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Forums - PC - Which of the following is the best DRM in your opinion?

 

Which of the following is the best DRM in your opinion?

Old school(1 cd key each game/activation) 48 44.86%
 
Steam style(All programs in a DD manager) 43 40.19%
 
Blizzard style battle.net... 6 5.61%
 
Reliance on the "Always ... 0 0%
 
Any DRM is fine with me. 4 3.74%
 
Others(Please comment and feedback) 6 5.61%
 
Total:107
Zkuq said:
twesterm said:
Zlejedi said:

Steam is also extremly restrictive DRM system but at least if you are paying 5-10 euros per game it won't hurt badly if you lose access to it.


I'm confused, how is Steam restrictive?

Must be logged in to play games, at least initial online activation, can't resell games. I think that's the most important parts.

I can play steam games initially off-line. That's my only problem with Steam, but I barely sell games.




              

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Zkuq said:
twesterm said:
Zlejedi said:

Steam is also extremly restrictive DRM system but at least if you are paying 5-10 euros per game it won't hurt badly if you lose access to it.


I'm confused, how is Steam restrictive?

Must be logged in to play games, at least initial online activation, can't resell games. I think that's the most important parts.


Must be logged in initially

Honestly, in this day and age, logged in once isn't a big deal.  Constant connection is a pain in the ass, one time verification not-so-much.

It's the norm to have a connection for at least a few minutes to download less than a MB of data.  If you have a PC that can run a current Steam game you would need that Steam verification, chances are you can find a way to connect to the internet for two minutes.

Can't resell games

And what was the last PC game you re-sold?



twesterm said:
Zlejedi said:

Steam is also extremly restrictive DRM system but at least if you are paying 5-10 euros per game it won't hurt badly if you lose access to it.


I'm confused, how is Steam restrictive?


As said before you dont own the game.......and as I stated before I barely sell games, but I would like to 1) Have the option to sell if Im in a pinch(even $5 is better than nothing) 2) give away the game to a loving user.  Another problem I have (as stated before) is that with one game purchase you get 1 set of stats. In Battlefield: BC2 I can have a character with my own stats. If my friend wants to have his own stats he can create a character as well. This is not possible with games like say Team Fortress 2 or Black Ops. You must buy another copy of the game.  Last problem is I cant have 2 games running online at once. Again if anyone with friends or family has 2 computers and one wants to play Team Fortress and the other wants to play Dawn of war they are SOL unless they buy another copy registered to another steam account.



Getting an XBOX One for me is like being in a bad relationship but staying together because we have kids. XBone we have 20000+ achievement points, 2+ years of XBL Gold and 20000+ MS points. I think its best we stay together if only for the MS points.

Nintendo Treehouse is what happens when a publisher is confident and proud of its games and doesn't need to show CGI lies for five minutes.

-Jim Sterling

CDiablo said:
twesterm said:
Zlejedi said:

Steam is also extremly restrictive DRM system but at least if you are paying 5-10 euros per game it won't hurt badly if you lose access to it.


I'm confused, how is Steam restrictive?


As said before you dont own the game.......and as I stated before I barely sell games, but I would like to 1) Have the option to sell if Im in a pinch(even $5 is better than nothing) 2) give away the game to a loving user.  Another problem I have (as stated before) is that with one game purchase you get 1 set of stats. In Battlefield: BC2 I can have a character with my own stats. If my friend wants to have his own stats he can create a character as well. This is not possible with games like say Team Fortress 2 or Black Ops. You must buy another copy of the game.  Last problem is I cant have 2 games running online at once. Again if anyone with friends or family has 2 computers and one wants to play Team Fortress and the other wants to play Dawn of war they are SOL unless they buy another copy registered to another steam account.

1. When you put down $60 for a game, you aren't buying the content on the disc or the content you download, you're buying a license to use that content.  You don't own any of that content.  That isn't a Steam thing, that's just how it is.  You can sell that license but people don't have to buy it.

2.  It isn't a Steam thing not being able to sell a game, it's a PC game thing.  You haven't been able to buy used recent PC games for years.

3.  The multiple users isn't a Steam problem, that's a game problem.  If Valve wanted to they could very much allow mulitple TF2 profiles, Steam isn't stopping it.

4. You can't have two copies of the same TF2 running at a time because you only have one license.  If you and another person both want to play the game, both have to buy the game.  I'm not sure why you're confused about that.  IF you're talking about playing two different games at once on the same account, you can do that.  I just booted up Beyond Good and Evil and Dragon Age (both bought off Steam) and had no problems.

-edit-

And if you're worried about playing on two different computers at the same time with the same account, meh.  Either have one play something offline or get over it.  It isn't that big of a deal. 

If that's your only real problem, I hardly call that extremely restrictive. 



twesterm said:
CDiablo said:
twesterm said:
Zlejedi said:

Steam is also extremly restrictive DRM system but at least if you are paying 5-10 euros per game it won't hurt badly if you lose access to it.


I'm confused, how is Steam restrictive?


As said before you dont own the game.......and as I stated before I barely sell games, but I would like to 1) Have the option to sell if Im in a pinch(even $5 is better than nothing) 2) give away the game to a loving user.  Another problem I have (as stated before) is that with one game purchase you get 1 set of stats. In Battlefield: BC2 I can have a character with my own stats. If my friend wants to have his own stats he can create a character as well. This is not possible with games like say Team Fortress 2 or Black Ops. You must buy another copy of the game.  Last problem is I cant have 2 games running online at once. Again if anyone with friends or family has 2 computers and one wants to play Team Fortress and the other wants to play Dawn of war they are SOL unless they buy another copy registered to another steam account.

1. When you put down $60 for a game, you aren't buying the content on the disc or the content you download, you're buying a license.  You can sell that license but people don't have to buy it.

2.  It isn't a Steam thing not being able to sell a game, it's a PC game thing.  You haven't been able to buy used recent PC games for years.

3.  The multiple users isn't a Steam problem, that's a game problem.  If Valve wanted to they could very much allow mulitple TF2 profiles, Steam isn't stopping it.

4. You can't have two copies of the same TF2 running at a time because you only have one license.  If you and another person both want to play the game, both have to buy the game.  I'm not sure why you're confused about that.  IF you're talking about playing two different games at once on the same account, you can do that.  I just booted up Beyond Good and Evil and Dragon Age (both bought off Steam) and had no problems.

-edit-

And if you're worried about playing on two different computers at the same time with the same account, meh.  Either have one play something offline or get over it.  It isn't that big of a deal. 

If that's your only real problem, I hardly call that extremely restrictive. 

1) Show me where I can sell one of my liscenses for a steam game. Dont play semantics with the issue, you know what I mean in reference to steam. I know disk based games have liscenses but you can resell them if needed. You cannot sell a steam game or account(legally).

2) There are a number of games that are still sold outside of steam that do not require you to attach your name to a account of any kind. Pretty sure Dragon Age 1 does this. Witcher2 will do this as well(may be wrong but I think retail copies will)

3)Ok I agree it is not a steam problem, but devs are abusing this ever since steam came about and became popular. Valve is one of the first teams to popularise this kind of liscense and I do blame steam to a small extent. GFWL games are not restricted in this way.

4)Never stated this in any way, shape or form in my OP. Not sure how anyone who read it could make that connection.

x) No I should worry about being able to play 2 online games at the same time cause I paid (theoritically for a new game) $50-$60 for the fucking game. I own 2 360's, 2 PS3s and 2 of every other system for the most part and can have 2 different games online at once, and deserve the same from my multiple pcs. Its in no way restrictive as persitsant internet connection but its a problem.

I find the acceptance of the whole business model strange because I think if there was a movie service ala netflix where you bought movies at full price ($20) to tie it to an account it would fail in a heartbeat. MP3 services work because $.99 is throwaway money in the short run, but I never thought this business model would work for full retail games.



Getting an XBOX One for me is like being in a bad relationship but staying together because we have kids. XBone we have 20000+ achievement points, 2+ years of XBL Gold and 20000+ MS points. I think its best we stay together if only for the MS points.

Nintendo Treehouse is what happens when a publisher is confident and proud of its games and doesn't need to show CGI lies for five minutes.

-Jim Sterling

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CDiablo said:
twesterm said:
CDiablo said:
twesterm said:
Zlejedi said:

Steam is also extremly restrictive DRM system but at least if you are paying 5-10 euros per game it won't hurt badly if you lose access to it.


I'm confused, how is Steam restrictive?


As said before you dont own the game.......and as I stated before I barely sell games, but I would like to 1) Have the option to sell if Im in a pinch(even $5 is better than nothing) 2) give away the game to a loving user.  Another problem I have (as stated before) is that with one game purchase you get 1 set of stats. In Battlefield: BC2 I can have a character with my own stats. If my friend wants to have his own stats he can create a character as well. This is not possible with games like say Team Fortress 2 or Black Ops. You must buy another copy of the game.  Last problem is I cant have 2 games running online at once. Again if anyone with friends or family has 2 computers and one wants to play Team Fortress and the other wants to play Dawn of war they are SOL unless they buy another copy registered to another steam account.

1. When you put down $60 for a game, you aren't buying the content on the disc or the content you download, you're buying a license.  You can sell that license but people don't have to buy it.

2.  It isn't a Steam thing not being able to sell a game, it's a PC game thing.  You haven't been able to buy used recent PC games for years.

3.  The multiple users isn't a Steam problem, that's a game problem.  If Valve wanted to they could very much allow mulitple TF2 profiles, Steam isn't stopping it.

4. You can't have two copies of the same TF2 running at a time because you only have one license.  If you and another person both want to play the game, both have to buy the game.  I'm not sure why you're confused about that.  IF you're talking about playing two different games at once on the same account, you can do that.  I just booted up Beyond Good and Evil and Dragon Age (both bought off Steam) and had no problems.

-edit-

And if you're worried about playing on two different computers at the same time with the same account, meh.  Either have one play something offline or get over it.  It isn't that big of a deal. 

If that's your only real problem, I hardly call that extremely restrictive. 

1) Show me where I can sell one of my liscenses for a steam game. Dont play semantics with the issue, you know what I mean in reference to steam. I know disk based games have liscenses but you can resell them if needed. You cannot sell a steam game or account(legally).

2) There are a number of games that are still sold outside of steam that do not require you to attach your name to a account of any kind. Pretty sure Dragon Age 1 does this. Witcher2 will do this as well(may be wrong but I think retail copies will)

3)Ok I agree it is not a steam problem, but devs are abusing this ever since steam came about and became popular. Valve is one of the first teams to popularise this kind of liscense and I do blame steam to a small extent. GFWL games are not restricted in this way.

4)Never stated this in any way, shape or form in my OP. Not sure how anyone who read it could make that connection.

x) No I should worry about being able to play 2 online games at the same time cause I paid (theoritically for a new game) $50-$60 for the fucking game. I own 2 360's, 2 PS3s and 2 of every other system for the most part and can have 2 different games online at once, and deserve the same from my multiple pcs. Its in no way restrictive as persitsant internet connection but its a problem.

I find the acceptance of the whole business model strange because I think if there was a movie service ala netflix where you bought movies at full price ($20) to tie it to an account it would fail in a heartbeat. MP3 services work because $.99 is throwaway money in the short run, but I never thought this business model would work for full retail games.


1.  You brought it up so don't get pissy when you're wrong.  I'd love to see a store that takes used recent PC games.

2.  Right, but again, not a Steam problem.  That's completely dependant on the game and not on Steam at all.  Valve simply chose to make TF2 tied to your account, it has nothing to do with Steam.  If you don't like that, that's cool but it has nothing at all to do with DRM's and this thread.

3.  Wait, what is your point 2 about? 

4.  Then what did you mean by typing this: Last problem is I cant have 2 games running online at once. Again if anyone with friends or family has 2 computers and one wants to play Team Fortress and the other wants to play Dawn of war they are SOL unless they buy another copy registered to another steam account.?

x) Again, it's not a big deal really.  I agree it is a drawback but it isn't anything major.  It's not something that is going to affect many people and it's simply a security measure.  Again, it's cool you don't like that but calling it extremely restrictive because of just that is wrong.  It's restrictive but it's not that bad.  You can always play games offline and if it's that big of a deal, then either get two accounts or get over it.

People accept it because it's not a big deal.  Most people don't have two of every system.  In fact, a very small percent own every system (Wii, PS3, 360, PC) and an even smaller percent own two of every system.  Hell, a large percent doesn't even own two systems.  Most families do not own multiple gaming computers.



twesterm said:

Must be logged in initially

Honestly, in this day and age, logged in once isn't a big deal.  Constant connection is a pain in the ass, one time verification not-so-much.

It's the norm to have a connection for at least a few minutes to download less than a MB of data.  If you have a PC that can run a current Steam game you would need that Steam verification, chances are you can find a way to connect to the internet for two minutes.

Can't resell games

And what was the last PC game you re-sold?

You asked how it was restrictive, I told you how. Now you're downplaying my arguments but Steam is still restrictive. Having to activate the game online, norm or not, is restrictive. Having to be logged on the that piece of shit software is very restrictive, even compared to any other digital distribution service. Not being able to resell games is restrictive, and no matter what the situation is with other games, it's still restrictive, it just means that other games are restrictive, too. Oh, and the last PC game I re-sold? Dragon Age (and bought the Ultimate Edition for DLC).



www.gog.com games have the best DRM ever. I would recommend them to anyone!

:)




twesterm said:
CDiablo said:
twesterm said:
CDiablo said:
twesterm said:
Zlejedi said:

Steam is also extremly restrictive DRM system but at least if you are paying 5-10 euros per game it won't hurt badly if you lose access to it.


I'm confused, how is Steam restrictive?


As said before you dont own the game.......and as I stated before I barely sell games, but I would like to 1) Have the option to sell if Im in a pinch(even $5 is better than nothing) 2) give away the game to a loving user.  Another problem I have (as stated before) is that with one game purchase you get 1 set of stats. In Battlefield: BC2 I can have a character with my own stats. If my friend wants to have his own stats he can create a character as well. This is not possible with games like say Team Fortress 2 or Black Ops. You must buy another copy of the game.  Last problem is I cant have 2 games running online at once. Again if anyone with friends or family has 2 computers and one wants to play Team Fortress and the other wants to play Dawn of war they are SOL unless they buy another copy registered to another steam account.

1. When you put down $60 for a game, you aren't buying the content on the disc or the content you download, you're buying a license.  You can sell that license but people don't have to buy it.

2.  It isn't a Steam thing not being able to sell a game, it's a PC game thing.  You haven't been able to buy used recent PC games for years.

3.  The multiple users isn't a Steam problem, that's a game problem.  If Valve wanted to they could very much allow mulitple TF2 profiles, Steam isn't stopping it.

4. You can't have two copies of the same TF2 running at a time because you only have one license.  If you and another person both want to play the game, both have to buy the game.  I'm not sure why you're confused about that.  IF you're talking about playing two different games at once on the same account, you can do that.  I just booted up Beyond Good and Evil and Dragon Age (both bought off Steam) and had no problems.

-edit-

And if you're worried about playing on two different computers at the same time with the same account, meh.  Either have one play something offline or get over it.  It isn't that big of a deal. 

If that's your only real problem, I hardly call that extremely restrictive. 

1) Show me where I can sell one of my liscenses for a steam game. Dont play semantics with the issue, you know what I mean in reference to steam. I know disk based games have liscenses but you can resell them if needed. You cannot sell a steam game or account(legally).

2) There are a number of games that are still sold outside of steam that do not require you to attach your name to a account of any kind. Pretty sure Dragon Age 1 does this. Witcher2 will do this as well(may be wrong but I think retail copies will)

3)Ok I agree it is not a steam problem, but devs are abusing this ever since steam came about and became popular. Valve is one of the first teams to popularise this kind of liscense and I do blame steam to a small extent. GFWL games are not restricted in this way.

4)Never stated this in any way, shape or form in my OP. Not sure how anyone who read it could make that connection.

x) No I should worry about being able to play 2 online games at the same time cause I paid (theoritically for a new game) $50-$60 for the fucking game. I own 2 360's, 2 PS3s and 2 of every other system for the most part and can have 2 different games online at once, and deserve the same from my multiple pcs. Its in no way restrictive as persitsant internet connection but its a problem.

I find the acceptance of the whole business model strange because I think if there was a movie service ala netflix where you bought movies at full price ($20) to tie it to an account it would fail in a heartbeat. MP3 services work because $.99 is throwaway money in the short run, but I never thought this business model would work for full retail games.


1.  You brought it up so don't get pissy when you're wrong.  I'd love to see a store that takes used recent PC games.

2.  Right, but again, not a Steam problem.  That's completely dependant on the game and not on Steam at all.  Valve simply chose to make TF2 tied to your account, it has nothing to do with Steam.  If you don't like that, that's cool but it has nothing at all to do with DRM's and this thread.

3.  Wait, what is your point 2 about? 

4.  Then what did you mean by typing this: Last problem is I cant have 2 games running online at once. Again if anyone with friends or family has 2 computers and one wants to play Team Fortress and the other wants to play Dawn of war they are SOL unless they buy another copy registered to another steam account.?

x) Again, it's not a big deal really.  I agree it is a drawback but it isn't anything major.  It's not something that is going to affect many people and it's simply a security measure.  Again, it's cool you don't like that but calling it extremely restrictive because of just that is wrong.  It's restrictive but it's not that bad.  You can always play games offline and if it's that big of a deal, then either get two accounts or get over it.

People accept it because it's not a big deal.  Most people don't have two of every system.  In fact, a very small percent own every system (Wii, PS3, 360, PC) and an even smaller percent own two of every system.  Hell, a large percent doesn't even own two systems.  Most families do not own multiple gaming computers.


Ugh....this is getting long.

1)Wont get pissy if you dont play semantics. I consider selling games to stores a sign of poor judgement. Craigslist/(occasionally) ebay is where its at. Not being able to sell, trade, lend or give away games is restrictive. Steam DRM and the like prevents this

2)This is not strictly steam but any dev/publisher trying to rape their customers via liscenses being tied to an account manager(Steam/GFWL/D2D). Its still DRM. Sorry if it seems I have hate towards Steam cause I use the shit all the time and probably have over 100 games on my acct. $1 games stack up after a while.

3)Uhhh........ see the most recent 2 not Steam strong arming anyone to do it they popularized their shit DRM. I've yet to see a onlne game that uses steam that allows multiple user stats, not saying that they dont exist. GFWL allows multiple users wish I wasnt restricted with my steam games.

4)It means I want to play TF2 online and DOW2 online at the same time. Not 2 games of TF2(on the same liscense) as you stated. I jumped the gun with my response only responding to the top half of yours.

x)So you agree its a drawback. I(being in a house of gamers with multiple comps in the house) see it as being restrictive. Getting 2 accounts for this is retarded. Which games do I put on what accounts. What you mean to say is get one account for every multiplayer steam game I own. There are times when myself and 2 of my roomates want to play 3 different games and we are forever boned.

A lot of people dont know what they are doing when buying steam games. I regularly see copies of steam games and the like for sale on craigslist cause people dont know they locked the liscense to their account. Whether the game industry likes it or not the used game market/non restrictive liscense market plays a huge part in cycle of buying new games. As people see that they do not own games they will be a lot less likely to drop $20-$60 on something whos value is determined by how much enjoyment you get out of it.

The business model does work for people as you said dont see it as a big deal. A lot of people will see it as a big deal especially if consoles go completely this direction.



Getting an XBOX One for me is like being in a bad relationship but staying together because we have kids. XBone we have 20000+ achievement points, 2+ years of XBL Gold and 20000+ MS points. I think its best we stay together if only for the MS points.

Nintendo Treehouse is what happens when a publisher is confident and proud of its games and doesn't need to show CGI lies for five minutes.

-Jim Sterling

Zkuq said:
twesterm said:

Must be logged in initially

Honestly, in this day and age, logged in once isn't a big deal.  Constant connection is a pain in the ass, one time verification not-so-much.

It's the norm to have a connection for at least a few minutes to download less than a MB of data.  If you have a PC that can run a current Steam game you would need that Steam verification, chances are you can find a way to connect to the internet for two minutes.

Can't resell games

And what was the last PC game you re-sold?

You asked how it was restrictive, I told you how. Now you're downplaying my arguments but Steam is still restrictive. Having to activate the game online, norm or not, is restrictive. Having to be logged on the that piece of shit software is very restrictive, even compared to any other digital distribution service. Not being able to resell games is restrictive, and no matter what the situation is with other games, it's still restrictive, it just means that other games are restrictive, too. Oh, and the last PC game I re-sold? Dragon Age (and bought the Ultimate Edition for DLC).

But it isn't restrictive compared to any other form of DRM (except no form of DRM of course).  Saying Steam is restrictive because you can't resell games is misleading because you really can't sell any recent PC games (and I keep saying recent because I know some jerk will come in and say he can buy a used copy of some crappy 1994 game).

And being logged into Steam is restrictive?  You do realize you can make Steam completely invisible to the user right?  Just have it log in automatically when Windows starts and you'll never know it's there.

And I would love to know where you resold Dragon Age.