News Good Old Games: DRM drives gamers to piracy

The problem there is, longevity. How can they separate the good from the bad and the downright awful?, as you rightly say, games often end up at that price after their term. But if they were to ship at that price the only way they could mark off would be to give them away, and that's not a viable option for anyone. I think as the prices on PC games stand, it is a healthy balance between relying on volume and the profit of each unit shifted, unfortunately moving either side of that balance means taking a gamble. A game priced at £30 on launch, say for instance that game isn't very good, recent examples like TDU2, AVP and I predict Homefront. They (apart from the latter) have dramatically fallen in price, just like you said into the £5- £15/20 price range. Now those developers can rely on people seeing this and buying into it under the belief they are getting a bargain, which is going to generate that volume of sales, the big money was probably made shortly after shipping at the full price tag, now they can fill in those gaps.

 

I'm shocked that no one has mentioned Impulse, the Digital Download program from Stardock. As far as I know, all those games come DRM free and you don't need to have Impulse running while your playing your game, only to download it and keep it up to date. I find it very simple compared to Steam and for users who can't always have a solid internet connection, it might be worth looking into. It's got a decent amount of games as well, many are offered on other services such as Steam but there are a few gems buried amongst the junk, namely, sins of a solar empire. It's just simple. If I had found out about Impulse sooner my Steam account might not have so many games on it. Probably just the exclusive Source titles.

 

You reminded me of this story http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/693342/live-blog-dice-2009-keynote-gabe-newell-valve-software/

 

This is the reason I built a media server and HTPC.

 

There have been several games I would have bought if not for the restrictive DRM protection. Being in the military we do not always have access to an internet connection. Which makes it a pain to play certain games when I want to unwind.

 

Best Graph ever
This Graph should come as standart as soon as someone start another "DRM is good for you" routine!

 

Not putting DRM is no guarantee against piracy, and I don't think DRM really drives many people to piracy. People will just pirate, regardless, because it's there, it's convenient, and there are no penalties. Indie game developers with DRM-less games have often reported high piracy rates. The Humble Bundle was pirated even though you could buy it for $0.01 and it was DRM-less.

DRM's main purpose is to reduce piracy at release, when the game sells most and at the highest price. It sometimes does that effectively. If publishers regularly remove DRM after a while, like Ubisoft reducing the draconic DRM on Assassin's Creed 2 after a while, then it would be a good middle ground. It's a pity that publishers keep DRM forever, because it probably does little to their bottom line after a while and they probably do lose some sales because of it.

 

Hate to disappoint you but Impulse does use DRM (as does Stardock generally) - it checks on install. Once activated, you can keep the sig.bin keyfile to avoid the need for future reactivations on the same machine, but if you install on a new machine - or change the hardware on your existing one enough that Impulse's activation check thinks it's a new machine - then you have to reactivate.

That puts it on the same level as the likes of SecuROM Online, with the added risk of having all Impulse purchases tied into a single account (meaning greater financial loss if that account is disabled for any reason).

 

This is the most famous study about piracy and DRM , made by a developer in his game

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17408

"Conclusion

The 1000:1 ratio is really, I think, the key takeaway of the article. Several people have grasped that and started applying it to different numbers in the industry, and the results are very disappointing. "

And is funny because TW have the bigger sales in Russia , one of the most pirates country of the world, when the developers are writing in forums that have pirate links or there are pirate copies in many Comercial Centers in big cities . By the way, Russia have the bigger ratio PC : PC games sold of the world .

 

Incidentally, today is a good chance to put your money where your mouth is.

The Humble Indie Bundle folks are apparently releasing a new pack together with Frozenbyte at 19:30 (GMT+3).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaM6LHC_uXA

 

I spent money on a good gaming pc for lots of free games! It's only the hardware that costs money for PCs

 

I'd like to buy Test Drive Unilmited 2, but after the DRM fiasco I've experienced with TDU1, I'm looking for a digital distributor that sells it without SecuROM. Reason? With TDU1 (awesome game!), it randomly tells me I need to register it. Sometimes after only a week. I've installed it ONCE, but ended up registering it probably 10 times. Had to get in contact with tech support a few times to be given new install keys.

Also, what happens when DRM requiring "phone home" mechanics has no home to phone? As in, many of us still play games from 10+ years ago (via Dosbox, etc). What happens if we still like to play our old games 10 years from now, that currently have DRM? Will we be able to?

There should be a law that after a few years, DRM is stripped from a game, so that it can continue to be played.

 

Really?! I've been on the same Impulse account for about 3 years almost. Installed games across over 10 PC's(my two home pc's, my work pc, my laptop and a few of my friends computers, I'm someone who doesn't really mind sharing my steam info or impulse info with anyone I know. So far no one has had a copy of any of my games not install due to DRM. I had a copy of crysis on over 5 computers and they all work still work. Sure I can't play online with each copy at the same time but i've never run into any activation limits on my games yet. I remember crysis and farcry 2 gave me a limit of 5 installs but on impulse I've not once seen that limit. Does that only apply to certain games then? I checked the Impulse website and it does list SecuRom for crysis but again, never seen it happen.

Thanks for clearing that up though, I'd hate to point someone to a service for the wrong reasons.

 

Eiffie, you seem to be confusing limited installations with DRM.

 

The best way to verify this (for Impulse or anything else) is to try installing and playing (in single player mode if possible) while disconnected from the Internet. Impulse hasn't received the same degree of vitriol as SecuROM or Ubisoft but some users have reported problems. Doubtless there are plenty who've been OK (the main downside for such systems is their longevity) but they're still reliant on continued support from Impulse, which is now owned by GameStop.

Stardock do impose a limit but haven't say what it is. Probably higher than 5, but there have been several posts on the Stardock forums by those who claim to have reached it. This may change with GameStop in control though.

 

What I will do now with EA products

This problem is absurd. I have been lied to by tech support from the beginning. It is not the first time I have had problems with EA. I have never, ever stolen a game, a song, anyting. I don't download movies, shows, etc unless I pay for them.

But from now on, if it is an EA product, I will pirate it every single time.

 

The sad truth about copy protection in all of its forms is that it only hassles honest users. Pirates are never deterred or hindered, In fact, pirates welcome each new copy protection scheme as a challenge to be overcome in an enjoyable momentary diversion.

In contrast, copy protection all too often prevents honest customers from using the products they pay for. SecuROM, for example, rendered the Atari version of the game Armed Assault unusable with the very first 1.08 patch. The only way that honest customers could continue playing the game was to download a cracked version until the 1.12 patch stripped away the copy protection completely and made the game completely diskless. Many honest customers had the exact same experience with Neverwinter Nights and NWN2.

Requiring constant internet connection is a non-starter for those customers suffering with unreliable ISPs like Comcast. Limiting re-installation is completely unacceptable, period.

All customers have fundamental rights when purchasing a product that the product::

- Is fit for its intended purpose;
- Matches its description:
- Is of satisfactory quality to function for a reasonable time without defects.

Copy protection simply has a very high rate of violating these rights with no deterrence or hindrance to real thieves.

The real consequence of copy protection is not honest customers resorting to piracy after paying for a copy of a game. The real consequence is lost sales to honest customers like us who research games before we buy and refuse to purchase games that are highly prone to either never work right or stop working.