EA To Use Controversial Internet-Required DRM On New Games
from the pissing-off-your-customers dept
SteveD writes "PC Gamers are in an uproar over a new copy projection system announced by Electronic Arts for use on their upcoming titles. The PC-port of the successful Xbox title Mass Effect, and the eagerly awaited Will Wright title Spore will be two of the higher profile games to use this new system. The new system is the latest iteration of the SecuROM protection, which has caused problems in the past over technical issues with several popular titles. The version of SecuROM that shipped with Bioshock was even accused (but never proven) of installing a root-kit on users PCs.This new version is causing controversy due to an online verification system connected to its CD key. The system requires a connection to the internet during installation to check the CD key is valid, and then registers the key with the users' computer. After this the game will try to re-check the CD key every 5-10 days to ensure it hasn't since been found posted on a forum, or used in some form of piracy. If the game can't verify the key within this period it will continue to try for a further 10 days, after which it will stop working until the key is checked. The protection will also only allow the game to be installed three times.
A lot of gamers consider this intrusive and inconvenient, and that the publishers are effectively assuming their customers are pirates and looking over their shoulders every 10 days to check. Other concerns have been raised over users who don't play with machines permanently connected to the internet (such as laptops), or how the system will work in regards to resale. A comprehensive help-line has been promised to help people deal with these issues and the developers have mentioned the new system will remove the need for a DVD to run the game, but these potential problems combined with SecuROM's past have made some call for a boycott of the titles and others to declare an intention to pirate the game out of spite."
Seems like more short-term thinking. If the effort is to reduce "piracy" it won't work. People will figure out other ways to pirate the games -- that's almost guaranteed. So, in the end, all this will really do is piss off the legitimate customers who paid for something that suddenly doesn't work, though no fault of their own. That hardly seems like a good way to build up a strong supporting fan base.
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Filed Under: drm, video games
Companies: ea
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usage metrics too
And since customers have to re-verify every 10 days, EA knows exactly how many people are still playing the game over time, which can be used to prove KPIs, or be used for future planning of add-ons or expansions. Sounds much more like business and marketing intelligence gathering than piracy prevention.
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Re: usage metrics too
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Re: usage metrics too
This system will disable my game if it is not satisfied. That I'm now OK with.
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Re: usage metrics too
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Re: usage metrics too
Manufacturers have for a long time, allowed people to register their games.
Why not tie it into registration where once you register, the game communicates periodically with EA.
They could offer a rebate or those who do, special offers, be put on a beta list. Be offered a mini-expansion, etc. all to encourage registration so they can track people's interest in the game and useage.
Though you raise a valid point... I doubt it's about marketing
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ea
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Re: ea
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Re: Re: Re: ea
I'd say you have until the II version come out. I'm still upset with EA for not supporting NFS3. A simple patch would have made it more compatible with modern Video. I own 3 valid copies of that for network play. I've stopped buying. When I contacted support, I was told it was no longer supported & I should buy the new one. The problem is; the newer ones no longer are NFS, but are some sort of Fast & Furious Ricer game. Worse yet they lack the edit-ability of the real NFS games. I was able to install a 200 mph Monster truck in NFS3 that blew through roadblocks like they weren't there. Talk about user content.
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Skipping Bioshock wasn't so hard, I hope I can skip spore too. I can't believe Will Wright sold his soul to the devil of gaming publishers.
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Not out of spite
There's no need for this; it only affects and hurts legitimate customers. SecuROM has been so thoroughly broken and beaten in every incarnation that it's easy to find guides which can walk a script kiddie through the process. It doesn't stop piracy. There will always be warez versions because crackers get their kicks breaking protections and get their jollies by being the first to do so.
Those who can't afford to shell out for a game will always find a freed version of it. Those of us who can afford the $50-100 will spend it if the game is good (often using warez to "try before we buy").
Once the warezers are done with ripping SecuROM out of the 8MB exexcutable (reducing it to 3MB in the process), I might consider buying it. Either that or when EA get their collective head out of their ass and stop hurting legitimate customers in the vain and hopeless attempt to stop the impossible.
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And I was so looking forward to Spore too.
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DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming
However, we cannot ignore the rampant piracy that exists within the PC game world. Take a read at this forum posting by a former producer of Titan Quest for another POV on the issue:
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4031
Quote:
"Two, the numbers on piracy are really astonishing. The research I've seen pegs the piracy rate at between 70-85% on PC in the US, 90%+ in Europe, off the charts in Asia. I didn't believe it at first. It seemed way too high. Then I saw that Bioshock was selling 5 to 1 on console vs. PC. And Call of Duty 4 was selling 10 to 1. These are hardcore games, shooters, classic PC audience stuff. Given the difference in install base, I can't believe that there's that big of a difference in who played these games, but I guess there can be in who actually payed for them."
"So, before the game even comes out, we've got people bad-mouthing it because their pirated copies crash, even though a legitimate copy won't. We took a lot of shit on this, completely undeserved mind you. How many people decided to pick up the pirated version because it had this reputation and they didn't want to risk buying something that didn't work? Talk about your self-fulfilling prophecy."
This is why developers are starting to release games on the consoles first and then (maybe) on the PC. And also why more and more are considering models like Steam.
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Re: DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming
Developers add in DRM, users get pissed off and remove it. 'Piracy' goes up because the cracked game is more useful than the retail one. So developers put MORE DRM in and make their product LESS useful, so MORE users get cracked versions. Talk about your self-fulfilling prophesy.
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Re: DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming
Then you link to a page that is going to be heavily biased as it is a developer writing the piece. His numbers can say what they want, I highly doubt that 70%+ of the market of games played on PC are of pirated games.
The reason developers are releasing more on consoles is that consoles have one set of specs that they need to worrry about, not what CPU is in this computer, what graphics card is in that computer, what sound card is in that other computer, etc. Consoles are also still and expanding market, which means its predictable that more people will be buying consoles and software to run on them.
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Re: DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming
And you don't suppose the low sales figures for the PC version of Bioshock had ANYTHING to do with its controversial DRM or rampant problems reported by users?
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Re: DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming
People dont care if a console's system files are ruined by SecuROM because all they do is play games on it.
A PC is much more volatile (and expensive, in most cases) and you risk losing a lot if 'rootkits' and other nonsense screws around with it.
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Re: DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming
I was really looking forward to spore for the last year. I refuse to purchase a game with this type of copy protection. This will be one game I will get a pirated version. I hate it, because one of the reasons I feel I never have had issues with trojans and virus' is because I do nto share music or video or install wares. I buy the software I need, or use open source.
Thanks Bill and EA you just turned me into a pirate. Below is a list of games I have purchased the last 12 months.
Tabble Tennis(rockstar)
Shadowrun
Halo 3
The new expansion for WOW
Assasins Creed
Sim City Society
Expansion for 40k RTS
Stranglehold
Fate
Eve Online
D&D Online
Never Winters night 2
A new copy of MS Train Simulator(I lost my old copy)
and about 10 games on my Xbox360. I also built a new computer so that I would be ready to handle Spore and so I could try Tabala Rising. I am not as intense about gaming as some others, but it is a few k at least I have spent.
I have always hated having to carry around a cd with me to play a game(I travel allot), but this is just as bad. There have been at least 5 programs that I have lost the key that came with the CD. The last one was Never Winters Night 1. That blows too.
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Re: Re: DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming
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Re: DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming
And obviously, if you go with a game for one system, your probably not going to buy it again for another system as well.
Many people prefer the console experience over the computer.
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Re: DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming
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I don't often say it
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It's sad that pirates can always (yes, always) release games in a more convenient and longer-lasting form than the own studios.
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Customers--
Which makes it all the more disappointing that I won't be getting it. I'm not going to pay $40-$60 for something that's going to be so gimped with DRM, no matter how appealing the content is.
Spore was going to renew my faith in PC gaming. I guess not.
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PlayForeSure all over again.
I have games that I purchased 10 years ago easilly that - when their DRM schemes don't panic on modern systems - I still enjoy playing.
Game publishers have been treating me like a criminal for 20 years now. Im frankly tired of it. Plus, DRM schemes have rendered enough of my investment obsolete that I dont have a moral or ethical objection to outright piracy to collect on what I'm 'owed'.
That rant aside, I really like Will Wrights work. I'd pay more for a DRM free product, especially if I knew the money was going directly to Will, rather than some EA or SecuROM executives pocket. *that* appeals to my ethics and morals.
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I *knew* EA would find some way to ruin WAR
So OF COURSE EA would come along and do something to potentially fuck over the only MMO that's coming out besides Conan that can knock WoW off the top.
Hear is hoping that Mythic can talk EA out of having their game be a part of this very poorly thought out system.
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Re: I *knew* EA would find some way to ruin WAR
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Can someone please explain this to me
And this is where I get confused. Games developers tend to be one of the most "in touch with the fanbase/customers" people in pretty much any form of industry in the world. There is absolutely no way that they think that this kind of DRM will lower piracy rates, and that it'll have a strongly negative reaction in everyone. That "only 5 installs" thing, for example, is literally the only reason I haven't bought Bioshock (since I live in the UK, the phonecall to unlock it would be expensive).
I can buy that it's the publishers that enforce it, but surely they're also fairly in touch with the fans, and even if they're not, the developers would take them aside and say "yeah, this isn't going to work." Even if the CEO of the publisher was some random old guy who's just in it for the business and has no understanding of technology, someone would tell him it's not gonna work.
So why do they keep doing it? It seems like a huge contradiction to me.
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Re: Can someone please explain this to me
Not EA...they are a machine, a corporate monster, whatever you want to call them.
There are some publishers who release games with zero copy protection or any DRM of any kind.
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Re: Can someone please explain this to me
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I'd try starting with...
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Re: I'd try starting with...
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Re: Re: I'd try starting with...
It occurs to me you have no faith in humanity. Your hypothetical CEO won't listen when you tell him he's losing customers, and won't listen when you tell him he was ripped off by a DRM salesman. How would a CEO that inept even stay in the position?
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And if in a few years I want to go back.....
I agree that piracy is a problem, and that being able to play the game without having the disk (or a patch) is something that most gamers want. But any system that requires activation either by phone or internet, mean that game is only good for as long as the activation system remains in place.
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I 'pirated' Bioshock because I brought the game home and found out I couldn't install it on my brand new gaming machine because I had to connect to the internet, something I didn't want to do on my pristine system.
Looks like I'll be 'pirating' Spore too.
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Reverse-Reverse-Psychology?
So perhaps this is a trick? Just a little reverse-reverse-psychology? Perhaps by making the pirated version of the game more valuable compared to the full packaged product, perhaps they are trying to increase sales by increasing the piracy rates?
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Will wait for crack too
I'm sure a lot of people think "Who will want to play this game in 10 years", but the reality is I just dusted off Diablo II a couple of months ago and played it for probably 15-20 hours. That game game out when 1999ish - maybe early 2000s.
It only took microsoft a couple of years to decide supporting their servers was too much trouble.
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Re: Will wait for crack too
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Re: Re: Will wait for crack too
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Re: Re: Will wait for crack too
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All this time...
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Seriously, when your anti-piracy technology causes more people to pirate something, you've got to take a step back.
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The excuse for the use of DRM in any product
Companies are completely eliminating the rights of the consumer/user. It doesn't matter whether we are talking about games, music, movies, etc. The end result is always piracy simply because people do not want a product that limits in any way how the product, that they purchased by the way, is used or stored, etc.
It is ridiculous to think that any company has the right to limit how many times a game is installed. What happens when you purchase a new computer or have to wipe your computer and reinstall everything. Things happen and to only allow 3 installs is crazy and is a bad move by any company.
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Mike, you missed the bigger issue...
I like going back and playing old games that I used to love. A great game will ALWAYS be a great game. 10 years from now, if I want to pop in my Spore DVD and give it another go...now, I can't because EA doesn't support it anymore?! THAT is the bigger issue for me.
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Re: Mike, you missed the bigger issue...
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The excuse for the use of DRM in any product and corrupt business practices
The only alternative is to use a pirated copy if you don't want to put up with this crap and massive intrusion into our computers and personal property. We need to draw a limit as to how far these companies go. Anybody that remembers the original Doom, Quake, Rise of the Triad, etc. remembers that people still bought the game even though it was easy to copy and play a pirated version. Maybe if companies reduced the price, say the cost of the DRM, and put more time into the quality of there product it would sell more copies. Instead of $60.00 maybe the cost should be cut down to around $35-40 max. That would sell a lot more copies and possibly open up new markets, especially to those that can't afford the $60 price tag of games and/or don't want to put up with the B.S. of dealing with the DRM of these products. That is why I will never use Itunes to purchase music. DRM is just an excuse nothing more. To hell with any company that tries to limit how you use a product you purchased legally.
If companies can't handle the loss of business do to there antiquated business model then they deserve to fail and go bankrupt.
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I installed it on one of the kids computers, till I found out that it just didn't play as nice, so I uninstalled it from her computer, and put it on my laptop.
2 months later, the laptop crashed, and I had to reinstall the OS.
Tornado Jockey wouldn't install, and tech support said "Sorry!"...Even after I explained it to tech support.
They need to do the same thing Adobe does with their full versions....allow you to "authorize/deauthorize" computers...granted, it won't help you if the computer crashes and you have to reinstall the OS, but even Adobe gives allowances for that!
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Re:
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why not make the DRM system add value?
i got the big orange box from valve for christmas, set it up on my gaming machine, moved, and lost the box. then my video card overheated and crashed everything and i had to pretty much rebuild everything.
under normal circumstances i would be out of luck.
steam let me download all my games from the site once i log in.
that's right, no disc, just download steam, log in, and start downloading. you can even do it on multiple PCs. the only downside is that you have to be connected to the internet. it hurts me to say this, but steam saved me.
MMO's aren't so over the top in terms of copy protection because the value of the game is in the online play and monthly fees. you can use anyone's disc to install the game, but you need legitimate and unique key to register a new account.
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Re: why not make the DRM system add value?
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My DVD is broken, somehow it got scratched (probably my own fault, but to err is to be human). Can I play single player now, no. Why? Need the DVD to verify I own the game. In the end I had to download a warez version just to install it to play multiplayer.
Yes I could get a new DVD from publisher, but I cant find my receipt (6 months on) so I either pay AGAIN for the game, or live with the face that I cannot play single player.
SUCKAGE!
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Arrrr...
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I guess it's possible piracy is a huge problem - but personally, what I find to be a huge problem, is getting cracked software to actually work right. I find it far easier to just buy whatever game I'm wanting to play.
Yea Bob - EA is telling people like us - who travel from time to time that we have no business playing their game while we wait in an airport or if we want to play a game without hassling with getting hotel internet set up. Or if our internet service happens to be out for a time - we can't play - sure it'll work sometimes, but when I *purchase* things - my desire is to have them work all of the time. Would anyone seriously buy a car that depended on the availability of cell service or it wouldn't start? Sure - it might work *most* of the time - but that doesn't cut it.
Another slap in the face for paying customers - I'm sure the games will still get cracked - and those won't likely need an internet connection.
At least Steam can run in 'offline' mode after the initial activation.
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Oddly (or maybe not) there doesn't seem to be an email address anywhere on their site. Not for any of the VPs, the CEO, not even a comments email address. I assume support@ea.com would go somewhere, but even that isn't listed on their website. It's almost as if they don't -want- to hear from anyone.
Anyone with any experience in the business world (or who has even taken Business 101) knows that contact and feedback from your customers is the most valuable information a business can get. That EA has made a point to not include a simple feedback email address somewhere easily visible on their website says that they simply don't care what the customer thinks.
I won't be buying anything from a company with that opinion.
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Re:
Larry Probst is the former CEO but is still the Chairman, so he's not without clout. Similar Google-fu could find him as well, I expect.
I strongly encourage you not to buy from EA, but I also encourage you to tell them your opinion, as well. When it comes down to it, I'd rather they learned the hard lesson and improved rather than withered and died. If we don't tell them their games flop because of DRM, they'll pass it off as general lack of interest and/or piracy, and that serves nothing.
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Boycott of EA
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Peronal examples
#2: Valve claims Half-Life 2 won't run on Windows 98... bullshit. They specifically inserted a check that will halt the program if it detects Windows prior to XP. Grab a warez version, change 4 bytes -- works like a charm with no ill effects.
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No Freakin' Way
F*ck You, EA. I hope you never sell another game in your soon-to-be-short career.
I'm so mad right now.
I'm gonna go eat an egg.
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Figures...
I haven't bought an EA game since B&W (Original, like few days after release)...
All I want is Spore, not crappy areyouapirate stuff... /grumble.
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Despite that, Spore was one of those very few games that I was actually going to buy on the release date, and I only have done that a few times in the past. But now with this secureROM crap I don't think I will be....how disappointing. Shame on you EA
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youre all bad
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Re: youre all bad
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Re: youre all bad
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Sadly there will likely never be a decent flight simulator for consoles without a programmable HOTAS, by the time a console can support that it'll be a PC.
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Boycott EA
Before this, if a game was good, I would buy an original even if I could get a cracked copy. I wanted to support the business of good game manufacturers as well as get the box and manuals. However, now, if I do buy one of those games, I'll purposely forward it, just out of spite, to someone who can crack the security just to screw EA.
Tell me I'm a security risk crook and I'll become one for you.
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Games
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When I buy a game or any piece of software, I expect it to work forever, providing I still have a system that will run it. I've bought and played (not to mention enjoyed) games that were over a decade old. I expect many of the games I have today, I may want to play again a decade from now.
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Boycott EA if they do this.
Sure there will still be pirating, but a lot like me will buy the original if it is a good game. All we need is one game out there to break for pirating. Now, with the new scenario, us previously legitimate buyers will also start pirating too. Sales now equal two: one for pirating, one for backup pirating.
Will we get the CEO's game for Xbox or PS3? No, we just won't get it legitimately. We'll stay with online subscription games and our pirated copies of his game.
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Re: Boycott EA if they do this.
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Piracy helped sell my game
But it still annoyed me when a club would get together for a tournament and everyone was using one copy of the game (We did burn a unique serial number on each disk).
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Spore
Now, if this is on there, I'll just have to be satisfied with the pirated version. I honestly hate to do that, but at this point, I feel like I don't have a choice in the matter. Either I miss a game I've been waiting for 2 or so years for or I accept this copy protection (not happening).
Here's to hoping that Spore comes out on Steam.
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A better idea....
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I'll throw in too
But I won't support this behavior. I'm not going to buy either game if they have this kind of DRM...
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Boycott EA
Maybe that CEO should listen. Sell a good product and people will buy, treat them like crooks and they will just become one or leave your product. Good way to lose sales.
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Crappers, that really sucks
It is unfortunate that this decision will cause me not to purchase Spore for myself or my wife, so that is two sales lost. Should this sort of DRM show up in The Sims I doubt we will buy them in the future.
Hope it was worth it EA!
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depends on execution
As long as this DRM won't shut me down while trying to play offline I think its better than current Master disk DRM. So I'll wait and see, there is n reason this can't be implemented in such a way that you won't even notice it. As long as they can do that they have a right to check against ID nubers placed on bulletin boards and stuff like that.
That having been said experience dictates this will be a buggy, obtrusive piece of junk that will keep me from buying either title, oh well.....
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Re: depends on execution
Microsoft just showed us the future when they killed PlaysForSure. If that's what's going to happen to Spore, it's not worth it to me.
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I think the major bone here is that we PC gamers have had a long period where consoles just held no water when compared to the PC and there was nothing technology could do about that, and so we received the bulk of games and felt like we were entitled to have them. Unfortunately with the growth of piracy and the money to be made on PS3 and 360, we are being left behind.
I would welcome DRM as long as it meant I could get the games I want to play on the platform I love the most; PC!
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*sigh*
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So much for community
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Only 3 reinstalls?
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Then they wonder why people get hostile.
Anyhow, what makes them think that they can do any better than MS, Apple or even past versions of Securom? Theres no game that hasn't been cracked.
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1) If you use up all your installs (3) you can call tech support and they will (might?) give you a new key so you can re-validate and keep playing.
2) They claim that if they were to ever shut down their validation server or go out of business, they would release a patch to remove the validation check. So if their server goes down, everyone can still play.
Of course, when your team is taken out into the parking lot to be fired, creating a new patch isn't really on the top of your to-do list.
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EA GAMES TALK ABOUT A GOOFY COMPANY
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Re: EA GAMES TALK ABOUT A GOOFY COMPANY
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Wow
1. This will encourage piracy, not stop it. People turn to illicit sources to obtain things for their legitimate products - I personally have over 20 games on my laptop with "pirated" patches on them. Why? So I don't have to carry 20 CDs around with me in case I fancy a quick game of something. Look at "no CD" cracks, then extrapolate that for people who actually want to play the game but can't access the net for some reason when authorisation time comes around.
2. The PC game market has problems, but this can be put down to a large number of things, including the regular need and sometimes high cost to upgrade your machine, the long wait for some titles to be converted from consoles, the success and longevity of MMORPGs and the higher percentage of problems due to hardware incompatibility, etc. Surely, the last thing you want to do in this case is force people to wait months for a PC port, then make the gameplay experience inferior (which this does).
My 2 cents here: I'm not buying any of the reported games (Mass Effect, Crysis, Spore) on the PC. I'm also boycotting DRM on PC games, as I've been doing for several years on music. That's not to say I'll pirate them, I'll just buy the games for consoles instead (where the DRM doesn't try to stop me from doing anything with a legal product - thus far, anyway). I hope enough people do the same, and EA get the message instead of just resorting to the "OMG piracy!" excuse again. Then again, maybe that's the flying bacon patrol outside...
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I don't even bother buying games any more...
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Punish ALL paying customers! Pirates aren't even slightly inconvenienced by this.
Every time I turn around, another company is treating their paying customers like criminals. I see more stories about how companies are punishing their loyal customers every day. Meanwhile, the criminals are the ONLY ones who AREN'T inconvenienced by insane DRM. What the hell are they thinking?
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DRM
As for the game calling home, that fine with me when i install, but after that it dosen't need to call home. also I know where i can download anythign i want, but i do buy games that i feel are worth it, other wise i want to try the game and see if i like it.
I've just switched over to a console for one game, which saddens me that won't be on the PC, Star Wars The Force Unleashed.
I feel that in the past few years the market for Pc games have been getting very slim, only one or two good titles anymore.
Also I don't plan on buying anymore EA games, the last one i bought the registation didn't even work right for it. and there logon system is just screwed up.
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more of the same
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sounds like what they were doing in the commodore 64 days.
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Re: sounds like what they were doing in the commodore 64 days.
That game? Skyfox. Published by Electronic Arts.
Seems like EA still hasn't learned their lesson...
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EA hates the US military
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By requiring Internet access so that the games can "phone home", you're essentially relying on the company to give you permission to play the games that you've paid for. What happens when the company no longer wants to give that permission? What if some group writes a keygen for the game that just happens to randomly generate the same key as your copy uses and EA thinks you've given copies to other people?
They all say this, but if you look closely at the EULA, I'm sure you'll find a clause that says that in the event they ever do go out of business they aren't required to provide squat to their users. If it even mentions this possibility at all.
Unless they put it in writing, and code the patch ahead of time so that they have it ready for release, I'll believe it when I see it.
And what happens if Valve goes out of business or they decide to stop allowing activation of older titles? The original Half-Life is already a decade old, but I can still install and play it today. Can you make that same guarantee about Half-Life 2?
What if Valve gets bought by another company who decide to turn off the activation servers for older games? It wouldn't be the first time a company got bought out and the new owners drop support for all the old titles. Gee, when is SiN Episode 2 coming out?
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Steam & HL2
More generally, at my office, where we have for years played lan games at lunchtime, we are seriously considering starting a halflife 1 based game again - because we have a cracked copy we can install on each players pc. We (still) have enough legit cd keys to go around too. It didnt start like that of course - we did install warez copies with generated keys on many PCs for people who wanted to try the game out - but we did get a >90% conversion rate from people who played the game - not because of ethics or morals, but purley because having the _standalone_ CD meant people could play the game at home without having to copy the warez version. The lack of online checks actually made ownership of a legitimate CD more valuable.
HL2 + steam is just such a pain that it just doesn't get the numbers that HL1 got. An empty map is a boring map. Its just not getting traction except amongst the die hard FPS players.
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DRM only hurts the legit customers
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penny arcade's new comic
lolz
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Well i agree Steam isn't perfect it is nowhere as obtrusive as EA plan. Could they have a 30 period before you are required to activate? kind of like xp? Mostly steam just stops 0 day cracked games after that at least it adds something to the gaming experience. I also agree that something could happen and the servers are shut down. I guess i trust Valve more then I trust anything EA does.
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If you find this behavior as repulsive as I do, then vote with your dollars! Stop buying EA's products, and perhaps they'll get the message.
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EA
--Glenn
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Polite Copy Protection
In recent news about the Maximum Software use of Uniloc, they state that Maximum Software is now able to quantify software piracy levels and adjust licensing strategies in real-time to set policies addressing casual sharing, open sharing and piracy. The software provides real-time statistics for the publisher about actual license usage with 100 percent accurate results so that license management decisions can be based on hard facts rather than assumptions. Maximum Software is also using Uniloc's license throttling capability which can increase or decrease software copy parameters to manage the flow of help desk calls and anti-piracy controls to optimize viral marketing models.
Most copy protection models can be broken, but Uniloc uses Physical Device Recognition. PDR is based on the fundamental principle that no two digital devices are identical. The process of Physical Device Recognition starts by generating a digital identity for a device, known as its "Physical Device Fingerprint." This fingerprint is made up of a combination of machine characteristics and properties that are generated using a set of proprietary algorithms. The Physical Device Recognition algorithms allow the unique, reproducible identification of a device with accuracy more precise that DNA. This results in the ability to smoothly identify requesting devices, allowing users to re-activate updated devices, while managing the ability to install trial versions.
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Not again...
YAY a game I cant play when my DSL goes down! Good ide EA you must have had your brightest retard-monkeys on this one!
Frikkin Frack you are stupid!
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about piracy
http://www.baen.com/library/
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Boycott EA
However now I am glad I have decided to never purchase another ea game in my life. I have never downloaded a copy of anything (game/music/movie) and I always purchase or rent what I want. But these new steps to avoid this issue just makes it harder on those of us who are honest.
I'm curious how this will effect reselling games at game stop or buying used games, which I don't usually do, but its available.
How will this effect renting games as well?
I'm also the type to play a game when I run across it in my drawer 3 years later. lol. How will that effect me?
Forget it, I don't even care, EA sucks! Nothing will change that!
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How completely STUPID of EA
Who are they trying to kid here? This is really a way to spy on users and will stop only the most basic of "pirates" from plopping this DvD in her burner and clicking "copy"
What is the real reason for EA trying to do this? Are they really so out of touch with the real world that they think this will change anything?
A far better approach to stop piracy would be the HBO tactic. HBO regularly scans public bit torrent sites and tracks the users IP address of anyone sharing a HBO copywrited program. They then contact the indvidual ISP's of these users and threaten to sue THEM if they dont stop the users from illegally distributing their intellectual property.
At least HBO only targets those that are actively sharing their product and not legitimate users... EA better get a clue quick or else they are going to lose a large part of their target market.
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Going Illegal is easier
1. Buy a new CD
2. Fix the CD.
3. Pirate the game
It was too damaged for option 2 to work, so I chose option three because I'd already bought the game once and hadn't even lost my original copy. I then threw in a crack and the game worked perfectly fine. It even accepted updates. (though I had to update the crack separately.
I understand exactly why some people pirate. It is incredibly easy, and, surprisingly, faster.
Irritatingly, I have a small $5 game I bought on Steam that requires the net to work. This I find really annoying, but the sad thing is that I can edit the programs shortcut to remove steam from starting the program, and it works fine. Go figure that out.
Added note: This comic says it perfectly (xkcd)
http://xkcd.com/488/
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Steam-Required
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DRM made to be broken
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drm
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