A CD key doesnt protect against piracy

Yes but still, I admit I had pirated games, and even though I could play on cracked servers I bought the game to be able to play everywhere with everyone.
 
Last edited:
CD-Key for Online = fair enough, For singleplayer though, and any other kind of anti-copying software like securom or safedisk is stupid and doesn't stop piracy at all and only causes problems for "legitimate" users.
 
The new Company of Heros has the bees knees of protection IMO.

If the keys wrong or its a burnt or no disk there is no way you will be able to play it
 
I think the only way pirates can be slowed down is if games get downloaded in parts when bought and each copy is made to only work on only that machine that bought it like it uses only your hardware profile,But even that could be cracked :D
 
Wheres my post on hamachi gone? Im sure i hit the post button. Ah well ill say it again.

Hamachi method of playing mp can bypass cdkeys as game developers didnt think of using cdkey checking when using lan options for their games. So if u play lan games but over the net with hamachi it doesnt ask or check cdkeys. Which is understandable as all ** doing is playing a lan game with some mates and saving the cost of a lan party like cost of transporting pc to a mates house etc.
 
SkeeterPSA said:
Wheres my post on hamachi gone? Im sure i hit the post button. Ah well ill say it again.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the admins had the odd idea It's illegal while it's not in any way, all it does is create a LAN over the internet with 2 or more people, nothing remotely worth deleting for anyhow.
 
Last edited:
I'll buy good games with an m/p option that is well supported by servers. I am royally narked when I pay out for a game (like PES6) only to find that online play fills me with rage - poor servers, little cheat protection, and so on.

Also,I would not buy anything Starforced atm, and am incredulous that developers think it wise to encourage piracy by including this bothersome software with their games. Reading up on Starforce made me livid. Perhaps I should give up reading.
 
steam is a good way of preventing it (especially for online play), sure you can download the newest games on there for free from 'other places' but i'd like to think that a lot of people now use steam instead of piracy

it's annoying when they introduce super anti piracy features, like starforce (can't play TrackMania: Sunrise in vista :( )and whatever RA2 uses, in XP i had to get a crack for my legal RA2, just so it would work!
 
Ulfhedjinn said:
None are annoying for people doing it, only for legitimate buyers.

That is why copy protection is a pointless waste of time.
Click to expand...

I would find having to open up and run a couple other crappy programs to play a game bloody anoying:p

From what ive read you cant crack Theater of War so they must have something good happening with there protection
 
That's the thing with all this protection stuff. Once one person has cracked it, anyone can very easily. That's why it's annoying for legit users. If you are going to get it illegally, it usually comes bundled with a crack and simple instructions. If the crack involves anything even remotely complicated someone will make a little app to automate it.

Apparently copy protection is mostly to prevent illegal downloading in the first few weeks of sales. They know it'll get cracked, but if it goes a week or two without that happening they think they'll get loads more sales in those first weeks because people want to get the game as soon as possible. Once it has been cracked then the copy protection is completely pointless.
 
In the 80's copy protection was big business. 'Key disk' protection (the hardwarenot floppy method), in particular gained ground. This consisted of a hardware device that had to be attached to a port on the computer for the software to run. Eventually people got so fed up with numerous 'software playing dongles' that software houses gave up using them. With the prevelance of USB dongles now - and the amount they can store- I think we might see these come back.

Think about a modified USB dongle that stores a public/private key in a EEPROM of some kind. The game would then only run if the correct keys were exchanged with the game server. Not so different from current methods except that, because the encryption/decryption algorythm was stored in the hardware it would take a lot longer to crack - and time is the most important thing here. If people can't play a cracked version of the game a month after it came out they'll say 'sod it' and go out and buy the game...
 
bledd. said:
steam is a good way of preventing it (especially for online play), sure you can download the newest games on there for free from 'other places' but i'd like to think that a lot of people now use steam instead of piracy!
Click to expand...
Yeah the games on steam are normally cracked soon after release but I always buy a game on steam If I can, mostly Valve games but I prefer being able to access it anywhere with an internet connection.

Zip said:
I would find having to open up and run a couple other crappy programs to play a game bloody anoying:p
Click to expand...
Normally it's Install game, with CD-Key if required and then copy crack \ fix over to the game directory, takes a few more seconds than legally and is no problem. The protection just doesn't work and only inconveniences legitimate purchasers.

Psyk said:
Apparently copy protection is mostly to prevent illegal downloading in the first few weeks of sales. They know it'll get cracked, but if it goes a week or two without that happening they think they'll get loads more sales in those first weeks because people want to get the game as soon as possible. Once it has been cracked then the copy protection is completely pointless.
Click to expand...
That might be the idea behind it but in practice it just doesn't work.
 
I try most games before i spend so much moneyz on something not worth while
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom