EA's Own Employees Annoyed At Pointless DRM Solutions
from the not-so-good dept
We were among those who were disappointed that EA -- a company that has tried to suggest it had learned that DRM was bad -- decided to move forward with a required internet connection on Command & Conquer 4, even after many people had complained last summer, when such plans were leaked.However, now it appears that it's even pissing off EA employees. Slashdot points out that the editor of EA.com got really frustrated over the game kicking him out because his DSL was flakey:
"Booted twice -- and progress lost -- on my single-player C&C4 game because my DSL connection blinked. DRM fail. We need new solutions."He later warned people to beware if their connection wasn't solid:
"Well. I've tried to be open-minded. But my 'net connection is finicky -- and the constant disruption of my C&C4 SP game makes this unplayable. The story is fun, the gameplay is interesting and different at least -- but if you suffer from shaky/unreliable DSL -- you've been warned."Perhaps next time EA just focuses on giving people a reason to buy, rather than treating them like they're criminals-to-be?
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Filed Under: command & conquer 4, drm, internet connection
Companies: ea
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First thing I thought too.
Kill the messenger!
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You know.. I don't usually point this stuff out, but in this case I have to. I've read in several security publications that DRM's "vital signs" have already been cracked?
I don't see how offering a crippled version of a game that has virtually no fan base left after years of neglect and insistent in game FMV (post RedWood studios) to spruce up the joint. The last thing any sane business would do is say "please give us another chance, I know C&C has been a botched franchise to date, but this time it's different! Oh and BTW I'm going to need all that money up front and since you cant be trusted, I'm going to monitor you constantly as you play the game. It may hinder your experience a little bit, by not allowing you to play it on flights or when you have no connection. But Im sure you will understand. It's creating jobs"
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They absolutely have the capacity to do better yet always revert to worse.
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Hmmm
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EA sucks
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Re: welcome to our online store, we have payment by paypal and free shipping
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STOP PAYING $$$ for CRAPWARE!!!!!!!!!!!
DRM - Digitally Ruined Media
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Re: @9
Do you own any games for it?
Then you have bought DRM'd media.
The thing is, Nintendo's DRM (they call it 'AP' for anti-piracy) is actually effective, and completely non-intrusive. You don't even realize it's there, which is what it SHOULD be.
Personally, I do know that all DRM is pointless (You *have* to unlock the game at some point, and once it's unlocked, pirates can trace the sequence you used to unlock it, boom, DRM gone.) except with multiplayer games which require a login, where you can tie in a critical piece of game code with an online login.
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As for the EA Employee, Jeff Green has always been pretty outspoken so it's not surprising that he would make that post. Most gamers know him from his days of at the now defunct Computer Gaming World/Games For Windows magazine and it's podcast.
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Rather than requiring a persistent connection, why couldn't game data could be saved locally and then periodically uploaded?
"The online connection is needed to prevent hackers from creating trainers that would allow anyone to be max level instantly. Lots of games do this with their multiplayer and no one makes a fuss about it since you are expecting to be online as you play a multiplayer game."
Exactly; if you are playing a multiplayer game over the internet, you EXPECT to be online all the time. You DON'T expect that for a single player game, though. EA might have avoided some of this backlash if they had gone multiplayer only with this, like WoW, but then there are the people like me who don't do multiplayer at all. Yes, we exist! I don't have 8 hours a day to practice like these schoolkids do, and I've had my @$$ handed to me every time i have tried any multiplayer game. It was as much fun as a trip to the dentist.
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Even games that require CD's run way better when cracked.
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From the original NEOSEEKER article:
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Re: From the original NEOSEEKER article:
they are the worst for DRM!
where the fuck are you from?
SWENS
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Well, I gave up on multi player. But figured at least I could still play single player modes. And the along came Steam....You buy a CD in the store, bring it home and install it....and wtf, you cant even run single player until you can establish an internet connection and download 6GB's of updates and patches.
Now, I would never complain of the lack of online gaming ability because I live in the sticks....but if I buy a CD/DVD and install it on my PC then I should at least expect to be able to play the single player modes of the game I purchased. Not to mention, once you crack the seal, you cannot return the game.
OH, and EA is evil. I once loved Valve until they crossed to the dark side with STEAM. STEAM is really a great idea, but it should not require an internet connection (I know it does not for some things). You should be able to at least get the updates you need when you have access to a PC with an internet connection and transfer it via writable media without carrying your PC to another city with viable internet.
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Go to another PC. Download the game/update. "Backup Game". Copy the game data to a thumb drive. Go home and copy the data. Run in offline mode. Play the game.
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You can. Every game you purchase on Steam allows you to make a 'backup' copy that can be burned to either CD-R or DVD-R. And it does not require a connection to install and play with these.
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it also shows we need to rewrite those shrink wrap EULAs, which we cant even read till the package is open and then non returnable to the store, cause we opened the package
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I'll pass on this one
I am opposed to pirating a game with the intent of keeping it and never paying for it; I will support the publisher/developer if I like a game or I will uninstall it if I don't like it. (Note to publishers: if you do a demo, people like me will be less tempted to download a cracked version. For $50, I will always try before I buy!) In the past I have used no-disk cracks on games that I already owned, but not this time. EA will not get my money unless THEY see the error of their ways and patch this themselves. Until then, I will stick to my principles and I will not know if this game is fun or not.
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haha suckers im in canada
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C&C 4's DRM is overkill
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But it's not DRM
EA makes the DRM go away by saying "It's not"
I submitted this story earlier this week and am really surprised not to see it reported here, because it is so outrageous it makes you want to slap someone.
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The solution.
I had planned to just buy the game from the PX until I found out about the silly DRM.
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I'd say they'd lose customers to this...
They're a company that only got big because they bought others out. That in itself isn't a problem, but with every company they destroyed, they simply locked their game franchises away, never to see the light of day, and produced mediocre crap, knowing that with the competition dead, there was nothing else to buy. The result in the short term was massive profit, and in the long term, it was the entire industry shrinking. Ever wonder why the PC gaming section of most game stores is a single shelf... and it's often hard to find to find anything on that shelf that you actually want to play. EA is almost solely responsible for that.
Thankfully, Japan and Korea were happy to provide us games that were actually good, and as a result, EA has done an insane amount of damage to the US gaming industry - but ONLY the US gaming industry, and now that Japanese and Korean companies both have good translators working for them, they're finding they simply can't compete in the global gaming market. They're finally losing money, as they now have competition that they simply can't destroy.
I'm actually GLAD they're using terrible DRM. I can think of few things that would revive the US gaming industry faster than EA going bankrupt.
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...and the primary market, when you have to reformat the machine or get a new one, and they now consider your copy pirated. It generally takes exactly one of those to make someone never buy from a company again.
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to those employees
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Re: to those employees
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I know a few friends who live in remote little towns throughout USA and Canada, and sometimes they only have ONE choice for high-speed internet. The one choice they're given is often flakey at best. It's those kinds of people who will have the biggest issue with this.
Personally I have a fairly good connection that's been stable for a very long time, so personally I don't care. I already play most of my games through Steam and similar internet-ready services, and I definitely have no problem actually purchasing games, so it's not an issue on my part.
I do however get the point that this is a thing people will definitely hate, and EA's sales and reputation will ultimately fail on account of it.
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DRM and piracy?
Nice. One more reason given to those who play pirated copies.
Note that similar things does happened before... so because some DRM doesn't like the Process Explorer in my computer, I have to play with the pirated version when I went home, installed and found I couldn't play it.
It does seems that this kind of DRM is *pushing* people to use pirated copies instead of buying it. Decision makers in EA need to reconsider it. Choosing annoying DRM of such kind will drive away sales... people will be trained to just directly download pirated copies instead of buying it if they find the name of troublesome DRM is there...
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DRM hits Walmart too
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Meh
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WTF
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