http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/08/05/developers-considering-used-game-counter-measures

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Piracy has been a constant nagging issue for many developers. The growing complexities of PC gaming and heavy piracy have combined to produce the sentiment that the platform is dying. A new development in the way companies approach the platform, though, straddles the line between an acceptable stop-gap measure and a punishment for legitimate users: developers are beginning to consider doing away with the ability of gamers to resell their games. 

Destructoid picked up on an interview from LostWinds developer David Braben, who spoke recently with DevelopMag. Braben suggested that "struggling developers" do away with the ability of gamers to resell the games they buy by making every game activated by a "one-use" key or some other kind of single-use feature.

"[An] option would be to offer extras—or even part of the game itself—packaged in with the game as a unique code on a scratch-card," said Braben. "If you do this, then those extras could only be obtained once." Braben's suggestions are not meant to eliminate the pre-owned games market entirely, but rather to make it less attractive.

We already see this technique at work in some games; the Game of the Year edition of Call of Duty 4, for example, includes a single-use voucher for an extra $10 map pack, which makes it a more attractive purchase than buying the used game, especially considering its budget price. Braben's thoughts are interesting, but one has to wonder if this isn't simply another sign of a future dominated by one-use, activation-based software."

The inherent problem with software piracy countermeasures, I think, is that while the pirates will just find ways to strip out such cumbersome controls, the legitimate users are the ones left who have to put up with it. The end result is that they end up punishing the people who pay for the software for the actions of those who don't.

totally agree with that.... and I have a god damn solution to there problem..... everything free and finance the dev by ingame advertising..... they do it anyway, now make it in a smart way like google does.... and with live capabilities, those solution are endless, you can reach custom advertising quite easily now.... I'm not saying it's easy to do, but it's worth trying and it is more and more doable with the technology in hand today

I think that what David Braben is actually describing is a Zero use system, as I know I'm not going to buy any games with such a limitation.

I don't have a problem with so long as its not intrusive, it keeps more money in the hands of developers so they can make more awesome games and less money in the hands of Game etc that sell/resell used games all the time.

Its good to give people an incentive to buy the games new rather than 2nd hand anyway.

So, let me get this straight: instead of going after the real problem (piracy), developers want to go after users buying games via a perfectly legitimate and legal means.

Seems like a winning proposition to me...

Also, what Stof said. I already won't pay more than $10 for a DLC game, due to the fact that if I hate it, I won't be able to resell it. The secondary market is a stop-gap on lazy developers who put out unfinished, buggy, or just plain bad games, and I want to see it remain that way.

Publishers are gradually inserting the finger to see how far they can go.

I have stopped buying games with excessive DRM a long time ago. It's not like these measures are even defective. The pirates often end up with higher quality software.

lol so true.... opensource, freeware and the end of corporate america is the future of the entertainment industry.... you can't fight the underground, or it will eat you up from the inside out lol :P

no but seriously.... the problem is not piracy, they just don't want to change their business model and want to keep doing unjustified cash with 80% crap released 10% average 5% rather good and the rest AAA.. that goes across the board for every entertainment.... from movies to music to tv shows to video games....

Aw man, where did I put that manual. Oh there it is. Now what is the fourth word on the 23rd line of page 17... capture. Great.


Anyone here old enough to remember those days? God I hope that's not where we are headed again...

If they are going to take away my ability to trade in a game or lend it to a friend when I am done with it, they had better charge less for it. You know they will not do that though.

Give consumers a choice: $60 retail that you can sell/trade when done, or $45 download licensed just to you.