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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 on 16 March 2011
twesterm said:

1. 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).

2. 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.

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

1. I don't care how restrictive it's compared to other forms of DRM. I care about how restrictive it is compared to no DRM/old-fashioned disc-check. I hate having my games tied to a single-account controllable by a big corporation. In this regard, I don't trust Valve much more than any other publisher. They - not me - have all the control and that's what matters. If I want to play the game I paid for ten or twenty or N years after this moment, I want to know I will be able to do so.

At least with other forms of DRM I can more easily crack the game should the servers go down. Not with Steam, if I have the retail version I need Steam and Steam servers for unencrypting the files - a process which can sometimes take quite a while I've learned.

2. I don't know any other digital distribution service that requires me to be logged in all the time. I'm sure they exist but AFAIK there are several popular ones that don't require logging in and using a stupid client in the background. That's one of the reasons why I vastly prefer Impulse over Steam. Too bad it's not without its own faults though.

And it's not 'seeing' Steam is there that is bothering me. It is knowing it is there that is the problem. Why do I need to log in every time I want to play a game? Why do I need it for single-player games? Why do I need it for for every little indie game as well? I suppose even something as small and old as Wolfenstein 3D requires it. (And yes, I do know about offline mode. I also knew about auto-logging before you mentioned it, it's pretty much the norm for stuff like this.)

I have no use for Steam, it offers me nothing of interest. Being able to chat while playing sure is nice but I want to be able to choose. And Steam as a program is clumsy and somewhat unresponsive. The feeling is somewhat similar to playing high input-lag ports of console games on PC.

Point is, I see no reason why I should use Steam, let alone why I have to use it.

3. In an online auction, not much unlike eBay. And before you tell me it's unconvenient and risky, it's not. There's also more than enough buyers (and sellers) for selling/buying games used. Only a fool would sell his game to GameStop or something similar (and only a fool would buy used from Gamestop and such).

--------------------------------------------------

Bottom line: Why can't I choose? Steam isn't any better as DRM than any other form of DRM and it's still DRM, not just a 'great service'. And if it were just a 'great service', then I should be able to choose whether to use it or not.



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Don86 on 17 March 2011

I have no issues with steam except the fact that all the games have to binded with steam to start and the fact that I can't choose whether to detach them(especially MMOS and small quest games away from L4D2 CS and so on)or not really bugs me.



AussieGecko on 17 March 2011

I like battle.net's never heard of it but a great idea. The thing is this has probably stemmed into why FPS seem to be the lead genre. Online for shooters makes sense other games can almost get away with it.



 

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Kasz216 on 18 March 2011
Zkuq said:
twesterm said:

1. 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).

2. 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.

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

1. I don't care how restrictive it's compared to other forms of DRM. I care about how restrictive it is compared to no DRM/old-fashioned disc-check. I hate having my games tied to a single-account controllable by a big corporation. In this regard, I don't trust Valve much more than any other publisher. They - not me - have all the control and that's what matters. If I want to play the game I paid for ten or twenty or N years after this moment, I want to know I will be able to do so.

At least with other forms of DRM I can more easily crack the game should the servers go down. Not with Steam, if I have the retail version I need Steam and Steam servers for unencrypting the files - a process which can sometimes take quite a while I've learned.

2. I don't know any other digital distribution service that requires me to be logged in all the time. I'm sure they exist but AFAIK there are several popular ones that don't require logging in and using a stupid client in the background. That's one of the reasons why I vastly prefer Impulse over Steam. Too bad it's not without its own faults though.

And it's not 'seeing' Steam is there that is bothering me. It is knowing it is there that is the problem. Why do I need to log in every time I want to play a game? Why do I need it for single-player games? Why do I need it for for every little indie game as well? I suppose even something as small and old as Wolfenstein 3D requires it. (And yes, I do know about offline mode. I also knew about auto-logging before you mentioned it, it's pretty much the norm for stuff like this.)

I have no use for Steam, it offers me nothing of interest. Being able to chat while playing sure is nice but I want to be able to choose. And Steam as a program is clumsy and somewhat unresponsive. The feeling is somewhat similar to playing high input-lag ports of console games on PC.

Point is, I see no reason why I should use Steam, let alone why I have to use it.

3. In an online auction, not much unlike eBay. And before you tell me it's unconvenient and risky, it's not. There's also more than enough buyers (and sellers) for selling/buying games used. Only a fool would sell his game to GameStop or something similar (and only a fool would buy used from Gamestop and such).

--------------------------------------------------

Bottom line: Why can't I choose? Steam isn't any better as DRM than any other form of DRM and it's still DRM, not just a 'great service'. And if it were just a 'great service', then I should be able to choose whether to use it or not.


It should be worth noting that it actually is illeal to resell a PC game.  Whether it'd hold up in court or not is  a question, but it's never been tested really.  This comes to mind as I boot up Total War: Shogun 2 and it says on the loadign screen "You can not trade, rent or sell this game again without permission from Sony."



theprof00 on 18 March 2011
Zkuq said:

And now that I remember, I might also mention that I'm fine with DRM if it's completely removed within the first few weeks after release. I believe publishers have said zero-day and first-day piracy to be the biggest issues. Having DRM for those times could be a solution, and when the DRM is already cracked, officially removing it would be a nice thing to do that would probably get me to buy more games, too.

That's a great idea honestly.



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Kasz216 on 18 March 2011
theprof00 said:
Zkuq said:

And now that I remember, I might also mention that I'm fine with DRM if it's completely removed within the first few weeks after release. I believe publishers have said zero-day and first-day piracy to be the biggest issues. Having DRM for those times could be a solution, and when the DRM is already cracked, officially removing it would be a nice thing to do that would probably get me to buy more games, too.

That's a great idea honestly.

It is....

if your DRM is really about preventing piracy... which it isn't.



Zkuq on 19 March 2011
Kasz216 said:

It should be worth noting that it actually is illeal to resell a PC game.  Whether it'd hold up in court or not is  a question, but it's never been tested really.  This comes to mind as I boot up Total War: Shogun 2 and it says on the loadign screen "You can not trade, rent or sell this game again without permission from Sony."

I don't give a shit about such 'rules'. They are utterly unreasonable, and unless they can stop it, I'm not going to stop it. And when they stop it, I stop buying their games - new or used. And I guess you meant Sega instead of Sony.



Kasz216 on 19 March 2011
Zkuq said:
Kasz216 said:

It should be worth noting that it actually is illeal to resell a PC game.  Whether it'd hold up in court or not is  a question, but it's never been tested really.  This comes to mind as I boot up Total War: Shogun 2 and it says on the loadign screen "You can not trade, rent or sell this game again without permission from Sony."

I don't give a shit about such 'rules'. They are utterly unreasonable, and unless they can stop it, I'm not going to stop it. And when they stop it, I stop buying their games - new or used. And I guess you meant Sega instead of Sony.


Yeah.  Meant Sega. 



CDiablo on 19 March 2011
Kasz216 said:

It should be worth noting that it actually is illeal to resell a PC game.  Whether it'd hold up in court or not is  a question, but it's never been tested really.  This comes to mind as I boot up Total War: Shogun 2 and it says on the loadign screen "You can not trade, rent or sell this game again without permission from Sony."

In order to get to that screen you need to have the game in steam already, and in that case you cant really sell or trade at that point unless you sell/trade your steam account.



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Alby_da_Wolf on 20 March 2011
CDiablo said:
Kasz216 said:

It should be worth noting that it actually is illeal to resell a PC game.  Whether it'd hold up in court or not is  a question, but it's never been tested really.  This comes to mind as I boot up Total War: Shogun 2 and it says on the loadign screen "You can not trade, rent or sell this game again without permission from Sony."

In order to get to that screen you need to have the game in steam already, and in that case you cant really sell or trade at that point unless you sell/trade your steam account.

Yes. And given the fact that a EULA isn't a law, it's not illegal, but at most a breach of contract. Adding what you just wrote, the strongest part in the contract violated enough user rights trying to enforce that clause to make such obligations void.



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