioshock and then again with Mass Effect and now Spore.

I think you are being too literal. I think when most people complain about DRM, that they actually mean crappy and broken DRM like Sony's rootkit on some CD's and Starforce like DRM which prevent paying users from enjoying their purchaces.

 

[levicki]

Really though there is only one reason - money. As long as people have the ability to get something for free they will. There's only two real deterrents to that. Either make it too risky or too difficult to do so.

Has it occured to you that maybe the price which is in most cases too high have something to do with it?

- Low level DRM is highly successful. Just simply requiring a CD to be in the drive deters most users from Piracy.

Wake up please. Not having to keep a legitimately bought CD in the drive is the sole reason people go online to find NOCD crack!

WoW, along with most MMOs, and Steam games like The Orange Box and HL2 have the most restrictive DRM of all but they sell very well and have very low piracy rates.[/quote]

It is because those games are good! Not because they are protected because Orange Box can be downloaded DRM-free and WoW is subscription based so copying a game doesn't do the trick.

Scratched or lost CDs have forced me to rebuy more than a few games.

Why haven't you exercised your fair use right? You have the right for one backup copy.

DRM is a foot in the door. Today it is games and movies, tomorrow it will control you.

 

[purplerat]

Good job jumping into a thread two months past due! I guess there were not any other threads a little more current, but since you took the time to comment on my thoughts I'll go ahead and respond.

Has it occured to you that maybe the price which is in most cases too high have something to do with it?

Not really. Maybe because I've been buying video games since I was 7 years old and had to save up the same amount of money then as it still cost today to get a new game. 20 years of buying games and the price has remained the same (actually lower if you consider inflation). The "games cost too much" argument just doesn't hold water for anybody over 14 years old.

Wake up please. Not having to keep a legitimately bought CD in the drive is the sole reason people go online to find NOCD crack!

Really? The sole reason? You really believe that no person has ever used a no-cd crack as a way to avoid having to pay for a game? Talk about needing to wake up! Not to mention that the trend in DRM is to move away from requiring a CD in the drive. Seems like a good thing to me.

????

To be honest I'm not really sure what you're try to say or even what you're trying to respond to. But seriously get over the "tomorrow it will control you.". You have the choice to buy or not buy DRM protected movies or games and it just sounds foolish to try and turn it into a civil rights issue.