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Macrovision Adopts Fade Anti-Game Piracy Technology
Thanks to the New Scientist for their report that Macrovision are adding Fade anti-copy protection, which "makes unauthorized copies of games slowly degrade", to their SafeDisc copy protection scheme for games. The technology, devised by UK publishers Codemasters, first debuted in Operation Flashpoint for PC back in 2001, and "affects gameplay aspects" in that title if it believes the game has been altered, including "reduced accuracy of some weapons, reduced weapon performance, increased enemy hit endurance and increased player injuries." The piece also claims that Fade works by "...exploiting the systems for error correction that computers use to cope with CD-ROMs or DVDs that have become scratched."
"What's going to stop someone then cracking the main executable to bypass the degradation?"
Time. By the time they get all of it cracked, the game will have been on shelves a while.
Spyro the Dragon had protection sort of like this in the late 90's. If it detected one of the protection schemes was broken, it'd make something in the later level disappear. The cracker had to play through the entire game to check that the crack worked. They kept a fully cracked copy off the streets for roughly a month, after that, it wasn't so important that it be protected anymore.
"Derp de derp."
I saw Homeworld2's copy protection cracked the day before the official release date... there seems to be a pretty good network of people working on cracking the latest games.
I doubt this kind of protection will last much longer.
If memory (and legal knowledge) serves correctly, if I buy a piece of software (or, technically the disc and the right to use the software), I am legally entitled by US law to make a working backup of the software. It would seem that this anti-piracy technology interferes with this right.
Also, what happens if the original disc gets physically scratched so that the "fragments of 'subversive' code designed to seem like scratches" can't be read but the rest of the disc is fine?
As another poster stated, any company that uses Fade should offer free replacement discs to legitimate purchasers.
What if it believes a genuine installation of the game is in fact a pirated copy? What if it then sets about slowly punishing the person who has done nothing worse than purchase a game?
This is even worse because some gamers may not even realize what's happening.
"The game became really difficult after level 8, so I quit playing. I sold it back to ebgames at the mall for $12".
Of course, ebgames sell this to somebody else for $33. What's the game's next owner supposed to do? How can he even tell something's wrong when he's never even played the game the 'right' way?
This sux.
While this isn't directly addressed in the article, their attitude towards it is certainly shown:
The idea intrigues Alistair Kelman, an independent lawyer who specialises in copyright: "Fade is entirely in keeping with the spirit and great traditions of copyright." He points out that books tend to deteriorate with use and this prevents the secondhand market from competing with the market for new books. Why not the same for software?
Ok, that may not be Macrovision's ideas, but it's a good explanation. Other industries learned long ago that you can't build a product that's going to last--if you do, you'll go out of business.
I think the best copy protection mechanism is one that turns a pirate copy into a game demo. You can play enough to get hooked, then the copy protection system kicks in and waggles its finger at you like that fat guy in Jurassic Park.
If you really like the game by then, you'll go out and buy a copy. If you don't like it by then, or if you're a penniless thief, the developer never lost a sale to you anyway.
But this system makes a game slowly degrade over time. If it introduces bugs or other flakiness, the pirates who might be prepared to buy the game would think that the game is buggy, and forego buying the original because they think it'll be just as bad. There are people out there who will play pirate versions and then buy the original if they really like the game. Why would the developer want to ruin their reputation for quality with these people by using such a system?