theRepublic said:
BenKenobi88 said:
theRepublic said:
BenKenobi88 said:
You guys all make valid points, but you can't just ignore the piracy issue. From a company's standpoint, should you just completely open up your game to pirates?
I know the Sins of a Solar Empire people did it, and their game sold well I believe.
I'm not saying developers should do the same, but it could work...is this what you all think they should do? This kind of DRM is crap, but shouldn't there be some protection? This is not like using a car 3 times or a book 3 times...you can't download a car off the internet like so many people download games these days. |
What about movies, though? Those are probably as close a comparison to games that you can get.
As Vlad321 said, I'm all for something simple like requiring the CD to be in the drive, and copy protection to stop Average Joe, but anything else is overkill. It makes the consumer put up with BS, and doesn't stop the game from being pirated anyway.
Some hurdle is needed to keep it from being too easy, but extensive DRM and install limitations are ridiculous.
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What about movies? You shouldn't be able to watch No Country for Old Men on DVD at your house while your friend watches a copy of that DVD at his house...and they do implement security on DVDs against copying.
They implement new security features on DVDs every few years...it's easily hacked though.
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It doesn't have to be at the same time. You can borrow or sell the movie. You can watch it on any number of DVD players.
The install limitations on Spore effectively stop you from lending or selling your game, or playing it on any number of computers.
I never said you should be able to copy the game.
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That is essentially the real reason for the limited installation form of DRM.
It has little to do with preventing piracy in practice.
A disc key, while not terribly difficult to overcome for an experienced soft cracker, is a fairly non-invasive form of copy protection, insuring that most people playing have an actual retail copy of the disc as they're playing the game. What it doesn't prevent is the buyer from trading, selling, loaning or even just giving their copy away to a secondary user (any used game passed on is a lost sale to the developer/publisher).
I'm pretty sure that's what was one of the real considerations for limited installs rather than just to prevent piracy.
The consumer really would be better off buying the game via direct to drive distribution service.
