| 16 DEC 2008 at 9:44am |
| Deleted User | For anyone who still wanted proof, here it is:
Quoted from a gaming magazine who quoted from Softpedia:
From Softpedia: Spore had all the aces up its sleeve in order to become a best selling title. It promised players the ability to create their own creatures and then lead them through various stages of evolution until they could travel through space and visit other planets developed by other players.
It delivered on all of these, but, sadly, there was one thing that shadowed all of the innovations that this title brought, DRM (Digital Rights Management).
Although the game had quite a lot of features, the decision of Electronic Arts, the publisher of the game, to include the DRM system SecuROM, in order to prevent piracy, created a massive backlash. Users were frustrated by the fact that the limitations imposed by the program meant that they couldn't create multiple online accounts, for members of their families, or install it at work, where they could also play the game. This backlash has even resulted in a few class action law suits, filed against EA for damage to players through this DRM software.
Although EA did admit that the pirated copies did not equal lost sales on its part, the fact that the DRM system employed was so severe turned a lot of angry customers towards downloading pirated copies off the Internet so they wouldn't be stressed by SecuROM anymore. It now seems that there were quite a lot of customers angry at Spore, as, according to XXXXXX*, it has been the most pirated PC game of this year.
That's right; according to a statistic released by the popular site, over 1,7 million copies of Spore were downloaded this year, which is quite a lot, as it has only been launched 3 months ago. The game dominates its runner up, The Sims 2, which only managed to be downloaded 1,1 million times, considering it has been launched 4 years ago. Other 2008-released games that managed to get to the top are Fallout 3, Far Cry 2 and Pro Evolution Soccer. Here are the full results:
1. Spore (1,700,000, released Sept. 200
2. The Sims 2 (1,150,000, Sept. 2004)
3. Assassins Creed (1,070,000, Nov. 2007)
4. Crysis (940,000, Nov. 2007)
5. Command & Conquer 3 (860,000, March 2007)
6. Call of Duty 4 (830,000, Nov. 2007)
7. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (740,000, June 2005)
8. Fallout 3 (645,000, Oct. 200
9. Far Cry 2 (585,000, Oct. 200
10. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (470,000, Oct. 200
All in all, it definitely seems that EA has received what it deserved for including such a limiting piece of software with its games. Let's just hope that it learned its lesson, but then again, if you look at new releases, which also have SecuROM, things might not change yet.
* Censored by myself so as not to break JA rules re referring to torrent sites :
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| 16 DEC 2008 at 1:23pm |
JKingSchattenjger
Posts : 2349
Joined: 4 MAY 2008
Location: 0
Status : Offline | I wonder what their methodology is for calculating (presumably illegal...) downloads.
You can't kill someone in a studio.
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| 16 DEC 2008 at 1:39pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By JKing (16 DEC 2008 1:23pm)
I wonder what their methodology is for calculating (presumably illegal...) downloads.
There are many "statcounter" software applications for counting the amount of hits/downloads on/from a site, JKing.
I'd have thought you of all people would be aware of this?
As I said above, one of the most popular torrent sites provided the statistics, which name I of course had to edit out, as the JA site rules forbid referrals or links to "Torrents" or "Warez" sites.
EDIT: These sites are sites where unscrupulous gamers download illegal copies of games from.
I find it rather surprising that they did not mind their name being openly published, and that they actually were forthcoming with the statistics, but I presume they formally distance themselves from what their members do.
So it would not be the site itself that is responsible for the piracy, but indeed many (or most, even?) of their members.
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| 16 DEC 2008 at 1:45pm |
JKingSchattenjger
Posts : 2349
Joined: 4 MAY 2008
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Of course. But how many sites? Which? id they count only the downloads of the torrent metadata files, or did they lurk in BitTorrent swarms to track the completion of peer downloads? The methodology used could potentially lead to vastly different results.
You can't kill someone in a studio.
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| 16 DEC 2008 at 1:51pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By JKing (16 DEC 2008 1:45pm)
Of course. But how many sites? Which? Did they count only the downloads of the torrent metadata files, or did they lurk in BitTorrent swarms to track the completion of peer downloads? The methodology used could potentially lead to vastly different results.
As I said JKing - it was one very popular Torrent site which I am not allowed to name. Why don't you look up the Softpedia article yourself for the details?
The point is that on a very (it sounds like the most popluar even?) popular torrent site, one of the most strictly copyrighted games is already top of the list of all time for amount of illegal downloads, barely a few months after the release of the game.
Oh, and if you look at the rest of their list, there are some other very recent, very strictly copyrighted games on the list as well.
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| 16 DEC 2008 at 2:57pm |
TechnoSpikePrivate Detective
Posts : 581
Joined: 26 APR 2005
Location: PT
Status : Offline | Crap, I'm busting my memory trying to remember where I saw a cartoon that depicts this exact article, but can't remember where I saw it.... it's basically a major distributor company manager yelling "Needs more DRM!".
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| 16 DEC 2008 at 6:44pm |
| Deleted User | And here's to the future....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cnet/20081215/tc_cnet/83011138631012289476
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| 17 DEC 2008 at 8:01pm |
XerNosamSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 339
Joined: 3 SEP 2007
Location: US, California
Status : Offline | I thought Ascaron did a wonderful job in "punishing" folks who were using a hacked version of Sacred:
Within the code (I don't know how, so don't ask me) if the game detected that you were using a pirated copy, or a NO CD patch, or anything along those lines, it would warp your character to this island slightly southwest of the mainland map... and there was nary a way to get off the island. You had to restart your from your last save point, and after an undetermined amount of time, it would once again warp you to the island.
Genius, and in no way detrimental to your system.
I personally have never had one single issue with DRM ever, so I've never jumped in on any discussions/rants about it. However, with all the issues people have with it that I read about, it's completely warranted ranting.
I detest game pirating, and think it's a detriment to the industry and gamers alike, but DRM seems to be backfiring on so many levels. Publishers need to take a real hard look at what's going on and rush back to the drawing board in hopes of coming up with something that protects their works but doesn't punish the folks that pay money to play them. (Which is what everyone is asking for, apparently).
Though the reality is pirating will never end, and the war will rage on...
Playing: Skyrim: Dragonborn/Dawnguard; Torchlight 2; To The Moon; Far Cry 3
Finished: HomeFront; Far Cry 3; Dishonored
Always Playing: Half Life 2
Looking Forward To: BioShock: Infinite
Reading: BioShock: Rapture; SW: Revan
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| 17 DEC 2008 at 8:20pm |
| Deleted User | Well, I was using an original version of the game (Sacred), and it refused to initiate because of the protection. So making the game do what you said there - if you applied a no-CD crack, that scenario theoretically made the game a totally useless acquisition for me.
Not that it made a difference, as I didn't even know what a "crack" was, in those days...
Still, I paid for the game, but I couldn't play it at all. >
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| 17 DEC 2008 at 9:05pm |
XerNosamSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 339
Joined: 3 SEP 2007
Location: US, California
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By TheTraveler (17 DEC 2008 8:19pm)
Well, I was using an original version of the game (Sacred), and it refused to initiate because of the protection. So making the game do what you said there - if you applied a no-CD crack, that scenario theoretically made the game a totally useless acquisition for me.
Not that it made a difference, as I didn't even know what a "crack" was, in those days...
Still, I paid for the game, but I couldn't play it at all. >
Argh! That's one crud thing about PC gaming as a whole (outside the DRM issues) is how broad a range of hardware configs there are, and how a game can run flawlessly on one system, then tank and not run at all on another.
Console gamers have PC gamers by the junk in that regard... though there may be bugs, the games are always "compatible" on a console.
Playing: Skyrim: Dragonborn/Dawnguard; Torchlight 2; To The Moon; Far Cry 3
Finished: HomeFront; Far Cry 3; Dishonored
Always Playing: Half Life 2
Looking Forward To: BioShock: Infinite
Reading: BioShock: Rapture; SW: Revan
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| 17 DEC 2008 at 9:21pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By krexfoster (17 DEC 2008 9:05pm)
Originally Posted By TheTraveler (17 DEC 2008 8:19pm)
Well, I was using an original version of the game (Sacred), and it refused to initiate because of the protection. So making the game do what you said there - if you applied a no-CD crack, that scenario theoretically made the game a totally useless acquisition for me.
Not that it made a difference, as I didn't even know what a "crack" was, in those days...
Still, I paid for the game, but I couldn't play it at all. >
Argh! That's one crud thing about PC gaming as a whole (outside the DRM issues) is how broad a range of hardware configs there are, and how a game can run flawlessly on one system, then tank and not run at all on another.
Console gamers have PC gamers by the junk in that regard... though there may be bugs, the games are always "compatible" on a console.
What you say there is true, XernoSam. Luckily there is usually a workaround for compatibilty issues though. Admittedly harder work than the console guys have to go through, but hey, - I love my PC graphics!
However, I want to stress that in the case I mentioned with Sacred, it was definitely the DRM! Upon initialisation, it would show the little disk icon to indicate it was checking the disk - I think it even said it was checking, and then it would spit out a message saying : "Please insert original disk" ! >
Also, when the "gold ed" of Sacred finally came out, I got it, and lo and behold, it worked on my exact same system.
The gold ed was fully patched (and known DRM issues resolved) - I suppose a patch might have solved some/all of my problems, but at the time I got the game originally, there were no patches available .
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| 18 DEC 2008 at 3:17pm |
avatar_58Private Detective
Posts : 403
Joined: 27 MAY 2008
Status : Online | If we are using sales to describe how DRM is bad, why not do the reverse? What about games like World of Goo which appears to see more piracy than sales despite not using any DRM at all?
Personally I've come to the conclusion that PC gaming has reverted to it's old niche status and getting 500,000 in sales is all you should ever expect. If you can't handle this and expect a few million then you ought to make a console game instead.
Even the most successful PC games these days barely break 1 million copies, and even then it takes a good solid year to do so. The Witcher only recently passed this mark, as did Crysis. Two games on the opposite ends of the requirements and DRM spectrum. All it proves to me is that unless you are Valve or Blizzard you aren't going to have a massive hit on your hands.
I think that's why we're seeing a return of adventure games lately. Since there's barely any difference in sales between a AAA shooter and an unknown niche adventure game on the PC sales are no longer an issue. I think we'll be seeing more and more smaller titles than AAA heavy hitters in the future.
As I see it Crysis is the final PC-only graphic trendsetter. Everything else is going to be a console port or designed to take advantage of not-so modern hardware.
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| 18 DEC 2008 at 5:17pm |
| Deleted User | But the thing is, Avatar, we are not using sales to describe how DRM is bad. We are just illustrating, with the high piracy figures of DRM'ed to death games, that the publisher could have spent his money more productively than on outlandish copy protection. Because people are doing piracy anyway, DRM or no DRM. It does not seem to be deterring them.
I don't like to hear what you are saying about PC games - the implication being that more and more, us PC gamers are going to have to put up with console ports, though I suspect that unfortunately you are right there.
Let's just hope they keep a little respect for us and do such (so I've heard) good ports as the latest Prince of Persia.
As far as I remember, Jade Empire was also a pretty good port, and if all ports are that well done, I actually won't mind living with such a status quo. On the other hand, it is rather sad for more action-orientated gamers, as the keyboard allows for more functions than the console controller pad does.
Btw, you don't honestly think that console gamers don't do piracy, do you? Ever heard of PSx and X-box gamers talking about "chipping" their machines?
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| 18 DEC 2008 at 6:33pm |
XerNosamSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 339
Joined: 3 SEP 2007
Location: US, California
Status : Offline | I'm going to refrain from adding more to this thread because I'm actually a pro-DRM guy - not necessarily with the methods that install software code and ruin systems, but disc checks, internet validation, install limits... those I've got zero problem with.
Fire away, folks
Playing: Skyrim: Dragonborn/Dawnguard; Torchlight 2; To The Moon; Far Cry 3
Finished: HomeFront; Far Cry 3; Dishonored
Always Playing: Half Life 2
Looking Forward To: BioShock: Infinite
Reading: BioShock: Rapture; SW: Revan
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| 18 DEC 2008 at 7:37pm |
| Deleted User | Oh, but I am not all saying that I am against DRM per se! I never wanted to imply that publishers should do away with DRM completetely! I am quite happy with disc checks, internet validation and key-checks.
What I do detest, though, is install limits > (especially - as I tend to play RPG's and strategy games in bits and pieces, and often want to re-install an adventure game to check something out. It has happened that I've written a FAQ, for instance), and the methods that install software code and ruin systems, that you mentioned, XSam.
I mean, if I paid for the game, how can they tell me that I am only allowed to install the software that I paid for, 3 times? How would you like to buy a book that self-destructs after you had opened it a certain number of times? >
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| 19 DEC 2008 at 6:59pm |
TechnoSpikePrivate Detective
Posts : 581
Joined: 26 APR 2005
Location: PT
Status : Offline | Hum, I might be mistaken, but from what I know, console games can, and are, pirated. I think a kind of "chip" or something altered to the original console, so don't think that only the console games are safe, so that's the solution for the producers.
Increasing DRM is not the solution. If there's a will, there will always be a away ( I thinks that's the saying, not sure if got the whole words correct) to crack it.
For me, is the companies can't decrease the price of games (in my country most of the recent PC games can cost about 49-59€, which is expensive, considering the minimum wage, for instance), then I think they should add some value to it: throw in the bundle a poster, a map, CD with soundtrack, something of sorts. Then I think more people would fill like the game had more value in it.
At the prince range of the games, I usually prefer to wait to see if the game price lowers a bit before buying.
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| 19 DEC 2008 at 7:20pm |
| Deleted User | Console gamers most definitely do piracy, -you can bet your life on it! I have often overheard conversations where console gamers tell one another where they can have teir machines "chipped" which would enable tham to play downloaded content and pirated games on it!
I have heard conversations like this with PS2 and Xbox 360 gamers specifically. I don't know about other consoles, but at least with those two I mentioned, I feel I can quite confidently assert that piracy is rife!
Oh, and I fully agree with you about adding a bit of extra incentive to buy original copies, Techospike.
Do DRM that doesn't harm your customer, and in addition give a bit of an extra incentive to buy legal games.
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| 19 DEC 2008 at 8:21pm |
XerNosamSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 339
Joined: 3 SEP 2007
Location: US, California
Status : Offline | I'm relatively out of the console loop, but I remember my buds chipping their Playstations back in the day, and it was a pain in the @$$. Soldering 3 wires onto the mainboard was risky business, and there were more than a few ruined that had to be returned.
I was never a part of the scene because (a) I didn't want to risk damaging my system and (b) thought pirating games (even then) was wrong.
I'm not sure if modding the consoles of today to play pirated games is a big a pain in the butt as it was back in the day.
Oh, and as far as the incentive thing goes, I LOVE it when I buy a game and there's all sorts of cool stuff in it: Maps, mini-books, soundtrack cd's, etc. On the contrary, if I open a game box and all I get is a CD sleeve and disc, along with some sweepstakes add for Nvidia, I get really annoyed.
Playing: Skyrim: Dragonborn/Dawnguard; Torchlight 2; To The Moon; Far Cry 3
Finished: HomeFront; Far Cry 3; Dishonored
Always Playing: Half Life 2
Looking Forward To: BioShock: Infinite
Reading: BioShock: Rapture; SW: Revan
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| 22 DEC 2008 at 4:41am |
MushmeloIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 2
Joined: 22 DEC 2008
Status : Online | Originally Posted By krexfoster (19 DEC 2008 8:20pm)
I'm relatively out of the console loop, but I remember my buds chipping their Playstations back in the day, and it was a pain in the @$$. Soldering 3 wires onto the mainboard was risky business, and there were more than a few ruined that had to be returned.
I was never a part of the scene because (a) I didn't want to risk damaging my system and (b) thought pirating games (even then) was wrong.
I'm not sure if modding the consoles of today to play pirated games is a big a pain in the butt as it was back in the day.
I honestly don't know much about how this is done, but I can tell you that it was ridiculously easy for my friend to play pirated Nintendo DS games. I think it was something like...he bought some kind of adapter card so he could download games on to a mini SD card (?), which he then sticks into his DS and plays with no hassle at all. (Sorry about my terrible description...just wanted to let you know that it's easy for the DS, at least.)
Originally Posted By krexfoster (19 DEC 2008 8:20pm)
Oh, and as far as the incentive thing goes, I LOVE it when I buy a game and there's all sorts of cool stuff in it: Maps, mini-books, soundtrack cd's, etc. On the contrary, if I open a game box and all I get is a CD sleeve and disc, along with some sweepstakes add for Nvidia, I get really annoyed.
I know what you mean. When I buy a game and all I get is a bunch of cardboard that's padding the box, with a dinky disc in a sleeve wedged inside, I feel pretty annoyed! I always liked getting little books with games, whether they were books for taking notes (like with Myst or Alice), or mini novels/histories (with Guild Wars and Oblivion).
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| 22 DEC 2008 at 5:51pm |
avatar_58Private Detective
Posts : 403
Joined: 27 MAY 2008
Status : Online | Console piracy exists yes but it's a non issue. The gamers who pay for their games far outweight the few who mod their consoles to play illegal copies. Also the revenue from rental stores helps - if someone copies games from a rental store it doesn't matter: the developers get their share regardless. This isn't true for the PC as ONE person can copy a game and just spread it via bitttorrent.
Console games can be torrented too, but I'm willing to bet the numbers are far lower than those making personal copies using mod chips.
However for PC gaming as we can plainly see sales are hurting big time. Even the biggest names are selling very few copies. Now it's easy to point fingers and say "well it's a bad port" or "it requires a beefy pc!" but there are so many examples of the exact opposite. There are tons of games that require 5 year old machines that don't sell more than a few thousand copies.
As I said unless you are Blizzard or Valve chances are you are barely breaking even in terms of sales. That's why adventure games are sort of coming back - the cost to produce them is far less than the sales even if only 200,000 copies are sold. Telltale is seeing good results because a) they use known IPs and b) they re-use tech and stick with low-graphical easy to develop games. All for just the cost of running + voice talent/animation.
Compare that to say - developing an entire juggernaut from scratch that requires a dual core PC with a 7-8 series Nvidia card. That is VERY expensive even if it's just a port. Expect to less and less each year because there are far too many quality PC titles that just aren't selling. It's very upsetting to devs to see such high numbers on torrent websites and yet low numbers on actual sales. Piracy is a huge issue regardless of whether one believes in DRM or not.
So personally MY opinion is that we should all suck it up and accept DRM. While I too hate it and think it feels like they are treating us like criminals it does help publishers accept the PC as a platform. Imagine if EA turned down the idea of porting games like Mass Effect simply because the devs denied the use of Securom? Would that be a good thing, simply for principles? Not in my opinion.
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| 22 DEC 2008 at 8:49pm |
Mr Innocent.Journeyman
Posts : 1317
Joined: 15 JAN 2008
Location: GR
Status : Offline | it does help publishers accept the PC as a platform.
It does? Why? Are the games not pirated? Mass Effect was cracked even before its official release, though the first crack caused some problems. A fully working crack came out a week later. The same went on with Spore and just about any title that tried to implement draconian DRM that only causes problems for the legitimate users.
Telltale's games are pirated to death, since the only thing required is to download the demo (it's actually the whole game) and find a crack. But a legitimate user can't play them in a machine that hasn't access to the internet, as I wanted to do.
Last I heard, even games running through Steam (which I consider a great service and the future of game distribution in general) can be pirated, and torrent sites were full of pirated GTA 4 copies last week.
Ubisoft realised this and has decided to throw copy protection out of the window. The new Prince of Persia has no copy protection at all. Will it be pirated? Of course, but it would have been anyway, and at least the publisher saved the money copy "protection" would have cost.
I don't like piracy because I do believe it hurts my favorite hobby, PC gaming, but I hate seeing money wasted on things that don't work (and guess who's finally paying for the cost of ineffective DRM? The legitimate user, of course), and DRM doesn't.
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| 22 DEC 2008 at 8:49pm |
TechnoSpikePrivate Detective
Posts : 581
Joined: 26 APR 2005
Location: PT
Status : Offline |
From what I've heard, it ain't only a few hand of gamers that "mod" their consoles. There are people who offer their services on doing that to other console owners. You just have to know where to find it. At least, in my country I know this happens, don't know how it is on other countries.
My take on console games, maybe the more common game buyers are people that mostly see the PC as a working tool and the console as something that you can play with your kid or something. I've lost track of the number of fathers that I've seen being harrased from very young kids to buy this or that console game (don't get me started on that topic or else I'll spend the rest of the night ranting ).
But really, for me, more DRM won't be the solution to the increase of game sales: that's the same as saying that increasing gas prices will make people buy more cars!
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| 22 DEC 2008 at 9:28pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By nik2008ofs (22 DEC 2008 8:48pm)
Ubisoft realised this and has decided to throw copy protection out of the window. The new Prince of Persia has no copy protection at all. Will it be pirated? Of course, but it would have been anyway, and at least the publisher saved the money copy "protection" would have cost.
I don't like piracy because I do believe it hurts my favorite hobby, PC gaming, but I hate seeing money wasted on things that don't work (and guess who's finally paying for the cost of ineffective DRM? The legitimate user, of course), and DRM doesn't.
This is my exact point, and I've spelt it out above. I am NOT against DRM in principle, and I would accept and suck up the negative aspects of it, IF IT WORKED.
But the whole point of the article I quoted, is that it does not work, people "crack" the DRM; - that is, they wrote code that neutralises the DRM, - like Nik also illustrated.
What I am concerned about is, that the publishers are wasting good money on something that only negatively influences their sales, where they could rather have spent that cash on incentives to buy legal copies, like little extra's in your game's box, or simply make it more attractive to buy the game, by lowering the price.
From what I've heard, it ain't only a few hand of gamers that "mod" their consoles. There are people who offer their services on doing that to other console owners. You just have to know where to find it. At least, in my country I know this happens, don't know how it is on other countries.
I cannot believe there are people who do not know this. Many people I know who have kids, have offered to lend me a PS2 game for the kids, but upon hearing that my machine has not been "chipped" then retracted, saying their games only work on chipped machines. Some have even had the gall to offer phone numbers of people who can "chip" my machine for me. So it's not just kids/teenagers who get their machines 'chipped', it is adults also who are acting like this.
Where they get their pirated games from, I have no idea. One of them said his brother-in-law got a stack of them while visiting the Middle East.
The X-box people with "chipped" machines, I know from overheard conversations, actually buy them from a specific person who sells these games at a fraction of the price than you pay for them legally (may the ghost of Captain Jack Sparrow haunt his black soul. ). Where the maker of these games get them, I have no idea; - possibly/probably also downloads?
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| 22 DEC 2008 at 10:58pm |
avatar_58Private Detective
Posts : 403
Joined: 27 MAY 2008
Status : Online | Originally Posted By nik2008ofs (22 DEC 2008 8:48pm)
it does help publishers accept the PC as a platform.
It does? Why? Are the games not pirated? Mass Effect was cracked even before its official release, though the first crack caused some problems. A fully working crack came out a week later. The same went on with Spore and just about any title that tried to implement draconian DRM that only causes problems for the legitimate users.
Telltale's games are pirated to death, since the only thing required is to download the demo (it's actually the whole game) and find a crack. But a legitimate user can't play them in a machine that hasn't access to the internet, as I wanted to do.
Last I heard, even games running through Stream (which I consider a great service and the future of game distribution in general) can be pirated, and torrent sites were full of pirated GTA 4 copies last week.
Ubisoft realised this and has decided to throw copy protection out of the window. The new Prince of Persia has no copy protection at all. Will it be pirated? Of course, but it would have been anyway, and at least the publisher saved the money copy "protection" would have cost.
I don't like piracy because I do believe it hurts my favorite hobby, PC gaming, but I hate seeing money wasted on things that don't work (and guess who's finally paying for the cost of ineffective DRM? The legitimate user, of course), and DRM doesn't.
You didn't disprove my point - it helps publishers see the PC as a viable platform. It really doesn't matter if it stops piracy - if as a developer you choose to shun DRM then good luck to you finding a publisher. Smaller games barely have any ground to stand on, if they expect any recognition on the shelf they need a decent publisher.
Ubisoft? That's unrealistic. Ubisoft both develops AND publishes games, they have the money and clout to avoid DRM. However try to convince EA games or Activion to publish your title without DRM. You could argue for finding another publisher, but it really doesn't work that way. You can't just ring up a publisher, present an idea and expect to get funds and time.
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| 22 DEC 2008 at 11:33pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Offline | .
I think we all understand your point clearly Avatar_58.
But the well-argued counterpoint above is that PUBLISHERS AND INVESTORS need to wake up, get their beancounting heads out of their butts and accept the fact that costs related to DRM are wasted money.
DRM accomplishes nothing in terms of preventing software piracy, which is the s-o-l-e reason for its existence.
Moreover, DRM causes problems for many legal buyers, which in turn lowers customer satisfaction and increases rate of returned games at the register. It's also responsible for otherwise unnecessary calls for tech support and actually provides a compelling extra incentive for even more people to seek DRM-free illegal copies.
DRM is a total bill of goods and those goods are rotten to the core.
Cheers, Terry
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