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Tensions Rise Between Gamers and Game Companies Over DRM
Tootech recommends an article at the Technology Review about the intensifying struggle between gamers and publishers over intrusive DRM methods, a topic brought once more to the forefront by Ubisoft's decision not to use their controversial always-connected DRM for upcoming RTS RUSE, opting instead for Steamworks. Quoting:
"Ultimately, Schober says, companies are moving toward a model where hackers wouldn't just have to break through protections on a game, they'd also have to crack company servers. The unfortunate consequence, he says, is that it's getting more difficult for legitimate gamers to use and keep the products they buy. But there are alternatives to DRM in the works as well. The IEEE Standards Association, which develops industry standards for a variety of technologies, is working to define 'digital personal property.' The goal, says Paul Sweazey, who heads the organization's working group, is to restore some of the qualities of physical property — making it possible to lend or resell digital property. Sweazey stresses that the group just started meeting, but he explains that the idea is to sell games and other pieces of software in two parts — an encrypted file and a 'play key' that allows it to be used. The play key could be stored in an online bank run by any organization, and could be accessed through a URL. To share the product, the player would simply share the URL."
I live in Maputo, the capitol of Mozambique. It's at the extreme south of the country and it's a big country. The roads here are so bad up to the north that it takes days to travel from anything more than 500 kilometers away from the capitol. Because the health care system here is nationalized, there is only one place to receive cancer treatment in the country, the Maputo Central Hospital. The cost of travel to Maputo from the northern areas of Mozambique is very expensive to the average Mozambican. All of this adds up to people who have very advanced cases of cancer (i.e volleyball size tumors growing out of their eyes, knees, chest, etc) who travel the 5 or more days of travel alone and arrive in a city hospital that resembles exactly what the stereotypical westerner thinks of African hospitals (standing filthy water in the single toilet bathroom that serves 50-75 men, women and children, horrendously dirty bed sheets, sweltering in the summer, freezing in the winter, and on and on).
I simply go and visit those who have no one to visit them. There are people who simply live in the hospital for years... waiting to die alone. I visit them, ask them to tell me their story, tell them mine and try to be the friend or family member that they don't have in these last, very uncomfortable moments of their lives. I offer a cool cup of water to the man who may have only a few hours to live and simply wants a cold drink to feel a bit more comfortable. I offer a smile to someone who sees the scowl of uncaring nurses, doctors and hospital staff all day every day. I offer love and hope to people who left those two concepts in shattered dreams a long time ago.
A few weeks ago I held a 12 year-old boy as he died. When he arrived at the hospital he had a marble sized tumor under his right eye. Because the hospital ran out of chemo his tumor grew to stretch his face and eventually kill him. But he didn't die from the cancer... no... he died because the tumor (that started at his eye) grew so large it cut off his airway. He suffocated. I was privileged to hold him close as he died and whisper love and hope to a boy who had none. Maybe you don't share my faith, maybe you think that his suffering is meaningless, maybe you would rather I not be a "missionary". That's fine. I don't make my life decisions based on what you think. For now, I put more weight in the smile of Tomé, the little boy who lives in the hospital, calls me "Uncle" and has lived without a father for so long all he wants is me to hug him and help him feel like he's worth somebodies time. Yeah, I talk about my faith. No, I don't shove it down anyone's throats. Yes I think I'm spending my time doing something worthwhile. If you disagree... I'd encourage you to come help and see if you still think I'm some sort of evil influence on the world. I am absolutely promoting religious tenets. Love one another. I wish more people promoted it.