Anti Piracy Measures?

Discussion in 'The Recliner' started by Mayday, Sep 6, 2008.

  1. Mayday
    Fine

    Mayday Retired GC

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2008
    Messages:
    989
    Location:
    Brisbane
    Anti Piracy Measures?

    Righto, I'm getting somewhat pissed off with game developers and the like. Why is it that the paying public is the one to be stuffed around with anti piracy measures in games ffs.

    Just heard about Far Cry 2 and SPORE being similar to Bioshock. Can only install on a net connected PC, only installed to a max of 3 PCs (as in upgrading PC parts etc..) and something like only installed max of 10 times. :mad:

    What's worse than this is, IT WON'T STOP PIRACY. I'm a firm believer of paying for games as the ppl developing them deserve credit, but ffs, it makes me wonder who this anti piracy measures really target.

    The above goes for the music industry as well. My car sits in full sun at work so there's now way on earth I'll be leaving my original music CDs in the stacker.

    I'm just pissed off, as per usual, the ppl doing the right thing are the ones affected by this crap.

    rant over :eek::
     
  2. CFodder
    Mellow

    CFodder Site Annihilator

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2007
    Messages:
    8,397
    Location:
    Wellington, NZ
    As you've said Mayday, all that stuff with having a net connected PC etc etc is put under the guise of anti-piracy but it's not going to stop diddly squat.

    I just categorise these 'measure's' under the same bullshit heading as the "if there was no piracy games would be cheaper" statements.
     
  3. Hicks
    Amused

    Hicks Retired GC

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2008
    Messages:
    5,842
    Location:
    Bay of Plenty
    Some companies are now starting to realize this mate, talk is around of software prices coming down to help combat it, which is how they'll fix it. Come on, seriously, $100 for a new game or wait a month or two for the price to drop, or just download a bootleg copy and play SP for free or use a Keygen and if your lucky, get a working one. Most people choose the latter option which ruins it for us :(
     
  4. TJet

    TJet OLDr

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2008
    Messages:
    593
    IMO all these restrictive copy protection schemes do is reduce the number of legitimate copies sold. After playing the Bioshock demo, I was going to buy it until I learnt about it's protection system. I'm sure other people didn't purchase it for the same reason.

    Farcry2 and Spore are also on my "to buy" list but if they introduce the same type of protection, I won't be buying them. These stupid protection schemes aren't going to stop piracy. They only put legitimate users off buying the game.
     
  5. Welshman
    Drunk

    Welshman OLDr GC

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2008
    Messages:
    3,059
    Location:
    The Institute of Pinheaded People
    And then there was Starforce ofcoarse :(
     
  6. WhaCk
    Innocent

    WhaCk Retired GC

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2008
    Messages:
    4,483
    Location:
    Cairns, Australia.
    My 2cents is Drop the price as said before

    with the main game companies looking to PS and Xbox etc for their major sales why waste so much time and effort on PC game protection anyways....some smart cookie will find a way to crack it anyway and upload it to a bit torrent site usually within days of release.

    these same hackers / crackers are the reason we the general online gaming community are getting screwed over anyway...like you say Mayday just for doing the right thing.

    I like the old school days go to the store buy a game take it home open the box install it type in the CD/DVD key on the case and play (without the CD in the drive Bullshit either)
    Bring back the good old days I say
    btw buying games on Steam seems to have some advantages doesn't it ?
     
  7. Mayday
    Fine

    Mayday Retired GC

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2008
    Messages:
    989
    Location:
    Brisbane
    Yes mate, no CD/DVD required in the drive. :biglaugh:
     
  8. Bikkies

    Bikkies OLDr

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2008
    Messages:
    366
    Exactly, and i love the indie developers games for less than $10 bullet candy is awesome fun.

    I have to admit i do a bit of both buy and not buy, but the games that piss me off the most are the ones that i have bought but can't play unless i reput in my cdkey login to an account for that game and insert the dvd befoe i can play.

    Steam makes it so much easier, except for digital download patches which are painful for the first few days after an update to a non steam game on steam.

    Edit: Hope that makes sense, non valve game on steam sounds better... very long day and beer is tasteh
     
  9. TJet

    TJet OLDr

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2008
    Messages:
    593
    Well it seems Amazon users aren't impressed by Spore's protection. Over 1200 reviewers have now given it a one star rating (out of five) because of the restrictive protection.

    News item here

    The Amazon page is [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Spore-Pc/dp/B000FKBCX4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1220907456&sr=8-1"]here[/ame]
     
  10. Mayday
    Fine

    Mayday Retired GC

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2008
    Messages:
    989
    Location:
    Brisbane
    Sums it up really, the consumers are the losers here and EA really don't seem to care. I doubt I'll be buying it for the very same reason.
     
  11. Bodella

    Bodella OLDr

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2008
    Messages:
    67
    Location:
    Stanmore - NSW
    Anti - piracy measures suck but will always be there on Games from large developers becasue the suites couldn't stand the idea of leaving the games open.

    the best solution is to reward those people who do the right thing.
    - Download content.
    - online authentication systems for the online portions of a game THAT don't break when the system is off line ( ahem Steam )
    - NO cd required to play the game - this shits me more then anything else.
    - No third party drivers just for content protection - I spend enough time triming the fat in windows, I don't need more crap.

    Valve's content delivery is moving in the right direction and has been great for getting indie games out there.

    I do actually believe the spin that piracy hurts the games industry, just not as much as they make out.
     
  12. TJet

    TJet OLDr

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2008
    Messages:
    593
    Red Alert 3 is going down the same security road as Spore with minor changes. EA are generously giving 5 activations instead of 3 :err:

    When are companies going to wake up to the fact that limiting the number of activations doesn't sit well with many people who legitimately purchase software.

    http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/15373.cfm
     
  13. Hicks
    Amused

    Hicks Retired GC

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2008
    Messages:
    5,842
    Location:
    Bay of Plenty
    With thew constant changes in Hardware and software people are either upgrading a lot and having a set amount of times something can be installed is absolute crap. I myself format and redo my PC normally 3-4 times per year just to help clean out the games and programs I have beta tested in that time, also helps speed the PC back up. So for me, if I did this and replaced parts which sometimes requires a system recovery, it would ruin my chances of being able to keep playing.

    Seems a lot of games are now off my list to get, RA was one I wanted, not any more.
     
  14. SatanX
    Amused

    SatanX Retired GC

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2008
    Messages:
    1,145
    Location:
    In a padded cell
    yeah i'm firmly in the "fix the problem don't yell at it" camp, i rekon services like steam are leading the way, and let's face it more and more games are using that form of distribution, and it works. But god forbid that more games use online distribution- that would be easy!
    heh first thing i look for after buying a game with invasive copy protection is a crack for it so i can get the nasty's the fcuk out of my rig. It's a sad state of affairs when you have to do that to remove unwanted/invasive/destructive software that has no place on your machine to begin with.
    Stupidly enough- some of the "anti piracy" solutions out there would be considered "spyware" or "malware" if you got them from an email or surfing the net.
    After consumer responses to systems such as sony's (in)famous root kit crap and bioshock's ream-0-matic-invase-0-tron you'd think they'd get the message.
    even epic issued a "no-cd" patch for ut04 after the community requested it.

    i'm with hicks, tired of having to remove so called "copy protection" that only annoys or impedes those of us who actually _buy_ the games, i'll be using my wallet to vote by not getting games that use them.

    viva le steam!
     
  15. Bikkies

    Bikkies OLDr

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2008
    Messages:
    366
    Just to add after doing an RMA for a failed graphics card which i recieved back i also got a free game TOCA race driver 3.

    I thought well thats a nice gesture thanks, install it and it requires a reboot...

    Turns out because all of my drivers are not digitally signed Vista will not boot anymore.
    It installed Securom/Starforce some crap that made my pc not boot into OS anymore.
    That is a serious problem not being able to boot your pc because a game has installed some software that is not compatible with your current environment then tells you how to fix it after the fact(by making you system compatible with their copy protection...).

    Anyway system restore/volume shadow copy time, anyway want a free game? I have a copy of TOCA race driver 3 here :)
     
  16. Mayday
    Fine

    Mayday Retired GC

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2008
    Messages:
    989
    Location:
    Brisbane
    lol bummer Bikkies that sucks big ones and no thnx mate
     
  17. Hicks
    Amused

    Hicks Retired GC

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2008
    Messages:
    5,842
    Location:
    Bay of Plenty
    That's crap Bikkies, I would send them a nasty letter about it as well, when these sort of things happen I suppose we need to try and let people know that they can fuck us over even more so.
     
  18. mettleking

    mettleking Guest

    I guess that is why more people are turning to consoles ... no copy protection to speak of .. no need to upgrade computer components and the online play is generally pretty good these days (at least XBox live is :p)

    Why would you spend the same amount for a game for a console where you know it will be guaranteed to work as to the same amount for a PC version where one has all the associated problems you have mentioned. You think the distributors would wise up a little after all this time.
     
  19. MissBunny
    Amused

    MissBunny Retired GC

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2008
    Messages:
    2,217
    Location:
    Rockhampton, QLD
    I toally agree with you Mayday. I'm sure most of the gaming population do the right thing and actually pay for their software. Especially those of us in MMO land who NEVER stop paying to play our fav games.

    Tis getting to be a very expensive hobby methinks:)
     

Share This Page