DRM on PC games

House

House

House

Soldato
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Without wanting to derail the Spore thread any more than it is already I was wondering what peoples ideal DRM system would be?

People dont want Discs in their drives.
People dont want Limited installs.
People dont want Drivers installed (like Starforce)
People dont like Online activation
People dont like old school manual/code wheel type protection.

I think its fair to admit in this day and age anyone releasing a game with no protection at all would be foolish. High speed net access just makes it too easy to pirate and even non tech savy people can use a P2P program or torrents so piracy is very much mainstream like it or not these days.

Even size of files in no protection because games can be Ripped to remove the bulk and make then downloadable.

Whats a good line between them protecting themselfs but not causeing users too many problems?

If you published a game what would you use?
 
Reasonable cost, key code for online features and a decent manual/packaging that's worth having.
 
Dano said:
Reasonable cost, key code for online features and a decent manual/packaging that's worth having.
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Reasonable costs: 25 € or under for class AAA.
Key code: For mp and also extra exclusive content that gets added once in awhile with regular patches.
Decent manual: Including strategy guide and all details, like in the old days both the age of empires and age of empires 2 manuals rocked for example, a manual these days is rubbish and just shows interface and a few other rubbish things.
Packaging: Nice looking, sturdy boxes...
 
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i dont mind online activation as long as it doesnt take hours.

I also dislike having a disc in the drive some games like COD4 and Crysis my DVD drive really doesnt like. Takes ages and many ejects for the Drive to recognise and with COD 4 my pc has issues booting if its left in the drive.
 
House said:
I was wondering what peoples ideal DRM system would be?
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None, because it costs the publishers a fortune to implement and the only people who have to tolerate it are the legitimate buyers. If you make a good game, or at least hype your game, your game will sell.

House said:
I think its fair to admit in this day and age anyone releasing a game with no protection at all would be foolish.
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Games like Company Of Heroes have no DRM and they are very popular and highly-acclaimed games, and games like Oblivion that only use a simple CD check and nothing else snatch up GOTY titles like they're candy.
 
Steam is the perfect example of the ideal content delivery system in my opinion. Sure, it has its bugs, but it's also very easy to use and very well designed.
 
Ulfhedjinn said:
None, because it costs the publishers a fortune to implement and the only people who have to tolerate it are the legitimate buyers.
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+1. Any and all games can be cracked, and the only people who'll end up still sticking the cd in/having starforce/having online checks etc are the people who pay.

Devs, save yourselves a bunch and just don't bother implementing any security. Use the money saved to lower the cost of the game, and you'll shift more units!

I understand the reasoning for security implementations, but I'm the one who has to still use cd's etc, not the pirate!
 
reflux said:
Steam is the perfect example of the ideal content delivery system in my opinion. Sure, it has its bugs, but it's also very easy to use and very well designed.
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I forgot about Steam somehow. I really love the way Steam works.

Digital distribution is most definitely the future of gaming, "Gaming 2.0" so to speak. :)
 
All i want is a system that checks your keycode whenever you launch the game, if the computer is lacking an internet connection the game should launch regardless. Reason? People without the net won't suffer from activation issues and pirates (assuming they can't crack it) will have to unplug their ethernet cable every time they launch the game.

I know this effort won't stop piracy, but at least it would be a protection method that hassles the pirates instead of the consumer.
 
Streeteh said:
All i want is a system that checks your keycode whenever you launch the game, if the computer is lacking an internet connection the game should launch regardless. Reason? People without the net won't suffer from activation issues and pirates (assuming they can't crack it) will have to unplug their ethernet cable every time they launch the game.

I know this effort won't stop piracy, but at least it would be a protection method that hassles the pirates instead of the consumer.
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I think them systems are already in place on some games, but got cracked.
 
I think the online activation of current Securom 7 is the best as long as they remove the DVD check afterwards as Mass Effect & Bioshock have done. The reason I hate disc checks is that after a while the disc get scratched and can explode in worse case scenario (someone posted about this here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17911968).

Only way download is going to work is when they have a lot more bandwidth otherwise everyone will complain they cannot download fast enough after paying good money for the game:(
 
Ulfhedjinn said:
None, because it costs the publishers a fortune to implement and the only people who have to tolerate it are the legitimate buyers. If you make a good game, or at least hype your game, your game will sell.

Games like Company Of Heroes have no DRM and they are very popular and highly-acclaimed games, and games like Oblivion that only use a simple CD check and nothing else snatch up GOTY titles like they're candy.
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Company of Heroes requires online login.

I have no objection with CD keys or online login/activation. However CD keys are easily cracked, and I can see some peoples objection to online login.
 
Steam is the perfect example of the ideal content delivery system in my opinion. Sure, it has its bugs, but it's also very easy to use and very well designed.
Click to expand...

Not even steam games are safe from piracy though. It is a good system however I don't like not actually owning the game, by which I mean the case, instructions and dvd.


Personally I liked the manual system, but then I love reading manuals :D

However, pirates can just scan a manual into a PDF file and distribute with the pirated game.

You also have systems like GameTap, its like steam but you pay £6 a month and can play as many games as they offer as long as you are subscribed!
 
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