We used to call it copy protection, and a simple disk check wasn't a big deal. Why, when we call it DRM, is it suddenly a big deal that it checks the disk?
I realize that you may have a problem with Steam (since it does auth checks, fair enough if you do), so your mileage may vary, but I purchased the Steam version. I've just done a check for the SecuROM device driver in my system, and it's not there, which implies the Steam version does not install SecuROM.
My friend had frequent lockups and discovered that it was a missing codec. As I understand it, there's threads about this fix on the official forum. It may not fix your problem, but it's well worth looking into.
As for me, I've had little problem overall. I did manage to have one corrupted save, but it was early on and no trouble since. Otherwise, it only crashes when I tab out and back in too fast, and it's not the only game that suffers from that issue.
Regarding the SecuROM, I'm not against all forms of copy protection. It doesn't limit my installation count, and it doesn't install a rootkit. I can live with a disk check.
On the other hand, I did buy the Steam version but that's just because I like not having to keep track of disks or CD keys... which also says I'm cool with auth checks.
Honestly, my entire issue with SecuROM (especially from EA) is as described above... Install limits sound like an attempt to get more money out of the customer, and rootkits are just dangerous - especially when Sony writes them.
That is completely untrue... Alaska's primary business sources may almost exclusively be exploitation of natural resources, but there's a lot more to it than oil.
If oil were to shut down tomorrow, Alaska would be hurting, but it wouldn't become like a 3rd world nation or anything - it would continue to have a steady source of revenue.
That statement shows such a simple-minded understanding of things that it would be the equivalent of saying that California only has the Movie industry.
Under blanket licensing, how do I reward artists with good music preferentially to those who suck?
I'm sure you'll find that, when the time comes, the artists are not eligible to receive a penny of this form of royalty. It's true that I'm being partly sarcastic, but by the same token I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find that they did try this initially.
priests should do it, but not talk about it?
intelligent design (ID) - the proposition that life is too complicated.
FWIW, the Catholic Church's current public stance is against ID and creationism. Intelligent Design is a Protestant thing. Protestant preachers prefer teenage girls.
(Please Note: My knowledge of this is in no way intended to be taken as a statement of being a member of any of these faiths).
Amen; there have been plenty of sites I've decided not to sign up for because I didn't like all the information they demanded.
Heck, there have been sites I've refused to sign up for because I didn't like their password policies. Heck, Digg will only accept alphanumerics in their password which I find rather stupid for a geek-oriented site.
It wasn't the most pleasant place in the world to grow up, that's for sure. They used to sell T-Shirts that said "It's not the end of the world - but you can see it from here." Nobody seemed to like my idea, which was "Those who use the phrase 'When Hell Freezes Over' have never been to Barrow." heheheheheheheheh
Ya know, I grew up in Barrow around Polar Bears, and I gotta say... I never did like them bastards.
While from an intellectual standpoint, I appreciate that it is a shame they're on the verge of extinction, the emotional part of me that grew up with them being a part of my everyday life can't help but be glad to see them go.
On the other hand, I've never even met some of the other uber-deadly creatures in the world, and I hold no love for them either. Scorpions, Piranha, Sharks, and so on... again, the emotional part of me is scared silly of the lot and that seriously colors my opionion.
Whatever you call it, it is forbidden by law, so stop doing it. If you do not agree with their policy, do do not be a hypocrite and still use their product.
Civil disobedience is a valid way to protest a law that you disagree with. What you recommend is a rather sheepish way to cope.
If you don't agree with something, you should fight it!
If we were to just follow every law, no matter how stupid, we'd never have gotten rid of some of the stupidest of them.
I personally enjoy doing my paper and pen RPG thing with a group of real friends, located in a real room, drinking real beer, and eating real pizza. Its an excuse to have a social gathering.
I personally believe, based on what we've seen in the industry (both tabletop RPGs as well as computer RPGs), that you are the exception, not the rule.
On the other hand, many people have been doing this exact same thing for years in the form of Neverwinter Nights, and it still hasn't really caught on.
I think that you either misunderstand the concept behind a virtual tabletop, or you've not played Neverwinter Nights. Neverwinter Nights is more like being able to create your own D&D based computer role playing game. A virtual tabletop is more like having a map that you can put minis on, move them around, and play D&D like you would at the table.
As an aside, I'm not sure I agree with your statement that Neverwinter Nights never caught on... There are thousands of adventures available for it, more persistent worlds than you can shake a stick at, and at it's peak of popularity had as many people playing it online at most times as most MMOs. It sold 2 million copies, so I imagine neither Bioware nor Atari were at all disappointed nor would they say it didn't catch on.
I'm not sure that I agree that Steve feels that way... if he did, I'm not so sure he'd be as tight fisted with it as he is. He probably wouldn't care if someone wanted to make a combat calculator or online tabletop software for it.
Doesn't WoW fill this need? Putting DnD online would invite unfavorable comparisons to Blizzard's juggernaut.
Not really... the tool they're releasing for D&D isn't an MMO, nor anything like it. It's more like having a digital tabletop that you can draw maps on, but you're still moving around miniatures on it, and the DM still makes the adventure and actually tells a story.
That last bit is what I find to make it completely unlike WoW or any other MMO. The human element of somebody actively running the game you're playing. It is a vastly different experience.
I personally would love to be able to play that way with my friends that are no longer local to me.
However, a big part of what I believe is going to push D&D 4e is the D&D Insider Online Tabletop with the voicechat and the rule handling and all that.
We are at a point where tabletopping is ready to evolve, and Steve's reluctance to step in that direction could ultimately doom our beloved GURPS.
I really hope that doesn't happen, but he has a pretty strict rule against anybody else creating online tabletopping software that does combat calculations... yet we really don't see his folks doing it either.
The thing to remember is that even in the earliest days of our country, there were still men trying to pervert the dream of freedom for ends that conflict with the dream as we understand it. Hamilton, anyone? Even back then, there were serious attempts to sell our interests to the businessmen.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's iterate...
We used to call it copy protection, and a simple disk check wasn't a big deal. Why, when we call it DRM, is it suddenly a big deal that it checks the disk?
I realize that you may have a problem with Steam (since it does auth checks, fair enough if you do), so your mileage may vary, but I purchased the Steam version. I've just done a check for the SecuROM device driver in my system, and it's not there, which implies the Steam version does not install SecuROM.
My friend had frequent lockups and discovered that it was a missing codec. As I understand it, there's threads about this fix on the official forum. It may not fix your problem, but it's well worth looking into.
As for me, I've had little problem overall. I did manage to have one corrupted save, but it was early on and no trouble since. Otherwise, it only crashes when I tab out and back in too fast, and it's not the only game that suffers from that issue.
Regarding the SecuROM, I'm not against all forms of copy protection. It doesn't limit my installation count, and it doesn't install a rootkit. I can live with a disk check.
On the other hand, I did buy the Steam version but that's just because I like not having to keep track of disks or CD keys... which also says I'm cool with auth checks.
Honestly, my entire issue with SecuROM (especially from EA) is as described above... Install limits sound like an attempt to get more money out of the customer, and rootkits are just dangerous - especially when Sony writes them.
Because if we allow someone's rights to be infringed because they're a "low-life scum-fuck" that's a step towards infringing on Joe SixPack's rights.
That's a rather redundant statement... aren't they the same person?
with basically one kind of business, oil.
That is completely untrue... Alaska's primary business sources may almost exclusively be exploitation of natural resources, but there's a lot more to it than oil.
If oil were to shut down tomorrow, Alaska would be hurting, but it wouldn't become like a 3rd world nation or anything - it would continue to have a steady source of revenue.
That statement shows such a simple-minded understanding of things that it would be the equivalent of saying that California only has the Movie industry.
Obviously you've never seen Senator Obama wearing his charisma +10 tie. I suggest you turn on the TV ;)
Far better than Stevens' Tie of Uncontrollable Rage.
Under blanket licensing, how do I reward artists with good music preferentially to those who suck?
I'm sure you'll find that, when the time comes, the artists are not eligible to receive a penny of this form of royalty. It's true that I'm being partly sarcastic, but by the same token I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find that they did try this initially.
The mental image of Lewis Black presiding over Senate proceedings would make it worth the vote right there.
That would be freakin' awesome, man! Dude, CSPAN's ratings would go through the roof!
FWIW, the Catholic Church's current public stance is against ID and creationism. Intelligent Design is a Protestant thing. Protestant preachers prefer teenage girls.
(Please Note: My knowledge of this is in no way intended to be taken as a statement of being a member of any of these faiths).
Amen; there have been plenty of sites I've decided not to sign up for because I didn't like all the information they demanded.
Heck, there have been sites I've refused to sign up for because I didn't like their password policies. Heck, Digg will only accept alphanumerics in their password which I find rather stupid for a geek-oriented site.
It wasn't the most pleasant place in the world to grow up, that's for sure. They used to sell T-Shirts that said "It's not the end of the world - but you can see it from here." Nobody seemed to like my idea, which was "Those who use the phrase 'When Hell Freezes Over' have never been to Barrow." heheheheheheheheh
The Polar Bears. No place to go any more.
Ya know, I grew up in Barrow around Polar Bears, and I gotta say... I never did like them bastards.
While from an intellectual standpoint, I appreciate that it is a shame they're on the verge of extinction, the emotional part of me that grew up with them being a part of my everyday life can't help but be glad to see them go.
On the other hand, I've never even met some of the other uber-deadly creatures in the world, and I hold no love for them either. Scorpions, Piranha, Sharks, and so on... again, the emotional part of me is scared silly of the lot and that seriously colors my opionion.
I admit I've never been huge on names, but I don't remember many of the rest of the folks knowing the names of the developers very well.
The names that got remembered, at least in the C64 scene, were the musicians.
He's planning on being a little more insidious this time... he wants them to change the name to Gnokia.
... or the version of Acrobat they sell to the federal government.
Civil disobedience is a valid way to protest a law that you disagree with. What you recommend is a rather sheepish way to cope.
If you don't agree with something, you should fight it!
If we were to just follow every law, no matter how stupid, we'd never have gotten rid of some of the stupidest of them.
I personally believe, based on what we've seen in the industry (both tabletop RPGs as well as computer RPGs), that you are the exception, not the rule.
I think that you either misunderstand the concept behind a virtual tabletop, or you've not played Neverwinter Nights. Neverwinter Nights is more like being able to create your own D&D based computer role playing game. A virtual tabletop is more like having a map that you can put minis on, move them around, and play D&D like you would at the table.
As an aside, I'm not sure I agree with your statement that Neverwinter Nights never caught on... There are thousands of adventures available for it, more persistent worlds than you can shake a stick at, and at it's peak of popularity had as many people playing it online at most times as most MMOs. It sold 2 million copies, so I imagine neither Bioware nor Atari were at all disappointed nor would they say it didn't catch on.
Bad move, yes... uncommon move? No.
I'm not sure that I agree that Steve feels that way... if he did, I'm not so sure he'd be as tight fisted with it as he is. He probably wouldn't care if someone wanted to make a combat calculator or online tabletop software for it.
Not really... the tool they're releasing for D&D isn't an MMO, nor anything like it. It's more like having a digital tabletop that you can draw maps on, but you're still moving around miniatures on it, and the DM still makes the adventure and actually tells a story.
That last bit is what I find to make it completely unlike WoW or any other MMO. The human element of somebody actively running the game you're playing. It is a vastly different experience.
I personally would love to be able to play that way with my friends that are no longer local to me.
However, a big part of what I believe is going to push D&D 4e is the D&D Insider Online Tabletop with the voicechat and the rule handling and all that.
We are at a point where tabletopping is ready to evolve, and Steve's reluctance to step in that direction could ultimately doom our beloved GURPS.
I really hope that doesn't happen, but he has a pretty strict rule against anybody else creating online tabletopping software that does combat calculations... yet we really don't see his folks doing it either.
The thing to remember is that even in the earliest days of our country, there were still men trying to pervert the dream of freedom for ends that conflict with the dream as we understand it. Hamilton, anyone? Even back then, there were serious attempts to sell our interests to the businessmen.
Keeping your plasma protected from orbital mind control lasers is a perk!
I'm afraid I really can't see how that math is working. Maybe I'm missing something?
Hrm... $100 + EFF... FFF. Gotta work on that punchline.