Game Activation Uproar

you are treated like a criminal every day oif your life...you are watched on cctv, you have to pass through security devices in just about every shop, you are x-rayed and physically searched every time you go on a plane.


scummers ruin it for the majority all the time
 
Dano said:
http://www.tweakguides.com/HL2_4.html

If the steam forums had archives you could have seen the mess it made.
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Interesting. I honestly don't remember that at all.

Although I do have 2 Steam Accounts, both with HL2 on them. One of them has HL2 from the Retail DVD that I bought when it was released. The other account has it from the voucher I got with my 9600xt.

Maybe when I first played HL2 I used the account that registered the key from my voucher.

Don't ask why I bothered buying HL2 DVD on release day, when I already had it available through my voucher.

(I'd had the voucher so long, that I thought I'd lost it. It wasn't until I bought the DVD and got home that I remembered where the voucher was.)
 
Copy protection should be abolished. Like already said, hackers will find a way somehow.

The only thing that seems to work quite well is a legit cd key thats used in multiplayer games.
 
I'll quote what I posted in the other thread,

I was actually reading about this ealier on coincidently, I think your find this intresting,


"Access control technologies such as DRM create "scarcity" where there is immeasurable abundance, that is, in a world of digital reproduction. The early years saw tech such as CSS tapped to prevent the copying of DVDs, but DRM has become much more than that. It's now a behavioral modification scheme that permits this, prohibits that, monitors you, and auto-expires when. Oh, and sometimes you can to watch a video or listen to some music.

DRM's sole purpose is to maximize revenues by minimizing your rights and selling them back to you."
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I have also canceled my PC version of the game and will be sticking with the 360 version as at least I'll feel that I'll own the 360 version without being spyed on, I'm in disbelief that they have choosen this route to try and curb copyright infringment.
 
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platypus said:
This just sounds like the initial hostility towards Steam, which turned out to be a decent platform for delivering games.
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Steam was a different concept entirely.

This is NOTHING to do with digital content delivery, the Steam variant and the DVD variant do not differ. This is to do with the fact you are required to phone home to even use the software and that you clearly are not buying a license rather renting it under terms whereby it can be easily taken away from you if they dont like what you do with the license YOU have bought.

a lot argued against activation by Microsoft etc., im of the feeling that its different for an OS or Office etc. The types of users install once and leave it on for a very long time... aside from the fact the Microsoft activation scheme isnt as draconian as this!

With a game though.. they have a TOTALLY different audience, games are meant to be fun, from the word go, you arent supposed to feel like someone who would be doing something wrong if they wernt watching you.

This is all putting aside the fact this scheme is being run by the idiots at SecuRom... who quite frankly couldnt organise a midget chucking contest if they were Gulliver.... Honestly you cant have a "security" system that is SO intrusive at the most basic levels that it has the ability to take over a whole PC if it goes wrong not to mention a huge inability to work under 64 bit systems until very recently...

I for one will not be buying Bioshock until it has come down in price to the mid to low £20 level via Steam. Luckily I dont have a lot of free time at the mo anyway so it doesnt effect me anyway but even if i did its a principle thing. Im sick and tired of overly zelous methods being used in the name of copy protection. The good thing about a consumer driven system is that, I as the consumer can make a point by refusing to buy. Sadly most wont i fear.

If enough did they would remove the system as other dev's have done in the past, but as long as it sells for well over its worth on Steam etc all it will do is encourage more devs to go to SecurRom to implement the system for them too. I for one do not want SecurRom running any more of the industry becuase as a company they are incompetent...
 
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ffallic said:
Dont' know what all the fuss is about. I already have to go through this for Oblivion, which I bought through Direct2Drive. I get 5 activations, thereafter I need to contact them to get the number of activations reset.

Sure, 2 may be a bit of a low limit, but I am sure they will increase this when they hear how unhappy so many people are with it.

Oh, and for those who don't think it's illegal to bypass the CD check, yes it is! That is not to say I have anything against people using this method when they have a legal copy of the game - I have had to resort to using it myself as a game I recently purchased would not recognise the disk.

The only problem I foresee is if many people start using this system, you would have to uninstall EVEYTHING from your system before doing a re-install. Would take bloody forever. LOL.

It's a flawed copy protection system. It's not Armageddon. People get so worked up over such little things.
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Exactly - but as always people get far too excited over things.
It's really no different to iTunes.
When I buy a track from iTunes I can authorise up to 5 devices to play each track - once I reach 5 I can't add any more.
Unless of course I reset, and then I can redistribute my 5 once again.
I can do this yearly without the need to contact Apple and more often if I do contact Apple.
Extra hassle - a little, end of the world, well not exactly.

It was the same with Windows activation - however because of the fact you can run it for 30 days without activation and the number of times and how often you can activate online, activation is only a hassle for an extremely small amount of people.
Yet its the vocal minority that seems to get heard.

Oh and also this is no different to Quark for example in the professional world.
The need to uninstall it before reinstalling it.
Exactly how difficult is it to do this - it takes what a minute or two to uninstall something?
People go on about how this only effects "regular" people and the like.
No, it effects people attempting to install the game on more than two machines - which is going against the license agreement anyway.
The company have decided to enforce their license - well so be it.
Unless people haven't noticed the PC gaming market has taken a nose dive.
People will find many software houses totally pulling out of the PC market and it is mainly because of the piracy issue.
Who wants their "pride & enjoy" available for free two days before it hits the shops?
All these people who champion and show "nuff respect" to the hackers and pirates.
Put up with the "slight hassle" of PA and the like for now and then once we can be seen to be trusted then I can almost guarantee you games would go back to being less protected and less restriced once again.
 
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stoofa said:
Exactly - but as always people get far too excited over things.
It's really no different to iTunes.
When I buy a track from iTunes I can authorise up to 5 devices to play each track - once I reach 5 I can't add any more.
Unless of course I reset, and then I can redistribute my 5 once again.
I can do this yearly without the need to contact Apple and more often if I do contact Apple.
Extra hassle - a little, end of the world, well not exactly.

It was the same with Windows activation - however because of the fact you can run it for 30 days without activation and the number of times and how often you can activate online, activation is only a hassle for an extremely small amount of people.
Yet its the vocal minority that seems to get heard.
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I think what aggrevates it most is the fact that it was kept quiet. Had it been known before people started recieving their orders they could have made a choice, it was blatantly kept hidden which is just wrong, these sort of conditions need to be announced up front. It's deceitfull and misleading.
 
stoofa said:
Exactly - but as always people get far too excited over things.
It's really no different to iTunes.
When I buy a track from iTunes I can authorise up to 5 devices to play each track - once I reach 5 I can't add any more.
Unless of course I reset, and then I can redistribute my 5 once again.
I can do this yearly without the need to contact Apple and more often if I do contact Apple.
Extra hassle - a little, end of the world, well not exactly.

It was the same with Windows activation - however because of the fact you can run it for 30 days without activation and the number of times and how often you can activate online, activation is only a hassle for an extremely small amount of people.
Yet its the vocal minority that seems to get heard.
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Apple didnt hide the fact, Microsoft didnt hide the fact,
This didnt become aparant UNTIL people started installing the games which is too late to return them in a lot of cases


Edit: doh beaten to it
 
In that case - and I will admit to not having read through all 11 pages, then I agree.
It is very under-hand for this to be put in place or not to be made clear before purchase.

I agree with the principle of the idea - but people should know about it before purchase so they can make an informed choice.
 
Theres only one thing I hate more than DRM, and thats the ignorant people that lay down and accept it, they accept thier rights being taken away from them so willingly it's scary, I don't know how some people can't see the bigger picture on this matter, and also with regard to itunes

"Steve Jobs announced that he doesn't like DRM and wants to get rid of it (this is new news -- Apple's previous position on this was that they'd have DRM even if the record companies didn't want it). He urges DRM activists to lobby Europe's governments to force European record giants like Sony-BMG, EMI and Universal to license their music to the iTunes Music Store without DRM -- and promises that he'd drop the iTunes DRM in a heartbeat if only he could. "
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Shamikebab said:
whats the alternative?


if you want to play this game you have to put up with it, unless your a pirating scumbag.
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And you have just made the point entirely.

Who is this copy protection benefiting?

Are the people who will (eventually) gain an unlawful copy of the game in here complaining? No its those that have or were going to buy the game.

Some people say those that have cancelled their order are cutting off their own nose to spite their face, I say good on em. Sure it means you dont get to play the game, at least for a while, but it also means in a small way sales are effected, which in a consumer environment is the ONLY way to change something.

I have no issue with a company protecting its interests, but when they do it by making me as the consumer unhappy they can take their product, regardless of how good it is and.. well... they can keep it ;)
 
Shamikebab said:
whats the alternative?


if you want to play this game you have to put up with it, unless your a pirating scumbag.
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no I'm not a pirating scumbag lol, I'll play the 360 version for now, then when there is a crack out for the PC version I'll PURCHASE it for the pc.

I was just reading 2K tech forums and found this post funny regarding the drm for bioshock,

"I washed my hands twice today. The third time there was no water, instead a plumber knocked on my door, he said the water company sent him to tell me that I wash MY hands too often. Now I gotta phone the water company and ask them if I may please eat my dinner with clean hands"
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Not mine, but sums it up quite nicely :D ;)

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