At what point will you actually stop buying games?

Kenai

Kenai

Kenai

Man of Honour
Joined
5 Apr 2009
Posts
26,644
As DRM measures are getting ever more invasive, annoying and overblown I was wondering what it will take before people seriously stop giving publishers and developers money?

Every time a new DRM appears there is a crowd of people declaring they won't buy a game from X Publisher again (how many actually do is another matter entirely) and another crowd who just to seem to say "doesn't bother me" and i'm interested in those people -latest example - if a single player game requiring you to be constantly online to play it isn't enough to put you off, what will be enough? Where will you draw the line? What will publishers have to do before you decide that they're taking the mick and you aren't going to support them any more?
 
When i'm dead, and i won't uninstall the game, i'll just leave it on another hdd for game files, DRM sorted.
 
Never.

There will always be games that don't have the on-line checks, and even if they do if I want a game enough I will get it anyway.
 
AndrewN said:
Never.

There will always be games that don't have the on-line checks, and even if they do if I want a game enough I will get it anyway.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean just never buying any game ever again! :p

I meant what would a specific game have to have to make you think 'actually, although I want to play that, they are really taking the mick' and decide not to purchase it after all?

Or alternatively, how many people will just buy the games anyway, regardless of what measures of control the publishers have implemented, be it constant connections, user accounts, USB authentication dongles, etc. etc.
 
I haven't actually bought any games that were released in the last 18 months, and most of my games are bought second hand (a notable exception being Supreme Commander and its expansion).
 
Now basically, for example I would have quite liked to play both Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction but UBIsoft will not be getting any of my money for these games while the DRM is in place.

(note: the only other reason I would buy these games with this new DRM would be if they were severely reduced on Steam, say to less than €5 and even then I would have to think about it)
 
It is quite a difficult question to answer, however I know I'm buying far fewer PC games than 5 or even 3 years ago. The last one I bought was AvP which was very disappointing and of course unable to sell on due to DRM (in this case Steam). I may even have reached the stage already as despite loving the helo sims of old, I avoided Black Shark due to Starforce. I won't buy SH5 or CC4 because of, 1. The always "on" DRM requirement and 2. Initial reviews indicate both are shadows of their former self. Previously both titles would probably have been on pre-order with no hesitation.

I suppose if a really great combat flight sim to rival the greats of the mid to late 90's came out or a new Lemmings game or something I might think about it.

I would say at this stage I swallow my pride and if a game I wanted required online one off activation or used Securom I would go ahead and get it but not (yet) EA's and Ubisoft's latest measures. There's always been copy protection - remember those flight sims where you had to match the picture with the manual or FF Elite 2 with its "police" spot checks on words from the manual - but nothing like what we are seeing.

Ultimately I do feel my interest in PC gaming starting to wane, which is a pity given the incredibly powerful hardware we have compared to ten years ago. In fact, I'm seriously thinking of obtaining the bits to build an old MS-DOS/early Windows PC in order to re-live the great and glorious days of our hobby.
 
When my gaming addiction sees me living on the streets having to turn tricks for fat men in public toilets just so I can play snakes for 10 minutes on their mobile phone. I may then re-evalute my choice of hobbies.
 
I dont really find any DRM that bad - the only thing that is slightly annoying is BF BC2 and even that only means i have to wait for 15 mins to play. I dont think the DRM on any other game has ever affected me even a little bit.

If it actually recudes the level of piracy I welcome it with open arms. I realise DRM gets cracked but the more complex the crack and the less perfect the cracked game is, the greater chance that Johhn McPirate will fork out the £30 and buy the game.
 
Honest answer?:

I'll stop buying games when I can't get the cracks to circumvent the DRMs.
Strange, isn't it? Publishers only see cash from me if and when I get pirates' support :p
 
after giving IW the benifit of the doubt about MW2 and getting it...yeah...well...nuff said

im not buying assassins creed 2, with the always on DRM its just stupid.

i guess im buying less games now, not ones with ubi drm and only ones im 99% sure ill like or that are cheap on steam.

(bf:bc2 has been an awesome suprise btw)
 
I will always buy games but I will probably buy less games or wait for the games to be much cheaper ie below £10-£15. I already hate no second hand games on PC in most cases. If consoles will go the same way as pc games then I will most likely have only 1 console and very few cheap games.
 
I dont understand why people dont like drm, I can fully understand why a company spending millions on a game does not want every one making a copy of it..
 
edscdk said:
I dont understand why people dont like drm, I can fully understand why a company spending millions on a game does not want every one making a copy of it..
Click to expand...

In short:

1. Because it is ineffective - the games get pirated anyway, usually within hours of release.

2. It is inconvenient, and often interferes with the game

3. People who DO pay for the game resent the fact that pirates have the convenience of not having DRM.


Take the 'constant internet connection' DRM. When the server goes down, you can't play the game at all (even as single player). Not true with a pirated version. Or take the popular "only so many installs" DRM. If you change your hardware a couple of times your game is no longer valid, or you need to go through a lengthy support processes with the game publisher. Not true with the pirated version.

If DRM actually stopped people pirating games, then there could be an argument in favour of it. However it does not. To my knowledge, every single game released with DRM has been pirated.
 
Duff-Man said:
In short:

1. Because it is ineffective - the games get pirated anyway, usually within hours of release.

2. It is inconvenient, and often interferes with the game

3. People who DO pay for the game resent the fact that pirates have the convenience of not having DRM.


Take the 'constant internet connection' DRM. When the server goes down, you can't play the game at all (even as single player). Not true with a pirated version. Or take the popular "only so many installs" DRM. If you change your hardware a couple of times your game is no longer valid, or you need to go through a lengthy support processes with the game publisher. Not true with the pirated version.

If DRM actually stopped people pirating games, then there could be an argument in favour of it. However it does not. To my knowledge, every single game released with DRM has been pirated.
Click to expand...

not everyone knows how to download pirated games,

Locking your house makes it a bit harder for someone to break in but they can still break in if they want... but you still lock your house?

even if the DRM only stops a few 10's of 1000's of people making copies thats 100's of 1000's of extra profit.

What other choice do they have?
 
The always-on-internet rubbish that Ubi and EA are coming out with is the cut-off point for me. I'm not putting up with that kind of lock down on the assumption that I must be a criminal and need to be watched constantly.
 
edscdk said:
Locking your house makes it a bit harder for someone to break in but they can still break in if they want... but you still lock your house?
Click to expand...

But if the lock has to be connected to the internet and a computer crashing 100 miles away stops the door from being unlocked so you can't get in or out of your house, you would be pretty annoyed.
 
There were quite a lot of Starforce protected games I didn't buy (Trackmania series).

I don't mind DRM at all, but when it's draconian and offers nothing to me, why would I use it?

Steam got it right by saying "You can play any of your games anywhere!" and offer a service to their customers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom