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PCGA To "Take Up the Challenge of Piracy"

Posted by Soulskill on from the work-cut-out-for-you dept.

Ars Technica reports that the PC Gaming Alliance has declared themselves the "guardians of PC gaming," which includes finding ways to help gamers decide on gaming hardware, and to make progress on the issues of piracy and DRM. "[PCGA President Randy Stude said,] 'The PCGA will take up the challenge of piracy, not to assume the responsibility that the ESA has taken on... rather the PCGA would like to address the methodology that publishers might be able to take to solve, or to do a better job trying to solve, the piracy challenge for their substantial investments in content.' The PCGA won't give a standard approach to publishers, saying it is much more likely it will release a series of recommendations to publishers, and track piracy on an annual basis to see if the problem is growing or shrinking. The PCGA is also working on methods for members to track how effective their antipiracy measures are once a game has been released."

8 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Bleh by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Members include Microsoft and WildTangent.
    I think I'm gonna be sick.

    I'd prefer to have Penny-Arcade as the "Guardians of PC Gaming"

  2. I don't see what the problem is by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    With simply needing a legit key to play online. Because even the primarily single player games you'll still want to play online for the occasional frag. But the DRM has gotten so nasty lately that I'm afraid to buy any games for fear it'll bone my PC. So hopefully they'll address the issue of DRM making the pirate version so much better than the retail. While I don't pirate I'd be afraid to play Spore or C&C 3 simply because the DRM is so nasty. So in those cases the pirates win because I'm afraid to buy them and the pirates get the game for free. So sorry EA,but the DRM is just too nasty to have your product anywhere near my PC.

    --
    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    1. Re:I don't see what the problem is by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes, and it's very tastefully decorated too.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  3. Stop treating the customer like a criminal. by Yoozer · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Pirated games win over legal ones because of:
    • they don't treat the customer like a criminal (why do I get an anti-piracy warning when I've bought or rented a DVD, but not when I've downloaded a movie?)
    • removing pretty much all of the hassle of proving you're a paying customer (in terms of installation and stability)
    • availability (for abandonware) and convenience
    • cost

    If you can beat the pirates on the first 3 points, people are generally a lot more willing to pay.

    1. Re:Stop treating the customer like a criminal. by Splab · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not only do you get the piracy thing, but also lately quite a lot of DVDs I've bought came with commercials for other movies. With the anti piracy (don't steal this movie) and FBI warning (smart one to show in Denmark) and absurd long menu sequence and commercials for other movies (skip able) it took almost 4 minutes before I got to see my movie - and you have to sit through it every bloody time you want to watch it. Next time I'm downloading!

    2. Re:Stop treating the customer like a criminal. by Sentry21 · · Score: 4, Informative

      The best way around that crap is to stick the disc in your computer, and use various software to rip out the garbage. Optionally, use Handbrake, encode to h.264, and stream it to a set-top-box/game console instead.

  4. Re:consoles are the key by Amphetam1ne · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ask the 10M-ish WoW players....

    --
    I only buy pepper spray that's been tested on anti-vivisectionists.
  5. It's like the XKCD comic says... by ZekoMal · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.xkcd.com/488/
    Steal it, and you're a criminal. Get the DRM locked media, something happens with technology that makes you have to try and remove the DRM lock just to use what you bought, and you're a criminal too.
    Piracy will be way more popular now that every company is scrambling to DRM-lock their products (sort of like the Sony 'rootkit' happy fun time, companies have decided when we pay for something, they can stick whatever they want in their product and let us sort out the mess leftover).