Is DRM really that bad?

Some DRM is fine (ie Steam) as although on first load you need an internet connection, after that you can set the program to offline mode.

But limited installs and the requirement to always be online just punishes the legitimate paying customer as most pirates find the way around the DRM protection anyway.

I think having CD Keys is a fair form of protection and then having an online check that runs once is fair enough and I can just about cope with Steam, but anything else is just a waste of time.
 
Some DRM is good, like steamworks integration i don't mind as i use steam every day and i can always access my games.

The DRM i dislike is the one that stops you playing the game if you happen to get it early, this happened with me with GTA 4 and its happend with Dead Rising 2. Ive legitimately got the copy installed but because its not released i cant play it.

Steam does exactly that what you wrote in your second paragraph, but oh noes, steam is perfectly flawless, and everyone must love and worship it :rolleyes:
 
The game starts up fine. Steam is taking 5 minute to start up, not the game. Theres no problems in offline mode, as soon as I want to play online for achievements, it takes a very very long tome to both log into steam, and then launch the game.
Sounds like there's an underlying problem with your PC.



Because I dont want lag from loading apps when booting up my PC, having steam start on start up slows startup down sigificantly.
Makes me think the above even more so.

I ran a speedtest while steam was taking ages to load, it said 1.2 Mbps. I started a download and it is running at 250-300 kbps, but steam was still stuck on the connecting and loading screens for several minutes each.

All that shows is that your internet connection is fine, and that the problem lies elsewhere.
 
Steam does exactly that what you wrote in your second paragraph, but oh noes, steam is perfectly flawless, and everyone must love and worship it :rolleyes:

Rather than it being "Steam" I'd complain that the devs are choosing to implement this and or want too much control over the game's release.
 
The good point is that if it works it prevents piracy.

The bad point is it never works.

This basically sums it up. Before a game is pirated then DRM serves a purpose for legitimate users. After a game has been successfully pirated then it is a hinderance as it makes playing a game harder for a legit user than it is for someone playing illegally (depending on the type of drm used) so all it does after is controls the games contents entirely for the devs/publishers etc.
 
This basically sums it up. Before a game is pirated then DRM serves a purpose for legitimate users. After a game has been successfully pirated then it is a hinderance as it makes playing a game harder for a legit user than it is for someone playing illegally (depending on the type of drm used) so all it does after is controls the games contents entirely for the devs/publishers etc.

Don't forget though, DRM "only" has an adverse effect on paying customers. It's like the warnings and stupid adverts they slap all over DVDs and Blu-rays about piracy, the only people who see them are the ones who've actually bought the movie they're watching, if you've pirated it you'll never see that.
 
Don't forget though, DRM "only" has an adverse effect on paying customers. It's like the warnings and stupid adverts they slap all over DVDs and Blu-rays about piracy, the only people who see them are the ones who've actually bought the movie they're watching, if you've pirated it you'll never see that.

Exactly although the DVD ones always made me laugh. Especially the parts that used to be quite common about piracy funding terrorism and the drug trade.... Cant really imagine bin laden preordering starcraft 2 in order to crack it to **** off the western civilisation.
 
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:p
 
The only time when I did have an issue is when I first bought Anno 1404 and, IIRC, it had a limitation of 3 installs before you then had to call support to "extend" the number of installs that you were able to do. Unfortunately I had some hardware issues soon after buying the game and so exceeded the installations to then find it very difficult in getting a response to the request to resolve my situation and thus allow me to play the game. I had even saved the "Tages" folder from the first working install and copied that over hoping that it should work (following some instructions that I read within their forums) but it did not work for me.
It was only when a later patch was released, which removed the install limits, that I could then play the game.!
 
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Whats sad is that its entirely true ><

I mean who is actually swayed by any of the ridiculous statements they make... especially all the bits about how it funds terrorism (yes i'm sure) and the drug trade (hang on i thought drugs funded the drug trade?).
 
Got to admit - I do get somewhat annoyed that I've paid for a movie, and then actually get warned to *not* pirate it.

I just paid money, and now you're not thanking me for paying, but instead saying "Ah, but you could be a pirate!" and delay me in watching the movie? :mad:.
 
Got to admit - I do get somewhat annoyed that I've paid for a movie, and then actually get warned to *not* pirate it.

I just paid money, and now you're not thanking me for paying, but instead saying "Ah, but you could be a pirate!" and delay me in watching the movie? :mad:.

indeed you should get a little intro of a stripper then the movie starts :p
 
Im doing that, right now I were trying to play in online mode to unlock achievements

Not sure I follow why you are so annoyed at this - you are trying to get Steam achievements, but don't want to have to run Steam? That's a bit like complaining about having to shop at Tesco to earn Tesco clubcard points.
 
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