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Galactic Civilizations II Breaks DRM Mold
Machitis writes "A recent news item at GalCiv2.com says, 'Our license allows you to install the game onto as many machines that you own that you want as long as only one copy is being used at once. How many sales are lost because people want to have a game on their laptop and desktop and don't want to drag CDs around so choose not to buy the game? [...] we were quite disturbed to discover that the company that makes Starforce provided a working URL to a list of pirated GalCiv II torrents. I'm not sure whether what they did was illegal or not, but it's troubling nevertheless and was totally unnecessary.'"
Boy, if you wanted any proof that the Starforce people are _serious_ assholes, there it is.
Now everyone knows what gamers have been saying all along.
Starforce encourages piracy.
If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
Makes me wonder if it was Starforce guys that released this torrents just to sell their product. Looking at how did they behave recently (threatening people, etc) I would bet some money on this.
A sensible approach to a modern world.
The trust model can work.
Gaining the trust of your user base WILL be beneficial.
If you treat them fairly, they will pay you back.
As long as the torrent sites follow the DMCA rules (as it suggests the one in the article does) then the piracy can be tamed (and having lots of well intentioned customers warning them of torrents will help)
Word of mouth will get this game far, I wonder just how many torrent downloaders will purchase this game vs an EA game?
Does high downloads turn into high profits?
I see something similar happening with Serenity, I saw it months ago after downloading it, but today went out and bought a copy.
I want to tell Wheldon and the backers I support it and want more.
liqbase
though the purprose of the URL was presumably to prove his point
I don't think anyone browsing the forums of a copy protection product is actually needing proof that web sites involved in piracy exist, much less via direct links.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
id Software have been making the most popular games in the industry for over a decade, and have never bothered with heavy copy restrictions. They tend to put in copy restrictions as long as they have zero chance of inconveniencing their customers.
If only more game companies would just follow the leaders and dump this Starforce DRM crap...
I think, a strong deterrant to piracy, based off my own experiences and those of people I know is: Allow me to buy just the CD key (and patch it so it doesnt need the CD to play).
People will download the games, piracy isnt going to go away. But alot of games have awesome online play, that you can access with a stolen copy (usually).
So allow these people, who downloaded the game, to just buy a real KEY from you. Sell the retail box, a download copy, or just the CD key, users choice.
personally, It is very difficult for me to GO OUT and buy a game. My work schedule and living situation, plus where I am simply doesnt permit it more than once every three months. If I could download a torrent copy of a game, then purchase the CD key. Boy, we'd be in business.
About fracking time a game company figured out that people don't like the CD dongle. One of the reasons CounterStrike was such a huge hit was once you installed it, it just ran. No CD needed in the drive. Anytime I clicked it, I was good to go. I've got a mess of banged up media - three copies of some games - just because they need the physical disk in the drive.
The net dongle (via Steam and their ilk) is OK for multiplayer games, but it still pisses me off when I want to do single player. I got HL2, but don't plan to buy any more stand alone games that have to call home every time they start up.
Lastly, the StarForce stuff can badly munge up a system. I can't see any titles worth building a SCSI only box for just so my other software continues to run after they try to rewrite system drivers. I hope the support calls bury any profit those who opt for this type of 'protection'.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
They seem to be ironically promoting piracy of a companies product just because they wouldnt use starforce.
thats clearly illegal so...
http://www.theesa.com/piracy/index.php
I've already reported them, the mroe who do so, the better.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
One thing, though: At least SF does provide a removal tool. That's the one reason I don't consider it a trojan.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Starforce games are not pirated at all... Strangelly enought, right now there are thousands of people downloading torrents of: X3: Reunion, UFO: Aftershock, Splinter Cell3....
Their half-ass copy protection is easly bypassed and if don't have IDE optical drives it's like there is no protection at all.
I don't know that it makes that big of a difference if somebody's going to reverse the copy protection. I imagine protecting each successive patch a different way makes for a bigger headache. They've gotten so clever that they occasionally fail to permit my use of the games after I buy them, so I've mostly stopped buying or even playing them (although I did buy Galactic Civilizations, which is among the best games I've played, and shall buy Galactic Civilizations II because its creator doesn't engage in this wankery.)
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
In any event, it's an arms war, and it's been going on for over 20 years. So far, I'm not predicting any winner, but the biggest loser so far has been the consumer (and the one who actually pays for the program, and gets it along with copy protection that makes his machine less stable, slower, and may not work on his hardware at all.)
You know, I don't game much anymore, but I think I may go and buy this game just to make a point, too. I basically never buy any PC games any more for fear that they might have some junkware copy protection. Games are a diversion, not the reason I have a computer. So, if a game has any potential to interfere with my ability to burn CD's and DVD's, then I won't even think about bothering with it.
The companies pushing strict DRM need to remember that they are providing entertainment, not our only source of breathable oxygen.
I think you'd have a hard time suing StarForce, since you never bought anything from them, nor did you buy the product expecting StarForce to effectively prevent you from copying. At least, you'd have a hard time convincing the judge that you were concerned about your right not to copy, so the case would probably be thrown out.
You might be able to sue the publishers for artificially increasing the product price, but that's a huge stretch as well. The only real hope would be for shareholders to sue publishers for financial imprudence by licensing StarForce. Again, that would be a tough sell, since publishers would argue that they were exercising due dilligance in trying to prevent rampant copying. They'd also argue, accurately, that every copy protection scheme in the past has eventually been compromised, yet copy protection remains the industry standard, so there's no reason to single out StarForce protection as a waste of money. Additionally, the costs were recouped from the consumer, so it didn't hurt the company's bottom line.
Furthermore, they would argue, the goal of modern copy protection is merely to extend the time between release of the title and release of a crack, which is believed to increase overall sales. Anecdotally, anyone who's ever read threads regarding games which took months to crack has doubtless seen the "Screw this, I'm buying the game," posts, so there's possibly some merit to publishers' thinking.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere