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The New Comic Thread for Friday, February 19, 2010
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These days, DRM isn't a per-purchase, per-individual limitation, you just need one bright spark to crack it and then millions of people reap the benefits
So I can't help wondering if making it huge and unweildy and irritating does more to bother the legitimate buyers than the pirates- sure, give me an error message if I try and run without the CD, but don't make me log into forty things first
Also the no piracy on consoles is bullshit, console piracy is getting more and more commonplace. Although the PS3 is not yet cracked.
practically speaking, torrenting an iso, mounting and installing the game, then applying a crack is still an easier solution even if you've BOUGHT the game
it's certainly not impossible to pirate console games, it's just significantly more difficult
pc gamers seem to want a better looking, cheaper game that doesn't require the disc and that any additional content added to the game be free
that doesn't seem economically viable
Depends on the console. If we're talking about the 360 I witnessed my brother doing it, and it was pretty easy what with all the guides available.
The DS (and PSP?) are just easy as all hell, the Wii I don't know (Not like it has any games, m i rite?)
others have had the same access to the same games, for not even a tenth of that, pirating them.
There is no "solution" as such, people will always pirate games. It's like trying to stop people from stealing or killing each other. It just won't happen.
I just don't want to be punished for buying games if pirating is that much easier.
but I don't agree doing away with them entirely will help much in either direction
so it seems like DRM kind of just annoys the people who actually do pay money for it
only the "cracker" at best (guy who releases pirated material)
DRM does not work
The only ones who win on DRM are those that make it.
I just want to be able to play things in bad weather.
Maybe not have to spend forty dollars when I cant find a manual
that would be good
no matter how complex the DRM, the pirated version is usually presented in an easy-to-use package
none of these DRM systems have done anything other than make it harder for someone to install and play a game they have actually paid for
i wish companies would start treating games as something that you own after you buy it. Like if it has been purchased on your account you can redownload forever, you can install it wherever you want, no need for CD etc.
i honestly think that until someone develops a foolproof way to stop pirated games from working (i.e. a physical element or something), there is just no point. as long as everything is done digitally, it will continue to be bypassed and ignored, and companies will continue to waste money and annoy the people who actually BUY from them
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Thats like saying: "People are going to commit crimes regardless of anything! So you might as well not have cops because they just get in the way of people who aren't criminals!"
There ARE ways to stop piracy or at least make it so convoluted and troublesome that only a tiny percent of people end up pirating.
The thing is... implementing ways to stop piracy would cut off legitimate routes of delivery to people who do want to play the game... or would cost so much money they would be counter-productive to a business model.
The most effective way of stopping piracy is making the games only playable in a format which cannot be copied or circumvented... like the PS3 for instance. I haven't heard about any methods for pirating PS3 games as the PS3 won't play from burned blu-ray discs... and PS3 emulation is still a long ways off. I could be incorrect though as I don't keep up with the piracy scene.
Well, almost never at least.
i'd say its more like a cop stopping you to ask questions and check your alcohol level you every time you leave your house
i'm all for trying to stop piracy! i think its fucking stupid that people expect to get everything for free
but i also think that it should be a hell of a lot less obtrusive
something like a more complex version of a CD key would be best in my opinion; check to make sure that you have bought the product, and if it can be proven then let you play and never bother you again
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try that in the debate forum
I want to see what they say
because it's really nothing like that at all
for starters a cop wont shove a nightstick in a random orifice because you want to cross the street unless you're waving a gun around
they cant arrest you unless you break the law
if there were nightstick stations everyone had to experience in order to continue obeying the law, then you'd be correct
also this is the new comic thread
the arrow is awesome
when i see an arrow i have to see where it is coming from straight away, so i read the comic completely out of order
still funny in the order i read it, anyway!
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Stating that someone should not TRY to protect something... because "its going to be stolen anyway"
Is still a flawed argument.
It seems that the basic elements of this argument always boil down to the following not-always-apparent-on-the-surface concepts:
1. Video Game developers and publishers should not be (or in some extreme cases, are not) allowed to sell, lease, loan, rent or license their game in the manner that they seem fit in an attempt to minimize theft, maximize profit or just because.
2. Consumers don't have the option of avoiding DRM schemes and making a legitimate statement on the marketplace because they just must play the game. This is also the publishers fault for making video game marketing so good, what with the trailers and all.
3. Since the consumer cannot opt-out of playing the game, and has the moral imperative to express their disgust to the publisher, the only remaining option is to pirate the game.
4. The problem here being that in 99.99% of the cases, the consumer does not actually have the expertise or time to break the game's protection, especially considering that they do not have access to the game. They have to rely on someone else gaining access to the game and breaking the protection, then distributing it before they can play it. One might consider this to be the point in our thought experiment where the protection has actually done its job. However, any delay in the consumer acquiring the game is an additional inconvenience to be blamed on the publisher and their choice (see point 1) of DRM solutions.
5. The greater the inconvenience, or perceived possible future inconvenience to the consumer, the more justified they are in pirating the game. In some cases, this includes merely adding any copy protection at all. This linear trend shows a steadily decreasing resistance to thievery as the (publisher-fueled, see point 2) desire for a game increases.
6. Every copy protection gets broken and every game gets stolen, therefore developers and publishers should not try to protect against theft. In fact, it would be easier if they just put a download up on their site of the unprotected game with a paypal button next to it.
7. Stealing is easy. Why can't not breaking the law be so easy?
8. It's really the aforementioned ease that has led to the mass-proliferation of stolen goods on the internet. In a way, the availability and simplicity is also justification.
9. Everybody torrents something sooner or later anyways, like during October, beginning of November, there's just too many games coming out, you know that most people are pirating something.
10. It is wrong for publishers to treat their customers like criminals.
i made a note next to my pasta recipe
read the newspost
The point is that there is too much DRM bullshit. Like GFWL games sometimes encrypt your saves with a key generated by your profile, which is fine if you have an online profile, but if you play offline and backup your saves but forget to backup your local profile you are fucked.
Basically don't use DRM that screws with customers.
I have no problem with developers protecting their products. It's just infuriating that they do it in such a boneheaded way. Because once you cross the line where it's more tedious to buy then to get for free, you start to lose people.
Why can't developers just adopt the steam model: CD-Keys stored and online checks on launch, combined with benefits (autopatching, communities, friendlists). Buying a game on Steam is easier and cheaper and safer then the usual pirate steps.
But instead devs chose to pile up the DRM like it does no harm. Why are there GFWL live games within Steam? (DoW II, Batman). Or limited installs, including getting registered for those when you change PC parts.
For the record, my main reason for not buying AC II (besides limited time) is it's higher pricetag.
Many games don't release a demo on the PC, and people don't want to throw good money at something which isn't good, so the download the game, try it and if they like it, buy it.
Also before any one comes in all herrp derrp reviews reviews, let me tell you that reviews are way too subjective and there's places you can't trust at all.
So for some games it's either try it out at a friends house (Not always possible) download a demo (Not always possible) pirate it, don't buy it or buy it without knowing if you will like it or not.
This is why I always pick through the dumpster out back before I order anything at a new restaurant. Why should I pay $20 only to find out that the chef sucks at making pasta primavera?
There's probably a lot of people who don't know anything about how to get pirated games either, and those will buy the game because that's their only option - if they want to play it.
But yeah, a lot of DRM today is fucking annoying bullshit. I don't like it, but I understand why it's there.
Have games activated by the head dev going to every customer's house personally to make sure it's a-okay to play!
All this talk about piracy, and not a single one of you motherless dogs brought any damned rum!
For shame, Social Entropy; for shame!!!
I will see you mongrels on Monday; I bid you good day.
:x
This line of reasoning would work if it weren't for the fact that a lot of DRM very literally makes it easier and more convenient to pirate a game than to play it legitimately.
The issue of "doing something" about piracy is completely irrelevant, because to "do something" about piracy you would have to come up with a kind of copy protection that obstructed pirates more than it did legitimate users. And if that's possible, it certainly doesn't seem to be a popular solution. (Things like CD keys seem to obstruct pirates and legitimate users to about the same, very small, degree.)
When DRM no longer prompts people to say "I bought this game, but I'm still going to pirate it because that way I can play it sooner and with less fuss," then we can talk about combating piracy. But the trend now seems to be toward more of that nonsense rather than less.
I can see where the first sentence is coming from, and it certainly makes more sense that way, but: really? They can't afford to be seen as not doing anything about piracy? Seen by whom?
I guess I can't play AC2
or rather, I probably could, but I would get booted every five minutes when my wireless goes down and have to restart the game and that would probably give me an aneurysm
If I did buy it immediately? With the DRM we see sometimes, it might be unreasonable to not crack it.
If the DRM is too intrusive on a game, I just wont buy it or wait for them to tone the DRM down.
Edit: Except that it totally was the theme of a Bonanza episode I saw one time.
The line of reasoning that something upsets me when friends of mine justify stealing from me doesn't work?
I'm not sure you actually read what I posted.
That's nonsense.
Publishers have no regulations or restrictions, moral or legal, that says that a game has to be easy for a paying customer to play.
single player games ain't mmos.
I mean, let's say I still got the game in 10 years and wanne play it. but whoops, ubisoft discontinued the online support or went bankrupt. now the game becomes nothing more than an expensive piece of plastic.