Explain DRM please.

I think I might have a possible solution. Everyone gets a genuine serial key once but when they have to put in their serial key. After that every time you want to install the game again you have to press a button on the installer and then the game will give you a new serial key.
Then to stop cracks and stuff, make it so that the game will not launch with any different/modifications to the exe and all patches will happen in game. Is this a good system?
 
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anuraj said:
Is this a good system?
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No. People will crack it. If someone has access to all games files then they just need to modify those files to circumvent the DRM. Whatever protection is put in place there's a group of people that will really enjoy trying to break that protection and they certainly aren't morons.

The only DRM system that can realistically work is one where you don't have access to game files. The only system that can do this is these live-streaming gaming services that are appearing but they aren't practical in practice yet.
 
anuraj said:
onlive is good if that wht the streaming thing is
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its not good if you have limited bandwidth usage, for this reason I dont use steam, I only get 30GB internet per month which I dont want to waste on digital download streaming games etc.

I prefer hard physical copy anyway :p
 
I have a habit of wiping my Windows when it gets crapped up, not so much a problem with 7 but was a regular occurrence with XP. I bought Mass Effect from EA, after 5 activations I had to email there support to get permission to play the game I paid for, they gave me another activation. A few months later I bought it on steam for a couple of quid as I had run out of activations and wanted to play it then and there not a week later when the support team replied, but now couldn't play the DLC I had paid for.
 
The only DRM that's worthwhile is zero day piracy protection, where the executable isn't shipped with the game, and instead is downloaded on release. Steam does this.

That prevents copies being leaked early via the distribution chain, which is the most damaging form of piracy, because there's a proportion of gamers who are willing to buy games on release, but will resort to piracy to get the game early if they can, if only for bragging rights. The problem is that if they do that then they're much less likely to buy the game on release, even if it's a great game.
 
Ravenger said:
The only DRM that's worthwhile is zero day piracy protection, where the executable isn't shipped with the game, and instead is downloaded on release. Steam does this.
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this is a good idea, but then again on the other hand if you dont have a internet connection then you cant install or play can you, so its not a feasable way either.
 
toon_mad said:
this is a good idea, but then again on the other hand if you dont have a internet connection then you cant install or play can you, so its not a feasable way either.
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they can stick it on a memory stick and mail it to you.....

the whole issue with drm is control. If i have paid for it, i want to do whatever I want with it. It is MINE. I dont want to buy what is in effect "permission" to play. If that is the case, then their pricing should reflect that, but it doesnt.

What I want to do with a game i bought includes, copying it so I dont damage the original disk in case i want to SELL IT or play it 5 years later on.... i cant even lend it to another person to play (which I can do with audio CDs) when i'm done with it. In the case of DVDs, the flow chart Ceryndrion has says it all....

Yes i do buy stuff, but i also dont buy others. I vote with my wallet, to try and influence the natural selection and evolution of game developers. We should all do the same.
 
toon_mad said:
Far Cry 2 was a nightmare for me, it only lets you activate your serial 3 times before it cannot be installed again, I remember formatting my pc a few times to fix some other problem and forgot to revoke the license, when I finally got my pc sorted it wouldnt let me install the game because it though I used it 3 times already - its still unusable now.
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I had this with Bioshock, I entered my serial key and it worked fine. The next time I started up the game it asked for the key again, I re-entered my serial but it didn't work this time. Tried to get into contact with the support but all they could say was try re-entering it, re-install the game and then stopped answering my messages. I got fed up and just cracked the game, worked fine after that.

The latest DRM related problems for me have been with The Witcher 2, the game took an age to load and performance was rubbish in parts. As soon as the DRM got removed it loaded almost instantly and performance went up by a good 35-40% in most places.
 
From Witcher 2 devs

"DRM adds another layer of complication and potential problems. We saw this clearly in our game. Pre-release tests showed only small performance differences compared to the DRM-free (GOG.com) versions. We were unpleasantly surprised when some of our fans reported much larger differences, up to 30% lower framerates. This was another clear signal that we had to remove DRM as soon as possible -- the quality of our users' gameplay experience is absolutely our number one priority!"
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Ceryndrion picture is so true, you get bombarded with rubbish when you buy movies, I only ever buy movies which were really worth having but even that is hard when they keep releasing it on new formats all the time.... opps side track :D
 
orderoftheflame said:
I'm confused as to why so many people think Steam is effective DRM. :confused:

I've seen plenty of Steamworks only games pirated on day one. My very definition of an effective piece of DRM is one that prevents piracy, whilst being un-intrusive and as un-restricting as possible. While the latter parts are mostly true of Steam, the first part certainly isn't.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that most people on the forums might have noticed I like steam just a bit. I'm usually the first to defend against anybody that might attempt to it's obvious glory. I'm not here to big up other methods as being better, because I don't think there is such a thing as entirely effective DRM.

I just can't see for the life of me how people can see Steam as an effective form of DRM?
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Because the first part is Steam and the developers' problem - not the end user's. As you said yourself, the Steam DRM is un-intrusive and un-restrictive, which as someone giving them my money, is exactly what I want.

As cold as it sounds, I couldn't care less if someone else pirates a game. There's nothing I can personally do to prevent it and it's just not my problem.
 
Tute said:
Because the first part is Steam and the developers' problem - not the end user's. As you said yourself, the Steam DRM is un-intrusive and un-restrictive, which as someone giving them my money, is exactly what I want.

As cold as it sounds, I couldn't care less if someone else pirates a game. There's nothing I can personally do to prevent it and it's just not my problem.
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It's not effective DRM then in any shape or form... You not caring that it doesn't satisfy one of it's criteria doesn't exemplify it from having to meet it.
 
DRM only ever screws the customer in the end. Piracy is never affected, if anything it encourages piracy. It's a pointless system.

There is nothing worse as a genuine customer than to be treated with suspicion. Incredibly though, many people put up with it and even defend it. Guess there are a lot masochists around :o Anything that is more invasive than a straight serial key check or one time zero day activation (with no limits) I tend to avoid these days.

If people stop buying this DRM infested crap then they'll stop doing it....money talks
 
Tute said:
Unless you're a developer/retailer I don't really see why it matters?
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I think you're missing my point. I'm not interested in how much the person using it cares how much it stops piracy.

I was trying to figure out why so many people think Steam is effective DRM when it fails to stop piracy. Regardless of whether you care or not; stopping piracy is the purpose of DRM, and a system that fails to do so cannot be effective.
 
All these digital media vendors need to shape up and step back.

Music should be £3 an album and 30p a song. That is an incentive to make my library grow. I'm not going to pay £12 for an album.

Game prices should reflect quality and versatility. Madden and Fifa should be £15 a year, not like EA is proposing, with a license, I think that is a bad idea, but it is virtually the same game as last year - why top dollar again? Red Dead Redemption - worth the £40. Innovative, unique, well made - worthy of my top dollar. Especially with EA, the studios should be thankful that we are choosing to give them money for their product, they should not be trying to rinse us of every penny. (COD:BO *cough*)

DRM is not the answer. I don't have any stats to back this up, but how many pirates pirate because price is the issue? IMO the pricing structures are wrong. Will there be 3 times more sales if the prices were cheaper? Perhaps not. Will piracy be lowered? Yes.

I would purchase more items, but probably to the same value as I already pay.
 
orderoftheflame said:
I think you're missing my point. I'm not interested in how much the person using it cares how much it stops piracy.

I was trying to figure out why so many people think Steam is effective DRM when it fails to stop piracy. Regardless of whether you care or not; stopping piracy is the purpose of DRM, and a system that fails to do so cannot be effective.
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The purpose of DRM isn't to stop piracy, it's to delay it. A game being piratable before release is far far worse than a game that is only piratable after release.

Steam games arn't piratable before release are they? Due to unlocking required?
 
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