Jereel Hunter said:
Sorry, I missed it:
As for posts which fall under those tenets, I only see a few at first glance (not going to reread the entire thread) Only a couple examples are below, but one thing this thread shows, is that if someone like me suggests that piracy is the problem, people swarm to fight about it. However the posts below have virtually no opposition indicating that many thread members give the thoughts expressed their tacit support.
1) - There is no piracy. (or downplaying it majorly) Won't bother finding ones for this, as half the responses to my posts were people downplaying piracy, questioning stats given by developers, publishers, and independant security companies, or justifying piracy in poorer countries. 2)- To the extent that piracy exists, which it doesn't, it's your fault.
3)- If you try to protect your game, we'll steal it as a matter of principle.
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Statistics dont lie, but liars use statistics. I am sure you have heard that saying. Oh, and yes many areas of the world that do have extraordinary rates of piracy, do in fact have semi-decent PCs ( 2 yrs or so behind USA in many cases) and at least cheap DSL. The exact situation varies by region, in any case its unrelated to USA piracy discussion. Also, a big big big chunk you are forgetting is PC cafes, which are extraordinarily popular in many parts of the world. You may remember the hubub around Valve and their PC cafe stance some years ago, because so many cafes werent partnering through their program and were effectivly pirating Steam games ( in Valves view). That obviously wasnt a huge deal for the USA, simply because PC gaming cafes as such are practically non-existant here.
Also, WoW is pirated to hell and back. There is tons of server emulators available, and ton sof people who play on them. The fact that millions of people pay for it each month is a testament to the fact that if you offer a good service like WoW does, people will pay. Anyone with google and some very basic comp skills could be playing emulated wow with their buddies in minutes.
Thirdly, IE decision for IWnet was not because of piracy, they even said as much. Just like a wow server can be emulated, IWnet will be emulated. And even if it was not practical, there is still no reason to keep the server hosting as P2P from a technical or anti-piracy standpoint. There is no reason a stand-alone dedicated server platform could not be integrated in IWnet with the same piracy safeguards, and even locking the map rotation to "official" maps and those who have purchased DLC maps, as a client-based P2P listen server. None. This brings us away from piracy and even desire for $$ from DLC in the IWnet discussion, and back to the real reasons they made the move. Like arrogance, and utter contempt for their established fanbase.
Last, I do question the numbers and methods used by anti-piracy companies. For one thing, they are motivated by money.. which is not bad in of itself, but fundamentally their services provide NOTHING to the consumer, or even the publisher. Find me one anti-piracy DRM platform outside Steam that even does a little to deter piracy. Proof? Its all cracked at launch for the most part, most games are cracked pre-launch. So how are intrusive software, limited activation, etc helpfull to either the customer or the publisher when this state exists? This is why DRM is bad, if the draconian anti-piracy measures did jack or shit, a lot more PC gamers including myself would find it much easier to swallow. This is why many including myself are OK with Steam, because Steam type platforms actually do have some positive effect ( it is not perfect but fake steamauth is not as easy or reliable as a 3MB crack to DL), plus Steam provides some added value in terms of being able to re-download, easily reinstall, and your purchases arent tied to one machine - you can play them on your new PC quickly, easily and without permission from anyone.
Find a DRM that works, and you will find yourself with a valid argument in favor of the anti-gamer DRM measures that some companies take.
I could spend all day ripping apart the flawed statistics and logic used by peddlers of anti-piracy measures, and the publishers who parrot the powerpoints shown them by said anti-piracy companies but it really is not worth the effort because the flaws are so plain, those who do not see them usually will not be convinced even if you point them out.
Promoting piracy is bad, I agree - however I would say that apologizing for companies that act in deceptive, underhanded, or just plain ignorant manner is no better. It does not help us as customers, and ironically it does not help the developers and publishers either. DRM peddlers in general are not productive members of the gaming community, nor the development or distobution supply chain (with the exception of the DDL providers) , they are parasites who provide nothing yet make owning and playing games more cumbersome, eat up huge dollars paid by publishers which are passed on to the customers yet fail to deliver any real measure of anti-piracy. They do not deserve to have anyone come to their defense.
