Would DRM stop you from buying a game

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Kaos36

709 posts

Ultimate Geek

#57577 17-Feb-2010 19:51

Everyone is going ape sht over the DRM in Silent hunter 5 due out for release in March. I for one am not worried about having to have an internet connection to play the game. This is the way devs are leaning towards as a defense against piracy. But some hardcore veterans of the Silent Hunter series have now cancel their orders and are flaming the boards thing is if it wasn't for Ubisoft how they have given us silent hunter since Silent hunter II, their did probably be no Silent hunter.

DRM is something we have to just accept Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 will have DRM wont stop me from buying them i suppose if your still using dialup then you have a reason to cry about it. Otherwise DRM whether we like it of not is here to stay.

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#299937 17-Feb-2010 21:10

DRM is just a worthless exercise that only offends the true customer who buys the game, it does nothing to stop piracy as most pirates have cracked the game before general release and, if anything, makes people download the pirated game just so they have a game they own and can do what they want with it. you say you are fine with having a internet connection, would you be ok if your internet , for whatever reason, disappeared and the game you paid $100 for becomes a drink coaster, i know i wouldnt.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

wazzageek

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#299940 17-Feb-2010 21:24

Yes - DRM would stop me from buying a game (and has done in the past)

Not only is there a problem with whether you're connected to the interwebnets or not - but if the company supplying the game goes titsup and the servers are offlined - then what?

friedCrumpet

271 posts

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#299964 17-Feb-2010 22:20

Yes. But only especially obtrusive DRM. What Ubisoft is doing is exactly that.

Ragnor

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#299966 17-Feb-2010 22:28

Only if it's obtrusive like requiring the cd/dvd be in the drive or making a single player game require you be online for no real reason.

I'm totally fine with recent games I've purchased ie: Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands, Street Fighter IV and Red Alert 3 being inside Steam because the online play adds significantly to the game, pretty much never play those games single player/offline.

rugrat

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#299972 17-Feb-2010 22:59

I didn't buy red alert 3 PC version because of the 5 install limit, pay around $100 for game and then if get new computer or crashes and need to reinstall after 5 times it's just becomes worthless rubbish.

On the other hand with the PS3 very happy with sony's drm. If need to format just deactivate system, and can reinstall game and re-activate system, still counts as running on 1 activated system. Most games allow up to 5 activated systems, if something does go wrong and it breaks down unexpectedly.

Plus can get good games for under $30 so prices more reasonable.

kiwired23

90 posts

Master Geek

#299979 17-Feb-2010 23:16

I've refused to buy a game because of the DRM (the second Chronicles of Riddick title), and been relieved afterwards when reviews panned it (which was kind of disappointing, as I quite enjoyed the first game).

I've bought a game despite the DRM (Spore, which turned out to be decidedly average), and felt pressured to leave it installed for many months until EA finally released an activation revocation tool that allowed me to to remove it from my system without losing the second of the five installations that the DRM allowed (after losing the first when I had to reinstall windows).

These days I find DRM (on single-player games, at least) is pretty much an irrelevant concern as there's usually a patch that removes it before the game has even been released (be it online activation or a cd-check). It's just what publishers add to their software so they can assure their investors that they've done everything they can to minimise the effect of piracy, regardless of the fact that often the only people negatively affected are the customers who've bought the software.

ChrisNZL

309 posts

Ultimate Geek

#299984 17-Feb-2010 23:38

Biggest annoyance is trying to resell a DRM'd game that's locked to an online account :/

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Kaos36

709 posts

Ultimate Geek

#299992 18-Feb-2010 00:29

Well Ubisoft Silent Hunter 5 will require just to be online, unlimited installs.

DRM is just a worthless exercise that only offends the true customer who buys the game, it does nothing to stop piracy as most pirates have cracked the game before general release and, if anything, makes people download the pirated game just so they have a game they own and can do what they want with it. you say you are fine with having a internet connection, would you be ok if your internet , for whatever reason, disappeared and the game you paid $100 for becomes a drink coaster, i know i wouldnt.

I for one will still buy it ive pre-ordered the game of mightyape, if it gives me hassles then I always have the choice to download the fix but no need to pirate the whole game. I laugh at those dicks that say they will no longer buy it & will wait for when its out on torrents etc., When all they have to do is grab the fix! Instead no they want to pirate the game whether its has DRM or not, the DRM just gives them a better excuse to take the guilt trip away.

Ubisoft will be putting out an offline mode later on when the sales are down

Atm the SH5 comes with unlimited installs and no cd required just internet connection.

DRM no big deal.

Worst Response To A Crisis:
From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"

Byrned

455 posts

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#300024 18-Feb-2010 08:35

Although I don't generally play games anymore, I think DRM in essence is fine, but it is how it is implemented.

From what's mentioned above about the PS3 system, I would think that is ideal, and it sounds much like Apple's way of dealing with DRM, where you can de-authorise computers, as I've had to many times to after many computer transfers of my library. Imagine if I had to be connected to the net just to play my music... thats ridiculous.

Also, I think what needs to be considered is that DRM only stops the casual or opportunistic pirate i.e. A mate bought the game and I'll copy it. I know I can and how to download cracked games, but plenty of my mates have no idea, yet they'd quite happily "borrow" a game, give the disc back, and keep on playing it. I'd think it's like stopping someone stealing your stuff... you can lock your house, even alarm it, but if someone really wants it, they'll get it!

xpd

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#300039 18-Feb-2010 09:26

Kaos36: But some hardcore veterans of the Silent Hunter series have now cancel their orders and are flaming the boards

Its funny... similar thing happened when it was revealed CODMW2 wouldnt have dedicated servers, everyone went RAH and cancelled their orders and signed petitions etc.

The game got released anyway, and then someone took a screenshot of all their "friends" who said they wouldnt buy the game... 75% of them had bought it and were playing :)

If you want the game you wont care what the publisher does really.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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ariosto

46 posts

Geek

#300052 18-Feb-2010 10:13

I'm fine with game publishers doing what they can to reduce piracy, but I think a lot of the DRM solutions we've seen have just punished legitimate users without slowing piracy enough to justify their existence. Roughly half the hardcopy games I buy have installation issues (clashes with legitimate hardware or software mostly) to the point where I haven't even been able to install roughly a third of them. That's where things get ridiculous.

What DRM has done is driven me to buy more digital download games (which have the added bonus of being easy to re-download on a new PC or after a system wipe, as well as not needing me to keep the CD key) and also spend more time playing MMOs. I don't think that's necessarily a bad development in itself, but I think it speaks to how ineffective DRM is at its stated goals.

There's a excellent, thorough article on DRM and game piracy on Tweak Guides that has a lot of stuff worth thinking about on this issue, by the way.

Ragnor

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#300060 18-Feb-2010 10:31

rugrat: I didn't buy red alert 3 PC version because of the 5 install limit, pay around $100 for game and then if get new computer or crashes and need to reinstall after 5 times it's just becomes worthless rubbish.

That's not correct, it works almost exactly like windows activation where you can reinstall as many times as you like on the same machine, if you've activated the serial on 5 different machines you need to contact customer services to activate (rather than doing it online as part of the install process).

They released a patch for the Steam version (not sure about retail) that removed Securerom in Feb 09 as promised

They have stated when the game reaches end of life and they close down authentication servers they will release a patch to remove online authentication.

I think I paid ~$10 USD for RA3 during the thanksgiving Steam specials, was definitely good entertainment value per $ imo.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

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#300087 18-Feb-2010 11:42

xpd:
Kaos36: But some hardcore veterans of the Silent Hunter series have now cancel their orders and are flaming the boards

Its funny... similar thing happened when it was revealed CODMW2 wouldnt have dedicated servers, everyone went RAH and cancelled their orders and signed petitions etc.

The game got released anyway, and then someone took a screenshot of all their "friends" who said they wouldnt buy the game... 75% of them had bought it and were playing :)

If you want the game you wont care what the publisher does really.

This:

CapBBeard

211 posts

Master Geek

#300093 18-Feb-2010 12:05

While it usually wouldn't stop me if the game was good enough, I have had some frustrating experiences with game related DRM.

I remember when the original BioShock was released and I was hearing a lot of things about how it was a great game. I hadn't really been gaming much at all at the time and thought what the hey, perhaps I'll give this one a shot.

I ended up going to buy it on release day, got home eager to try it out, and lo and behold I'm unable to play until I activate my serial with an activation server. This is all good and well but I was unable to do so for a considerable amount of time (possibly 24 hours+, I don't quite recall) because the activation servers were down/overloaded/had some issue.

Now 24 hours is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but what gets me is that I went out and paid $100 for the legitimate version and was unable to play for some time because of the DRM. Meanwhile, a couple of people I know who didn't pay for the game were happily playing their leaked pirate copy which had been cracked and removed of all DRM well before the release date even rolled around. I mean why bother.

Of all the big releases over recent years I dont think I've ever heard of a single one that didn't have a DRM free cracked version available on or before release day. Perhaps theres been the odd case where things have withstood cracking for a couple of days, but ultimately it doesn't take long for it to happen.

Personally I'll still buy a game if I feel it's worth the money, but I'm sure these issues must be turning quite a number of people away.

xpd

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#300099 18-Feb-2010 12:27

LOL thats the one Nonprayingmantis :)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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