DRM: What Am I Paying For?
You might think that, as a game developer, I’m all for anything that can help against piracy. Piracy is bad, and can even cause companies to shut down when it runs rampant. But, how far is too far? Well, I think we’ve found out how far is too far. Now when I go purchase a game at the local video game store, I don’t even own it.
Just a couple of the facts about what they’re doing with Mass Effect and Spore DRM (digital rights management) before I continue:
- Every 10 days, the game will re-validate the CD key online.
- Each activation key will be good for three installations.
So, truthfully I don’t have too big of an issue with the 10 day validation piece. It’s reasonable to assume most people have internet access, and as long as the game says “internet connection required” on the box, that’s fine (though it seems silly for an offline single-player game to require an internet connection).
But three installations?! I’ve installed and played games like Thief and Freelancer a dozen times each over the years. Note that the first (Thief) no longer has a company behind it. What would that mean for me? Well, it means that it couldn’t authenticate every 10 days because the company doesn’t exist, so I’d have to go find a crack or hope they thought to release a patch before they closed their doors.
And in both cases, I’d be well beyond the three installation limit. I’ve installed each of those games multiple times on at least 3-4 different machines. What would that mean for me? Well, I’d have to go find a crack yet again. Can’t they at least have a timer on there, like 3-4 installations a year?
What am I paying for? The right to play a game on 3 separate occasions, it seems. No more than that, thank you very much. Oh, and I think it means I don’t have to have the CD/DVD in the drive to play anymore, which is at least a step up from some games.
I think the piece that annoys me the most is that this causes issues for the normal user, and does nothing to stop piracy in the end. There will invariably be a crack for this within a month of the game’s launch.
Mass Effect and Spore will both be pirated by people who want to pirate the software, and the normal users who pay for the game (me) will get punished if:
- We install the game more than 3 times. Ever.
- The company that runs the game closes its doors.
- We decide that maintaining an internet connection is too costly or not for our family.
- Some idiot cracker manages to generate the key that I’m using legitimately (unlikely).
- I lose the installation discs for some reason (a current issue anyway).
Who does it better than this? Valve, for one. I have an account. On that account, it knows what games I own. I can download them on any computer I want to. I don’t even have discs for a single game that runs via Steam because I have no need for them (and I lose them anyway). It authenticates every time I run the game, no problem.
Steam is far from perfect itself, of course. You still need an internet connection, and if the company goes away, so do my games. That sucks, but at least I’m not punished nearly as harshly just for trying to play a game a few times.
And, again, it all comes down to this: normal users have the potential to be punished, while software pirates will continue doing what they’re doing after they’ve gone over one extra hurdle.
Minor correction here- the DRM allows for “three simultaneous installs” not three separate activations. I haven’t been able to verify this, but re-installing the same software on the same machine isn’t usually an issue unless the hardware was changed significantly enough that the software recognizes it as a new machine.
Some way to manage machines is needed, though. Bioware also uses the CD Key for the online user account. You can already go there to see what games you’ve got registered through them. Next step, let you drill down and see the machines the registered machines. Right-click to “remove” one or to “report it” if it’s not an authorized use. Heck, I can do that for my antivirus (which has one subscription for 3 simultaneous machines). If I want to register my MS Office (also a multiple-machine license) on a new machine, I could call up support and ask them to remove my old one from their list to make room for one more.
This will definitely cost sales to casual players. I don’t have a lot of time, so at the prospect of dicking around in order to play a game, or trying to get it running more than once, I’ve immediately lost interest. As cool as Spore sounded, I’m already turned off if I have to deal with that nonsense. There are plenty of other games to play.
Wow, the three installation bit is a little draconian. Especially for those that don’t want to have dozens of games clogging up their hard drives, simply because they may be interested in playing them in a year or so. Steam seems to have gotten it right, at least in this respect.
I will say this however; no amount of obnoxiousness will prevent me from playing Spore!
This is something that I’ve been railing about for a few months myself. (http://www.thegrouchygamer.com/?p=117) and (http://www.thegrouchygamer.com/?p=81). It’s a growing trend in this company to treat your customer like an adversary or even a criminal. I understand the need for loss prevention, but these schemes don’t help anyone and only hurt the legitimate user.
Also, what happens when the DRM software malfunctions and disables the software you have already paid for? What if it also “disables” other things installed on your machine or installs unwanted additional software.
I also work for a software company and we have had out share of problems with piracy. I am sensitive to the need to protect intellectual property. Punishing your legitimate users with onerous DRM schemes isn’t the solution, however.
I wont be buying anything that assumes I am a criminal more than exists already. With Unreal tournament series - a patch usually surfaces after a few months to allow no-cd play. This has occured Since UT:GoTY. Also - an opposite trend is being tried by more independant developers - with the assumption that most dont want this software/security and would naturally recompense a good developer for a good game. sins of the Solar Empire wqas released along this line and sales have gone crazy.
The Free to play games also dont have this restrictions, possibly with the microtransaction element being both the carrot and stick to ensure security. Could this over the top security be because they have recognised a vunerability in the code that cannot be avoided or is it purely subscription focused? As you can tell - I am no expert at all - Just a user with over active imagination
I think part of the problem is that on a high level, somebody is convinced that pirates can be stopped. That would be the only way to justify the hassle you’re causing your legitimate users (I mean you in the very general sense, not referring to any specific person or company). Or somebody has decided that it’s ok that every x number of users is going to have to buy a new license. I mean that’s a revenue stream.
The fundamental flaw with all security is that it has to have a way to let users through. The best way to stop piracy is to stop making games that can be installed. This significantly reduces their utility as games, however.
Looks like they backed down on all of this mess. I’d find a link but I’m lazy.
http://kotaku.com/5008452/bioware-backs-down-from-draconian-mass-effect-authentication
They stole my adjective!
I would have rather kept the 10 day check in and lose the three “activations” part. At 50 bucks a pop I want to actually own the game, just like the “good old days”. Looks like I’ll be boycotting EA branded games…
Boycott EA Games? By 2020, that might involve just boycotting your computer in the first place
If people can crack Bioshock, Portal and Half Life 2, they can crack anything else that comes out on the market. The cracks are designed to bypass or trick the software into not using those copyright protection features in the first place
Ironically, all of this tethered licensing might just drive traffic farther away from the PC which is bad for traditional PC developers. Then more gaming traffic will move towards the consoles and console cracking will become all the more common. If you visit The Pirate Bay, search for “Xbox 360″ and check the “Games” box only, there are dozens of results for cracking/modding the drives or w/e and TPB has the bigger Xbox 360 titles are already available for download and burning.
Then if this console software piracy increases, then game developers will be back to square one again.
Tethered consoles? Pirates will come up with the same solution: cracked exe’s and game files
Encrypted console drives? Decryption software (like the ones for the Xbox Original) and modchips
I don’t know enough about IT to offer a good solution.
Frankly, if you have a good grasp of the copy, paste, “Find Target” functions and you have a basic knowledge of how folders work, it’s just so easy to steal games. Download Daemon tools and the crack. Start installing the crack, use the keygen to complete the install then crack the final product. Done!
Now that I think about it, what’s preventing somebody from just making a keygen for Mass Effect and Spore? If the software requires a tethered key, then just use the keygen to get yourself one. If you need a new key, just transfer the saves when you’re done re-installing. I really hope those game developers already though of that…