EB2: The Big Question

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

As some other poster told here or over at the Securom related thread, Kingdoms was cracked what? within the week of release or something like that.

Even worse - it was under twenty-four hours.

[kambiz]

Even worse. It was under twenty-four hours.

lol Yeah. Without exaggeration ,it was cracked within first 24 hours. But I'm wondering ,Does CA not really aware of this fact after all of those years being in gaming business??! I don't understand why they think these softwares can delay cracking their games?!

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Unfortunately the CA don't make the decision. It's the publishers, in this case SEGA, who select the copy protection mechanism. Due to this, SEGA are the only ones with the power to officially allow SecuROM's removal. The only problem is they are not actually part of the community, so don't see any of these problems the ordinary consumer is facing. In addition, I doubt they look around to investigate the success of their strategies, so probably are ignorant to SecuROM's failure.

[Birka Viking]

I have kingdoms and have absolutely no problems at all. The only problem with kingdom that I can think about is for you with low end computers............

[MiniMe]

All this developing technocrap actually makes me feel a bit nervous. Tracking software, passport microchips, cameras everywhere...

My grandparents were living under a real totalitarian regime.
My parents were living under dying out totalitarian regime.
I live a free life and happy about it.
Are my children and grandchildren to live under a XXI century totalitarian regime again?

[iceman7291]

If they live in America, then yes.

[Ludens]

Could we leave politics out of here, please? If you want to talk politics, go to the Backroom (membership can be requested in your user CP).

Due to this, SEGA are the only ones with the power to officially allow SecuROM's removal. The only problem is they are not actually part of the community, so don't see any of these problems the ordinary consumer is facing. In addition, I doubt they look around to investigate the success of their strategies, so probably are ignorant to SecuROM's failure.

I am rather suprised you think that. The software industry is very competitive, so you bet they look very carefully at whether their strategies get results. SecuROM is a failure, but no more than any other attempt to stop piracy, and while it is not going to stop the really determined hackers, I suppose it had some effect at "schoolyard software distributors". Perhaps.

Not that any of this makes the inclusion of malware more acceptable.

[bovi]

Securom is the reason why I have had to download the cracked Kingdoms executable, precisely for the reason that Foot says. I have to use FileMon occasionally, and Kingdoms refuses to load if it has been run at any time since last boot. When I took it up with Securom, they said I should reboot before playing. Having to reboot just to play is not good enough for me, and it has no effect at all on pirates. Securom/Starforce has only ever helped annoy paying customers. Those who are unwilling to pay for the game will continue unperturbed.

I think the only copy protection scheme that has ever worked is Stardock's. Which is no protection at all, until you download patches that improve the game immensely. Only those with a legal purchase can download those updates, it's painless and effective. Those who don't care about the game enough to pay to get those are probably the same people who would not pay to get the game in the first place, so no money is lost.

[hellenes]

Securom is the reason why I have had to download the cracked Kingdoms executable, precisely for the reason that Foot says. I have to use FileMon occasionally, and Kingdoms refuses to load if it has been run at any time since last boot. When I took it up with Securom, they said I should reboot before playing. Having to reboot just to play is not good enough for me, and it has no effect at all on pirates. Securom/Starforce has only ever helped annoy paying customers. Those who are unwilling to pay for the game will continue unperturbed.

I think the only copy protection scheme that has ever worked is Stardock's. Which is no protection at all, until you download patches that improve the game immensely. Only those with a legal purchase can download those updates, it's painless and effective. Those who don't care about the game enough to pay to get those are probably the same people who would not pay to get the game in the first place, so no money is lost.

But you see the CA=SEGA company is one two patches kind of deal they dont patch their games frequently....
Ive removed SEcurom and still enjoy Kingdoms either way SEGA=CA should understand that until the net is tamed through nazi like regulations piracy will be unstoppable...A single player game and piracy is like a 10 years old girl in a room with a paedophile...

[bovi]

But you see the CA=SEGA company is one two patches kind of deal they dont patch their games frequently....

Seeing as the total war games the last couple of years have been really weak in their first iteration, including Kingdoms which doesn't even get any patches for advertised, broken features, they certainly would benefit from adopting this model.

A single player game and piracy is like a 10 years old girl in a room with a paedophile...

Galactic Civilizations 2 is a single player game and works fine with it. Those who pay get improved AI that can counter exploits that become known, new features (a few, most are reserved for expansions naturally), improved interface etc.

[antisocialmunky]

Even worse - it was under twenty-four hours.

Many popular games are cracked a week before they actually come out.