Copy Protection, etcetera

**Daveybaby** · 09-12-2007, 11:48

Copy protection is a pointless waste of everybody's time and money (except for companies such as starforce securom etc who make a fortune selling snake oil to gullible executives), so i'd much rather i didnt have to pay extra for the game so that a percentage can go to a bunch of con artists.

But as long as its not the intrusive crap theyve used with kingdoms i wouldnt be too bothered. However, if they even attempt to go the whole '5 installs and that's your lot' route i wont be buying a copy, thats for sure.

**hellenes** · 09-12-2007, 13:49

The ONLY working copy protection is a MP oriented game...end of story.

**Whacker** · 09-15-2007, 19:50

Simple, non-invasive, non-spyware, non-rootkit, simple cd-check type DRM is fine and honestly to be expected. Things that destroy my hardware, take over my system, constantly call home, require me to sign up for things, 'lock' my installation to a specific computer, limit how many times I can install, etc... are all reasons to boycott games. Unfortunate that Bioshock fell into this category...

In terms of multiplayer, keys are the best way to go, checked at a centralized server when a one enters the initial lobby. Valve had this idea right with WON, and f'd it all up with Steam (DRM riddle spyware). id Software got and had/has this right with the Quake series.

As sapi had the excellent point, the good ol' boys at Beth certainly didn't go broke on Oblivion. I've also heard tales from them about how much they've "projected" they lost to piracy in sales $, which unsurprisingly doesn't remotely jive with even the most liberal models based on the best statistics we have. The simple fact is that piracy does not make near enough dent financially as the industry would want us to believe.

Bottom line is there will always be pirates, what sells a game and buys the loyalty of the customer base is first and foremost having an amazing game, and having an excellent working relationship with the real communities comprised of the active gamers and supporters.